Paul Jewell resigns at Derby County

Struggling Derby County have parted company with Paul Jewell today, leaving assistant Chris Hutchings in charge of the Championship team.

Despite leading the Rams to an exciting Carling Cup semi-final tie against Manchester United, their 1-0 home defeat against Ipswich Town was the last straw for Jewell.

Derby County are currently 18th in the Championship and chairman Adam Pearson expected this resignation as Derby County are in danger of slipping down another division.

"It was probably one result too far for Paul," said Pearson. "He came to see me after the game and said that he felt it just wasn't working out and didn't want to club to suffer as a result.

"He just feels that the club needs a fresh impetus and a new direction.

Football Transfer Latest : Craig Bellamy being pursued by Spurs and Aston Villa

Tottenham Hotspur have had a £6m bid for Craig Bellamy rejected by cash-flow challenged West Ham United. The bid was made by Harry Redknapp on Christmas Eve and shows Tottenham's priority in this transfer window is to get a fourth striker. It is expected that Spurs will go back to West Ham and bid a second time but Chief Executive Steve Duxbury is insisting that Bellamy is not for sale.

Martin O'Neill is also rumoured to be putting a bid in for £7m, as well as ongoing interest for Bellamy from Manchester City.

Christmas Premiership matches 2008

Premier League Football Tips Boxing day 2008 Premier League

The Christmas period can make or break a Premier League club's season. I am really pleased to be visiting West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on the 28th December with my beautiful girlfriend who is 4 months pregnant. We found out that he is a boy on Monday, so I would like to dedicate this post to him and his second Spurs match (1st one was at home vs Wigan....not a classic). Here are the Boxing Day fixtures:

Friday, 26 December 2008
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa v Arsenal, 17:15
Chelsea v West Brom, 13:00
Liverpool v Bolton, 15:00
Man City v Hull, 15:00
Middlesbrough v Everton, 15:00
Portsmouth v West Ham, 13:00
Stoke v Man Utd, 12:45
Sunderland v Blackburn, 15:00
Tottenham v Fulham, 13:00
Wigan v Newcastle, 15:00

I fancy Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham to all win.

Happy Christmas to all!

Cesc Fabregas injury leaves Wenger with a 4 month problem

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will be out for up to four months after rupturing his knee ligaments against Liverpool in the Premier League clash on the weekend. the injury happened when Fabregas went into a challenge with Xabi Alonso and came out worst off.

This is a big blow to Arsene Wenger's league campaign with both Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky also injured and set to come back well into 2009. Fabregas is a clever midfielder who links up well with Robin Van Persie and his general composure will be missed in this four month period.

Football managerial sackings make way for impact managers

As Gary McAllister joins the list of other young managers to be sacked (arguably premature), he exits at a time when chairmen like Ken Bates are looking for instant results and will not wait for any manager to pull through a bad patch and create continuity in the long term.

It has to be said that Sunderland's chairman Niall Quinn has proven to be an exception with the recent issues at The Stadium Of Light. It appears that Quinn most definitely did not want ex Man United captain Roy Keane to leave the managerial post after 2 years in charge and wanted to support him in the long term. In the premiership it is fair to say that this is a rarity. Since 2001, Daniel Levy is now on his 6th manager. Now, in the case of Martin Jol and more recently Juande Ramos Levy would argue that he had no choice but to sack both coaches, as would many Spurs fans. It could even be said that Ramos was a success in his brief time at White Hart Lane as he did win a competition and bring in some decent players.

Historically, 'impact managers' were used in relegation battles to not only give the club a fresh start but simply do whatever it takes to survive. Managers such as Big Ron Atkinson and more recently Steve Bruce at Wigan Athletic were incentivised heavily to keep their club in the top flight. The transfer window now acts as a mid-point to give a manager the opportunity to improve his chances of better footballing performance. Chairmen will review the teams performance consistently and will only give the manager funds to buy new players if they trust them and believe long term that it is them that they want to employ as coach.

After being swiftly terminated by Newcastle United, Sam Allardyce is back where he belongs in a Premiership managerial position. His impact? Similar to Harry Redknapp he is a superb motivator of players and led his new club Blackburn Rovers to an important 3-0 victory against Stoke City. Paul Ince's loss is Allardyce's gain. Whether he will be given more time to succeed at Ewood Park remains to be seen.

What is the risk of this short termism? That you don't create a long term strategy from the club's Academy upwards to the first 11. Liverpool fans - take note. Benitez is a superb manager who got incredible levels of criticism last season for tinkering too much with his team. Is it possible that the Reds just weren't good enough in terms of ability last season? If the Liverpool board had made a hasty decision then they probably wouldn't be top of the Premiership this Christmas.

