Our editorial team were unable to publish any updates to the main pages of the website from about 18:50 until after 23:00 - this affected News and other parts of the BBC website as well.
It appears to have been caused by damage to the links between our London buildings, which meant we lost network connectivity between our publishing systems and the BBC web servers.

On a busy night of Champions League football, this meant we were unable to bring you our normal live text commentary and photos, other football scores and statistics updates, or reports and quotes as soon as the games finished.

Which was just as frustrating for us as it obviously was for all of you unable to get any updates or information.

We hope normal service has now been resumed, but our technical teams will continue to investigate and work on ensuring that is the case.

[Update 1133 BST, 23/10/08: BBC News' blog on the interruption]

After a summer of spectacular live sport, with the Euros, Wimbledon and especially the Olympics, it needed something pretty stunning to jolt us back into sports news mode.

But the last few days have certainly done that - not least for our editorial team - and for everyone else too, judging by the traffic we've had to the website in recent days.

But the fact they all happened at pretty much the same time, and are indeed all part of the wider story about the changing face of top-flight football, has made it an extra challenge in terms of coverage this week.

There are many critics of transfer deadline day inside the game - and I thought Mike Ingham made a decent argument on 5 Live Sport on Wednesday when he said that instead of creating periods of calm when clubs can plan without fear of losing key players, it has done almost the exact opposite.

Issues at Newcastle and West Ham ultimately came to a head on Tuesday, with the transfer window the catalyst for disputes between the managers and their boards that might otherwise have festered for longer under the surface.

And clearly, Man City's prospective Arab owners wanted to do whatever business was possible before the window closed, with their late flurry of sensational bids sparking great speculation and ultimately forcing through, in different ways, the headline deals of Robinho and Berbatov.

For us on the website, that drama saw us get our highest-ever audience figures outside the record numbers we set during the Olympics just a fortnight earlier, with nearly 4 million users visiting our site on both Monday and Tuesday.
Our live transfer deadline-day commentary notched a staggering 18m page views - with nearly 20,000 related comments on 606, and a similar number interacting by text message.

Of course, a lot of the interest was generated by gossip from fans on which players had supposedly been spotted where, and who they were about to sign for. For us, the key is to make sure we engage with that banter and sense of fun, while at the same time also making absolutely clear what we know to be factual reliable information, as distinct from any gossip.

Contrast that then with the story we ran on Tuesday afternoon - based on good sources - saying Keegan had left Newcastle.

When the club later claimed he had not been sacked, and it emerged from the League Managers Association that the two parties were talking, some of you questioned what we had reported, and suggested we had been presumptious to do so if it wasn't 'fact'.

While his eventual departure on Thursday doesn't of itself justify our coverage from Tuesday, I'd hope it does reassure you about what you should always be able to expect from us at the BBC.

In our sports news coverage, we aim to be as objective, balanced and factual as possible. And at times, that does mean asking you as our audience to trust us when we say 'we understand' something to be the case, even if seemingly more official parties like a club, or agent, say something to the contrary.

We don't do that lightly, and never base that on rumour or other media reports.
When we do say it, it's always when our reporters or sources justify it - as they did on Tuesday.

Equally, with such fast-moving stories, situations can change quickly from one hour to the next.
Only those few at the very heart of a saga like the one at St James' Park ever know the exact detail of every development.
But it was clear to us that those talks did not mean Keegan had returned, nor necessarily that he hadn't actually left.
In fact, and as it indeed turned out, those talks were always more likely to be about the eventual terms of the split, rather than any reconciliation.

In terms of how we relay all that information to you though, there are I'm sure ways that we can keep improving.

Whether you think what has happened over the last few days has been good or bad for the game, or fair on the individuals involved, it has been utterly compelling to follow.

And our duty at the BBC Sport website is to keep you as informed, up to date and engaged as possible with all the news as it happens.

So if you think there are ways we can do that even more effectively - perhaps more video, maybe more live text updates on breaking stories like with the transfer deadline, or even more football gossip (our gossip column remains one of our most popular pages each day) - then by all means let me know...

So did you feel the BBC did it justice?

From Jonathan Legard's initial reports late on Wednesday night, to Garry Richardson's exclusive about Avram Grant taking over first thing on Thursday morning well before any other broadcaster, and Mihir Bose's insights throughout, our aim was to set the agenda by bringing and explaining all those updates to you, whether you were watching TV, listening on radio or logging onto the internet.

(Or indeed keeping in touch via your phone - as I know only too well given I was actually out of the office on a course yesterday but jumped out of bed rather more quickly than normal when I read the story on my mobile!)

Certainly in terms of the web, we had a record numbers of users yesterday - 3.7m (just pipping the 3.65m we had the day after the 2006 football World Cup final) - which suggests plenty of you did follow the story with us.

