In the 3rd part Andry tells of what is was like to join Newcastle United that was in turmoil and under a lot of pressure. But he left with good memories and probably a little bit wiser.

I came into a side that was a decent team but the pressure on them was enormous, although I didn't feel it too much being a young naïve newbie to the world of pro footy. Of course it sooned dawned on me what a cut-throat world it was as the manager that signed me was sacked soon after my arrival!! Doh, as Homer would say. What happens next? A manager being sacked sends shivers down the spines of any club

There are so few players blogging, understandably, so its nice to see former players recounting their experiences in this format. While very high profile players may be able to sell books about their playing career, it's more insightful to see the professional football/soccer world in this way.

Andres at Web 2.0 Technologies has a very informative post about how to use object oriented techniques to implement a robust event broadcasting and listening in javascript.  Follow his advise an dmake your code more reusable.

 What do you want to invoke when the checkbox object changes state? If you're programming it in a non-reusable way, you can hard-code the action directly into the onclick event: if (state==checked) do X; if (state==grayed_out) do y; etc. If you're programming it as a reusable component, you need a more flexible solution.

The New York Times and The Times has the story of John Obi Mikel, a promising footballer who ended up on a yout contract for Lyn Oslo. It seems, Norway is exploiting a market niche by becoming a stopover for African players on their way to bigger clubs. By signing them and reselling them to wealthier teams in England, they can make a decent profit on transfer fees. Hat tip: Soccer signing saga.

The Nigeria international expressed his delight at moving from Lyn Oslo to United on April 30, 2005, but changed his mind within a matter of weeks, claiming he had been forced to sign under duress and wanted to play for Chelsea.