Football Notebook

Arsene has equalised. Two weeks ago, Notebook reported that Manchester United?s Alex Ferguson had taken the lead in the ?I didn?t see the incident? championship following a controversial goal from David Beckham?s quick free-kick at Blackburn.

Want to own a pair of Glenn Hoddle?s sunglasses? To raise money for guide dogs, football celebrities across the country have donated their shades for auction and details can be found on shadesforaday.org.uk . Alex Ferguson, David Ginola and Sergei Rebrov have joined Tottenham manager Hoddle and donated sunglasses to the cause.
Quite how many people will want the specs of some of the others is a moot point. For example, will there be a rush to own the shades of Rony Rosenthal, Alan Sugar and David Pleat?
However, let?s salute the bravery of Spurs director of football Pleat, who is obviously prepared to forsake the anonymity of dark glasses and risk being mobbed by autograph hunters as he drives around Tottenham.

Vinnie Jones is a busy boy. As well as writing a screenplay about his own life and organising a charity golf event at the Ring of Kerry course in Ireland, he is also publishing an autobiography. The former Wimbledon and Chelsea midfielder told an interviewer that he left the writing to someone else but added sweetly: ?I chose all the pictures.?

Simon Jordan should look good on Boxing Day ? if he keeps his word he?ll be decked out in Millwall?s Zampa the Lion mascot outfit.
He promised to wear it if Palace lost to Millwall on Saturday. His team duly obliged 3-1. He also put a toilet seat in Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis?s place in the directors? box.
Paphitis said: ?It was wonderful to see Palace go down the pan. They did go a little overboard with the toilet seat. I slammed that lid down every three seconds throughout the game and by the end Jordan?s fellow directors and the Palace fans around us were so annoyed they were putting him under real pressure to get it removed.?
The pair didn?t fall out, though. They?re neighbours and good friends and were still merrily teasing each other at 2am.

Talking of toilets, most football biographies are full of crap but a special mention for sheer Yorkshire class must go to David Batty?s autobiography (Headline, £17.99). The Leeds midfielder devotes three pages to an incident at Molineux in 1990 when he messed himself on the pitch. No wonder kit washers are called the unsung heroes of football.

As all Poms know, Australians are so modest they have to be armtwisted into making outlandish statements. Aussie Rules (men in tight shorts imitating kangaroos as they chase an out-of-shape ball) is obviously the world?s greatest sport and is promoted vigorously by AFL Live. On the website?s opening page, they quote former player Rex Hunt saying: ?Football?s not a matter of life and death, it?s more important than that.?
And to think some of you believed Bill Shankly uttered those famous words.