Morning all. How are we?
As Milan end their interest in Adebayor, Barcelona step theirs up considering an improved bid a day after completing the signing of Daniel Alves from Sevilla.
Andrei Arshavin is being chased by Arsene Wenger, but appears to actually be in talks with Chelsea after Roman Abramovich instructed Scolari to find a Russian player for next season.
More at Chelsea with Frank Lampard being offered £140k per week to stave off interest from Inter Milan whilst Scolari has instructed the club's board to sell Drogba.
Scolari also wants to use Florent Malouda as bait to tempt Barcelona into selling Samuel Eto'o.
Fulham are stepping up their interest in Dave Kitson after Diomansy Kamara's injury setback. Hakan Yakin is another target for Roy Hodgson.
Portsmouth will make a final bid of £10million to take Peter Crouch back to Fratton Park. Shaun Wright-Phillips is also on their radar after losing out to Newcastle on Mallorca's Jonas Gutierrez.
Hull want Samaras on loan and have failed in their bid to sign Bobo Balde.
Paul Ince looks to have failed in his bid to keep David Bentley at Blackburn.
Bolton are waiting to hear whether their offer for Simon Vukcevic of Sporting Lisbon has been accepted.
Cardiff City are preparing a £2.5million bid for Daniel Cousin.
Shaun Maloney is a target for Celtic, Rangers and Sunderland.
Lee Naylor is a target for Aston Villa.
Mark Hughes believes he would be perfect to turn Ronaldinho's career around if the Brazilian signed for Man City.
FBK Kaunas boss Anton Joore wants to become the new manager of Hearts.
West Brom have completed the signing of Gianni Zuiverloon from Heerenveen.
Roberto di Matteo takes the MK Dons manager job.
Plymouth suspend Luke McCormick.
Sheffield United have signed Greg Halford and Sun Jihai.
Northampton sign Leon Constantine from Leeds.
And anything else you may wish to add.
There's no ridiculous Spurs-related transfer gossip today :(
Can someone make me some up?
Spurs are preparing
a £9million for Joey Barton.
:'(
Robbie Keane
to Liverpool, surely??
If that happens I will probably cry
It's not going to happen.
Really.
No it won't
but i love the way Rafa buys a shoddy british player to make up for all the spanish imports to keep the locals happy.
Even if they are rubbish, especially Keane.
Ramon Vega
to buy ENIC's shares and take control of the club
This is more like it
Pat Van Den Hauw to become goalkeeping coach
Nayim and Jason Cundy to train players how to score from the half way line.
I think i found
Darren Caskey on the electoral role yesterday.
that's an outrageous rumour!
*allegedly
See if you can find Rory Allen
who quit football so he go see a Test match :D
I love our crap 90s players so much
:D
LOL
Portsmouth's first £1m signing.
Working as a Foreign Office Civil Servant now according to Wikipedia.
the main Spurs thing
I guess is that pre-season starts today, so Robbie better say something.
look at them!
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/theboysareback030708.html
See robbie keane smile!
i really dont think wenger would buy a 27 year old
as good as arshavin has been in the tournament (well 2 games anyway) where the hells he been all this time?
Russia
He won the Russian player of the year two years ago so he'll not be a new face to any major scout.
i suppose.but still
he cant of been THAT good otherwise someone would of bought him.2 games does not a good player make.or something
He romped it in the UEFA Cup
he did indeed
i dont really know where im going with this.i just hate the hype some footballers get
I know what you mean
I'm the same with Simao.
He was getting pretty hyped over here
after his performance in the qualifier in Russia. And as ht says, he was very good in the UEFA cup. I think the performance against Holland was sort of like the culmination of all the hype that had gone on for a good year or two.
Saints
have four first-team defenders on their books, all centre backs. The rate we injure defenders I'm not sure 4 will be enough, forgetting the fact that we might need a left and right back at some point.
Greg Halford is also comfortably the worst footballer I have seen in some time. The sort of bloke that makes you think 'maybe I should have bought my boots along'
I don't think he's that bad.
He just lacks confidence, which makes him occasionally howler-prone. We certainly had far worse players in our squad anyway, and still do (Andy Faye).
And he looks a bit like me.
It's not good.
I'd rather City didn't sign Ronaldinho
not because I think he'll ever get back to the level he was at five years ago, but because I don't want him taking Anderson off the rails.
There's much to dislike about Ronaldo but he hasn't been a bad influence on him, and if he does go I don't want Ronaldinho stepping into that void.
what the Man Utd Anderson?
huh?
yeah
I'm a Utd fan, like. His work rate was great last season but I don't want a playboy Brazilian getting arriving in town and getting chummy with him.
oh, right.
for some reason i asumed you were a Man Utd fan. ;)
as much as i like Arshavin i don't want him at Chelsea
his lazyness would irritate me.
so you'll want rid of le sulk too?
mind you, I wouldn't think any sane minded chelsea fan would still want him there after Moscow.
Jonas Gutierrez -
new Albert Luque, anyone?
I really hope so
I really think so
He'll go back to Spain next summer
Have you ever actually seen him play
?
Perhaps....