It is interesting to hear Alex Ferguson's views on this topic because he is the shining example of continuity paying off even when the team's performance at times is not what you'd want it to be. He blames 'hangers on' - non-director shareholders that want a say and try to influence senior decisions at board meetings. He refers to it as the 'second board' - corpoarate hospitality types that add pressure, demanding instant results that have a direct correlation on the financial health of the football club.

Leeds United sack Gary McAllister

Gary McAllister is the latest managerial casualty of this football season as boss of sleeping giants Leeds United.

Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has taken action against their dip in form and sacked manager Gary McAllister after an 18 month spell.

Leeds, currently in ninth position in Coca Cola League One are in danger of drifting away from promotion with a 15 point gap between leaders Leicester City and themselves. After losing 4 consecutive matches including falling out of the FA Cup when losing against non-league Histon, McAllister looked vulnerable with Bates looking for quick results. It is expected that a new manager will be recruited quickly to give the new leader some time in the transfer window to strengthen the squad.

Ex assistant coach Gus Poyet has been strongly linked for obvious reasons as he was supposed to be instrumental in Leeds' success under Dennis Wise before departing for Tottenham Hotspur. Aidy Boothroyd has also been linked with the position.

Eduardo makes a return in Arsenal Reserves

After 10 months out with a career threatening knee injury Croatian forward Eduardo pulled his hamstring in reserves. Last season Birmingham defender Martin Taylor strongly tackled Eduardo which led to the injury and this left him sidelined for the Gunners.

Despite picking up an injury that keeps him out until the new year, Eduardo is delighted to be back and remains positive about his prospects.

"I'm just so happy to be back playing after 10 months out. I hope to be back playing at the same level or even better, but now it's just good to forget about all the bad things in my life."

Paul Ince sacked by Blackburn Rovers

Ex Manchester United and MK Dons boss has been sacked by struggling Premiership club Blackburn Rovers after six months in charge. Blackburn Rovers have had a terrible run of form taking them to 19th in the division. Paul Ince started managing Blackburn on the 22nd June and joins Ramos and Keane to be the thitrd Premiership manager part company with their clubs. Blackburn's last victory was in September against Newcastle United and pressure has increased since Roy Keane's difficulties at Middlesborough lead to hs resignation.

Blackburn's club statement read: "The board, having selected Paul Ince back in June, were desperate for him to succeed and wanted to give him as much time as possible in the unforgiving environment of the Premier League, where time is such a precious commodity."

Ray Mathias, Archie Knox and Karl Robinson from the Blackburn coaching team will be managing agains Stoke on Saturday 20th December.

British coaches such as Roy Keane, Paul Ince and Tony Adams should represent the future of English management and will need the support and patience that Niall Quinn showed at Sunderland. Although there is nothing wrong with having a foreign manager for our national team I think most Englishmen's prference would be to see one of our coaches have the right types of opportunities in the Premiership and, for that matter top divisions in other European countries to see us have a truly English team.

Premiership result Chelsea 1 West Ham 1

RESULT: Chelsea 1 West Ham 1 14th December 2008


Gianfranco ZOla's return to Samford Bridge West Ham was successful with a vital point against his old club.

The home team started brightly but West Ham managed to deny Anelka any space in dangerous areas.

Scott Parker worked hard in midfield to break up the rhythm of Deco and Lampard. The Hammers kept deep and defended well, with Matthew Upson continuing to show good central defensive judgement. Then in the 32nd minute West Ham got to the byline with Noble and passed in to Craig Bellamy who in turn controlled and volleyed in emphatic style past Cech to open the scoring very much against the run of play.

In the second half the home team statred more aggressively with Drogba coming on to join Nicolas Anelka upfront. It was the in form frenchman Anelka however that got the equaliser, volleying home a delicate chip in the box from Frank Lampard to net his 14th goal of the season.

More pressure followed from Chelsea as the had most of the possession, camping in West Ham's half forcing them to sit on the 18 yard line with little rest. West Ham 'keeper Robert Green commanded his area well, and in the last 5 minutes West Ham slightly came into the game possesssion wise. Frank Lampard had a well struck free kick that he steered straight towards Green, apart from that West Ham were good for a point on this frustrating day for the Premiership leaders.

