• Home
• About
• Contributors
• Contact Us
• Advertising

• Premiership
• Championship
• League One
• League Two
• Non League
• FA Cup
• Internationals
• Forum

Subscribe

Newcastle joke continues

The long running joke that is Newcastle United seems to get worse and worse for the fans. After King Kev walked away from the team for the second time (though admittedly this time he had good reason) they seemed unable to tempt anyone to St Jame’s to manage the side. Even El Tel didn’t want the job when offered, and Venables will usually go anywhere where there’s cash.

The team’s in disarray, they lost miserably in the League Cup, at home, to the only side in the Premiership below them in the league and they can’t tempt a manager to lead them. That is until now, as Joe Kinnear, former Wimbledon boss, as decided to have a crack.

The problem is for Newcastle, Kinnear hasn’t managed a team of any sort for over five years!

He also said that he expects his tenure at the club to be short, as the most hated man in Newcastle, Mike Ashley, is looking to sell the club as rumours of a Kevin Keegan return mount.

I understand investors are about to buy the club, (current owner) Mike Ashley told me openly. I will be here for six to eight games.

Sheffield United still fighting on the Tevez front

You might remember some years ago, when Tevez and Mascherano joined West Ham (and everyone wondered how, why and how???) the little Argentinean was so effective for the Hammers that he saved them from relegation, scoring the winner on the last day of the season away at Old Trafford against champions United.

This was all well and good, except that it meant Sheffield United were relegated, and Tevez shouldn’t have been playing at all. Naturally Sheffield United were aggrieved, and took their fight to remain in the Premiership to the courts. They lost, but still fought on. Now they’re actually starting to get somewhere as an independent tribunal has decided that West Ham were in the wrong when they continued to play Tevez at the end of the 2006-2007 season.

Now United are seeking over £30 million in compensation from West Ham, for their relegation that season. No amount has been confirmed yet for the compensation, but that will be decided later.

The ruled from the FA states:

the parties shall be deemed to have waived irrevocably any right to appeal, review or any recourse to a court of law.

West Ham were found guilty, but instead of being docked points they were fined, which didn’t help Sheffield United (or any of the other teams in truth) who were battling against relegation at the time.

City eye Tevez

Moneybags Manchester City are now looking across Manchester for their latest target, but it’s not Ronaldo. This time City are eying up Manchester United’s Argentinean striker Carlos Tevez. The decision might not be United’s to make either, as Tevez isn’t actually a United player, he’s still on loan at the club from West Ham, though the real ownership of the player is in much doubt after his agent seemed to own him, and of course Sheffield United famously complained that he shouldn’t have been allowed to play for the Hammers when they stayed up through Tevez, and Sheffield United were relegated.

Now the future of Tevez looks even more clouded as City, fresh from their 6-0 mauling of Pompey at the weekend, are setting their sights on the best players in the world, of which Tevez is certainly one.

Tevez agent (and possibly his owner, we’re not really sure) Joorabchian, the man who also brought Tevez to England, says that Tevez is staying at United:

Carlos is not joining Manchester City.

All this talk linking him with them is a complete load of nonsense.

He is a Manchester United player through and through and is looking forward to signing a long-term contract with them in the near future.

Though Joorabchian is a man of money, which is something that Manchester City have in abundance. Money, as everyone knows, has a habit of talking.

Disallowed Gerrard goal angers Benitez

Liverpool had the chance to go three points clear at the top of the table on Saturday when they played newly promoted Stoke City, who are languishing in the bottom three. It all started well for Liverpool when captain Gerrard thought he’d scored after 2 minutes, for what would have been his 100th goal for the club. However the goal was disallowed, and nobody seems to know why.

The TV reply picked out no foul or offside, and the reason for the goal being disallowed hasn’t been revealed. Benitez said after the match.

Nobody knows why the effort was ruled out.

The referee told Jamie Carragher that it had been his decision, not the linesman’s. It was a massive mistake.

Gerrard’s free kick went straight in without touching any player, and Kuyt attempted to get on the end of it. The linesman flagged, but nobody knows why.

Liverpool battled on from there and created a host of chances, but couldn’t find their way through the Stoke defence. Stoke manager Tony Pulis admits he doesn’t know why the goal was disallowed either:

I was delighted with our performance, my players fought for everything.

And we had a little luck. We got a decision at Anfield that went our way! But I don’t know why that early effort was ruled out.

It certainly was not for offside, I have been told by people who have seen the replay that Kuyt was not offside.

Well, I’m not going to argue with us getting some luck here.

United denied victory against Chelsea

It’s been a difficult start to the season for Manchester United, losing to Liverpool, drawing a blank at home in Europe and languishing in the bottom half of the table. What better way to get their season started than by beating Premiership rivals Chelsea on their own turf, and ending their 84 game unbeaten run at the Bridge?

That’s just what United came close to doing, as they led Chelsea after just 18 minutes through Ji-Sung Park. It wasn’t all United though as their Dutch keeper, van der Sar, went off injured in the first half, only to be replaced by Tomasz Kuszczak.

Chelsea came more and more into the game, with Cole and Anelka missing chances to equalise before Kalou preserved their unbeaten run with a header ten minutes from time.

Just like at Anfield last week, United started well but lost their way as the game went on, allowing the home side to dominate proceedings. Chelsea however, while happy with a point, could have won the game with the chances and dominance they had in the second half.

One good sign for United was Ronaldo coming on and again looking fit and ready for the season to begin in earnest. The draw does neither side much good, as Arsenal leap frogged Chelsea and Liverpool yesterday to lead the way, and United stay in the bottom half of the table.