It also gave us a good opportunity to trial a brand new style of sport front page sometimes used by our news colleagues. It's not one we plan to use very often, and will reserve it for the really huge sporting news stories or live events, but it did enable us to make a real impact with the Mourinho line (and Garry's exclusive) and also package together the various components of our Mourinho coverage, including video, audio, comment, analysis and interactivity.

For those of who you didn't spot it - maybe you went straight to our football page and skipped the Sport front page - there is a screen grab here.

What do you think? Over-the-top? Or a great way to bring everything together?

Indeed, is there anything else would you liked to see from us as a whole on a story like this? More? Less? Angles we didn't cover? A different way of packaging it or you being able to access the news?

All feedback gratefully received, because no matter which form of media you generally use, we want to make sure the BBC is the place you keep coming to for your sports news...

Much of it - primarily the live video and the Today at Wimbledon show - is admittedly only available to UK users because of our rights agreements. But given we do have all that rich multimedia content - including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage - we have been experimenting with the way we're laying out our tennis pages during the tournament by placing it right at the top of those pages. I'm hoping that is encouraging more of you to watch and listen to it, so would be grateful for any feedback.

Indeed, enhancing our live coverage of sports and events is a big priority for us, so in terms of Wimbledon this year, as well as the video, we have focused on improving our online text and statistics updates...

Our journalists based at Wimbledon are channelling their energies into constantly refreshing our main live web page - dipping in and out of all the relevant action, but also picking up all the news and gossip from around the courts, as well as the best quips from our TV and radio commentators.

So in response to queries we've had about whether we are providing a round-up of 'quotes of the day' this year, it is in these daily live pages that you will find them.

We're also keen to make our live coverage as interactive as possible, and so far we've had plenty of excellent texts from fans at Wimbledon, contributions on 606 from others at their PCs, and good responses to our live votes too. So keep them coming!

And of course, we're still providing updates on the biggest matches game-by-game... which has kept Tom Fordyce fairly busy so far!

On that subject, Angela Smith wrote in earlier this week to ask whether those 'gamewatches' are kept on the site after a match is finished because "they capture the atmosphere so well". The answer, Angela, is yes - here are all the gamewatches we've offered so far this week...

As for our statistics, we have spent a fair bit of time and effort in the build-up to the tournament refining our systems, with the aim of offering you more reliable and accessible live scores, results, draws and order of play information, while also encouraging you to visit the official Wimbledon site if you want more detailed updates.

After a few early glitches, I'm confident the new feeds have now settled down and are working well - hopefully you think the same too.

To reassure Matt B who was getting "cheesed off" earlier in the week, we hope we have now fixed the court ordering and old matches problems, though I'm afraid we won't be able to reflect server information this year.

So that's a summary of how we are approaching Wimbledon on the web. Judging by the healthy numbers of you accessing our coverage online, we're hoping you're enjoying it. But as ever, do let us know if there's anything else we should be considering, perhaps for next year, or even for our live coverage of other major events.

* Podcast
We are currently only allowed to offer audio to download or listen to online for a period of seven days. Which is why some of you returned from Oz but were unable to relive the excitement (or misery?!) from earlier in the series.

We're considering what we might offer for download during the Cricket World Cup. What would you like to hear or watch? And how often - daily, every couple of days or weekly?

* Web highlights
The deal agreed for the online rights meant we had limited direct control over the content in the packages, though it's fair to say we were equally keen to ensure the voiceovers were kept to a minimum! And point taken on usage of the TV titles - they were not optimised for the web - though again, we made sure these didn't cut into the amount of actual cricket shown.

The highlights were streamed at the BBC's standard broadband quality of 256k. We are constantly looking to improve the performance of our live streams for sports events - but it's a tricky one as there is something of a trade-off between the quality of video and cost to the BBC/licence fee payers to serve it.

As for what we can broadcast and where, the simplest thing to say is that we aim to make as much of our coverage available to as many people, but that is obviously subject to the various rights agreements and restrictions in place.

* Blog/online updates
We appreciate that the tone of some of our live updates, or focus of comment on our blogs may not be to everyone's tastes all the time.
But it is really gratifying, for us as editors but also our journalists, to know so many of you are relying on and also enjoying our coverage of live sport, as well as responding to our bloggers and other users.

We are always looking at ways to develop and make these two areas as usable, useful and engaging as possible. So any specific thoughts on these aspects of the website are always welcome... even if it's not yet quite in our power to award our staff MBEs!

Having witnessed first-hand some of the action in Melbourne and Sydney, I can testify to just how highly-skilled, driven and focused the Aussies were in their mission to recapture the urn. And indeed how England misfired in a series of mistakes and missed opportunities.

