Showing posts with label wigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wigan. Show all posts

Thursday, June 11, 2009

England steal the back-pages

Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land! The papers have gone mad on the national side's 6-0 demolition of Andorra!

England are now on course to WIN the World Cup (according to the red-tops anyway!) - somehow the boys managed to prove they could go all the way last night, in spite of the fact that the team they faced is semi-professional, based in the mountains (not many pitches!) and is formed of post-men, shop workers and a factory engineer or two. I wonder what the papers will say if England actually beat someone worth beating?!

Arsene Wenger probably won't have been too happy that youngster Theo Walcott played the entire match - not least with him now jetting off to the U-21 Championships. Wenger had tried to persuade Theo to drop out of the youth tournament, but having spent 4months on the sidelines earlier this season the young winger didn't see the point in missing out. He has just two weeks off between the tournament ending and Arsenal's pre-season training starting, so maybe Arsene has a point?!

Roberto Martinez is set to finally be unveiled at Wigan later today, whilst West Brom fans have begun an online petition in the hope it will convince their boss Tony Mowbray (who has got the club relegated twice!) not to jump ship for Celtic. Not sure it'll help...

The exodus of talent from Newcastle and Middlesbrough has yet to happen, which has prompted Tuncay Sanli to make sure everyone knows that he wants to play at the highest level. His intricate passing game perhaps isn't suited to the blood and guts of the Championship, but Boro fans won't appreciate his sentiments.

The confusion remains at Newcastle, who have yet to sort out their owner, manager or any of their players! The foreign legion of Xisco, Gutierrez, Coloccini, Bassong and so many others are all lining themselves up for a move away from the club, but have been forced to wait whilst Mike Ashley gets his finances in order.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

No Real Football News!

It’s a bit of a rest day in the press following the big money deal of Kaka, who was signed and sealed yesterday. Whilst Madrid's Florentino has gone on record as saying that they will do anything and everything they can to get Cristiano Ronaldo's signature, there won't be any movement on that transfer until later in the summer.

Barcelona are staying 'calm' amidst Real Madrid's spending - but that’s probably only because they are signing Serie A's best player Zlatan Ibrahimovich in return for Samuel Eto'o and £10m. A good deal for all concerned, but it won't be confirmed until June 30th according to Italy's Gazzetta newspaper.

With the big deals on hold for the time being, its time for the smaller moves to take some of the limelight - apart from there aren't many of them either!? Welsh international Carl Fletcher is set to sign for Plymouth, and the wonderfully named Prince Tagoe (Ghanaian international) will sign for Hoffenheim, but they're not really the stories the press likes to cover!

The managerial merry-go-round continue, with Felipe Scolari now a manager in Uzbekistan, Tony Mowbray set for talks with Celtic, and Martinez confirmed at Wigan.

Setanta Sports' impending collapse will leave many Scottish Premier League and English Championship clubs struggling for cash, which makes signing players on free transfers and loans all the more important.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Ancelotti gives Chelsea edge on Kaka

Carlo Ancelotti has been confirmed as the manager of Chelsea! It's massive news, and not only will Chelsea get a four-times winner of the Champions League (twice as a player, twice as AC Milan's manager), they will also get a fantastic advantage in the Kaka auction, which is due to take place later this summer.

With Real Madrid's Florentino Perez already having name-checked Kaka as one of his future signings, Kaka looks like he will be on the move this summer. Change is afoot at AC, with manager and team-mates moving on, and Kaka will be sold to fund the freshening up of the squad. The question is whether Kaka will choose Real's unstable millions, or take a punt on a Chelsea side managed by the man who signed him from Brazil, gave him his first chance in European football, and has turned him into one of the best footballers in the world? Chelsea with Kaka and a few other attackers would be formidable.

Ancelotti's compatriot Roberto Mancini may well have touted himself for the Sunderland spot, but it looks like Wigan's Steve Bruce will be taking that hotseat. With £20m to spend, Bruce has a chance to build a team that can challenge for the top half of the table - with Lee Cattermole, Dean Ashton and Darren Bent linked to the Rokerites.

It may well be that Roberto Martinez, who used to play at the JJB stadium, will take over as Latics' next manager, but there are also noises linking the Spaniard to Celtic - arguably a much more attractive role, even if they are currently struggling to compete with Walter Smith's Rangers.

With the managerial merry-go-round just getting started, you would imagine that Sven Goran Eriksson will find a club in the Premier League, with Portsmouth looking the most likely option. That said, he has also been linked with the Real Madrid post, now that Perez is back in charge of the club, and could be the man to lead a new age of Galacticos, which may or may not include Cristiano Ronaldo, Antonio Valencia, and maybe even a certain world-beating Brazilian.