Chelsea reject Shevchenko going back to Milan?
August 22, 2008
Chelsea’s supremely expensive striker, Andriy Shevchenko, has long been linked with a move back to AC Milan. Andriy Shevchenko cost Chelsea, or more to the point Roman Abramovich, £30 million two years ago and has barely played for the blues. It was widely regarded that former manager Jose Mourinho didn’t want Sheva, and that Roman Abramovich bought him without even telling Jose.
Then when Mourinho left and Avram Grant took over, Shevchenko still found himself out in the cold. However in Milan Shevchenko is a legend, and longs to return. However any return to Milan looks to be in doubt now, after it did seem a formality for the 31-year-old star.
Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani stated:
Talks are deadlocked at the moment.
Milan were interested in taking the player on loan with the right to buy but Chelsea said they wanted a full sale, therefore negotiations are over.
In Milan, Shevchenko is a living legend. He’s their second best goalscorer ever having netted 127 in 208 games, more than one in two.
A one year loan deal was on the cards, and looked to be going through yesterday, however there have been one or two snags with the deal.
AC Milan’s director Silvano Ramaccioni stated:
We are close to the end of the deal and I hope these little things that have to be fulfilled are done soon.
USA v Brazil: Women’s Olympic Final
August 21, 2008
The reigning Olympic champions in the women’s football, USA, played Brazil today for the Gold medal. The United States’ tall, blonde goalkeeper Hope Solo played spectacularly well and looked great stood in the goal. She’s a great looking girl and has model looks, gorgeous eyes and a statuesque physique.
Most of the US team looked great in fact, but Hope stood out like an Amazonian woman, dressed in green and throwing herself around, bouncing up and down and getting sweaty and muddy.
The Brazil team looked good too, with some sultry dark skinned women looking athletic and beautiful in their gold tops and blue shorts.
The weather added to a great spectacle with a slight drizzle causing some wet shirts clinging to their bodies, and some skin tight, damp shorts.
Hope Solo was the star of the show though and fully deserves to be the woman of the match. She looked stunning between the sticks and would be a worthy addition to any team photo.
Who cares who won? The real winner was football.
Dijbril Cisse signs for Sunderland
August 21, 2008
Former Liverpool striker Dijbril Cisse has completed his loan move to Sunderland. Cisse played for Liverpool when they won the Champions League in 2005 and was signed by Gerard Houlier. He never really impressed Rafa Benitez, and after breaking both his legs in separate incidents at Liverpool, Cisse was sold to French side Marseille.
Cisse has joined Sunderland on a season long loan, sadly just too late to play his former club Liverpool in the opening game last weekend.
In addition to Cisse, Sunderland manager Roy Keane has also signed the Northern Ireland striker David Healy, who was the leading scorer in qualifying for Euro 2008. Healy signed from Fulham, where he never really broke into the regular starting line-up.
The loan signing of 27-year-old Cisse is with a view to a permanent transfer if the player does well for Sunderland this season.
Manager Roy Keane said about the loan deal:
The signing shows how far this club have moved on since the end of last season. His experience will bring a lot to the squad.
Hopefully he will add some goals to the side. He is known for scoring them as well as creating them.
Chelsea unstoppable at Stamford Bridge
August 19, 2008
Chelsea began the Premiership season with a thumping 4-0 win over FA Cup holders Portsmouth at the Bridge, with new boy Deco scoring an early contender for goal of the season. This after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had written them off pre-season by saying they were too old and couldn’t get any better. His reverse mind games seemed to have had an effect on the Chelsea players, just the not the effect he was looking for.
But what is the secret to Chelsea’s incredible home form? During the Special One’s tenure at the Bridge, Chelsea didn’t lose a single home league game. They were unbeatable at home, the team that just refused to accept defeat.
However it’s not the just the fact that Chelsea play well at home, have a great team with world class players throughout, or rely on the fanatical home support of their London crowd. No, Chelsea make the whole process of visiting the Bridge as difficult as possible for the away side. The away dressing room for example is a fraction of the size of the home dressing room, and devoid of any of the same mod-cons such as Aircon and fancy equipment. Even the display board the teams use to workout tactics is situated around a bend in the away dressing room, so the players can’t see it from their benches.
It’s made difficult so that the away team at Stamford Bridge is put on edge from the start. They’re not given time to settle, and then when they get on the pitch it’s difficult to perform.
I wonder how many other teams start the mind games with the opposition in the dressing room?
Berbatov demands United move
August 18, 2008
Tottenham’s Bulgarian forward Dimitar Berbatov has apparently requested a transfer to Manchester United, this after starting Spur’s opening league game, a defeat to Middlesbrough, on the bench.
United’s pursuit of Berbatov so far has seen a £20.5 million bid refused from Tottenham, who do not want to part with their star player, especially after losing Robbie Keane to Liverpool already this summer.
Berbatov stated:
I’m now in Tottenham but no-one can disagree with me wanting to follow my dream.
It is thought that Berbatov handed in a transfer request at Spurs after he was omitted from Tottenham’s opening game.
Emil Dantchev, Berbatov’s agent, stated:
We have two more weeks until the end of the transfer window and I think this will be the most important week.
I read Alex Ferguson’s statement that he wants another striker and I hope that this striker is Dimitar Berbatov.
