Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has today praised referee Rob Styles. United profited from an extremely poor penalty decision from Styles during their 2-0 win against Bolton at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Cristiano Ronaldo was taken down by Bolton defender Jlloyd Samuel, however replays clearly showed Samuel getting a touch on the ball. Ronaldo stepped up himself and put United ahead, to leave Bolton boss Gary Megson furious at ref Styles.

Styles has since apologised, an apology which has been met with praise by the United manager Ferguson. “It’s good that Rob’s done that. I think it presents him in a different light, It shows character. It presents him that he’s big enough to do that. So I think he takes all the credit for that.”

It comes as no surprise to me to see Ferguson come out with these statements because someone has to show some support for Styles and who better to do so than the man who profited most from the decision. I would believe the comments more if they had come from Bolton boss Megson, but I shall think he is still fuming from the shocking decision.

The sale of Newcastle United has moved one step closer today with the news that the Nigerian consortium interested in the buying the club have now lodged a bid. Since the departure of Kevin Keegan from the club earlier this month, there has been severe pressure on owner Mike Ashley (who happens to look rather like Bobby from King of the Hill) to sell the club.

Ashley did confirm almost two weeks ago that he was in fact ready to sell after “getting the picture” in relation to the angry fan protests outside St James’ Park. This news should come as some relief to Newcastle fans after the side slumped to second last in the Premier League after yet another defeat on Saturday.

Chris Nathaniel, the man fronting the bid from the Nigerian consortium, refused to comment on the size of the bid : “We can’t at this stage, that’s confidential between ourselves and Newcastle, but a bid was put in on Friday evening … There’s been no timeline given by Newcastle but we hope it will be sometime soon.”

Newcastle have become the laughing stock of the Premier League (Spurs are close by) in recent weeks. First the confusion surrounding the departure of Keegan, then all the protests outside the stadium and now they have appointed Joe Kinnear as interim manager. It is a real shame to see such a massive football club be treated like this and the sooner Ashley is gone the better.

Maybe the Nigerians will like Keegan and bring him back. I know that’s what most Magpies fans want.

Everton have today lodged an appeal to the FA over the dismissal of Tim Cahill during Saturday’s derby game against Liverpool. The Australian midfielder was shown a straight red card, for what looked like a pretty innocuous challenge on Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.

A decision is likely to be made no sooner than Wednesday, were Everton will find out if they will be without one of their best midfielders for the next three games. Cahill appeared to ignore referee Mike Riley when he was being called back after the challenge.

Toffees manager David Moyes has argued the point that if Riley sent him off for the combination of the tackle and the ignorance of Cahill, then it should only of been two yellows, not a straight red. That would then only rule out Cahill for the game against Newcastle next weekend and not the following league games against Arsenal and Manchester United.

After Chelsea’s successful appeal over the John Terry red card a few weeks back, I personally think this appeal should also end successfully. Terry’s was definetly more of a red than Cahill’s and I certainly won’t be pleased to see Cahill’s stand after Terry had his one rescinded, although it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.