Yes my friends, it’s that time of the year when people pull pranks on each other and take great pride in it.

This is not a philosophical debate on whether April Fools’ day has any value (nor is this a right-vs-wrong debate), but you are welcome to make your feelings known in the comments below.

What I WOULD like to do is to use this opportunity to have some fun. Here’s a list of completely made-up ‘news’ posts I’m going to putting up today (and yes, I’m hoping that you guys read them first before coming here). No malice or harm intended.

if you haven’t, read the ‘news’ items below, and if you have any comments regarding any of them (as comments are closed on all these news items to prevent comment abuse), please let me know in the comments section at the end of this article.

Soccerlens will return to more ‘regular’ news coverage from Monday. There are a couple of new columns we’re starting, plus the Champions League quarter-finals are upon us. We also have today’s daily football news roundup ready (real news, I assure you).

April Fools’ Day News

Manchester United

Ferguson exclusive: I’ll retire after Manchester United win treble

Ronaldo exclusive: Manchester United can’t keep me here against my wishes

Gill: McClaren in frame for Manchester United job

Chesea

Abramovich: “Chelsea is bigger than Mourinho, I love Chelsea fans”

Abramovich sells Robben; “Real Madrid made Chelsea an offer I couldn’t refuse”

Arsenal

Fabregas: Arsenal can only hope for 2nd place next season

Tottenham

Nani: Tottenham are not a big club

Bale: I won’t learn anything at Tottenham

Newcastle

Shepherd: Newcastle to sell Owen to generate funds

Liverpool

Gerrard: Liverpool’s success depends on me playing in the middle

Stories that didn’t make it

There were a handful (more than a handful) of story ideas that I didn’t publish, either because of a lack of time or because they weren’t as good as the ones I had already written. I’ve listed them here for the record.

Wenger: I’m leaving Arsenal this summerKroenke: I want to buy ArsenalHoullier: I will come back to manage Liverpool one dayJol: Tottenham must profit from Real Madrid’s sinking shipMagnusson eyeing McClaren as Curbishley replacement for West HamWest Ham fans vow to storm Soho Square if club is penalised

Update:

It’s been a day or so since I wrote the spoof interviews, and while they’re only just gaining momentum there is plenty to learn from this experience already.

Here are 10 things I wanted to share with you guys:

Creating news is fun – I had a lot of fun doing the interviews – it took me a lot of time to do them, but it was worth it.

Credit where credit is due – Hasan, thank you for egging me on into taking a half-baked idea on Saturday night into a full-fledged (albeit a bit rushed) April Fools prank on Sunday morning.

Some people say it’s not April Fools if it’s after noon, but I beg to differ