RESULT: Portsmouth 0 Newcastle 3

Premiership result: Portsmouth 0 Newcastle 3 14th December 2008
Newcastle move into 14th position ahead of Tottenham on goal difference after their first away win of the season at Fratton Park against Tony Adam's Portsmouth. Portsmouth dominated in the first half but Defoe and Crouch were a bit wasteful of possession in the final third of the pitch. Newcastle hit the post with a fantastic twenty yard swerving drive from forward Obafemi Martins.

In the second half Portsmouth squandered more chances, then Newcastle took advantage of some inaccurate passing and put Michael Owen through in on goal. Owen took a heavy first touch but then more than made up for it with a delicate chip over Portsmouth keeper David James to open the scoring at 0-1.

Newcastle started to gain more possession and confidence after the first goal and it was Martins that scored the second goal in the 76th minute after some bad defending and a premature dive from James.

It was Guthrie who completed a great win for the visitors with the third goal after a through ball fell nicely into his path and he smashed it past David James who perhaps could have done more to prevent this goal as well as the second.

Spurs 0 Manchester United 0

Spurs 0 Manchester United 0

Dimitar Berbatov's return to White Hart Lane was frustrating for him and Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils as Tottenham Hotspur managed to keep a clean sheet against the Premier League champions.

In the first half, this match was quite tight, Modric went close with a header from a David Bentley cross and then towards the end of the first 45 mins Manchester United began to dominate possession but with no end result. David Bentley also had a spectacular volley saved by Van der Sar. Christiano Ronaldo netted from a corner in the penalty box but it was judged to have been handled by the Portuguese international.

In the second half, Manchester United continued to pass the ball fluently but Spurs were resolute in defence with great performances fom Michael Dawson and Didier Zokora. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were brought on towards the end of the match to attempt to break the Spurs defence down but the home team managed to keep things under control and had a good chance from Modric going just over the crossbar. Overall, Tottenham were good for a point and moved Harry Redknapp's Spurs up to 14th position. However this result made things difficult for Man Utd as the gap between them and Chelsea increased to 6 points.

Everton 2 Villa 3 Ashley Young scores a late winner

Match Report: Everton 2 Villa 3

Ashley Young left it until injury time to score a fantastic winner to give Aston Villa all 3 points at Goodison Park, after Everton had equalised in the attack just before it.

Steve Sidwell scored from 20 yards with a strong shot to give Villa the lead and then left back Lescott levelled to 1-1 from close range.

Aston Villa were gifted the second when a terrible backpass from Phil Jaglieka was directed into Ashley Young's path and the England international slotted the chance home with great composure.

Joleon Lescott then scored a second with a spectacular acrobatic volley to bring Everton level again. Then came the drama. A long kick from Everton was headed by defender Martin Laursen which was then in turn passed on in midfield to Young who cleverley passed the ball around Lescott, picked it up after sprinting past him and then curled the ball around Tim Howard to win the match with the last kick of the game.

Manchester United 1 Sunderland 0

Match report - Manchester United 1 Sunderland 0

Manchester United left it until the 90th minute to secure 3 points against Sunderland, under caretaker manager Sbragia after Man Utd put heavy pressure on the visitors for the majority of the game.

After several attacks in the last half an hour, Berbatov put a close range header over the bar and it looked like with good defending from Anton Ferdinand it looked like Sunderland might hold on. Then, with only 2 minutes to go, man of the match Michael Carrick struck a 20 yard shot which hit the post and defender Vidic followed the rebound up like a striker would to get the win in typical Manchester United fashion and secure third place with Arsenal in fourth.

Carling Cup semi-final draw

Carling Cup semi-final draw

Tottenham v Burnley (First Leg w/c January 5th, White Hart Lane)

Derby County v Manchester United (First Leg January 5th, Pride Park)

Evra banned by FA for improper conduct

Manchester United left back Patrice Evra has been fined £15,000 and handed a four match suspension after the FA founded him guilty of improper conduct in a confrontation with Chelsea groundsman Sam Bethell. This occurred in the Man Utd v Chelsea match on 26th April, allegations of racism from the groundsman towards Evra have not been proven which was claimed by assistant manager Mike Phelan. Evra struck the grouundsman on the head and coninuted the row after it had been broken up. Chelsea were also fined £25,000 for this infamous 'Battle of the Bridge' incident.

“Manchester United notes the announcement from the FA and is disappointed with the decision and in particular considers the sanctions against Patrice Evra excessive,” a statement said. “Manchester United and Patrice will consider all options once there has been an opportunity to digest the full reasons for the decision. There will be no further comment.”

Evra’s ban starts from 22nd December, however he is also banned for the game on the 21st December 2008 against Spurs for receiving five bookings this season.