Berbatov cost Spurs just £10.9m two years ago, so they would stand to make a decent profit if they do sell for United’s offer.
Spurs were looking at the Russian striker, Andrei Arshavin, who excelled at Euro 2008, but their interest in the player seems to have cooled.
Keegan just loving United point
August 18, 2008
Manchester United dropped two points on the opening day of the season for the second year in succession as they battled out a one all draw with Newcastle.
Kevin Keegan’s side have been the subject of much media speculation over the summer, and the Toon certainly look to have not really added anything meaningful to their ranks since the end of last season. This has led many to believe that the legendary gaffer has fallen out with owner Mike Ashley as he believes that progress cannot be made without investment – and to be fair you can see his point.
Yet, the heart and determination which the Geordies played with yesterday would have filled Keegan with so much pride. Never once did they sit back and defend their unlikely point and they got their just rewards at the final whistle.
Martins even put Newcastle ahead mid way through the first half after what seemed like a cast iron penalty decision was waved away. Yet thirty five seconds after the restart the defending champions were level courtesy of a Darren Fletcher strike.
Although both sides had chances to increase the scoring, a draw seemed a fair result and would be one which Keegan would have taken with open arms – in fact he would have loved it!
Office football culture
August 15, 2008
With the Premier League season kicking off tomorrow, people are feeling the desire to get back out on the parks and football pitches to emulate their heroes in some small, slightly out of breath, way.
This especially true of the office culture. Most offices around the UK have a culture of playing football, either at lunch times or one week night after work. The Serviced Office that I work in for example has a football team where the technical guys and anyone on the ground floor, gets to play against the sales guys from the top floor once a week.
Sure, the quality of the games isn’t the best, and we’re not going to attract any scouts from nearby Manchester City (or nearby Macclesfield for that matter) but the enjoyment factor is definitely there.
The beauty of playing against people you work with is that the competitive nature is there in full force. You don’t want to lose to someone that you sit next to, or someone you have to speak to on a daily basis. It’s much like when your team loses to the side supported by your colleagues, as I often find being a Liverpool supporter in Manchester.
Does your office have a football culture of games after work? If not, start one up. The new season’s upon us so get out there and play!
F A launches “Respect” scheme
August 15, 2008
The FA have introduced a new programme which is designed to promote respect in all levels of football and embodies players officials and fans taking part in matches. Over recent years there has been an influx of cases which seem to suggest that anti social behaviour is infiltrating the game at all levels.
The “Respect” programme aims to address this issue and find a mutually beneficial way in which everybody can keep the passion but lose the abuse and harassment which is commonplace in the game.
It has been suggested that one in three matches last season saw some type of disorder, whether this be on the pitch or from within the terraces and it is thought that this is having a profound affect on attendance levels – particularly within the lower leagues. Families are said to be put off by the foul and abusive language which is common within the stadiums and it is this large section of the country which the FA are targeting to experience live football in the future.
With today’s technological breakthroughs, it is all too easy for people to reject going to watch their local team and switch on the television instead and this new FA initiative hopes to entice more families through the turnstiles.
The main features which are being introduced are making the teams shake hands with each other before the kick off in every match in the Football League, and also restricting the amount of access which the players have to the referee by placing more importance on the captains.
The success which this will have is debatable though – especially on crowd attendances where I would suggest that capping the admission prices per league would yield a much greater reward.
Barry plays, he scores, he ends hope of move to Liverpool
August 15, 2008
Gareth Barry looks to have put pay to any chance of his dream move to Liverpool by playing in Aston Villa’s UEFA Cup qualifier against FH Hafnarfjordur. Not only did Barry play, he scored, and after just 3 minutes!
His appearance in the game means if he were to move to Liverpool, or any club for that matter, he would be ineligible in the Champions League until February and unable to play in the UEFA Cup for another team this season.
By playing Barry, Villa look to have signalled their intent to hang on to the player, as playing him has reduced his value to any potential suitor, Liverpool included.
Even after playing the England international tonight, manager Martin O’Neill is still unsure of whether he’ll hold on to his star player:
I wouldn’t be sure until the transfer deadline passes what will materialise.
I had a talk with him beforehand. He was in the right frame of mind and wanted to play and there was nothing that would have stopped him which was very pleasing.
He wanted to play and he knew the consequences so the decision was very much his.
It really does look as though this saga is over.
Mutu’s coke habit cost him £13.68 million
August 14, 2008
Adian Mutu, the Romanian striker who snorted more than he scored, has been ordered by FIFA to pay former club Chelsea £13.68 million in compensation. Mutu was sacked by Chelsea in 2004 after testing positive for cocaine, and receiving a seven-month ban from football.
Mutu had cost Chelsea £15 million just 12 months earlier, so the sum he has been ordered to pay makes up for the remaining years of his Chelsea contract. Chelsea of course didn’t recoup a penny from the player, who joined Juventus in 2005, and then onto Fiorentina.
Chelsea are said to be delighted with the ruling from FIFA. Chelsea FC said on their website:
This is a very significant decision for football.
Not only did the Dispute Resolution Chamber make us a very significant monetary award, it also recognised the damaging effect incidents involving drugs has on football and the responsibility we all have in this area.
Mutu is expected to appeal the decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
