[caption id="attachment_68176" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="New Hibs boss Pat Fenlon."]
The death of Welsh international soccer manager Gary Speed dominated the news at the weekend. Speed was found dead in his home in Huntingdon, Cheshire, early on Sunday morning; he had committed suicide. He was only 42 and had been in charge of the Welsh national team for 11 months. His pro career began in 1988 with Leeds United and ended last year with Sheffield United, where he was briefly manager before getting the Welsh job. Speed, who was married with two children, appeared on the panel of BBC's "Football Focus" on Saturday afternoon. The show's presenter Dan Walker said he was "as bubbly as I've known him" during the four hours they spent together.
Among those who paid tribute was former Newcastle United colleague Shay Given. The Irish goalie broke down in tears during a minute's silence before the Aston Villa vs. Swansea game. He went onto make a number of brilliant saves to keep the score 0-0.
There was no change at the top of the Premier League with Manchester City and Manchester United both drawing never slow to criticize a referee or linesman if a decision goes against his club. On Saturday Fergie was livid with RAF flight-sergeant John Flynn, the linesman in United's home game against Newcastle United, who flagged for a penalty following Rio Ferdinand's tackle on Newcastle striker Ben Arfa. Demba Ba converted the spot kick for the Geordies to level the game after United had gone ahead with a deflected goal that came off Hernandez's chest. Ferguson said: ''The problem is that referees are full-time and the linesmen are not. Whether the linesman ever gets a game again is not for me to decide, but it was an absolutely shocking decision. Two years ago when the linesman gave the offside goal against Chelsea, it cost us to the League, so hopefully we are not saying that next May.''
Roberto Mancini's team could only draw 1-1 against Liverpool and so there is still five points still between the Manchunian clubs. The only big movers at the weekend were Spurs, who beat West Brom 3-1 away to overtake Newcastle and move into third place in the table, two points behind United.
Irish internationals Glenn Whelan and Rory Delap were both on target for Stoke in their 3-1 home win over Blackburn. Whelan is a favorite of Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni, but long throw expert Delap has not been capped since Trap took over.
Meanwhile, Dublin club Bohemians have lost their manager Pat Fenlon, who has joined Scottish club Hibernian. Fenlon was all set to take over as manager of Dundee United in January last year, but a compensation deal could not be agreed with Bohs. Fenlon replaces Colin Calderwood, who was sacked by Hibs earlier this month. But Calderwwod wasn't long out of work and he has now linked up with his friend Chris Hughton at Birmingham City.
