FanHouse PremierLeague

There are times when the marketing aces at the Barclay's Premier League home office must get a little tired of constantly telling anyone who will listen that the league is the greatest in the world. Surely partisans in Barcelona and Madrid would argue otherwise.

However smug these assertions might come off, the Premier League did get another amazing game to add to its resume and worldwide popularity in the form of Manchester United's last-minute 4-3 derby victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford. As far as a 90-minute soccer game goes, it's hard to ask for more than anything than this match because it had pretty much everything.

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American fans of the Premier League were in for a treat Saturday morning, with up to four matches all airing live at 10 a.m. Unfortunately, the mouth-watering Hull City v. Bolton was not one of those matches.

Well, despite the sarcasm, the match turned out to be worthwhile for U.S. fans and it's too bad the match wasn't live, despite the less than marquee teams involved.

The reason for this? American international Jozy Altidore made his long awaited debut for Hull as a second-half substitute in the Tigers 1-0 win. The fact Atlidore saw the field is a bit of a surprise since he only returned to England after last week's U.S./Mexico World Cup qualifier on Thursday due to some red tape approving his work permit for his season-long loan from Villareal.

You always have to trust Wikipedia, right? The other day when I was looking up for something on the Premier League, the very bottom of the page it listed that ESPN2 would broadcast select matches for the 2009-10. ESPN, in the wake of Setanta Sports collapse, acquired broadcast rights in the U.K., but there was no word about American rights.

I checked the ESPN television online guide and scrolled through my digital cable guide. No confirmation.

Then quietly Friday night the Associated Press confirmed that, yes, ESPN2 would air 48 live Premier League matches this season. It was very unlike ESPN, you'd think acquiring such a massive television chip like the Premier League would be trumpeted from on high in Bristol. Instead, it slipped pretty much on the radar with little, if any, fanfare for Saturday morning's Premier League opener between Chelsea and Hull City.

U.S. forward Jozy Altidore took a big step toward clarifying his status for the 2009-10 club season Wednesday with a series of posts on his Twitter page that all but confirmed that he'd be making a move to Hull City of the Premier League.

Altidore didn't get into the details, hinting at a press conference on Thursday, but other outlets are reporting that it will be a season-long loan from Spanish club Villareal, which bought him for an MLS-record $10 million last year.

The prospect of more American soccer players making an impact in the top European leagues is never a bad thing, especially less than a year before a World Cup. The latest Yank that could be on the move is 19-year-old striker Jozy Altidore who is drawing the attention of a couple clubs in the Premier League including Hull City, which has reportedly lined up a multi-million dollar offer to Villareal for his services.

This report, taken for whatever its worth since it's coming from the less-than-trustworthy Daily Mail, seems to make the earlier rumor this summer than Altidore was on track for a move to Greece with Olympiakos look dead.

The whole business of Manchester City's pursuit of Chelsea captain John Terry seemed like the very definition of the "silly season" that is the European summer transfer window. For weeks there have been endless reports of how suddenly cash-flush City wanted the Chelsea defender, essentially offering him the moon (and buckets of cash) to make the switch.

Sunday, finally, Terry himself issued a statement to the club's official website that his future remains committed to Stamford Bridge. Terry basically said what people like myself have been thinking this whole time -- that he'd never leave Chelsea.

Circle September 20 on your calendars. That's the day Manchester City comes to Old Trafford in the 2009-10 Premier League season and it'll be bringing a familiar face along -- Carlos Tevez.

Monday afternoon suddenly cash-flush City continued it's summer spending spree by inking the Argentina striker to a five-year deal, shortly after he couldn't agree to a permanent deal with the three-time defending Premier League champions.

So this morning when I woke up and skimmed through the seemingly never ending tide of European transfer rumors, one headline caught me eye -- "Everton to sign American midfielder." Immediately I thought it might have been U.S. International Clint Dempsey moving from Fulham, which had been talked about during last month's Confederations Cup.

Turns out, Everton's signing was hardly on the profile of Dempsey -- not even close. Instead it was 22-year-old Anton Peterlin who currently played in the American Premier Development League, the fourth tier of U.S. domestic leagues.

Something that often amazes me is talking to people from England, us here in the Colonies actually tend to have better access to the Premier League matches on television.

After Friday, that access is going to change in some major ways after the Premier League pulled its television package from the troubled Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports. Setanta had a £392 contract to broadcast 46 live matches in the U.K. for the upcoming 2009-10 season, but that is now open to the highest bidder and will be determined by Monday.

At a time when Americans have become somewhat of an endangered species in the England's Premier League, a bit of good news came down Wednesday when it was announced goal keeper Marcus Hahnemann was signed by newly promoted club Wolverhampton.

Hahnemann, who had spells at Fulham and Reading, was released by the Royals last month after a long stint at the club, helping them reach the top flight for the first time in their history due to budgetary concerns.