But as attention now turns to the tri-series and the World Cup, it's not just a chance for the two teams to reflect, but also the fans and media as well. So what mark would you give BBC Sport for our coverage of the action?

They stuck firmly behind Freddie and co throughout, totally outsung the home crowd, and won everyone over to the extent of being singled out by every speaker in the final presentation at the SCG.

But what about us?

Back in November, we outlined our commitments to covering cricket this winter, and how we wanted to give you as many ways as possible to follow the action at all times.

Plenty of you certainly watched our highlights - around 15m in fact on BBC TWO, via the red button or on our website over the course of the five Tests.

Many more listened to Test Match Special on radio, and the enhanced audio commentary with graphics, again via the red button and online, was popular.
And there were at least 250,000 podcast downloads of the daily digest from Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott.

Judging by our user figures for scores, reports, columns and our blog, millions used our website and mobile services... sometimes in hope rather than expectation I'm sure!

For instance, the first day of the third Test in Perth, when Monty's five-wicket haul fanned a flicker of faint hope, gave the website its highest daily audience outside the football World Cup; and that same day we also had record audio/video usage outside the World Cup.

But as we too move into one-day mode, any constructive feedback - good or bad - about what we've been doing would be very welcome.

Especially if there's anything you think we should be bearing in mind for the Cricket World Cup as we aim to build on how we covered the Ashes.

We're certainly looking forward to March and following all the teams that will be involved in the tournament and conveying all the colour from the Caribbean.

Though whether the change of clothing and host country will change England's fortunes for the better is another matter...

So I'm thrilled that among several developments to report is the news we're going to have video highlights available on the website for UK users.

You'll be able to watch a 10-minute review of the action online, and hopefully not too long after the close of play each day. That's in addition to the longer highlights that will be available on the red button and television in the evening.

But of course, that's just one of several ways you'll be able to follow the Ashes on the BBC...

When play has finished
(how to catch up with what did happen)
* Listen to Jonathan Agnew's Close of Play on Five Live Sports Extra, or download the podcast to listen anytime
* Watch highlights online (UK users) and read the latest from our contributors Paul Collingwood, Liam Plunkett and Justin Langer
* Digest all the atmosphere, analysis, colour and chat from our reporters Down Under... throughout the day on News 24 and on our Test Match Special blog

Before play resumes the next day
(how to get in the mood for what's about to happen)
* Watch the TV highlights via the red button from 2200
* Catch the full TV show on BBC TWO after 2300
* Debate the talking points on our new 606 website
* Put yourself to the Ultimate Test in our online Cricket Academy game (coming soon!)
* Download mobile audio clips looking ahead to the next day's play

We're hopeful of more treats too, including Ian Bell's video diary on the Six O'Clock News and an Ashes mode on the bbc.co.uk homepage where you can choose to customise it with Ashes content.

So revel in all the build-up on our website including some classic moments from the archive. And enjoy our Ashes preview programmes on Five Live next Thursday night, and News 24/BBC TWO next weekend.

Oh, and keep your fingers crossed if you're an England fan that the lads acquit themselves better than they did in their first outing...

Won't go into the detail here - though will add some later if we're expecting significant problems to continue. But in the meantime, please bear with us and sorry for not being able to keep you up to date with Andy Murray's progress among other things.

We are working to fix the problems ASAP - our editorial team were updating our system as normal, but getting equally frustrated that those updates weren't reaching you!

FYI, Murray won 6-2 6-4. Normal service resumed for the lad, if not quite for us here in Shepherd's Bush yet...

And if that wasn't enough to whet your appetite, it's also worth us flagging up the latest details about what we're aiming to offer on interactive TV via your red button...

* Ashes and one-day highlights from 2200 each night. Contractual reasons mean we cannot put them out any earlier, but this will at least give you the chance to watch the action before the main programme airs on BBC TWO (which will be after Newsnight on weekdays, and at around 2300 at weekends.)

* While the games are in play, we are hoping to carry up-to-date scores, statistics, graphical illustrations and your comments ALONGSIDE the live, distinctive and authoritative commentary from our TMS radio team.

And of course, let's not forget the ball-by-ball updates we'll be offering on the web, plus the live radio commentary to UK users. As well as a few other treats we have up our sleeve... (details to follow a bit nearer the time)

So... 45 days and counting until the toss at the Gabba... and I for one can't wait.

Though I must confess that is partly because I'm lucky enough to be going out to Oz on holiday for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests... (all off my own bat and in no way related to work I promise!)

"Radio Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra offer many of their commentaries online but some events are blocked because the online rights are not held by the BBC. Other commentaries, such as Premiership football, are available to UK users only because Five Live doesn't have permission to stream them to a worldwide audience. So if you try to listen to Premiership commentary through an internet provider that is not recognised as a UK ISP, you will hear an apology message rather than the football.