........
undoubtedly.
sod Balde, Geovanni is on the way to the KC (mebbe)
and ROY MAKAAY is the latest name churned out of the rumour mill, hopefully Mendy will also be persuaded by the charms of Phil Brown also
see, I'm usually against Veteran strikers
looking for one last pay day, but then I remembered how Dugarry did well for Birmingham.
Hull need a bit of experience in the team,
esp players with Prem League experience, i reckon Geovanni and Makaay would be two worthwhile signings, Makaay and Campbell up front could work pretty well..
Some team from Ecuador
won the Copa Libertadores, beating Fluminese in front of their own crowd in a penalty shootout.
(I don't know much about Ecuador beyond the DJ Sash song.)
oh wow they did it?
fascinating article on Guardian Online yesterday about Augustin Delgado who plays for them (and infamously for Southampton.)
They did their utmost to throw it away
but couldn't quite manage it.
There was a great quote
by Gordon Strachan about Agustin Delgado and yoghurt.
Also, speaking of Ecuadorian strikers. Didn't Ivan Kaviedes have a spell with Palace? And where is Carlos Tenorio these days?
I'm pretty sure the latter is at Al-Sadd
(Zarate's owners).
also: I would very much like Queiroz to stay
but he won't unless he's guaranteed the manager's job once Ferguson vacates the position. Can't see him getting that sort of assurance to be honest, and he's 55 so he can't afford to sit around.
I'm more concerned about Queiroz's departure than I am about Ronaldo's. Ferguson's always had trouble replacing influential assistants.
FEAR NOT
THE ANSWER!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jun/27/france.englandfootballteam
(well, maybe not, but screw it - it'd be AMAZING)
I'd like to see this happen
but only if they install that throne in the dugout
Obviously it'd be a disaster
But the idea of Rooney, Tevez and the sulky one learning from Cantona...
We'd probably end up with Phelan, Choccy and Choccy's dodgy goatee helping SAF out for a season though.
I think without Queiroz he'll stick around for far shorter a time than he would with him, which is my biggest fear.
this is what worries me
Ferguson promoting one of his backroom yes men like McClair or, even worse, taking on the assistant's duties himself as he's tried in the past. There were times last season when we were more defensive than I would have liked but it worked, and that's almost certainly down to Queiroz.
There's talk of United offering Queiroz a pay rise to stay on, but money clearly isn't the issue.
Queeros is only ever going to be a yes man though, is he not?
By the sounds of it he's an exceptional coach, and as important as Fergie in the revival of the team, but i just don't see him being a big enough character for the big job. I think Eric would be a good shout, and i'd love to see it, but i still think (although i've been saying this for years now) that O'Neill's probably the strongest candidate. I think Fergie will have a big part to say in who succeeds him, but i'm not sure he'll be gone any time in the next five years, despite what he says now.
I'm not sure Queiroz is the man for the top job
but there's no doubt he's been influential over the last few years. He had a major hand in signing Nani and Anderson - somehow I doubt the prospect of working with Mick Phelan has as much pull - and as I say I think he's helped make the side much stronger defensively. Losing him would be a big blow.
I'm not sure who I'd prefer to take over from Ferguson. O'Neill is a decent shout, but as funny as it would be having Eric as gaffer he's not in with a serious chance and won't be until he gets some management experience under his belt.
Raymond Domenech
will remain in charge of France for another 2 years
and RIP Ernie Cooksey, Grays' former Oldham, Rochdale and Boston midfielder who died of skin cancer this morning aged 28.
Why haven't we sold Drogba yet?
Because he's the most horrible man in football
and nobody wants him poisoning their squad, I'd imagine
This season's going to be the best ever.
Pressure on Whinger to win something. United possibly Ronaldo-less. Chelsea under a new ruthless gaffer. The Ramo-lution at WHL. Sparky probably sacked if City don't win the first game. Ince at Blackburn. Villa minus their captain. Boing Boing Baggies back. Stoke & Hull for the LOLs. Keane's tough second season. It's going to be BRILLIANT and for no point at all here's how i think it will finish.
1) Man Utd
2) Chelsea
3) Arsenal
4) Liverpool
5) Everton
6) Man City
7) Spurs
8) Villa
9) Pompey
10) Newcastlol
11) West Ham
12) Blackburn
13) Wigan
14) Boro
15) Fulham
16) West Brom
17) Bolton
18) Sunderland
19) Hull
20) Stoke
I'm gonna go
1. Man Utd.
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Spurs
6. Everton
7. Portsmouth
8. Man City
9. Villa
10. Newcastle
11. West Ham
12. Blackburn
13. Sunderland
14. Middlesbrough
15. West Brom
16. Wigan
17. Bolton
18. Fulham
19. Stoke
20. Hull
Bastian Schweinsteiger interrupted
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ciFTWURxmb4
Super Kevin Phillips
hopping across the City to St.Andrews. This has made me happy. Straight back up!
^ christ.
kevin phillips is still around? goodness me.
Still around and still banging 'em in
He's 34 and we've offered him a two year contract, scored 22 goals in the fizzy-pop league last year with the baggies and if we can contrive to keep McFadden we'll have the sexiest attack in the Championship.
..
(this will also mean he's played for all 2 1/2 clubs in Brum)