City hit Pompey for Six

It’s a good time to be a Manchester City fan it would seem, as City have just been taken over by a billionaire, they’ve got more money than they now what to do with, they’ve signed a brilliant Brazilian in the shape of Robinho and now they’ve thumped Portsmouth 6-0.

Pompey were no match for rampant City, who are the top goal scorers this season, and today they showed exactly why. With the samba frontline of Robinho, Elano and Jo, City tore Pompey to pieces in an emphatic win.

City led 2-0 at the break with goals from Jo and Dunne, before taking a ragged Portsmouth apart in the second half. Robinho, who scored on his debut last week against Chelsea, grabbed his second for the club, and new re-signing Shaun Wright-Phillips nabbed his third since returning to Eastlands.

Ched Evans and Gelson Fernandes finished the scoring for City, who proved far to hot for Pompey to handle.

It was a double celebration for City, because in addition to thrashing Portsmouth, the official takeover of the club by Abu Dhabi United Group was announced for 23rd September, with the new City chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, appearing to the fans before the game.

It looks like he’s got his money’s worth today.

£17 Million for David Moyes

It finally looks as though Everton are going to reward manager David Moyes for the work he’s done for them. Moyes has made Everton the fifth best team in England consistently for the past few years, and even breached the top four in 2005 (which no other team has done in recent history) when they pipped bitter rivals Liverpool to the Champion League spot.

Despite all of his success, his job was on the line just a few months after that when Everton had a poor start and languished near the bottom of the table after a few months.

Amazing fans were calling for his head. Sense came through and Moyes stayed, and Everton have benefited from that as they’ve been Europe consistently since then. Now it seems that he’ll be rewarded with a £17 million deal over five years. Moyes has just 12 months left on his contract and would be free to walk out on Everton if they don’t sign him down to a new contract, but he hasn’t put pen to paper yet. He is expected to sign before 27th September, which is the game against Liverpool.

Moyes stated:

The club have got the contract and hopefully we will get something done shortly.

Liverpool could go top as they face new boys Stoke

Fresh from their 2-1 victory over Marseille in midweek (and of course their win by the same scoreline against Manchester United last week) Liverpool go into the weekend against Stoke knowing that a win will see them clear at the top of the Premiership.

Stoke meanwhile are in the bottom three, where many people believed they’d be all season, but that’s despite some encouraging performances. They’ve already beaten Aston Villa at the Britannia, and were unlucky to lose last week to Everton. Playing Liverpool at Anfield however is an entirely different proposition, as both Gerrard and Torres are now back from injury and new signing Robbie Keane will have his sights set on breaking his Liverpool duck against a suspect Stoke defence.

Stoke do have one weapon though that has caused problems for every team they’ve played, the long throw into the box. Everton failed to deal with it last week, and it cost them two goals. Liverpool should be able to cope as Sami Hyypia may be recalled to guard against them.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez stated about the game:

We know that Stoke will be difficult opponents because they have just come into the Premier League and they will be keen to do well, particularly when they come to places like Anfield.

Beating Manchester United last week was a good achievement and it will improve our confidence but now we have to try to beat Stoke.

The last time the two sides met was 8 years ago in an FA Cup tie at the Britannia, when Liverpool beat the Potters 8-0.

Tomorrow is unlikely to see the same result, but if Torres and Keane hit it off, you never know.

Man UTD poor start continues

Manchester United’s stuttering start to the season continued last night as they drew a blank in the Theatre of Dreams against Villarreal. United are in the bottom half of the table, lost on the weekend to bitter rivals Liverpool and have only won one of their league games so far. Last night they opened the defence of their European crown with a dismal 0-0 draw to Spanish side Villarreal.

While their fickle fans might be getting restless, Sir Alex Ferguson is confident that his team will recover and hit form before too long. They’ll need to as well because this Sunday they face league leaders Chelsea in the Premiership.

We are a bit short but the games will bring us on.

We will improve from now. We have a little bit to go yet. But once the sharpness of play comes, I am sure the goals will come as well.

Their start to the season has been poor by their standards, and they face their toughest test away to Chelsea without centre half Vidic.

There is some good news for United though as Ronaldo has returned to fitness and should be available for Sunday, however new signing Berbatov missed the champions league game through injury.

City deny signing Fat Ronaldo

There were reports flying around today that Manchester City were on the verge of signing Ronaldo for £150,000 per week. No, not that Ronaldo, Fat Ronaldo. The one who walked out of Real Madrid to warm the bench at AC Milan, before injuring himself and spending the last few months on the beach in Rio.

Yes, Ronaldo was once a great player, the best in the world at one stage (in fact, three times as he was voted world player of the year on three separate occasions) but he is now well past his best.

Plus, most of the claims about the deal were coming from him. He’s optimistic if nothing else. As he’s recovering from a knee injury right now, Ronny would have to pass a fatness test first before signing anyway.

Yet City say they’re not about to sign the big Brazilian.

We had shown a past interest in bringing the player to the football club in the right circumstances and spoke to him and his representatives.

However, we have chosen not to pursue the matter.

Ronaldo however seems to think the deal is done and he’ll be a City player, and scoring goals in the Premiership very soon. He claims that by joining City, he’ll make the club one of the greatest clubs in the world, and believes by teaming up with Robinho he’ll forge a 50 goal per season partnership:

I like the project that City presented me.

It’s the best offer I’ve received and it will be interesting to play with Robinho.

Whether City offer Ronaldo more money than he’s clearly worth remains to be seen, but whether Mark Hughes wants a fat, slow, injured Brazilian in his team is another matter.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Copyright © 2007 Winning Is Everything - XML Sitemap