The system by which online streams are blocked and unblocked occasionally fails due to human or technical error. We obviously strive to avoid this as we know how frustrating it is for users. Unfortunately the second half of last night's England game was blocked when it should have been available to UK users and for that we apologise. We are now reviewing our internal processes in order to minimise the chance of this happening again."

The latest one to flag up is what we feel is a big improvement to the way we present our live coverage.

As you'll see if you look at our updates on the England-Sri Lanka cricket, we've tried to link the various elements - namely the text updates and full report, Test Match Special commentary, scorecard, and photos - in a clearer and more user-friendly way through tabs at the top of the page.

So here's hoping you agree it's a positive step, but all feedback gratefully received.

Well, in short, this is because our stories are fed to various BBC services, and therefore need to conform to certain parameters to work everywhere they appear. So currently, for example, the main reason our headlines are between 31 and 33 characters is so they fit adequately on Ceefax.

In days gone by, Ceefax journalists valiantly endeavoured to make every headline exactly the same length, and so 'justify' to the end of the line on your TV screen. But we relaxed this rule when we introduced multi-platform authoring - and justified that on the basis headlines should above all make sense, even if they don't fit perfectly.

Having said that, we recognise our present constraints still sometimes mean players eye rather than contemplate a transfer, officials launch probes rather than investigations and occasionally, a manager slams rather than criticises a counterpart. And that isn't ideal.

And in fact, though we can then tailor them at index level for our web and text outputs, it may actually be we can look to relax our rules much more in future as we move into an era where you access, customise, search for and get alerted to our news content in all sorts of different ways, places and formats.

But in the meantime, feel free to take on the 31-33 character challenge... and I'll happily change any I think you have improved for us!

At the moment, that means my day-to-day focus is on our website, mobile and TV text services (BBCi and Ceefax), and also ensuring they enrich and complement our live output on TV and radio, primarily News 24 and Radio Five Live.

We have a team of talented editors, journalists and producers who deliver that distinctive and in-depth digest of the sporting agenda, and who work tirelessly to keep everything you see, hear and read on those services as up to date as possible.

Having worked on and eventually edited the Leeds Student newspaper while at university, I joined the BBC full-time when I came back to London in 1999.

Football and cricket are the sports I follow most - and in terms of playing, tend to struggle through Sunday league seasons, but fare a bit better on the ski slopes.

And despite being a Londoner, was won over to Everton as a young kid by the great side of the mid-80s, and continue to cling to the hope David Moyes and his boys are about to bring the glory days back to Goodison...

And not just from our man 'Bevo' (as he lapped up the sunshine!), or the other BBC reporters out there.

Such snippets are especially welcome for us in the build-up to a big game because we often find it difficult to keep the 'preview' story or quotes fresh if training, team selection and the news conferences are done and dusted the day before.

So whether it's fans mailing from internet cafes or their own laptops, or indeed sending us info using their mobile phones, I think their messages really help to convey the atmosphere, colour and sense of occasion - particularly if the game is in a foreign country.

One of the challenges for us is to work out how best to harness that material from mobiles - but also make sure our key content is easily accessible on portable devices and that people know it's actually there on our mobile sites. Did you???

As for those Boro fans, it'll be little consolation after losing the Uefa Cup final, but perhaps their mobiles might bring them a little cheer if local lads Collingwood or Plunkett prosper for England in the cricket while they make their way back to the north-east on Thursday...

Rooney's injury and England squad conjecture, the whole Scolari/McClaren saga, Chelsea's title, Portsmouth putting Birmingham and West Brom down, Hearts in the Champions League - with Spurs hoping to follow suit, Curbishley quitting Charlton, the farewell to Highbury... the list goes on and on.

I haven't even mentioned Middlesbrough and Arsenal set for historic European finals in the next two weeks, a tasty-looking FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham, intriguing play-off battles, or several other stories you probably feel I have unfairly ignored.

And this with the World Cup finals only five weeks away.

So how do we do it all justice, given that - even here at the BBC - we can only do so much?

But that's just the point. I'd love to get more of a feel for what YOU our audience, rather than us the journalists, would like to read, hear, see and watch on the site, not least so we know whether ideas we might be considering are actually worth pursuing or not.

We do get a daily rundown of traffic to the Sport site in terms of the pages that were most clicked the day before - a snapshot if you like of the stories and events which are proving most popular.

But I'd be intrigued to hear suggestions for how you think you could play your part in influencing our approach to the daily agenda, and more directly inform our decisions about editorial coverage and where any extra effort might be channelled.

All with your non-partisan, objective and impartial hats on obviously!

In the meantime, back to preparing our Steve McClaren profile, photo gallery and comment pieces...