Roy Keane leaves Sunderland

Roy Keane, ex Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midefielder has resigned from his managerial post at Sunderland after a bad spell of winning only 1 game out of the last 7.

This will be a big blow to Niall Quinn who has been in talks since the weekend after their heavy home defeat against Bolton to convince Keane to stay put as manager of Sunderland after a 2 year spell. Sunderland are currently lying in 18th with 15 points and have had resources financially and board support for Keane. However in recent matches Keane has stubbornly put key players on the bench and this has negatively affected the fans' perception of him as their leader.

Paul Ince, another one of the great Manchester United players under Ferguson will now undoubtedly be under pressure as Blackburn Rovers are now in 19th position. Similarly, he is relatively inexperienced for a Premiership club management position.

First team coach Ricky Sbragia is now the caretaker manager at the Stadium of Light and will have 2 assistant coaches in Neil Bailey and Dwight Yorke. Sbragia has a massive challenge in playing Manchester United at Old Trafford at 5.30pm - not exactly an easy first game in charge.

Burnley 2 Arsenal 0 2nd December 2008 Carling Cup Result

Burnley’s Carling Cup Run continues into the semi-finals

Burnley's incredible Carling Cup run continued this evening with an impressive 2-0 win over an Arsenal team full of the younger players.
Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen said before the game that he “didn’t want 6 more one-on-ones” after his penalty shoot-out heroics in the Chelsea match – and this is exactly what happened. Nicholas Bendtner was through on goal and couldn’t make it count, and the other senior player Silvestre also had a poor game. The Arsenal team were guilty of looking for the final pass too early but this was Burnley’s night.

Captain Kevin McDonald opened the scoring in the 6th minute after the Arsenal keeper Fabianski spilt the ball in his path and McDonald took full advantage. After holding up well the Gunners pressure, McDonald then made it 2 by curling home a shot from 15 yards out to complete a memorable victory at Turf Moor on this cold Tuesday night.

Liverpool 0 West Ham United 0 Monday 8th December

Premiership Result Liverpool 0 West Ham United 0

Rafael Benitez's men went top tonight after a frustrating 0-0 draw which narrows the gap to 1 point between Chelsea and the Reds in pole position.

After recently drawing 0-0 at home to Fulham, Benitez will be dissapointed to not have maintained their superb Premiership start and assert their authority as the early leading Premiership team. Zola's team were well organised to keep the Reds out. Quite a non-eventful first half led on to a second half with a flurry of goal mouth incident but Keane and Kuyt lacked the finishing power needed against West Ham keeper Robert Green who is growing in reputation as a strong candidate for the England team.

Despite Liverpool's dominance it was Craig Bellamy who struck the inside of the post from over 25 yards with Liverpool keeper Jose Reina well beaten. This indeed would have been an ironic winning goal for the former Liverpool striker but the wood work kept it out on what was a game that Liverpool will look back to as 2 points dropped too easily.

Robin Van Persie's double gives Arsenal a lifeline Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2

Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal were given a lifeline with a brace from Dutch international Robin Van Persie. Chelsea opened the scoring when a strong attack down the right with a cross from Bosingwa was directed by Arsenal defender Johan Djourou into hs own net.

In the second half this tie was fought out in typical derby style, fast moving and physical. Van Persie's equaliser looked suspiciously offside and was commented on by Chelsea coach Luis Felipe Scholari.

"I accept that the referre is wrong sometimes. All I ask is that he says 'I was wrong' to me," said Scholari.

Wenger also admitted that this goal looked offside but implied that this is just part of the game as we currently know it.

Shortly after this the Gunner's crafted a second goal with a free kick from captain Cesc Fabregas, headed on from Adebayor to Van Persie who swivelled and brilliantly volleyed into the bottom left hand side corner making it impossible for Petr Cech to save.

This win puts Arsenal back into fourth just below Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea - just seven points adrift of the top position.

Drogba to stay at Chelsea

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is apparently staying at Stamford Bridge amidst rumours that he is unhappy and eyeing up moves to potential other football clubs. African players award contenders Drogba, aged 30 is under contract for 18 months and Peter Kenyon insists that he will see this time out.

In the first half of this season it has been surprisngly Nicolas Anelka who has made Chelsea tick upfront, and with the imminent court action reagding the coin throwing incident at Burnley, it has been suggested that Drogba may want to move in the transfer window.

Chelsea club chief executive Peter Kenyon said: "Didier's under contract for the next 18 months. He will be going nowhere in January."

Drogba had been linked with Italian club Inter Milan to link up with his former boss Jose Mourinho however Kenyon emphasised that he wants Drogba until 2010.