Benitez unhappy with Keane link to Spurs

Is Rafael losing it a bit at the critical point in the Premier League season, Kevin Keegan style?

Harry Redknapp may have been a bit relaxed in admitting that he would like Robbie Keane back at White Hart Lane but this is Redknapp's management style and criticising this approach seems somewhat petty.

This move, in my opinion was bad business on both club's behalves. Tottenham Hotspur's system accomodated a striker 'in the hole' perfectly and Keane's virtuosic performances alongside Berbatov will always be memorable for Spurs fans. Losing Keane to Liverpool before Berbatov's move to Manchester United was a big spanner in the works pre-season for Tottenham and they've still yet to fully recover.

Then you've got Liverpool. A team with the best attacking midfielder in Europe in Gerrard and a tendency to play 4-5-1 with may be the best centre forward in the world in Torres. Admittedly you perhaps couldn't have predicted a lack of gelling with Keane at the Reds but Benitez clearly doesn't rate the player.

Another reverse deal for the Lily whites could be on the cards....watch this space on Sunday evening as the transfer window reaches its conclusion.

Rocky Santa Cruz Manchester City bid

Big Sam Allardyce has rejected a big from ex Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes on Rocky Santa Cruz as Manchester City look to strengthen their striking power.

The transfer window closes on Monday 2nd February at 5pm and there are signs of desperation from Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and Man City boss Mark Hughes to get great strikers into their squads.

Mark Hughes will be in a daze after this transfer signing period, with huge bids for Kaka and David Villa both being refused. Craig Bellamy and Nigel de Jong both featured last night in the Manchester City victory against Newcastle United but Man City fans will all be praying for someone to accept their tens of millions for a big name player that can really put them into contention for European action.

Nsereko signing - Hammers record transfer

West Ham have signed Under 19 German international Nsereko from Serie B team Brescia for what will be a club record transfer fee. Zola is looking for cover now in the striking department now that Craig Bellamy has left to Manchester City. So far West Ham have managed to keep hold of their key players other than Bellamy amidst rumours of severe cash flow issues behind the scenes as well as the ongoing contractual scandal with Carlos Tevez.

Meanwhile in North London, Harry Redknapp's Spurs have signed 35 year old 'keeper Carlo Cudicini on a Bosman freebie and right back Pascal Chimbonda rejoins his old club after a brief spell at Sunderland.

One pattern of the transfer window system seems to be that managerial positions change before and after the windows. Managers are generally negative towards the system, mainly due to the fact that it limits you to scope your team mid-season when the pressure could really be on. So what does the transfer window system actually achieve?

Football signings update January 2009

Premier League favourite Jimmy Bullard has moved to Hull City from Fulham for £5m. This is a record signing for the Tigers. Emile Heskey has moved for £3.5m to Premiership high flyers Aston Villa. Martin O'Neill knows all about the England international from his days at Leicester City. Heskey is a shrewd addition to an already potent attacking force with Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Mido is now on loan to Wigan from 'Boro for a six month spell.

We eagerly await more signings from big spenders Manchester City who are linked with Didier Drogba. Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim's group have now expressed in making a bid on Chelsea which is dramatic news in this fast paced, commercial UK football league.

Marlon King loan move to Middlesborough

Marlon King has gone out on loan from Wigan Athletic to North East strugglers Middlesborough. Apparently the Egyptian striker Mido is interested in a move to JJB Stadium, amidst transfer rumours at Wigan that other strikers may be moving on. This follows yestersday's news that Palacios has moved to Spurs, reported between £12-14m. Despite the fact that Steve Bruce bought Palacios for £14m, Wigan have been a great side in the Premier League this season and selling your best players is always risky. It seems to be that the minute you sell a striker, your first choice forwards get suspended or injured. Easy sitting in the stands and criticising as opposed to being a professional football manager I guess.

Manchester City sign De Jong

Mark Hughes made his third signing of the transfer window, acquiring Dutch international midfielder Nigel de Jong for an undisclosed fee.

Manchester City have also signed Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy. They have been linked now with Newcastle United 'keeper Shay Given.

In my view these are the signings that will strengthen Manchester City in a healthy way - just look at the issues that have arisen in the last week with Brazilian star Robinho.

Craig Bellamy signs for Manchester City

West Ham have sold 29 year old Craig Bellamy to the new Premier League fat cats Manchester City for an undisclosed fee. It is rumoured that the transfer reached around £14m and is probably of no surprise after Bellamy did not play in West Ham's 3-1 victory against Fulham on Sunday. Bellamy was also linked with Aston Villa in December.

All Football on TV

The Premier League in England was created in 1992 to supersede the old Division 1 and in that time has exploded to be the most lucrative league in all football. In 2007, the Premier League was valued at generating annual revenues of £1.8 billion. This is the fourth highest behind the US National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. In 1992, BSkyB gained the rights to broadcasting all Premier League matches which at the time was quite surprising, 17 years later you can hardly imagine a Premier League without Sky TV coverage. The revenue levels shared between all football club in the Premier League makes being in the top flight very lucrative and has led to a gulf between the other English football clubs.

In 2006, Irish company Setanta broke Sky TV’s rights to broadcast all football and has also got involved in International football coverage. This occurred after the European Commission concluded that the Premier League matches should not be with just one company.
More recently, American sports network channel ESPN are interested in broadcasting Premier League football. They have publicly declared that they would want to cover 100% of all Premier League football matches. The deadline for the first tenders is February 4th 2009 and it is expected that ESPN will be bidding. This could negatively impact upon all Premier League club’s earnings depending on how the deal was scoped, but due to economical pressures club revenues through these TV deals could decrease anyway.

BBC’s rights to broadcast all Premier League football highlights is likely to remain the same.

Does our national game depend upon this revenue too much to produce high quality football as opposed to concentrating on English grass roots?

The Football Association and other bodies have a responsibility to preserve our nation's favourite sport. Ensuring that player behaviour on the pitch is part of this because in recent years footballers have huge popstar like status. Football has strong links with the working class and should be there for kids to seek good values - keeping fit, being a team player and taking part in activity that is fun!

Football for all is a great Scottish based charity whose aim it is to address racial discrimination, drug/alcohol abuse, homelessness and then promote inclusion in our beautiful game at a local level. This is an important part of the system and ensures that if there is talent out there that everyone gets to play football.

Tottenham close in on Palacios

UPDATE: Tottenham Hotspur have increased their offer to Wigan for Honduran Wilson Palacios. The original offer of £14m was then put on hold as neighbours Manchester City expressed an interest.

"I haven't given up hope of keeping the boy, but it is difficult," said the Wigan Boss Steve Bruce. "I'm the manager of a club where we will lose our better players if the big clubs come calling, that's a fact of life. But one thing I wanted to avoid was losing them halfway through the season. A lot of people have put in a lot of hard work in building this side over the last 14 months."

After recently playing some very average football at the JJB Sports Stadium, Harry has obviously assessed the Tottenham Hotspur midfield group of players and come to the conclusion that it is light weight and could benefit from Latics favourite Wilson Palacios.

One comment that I read on the BBC Sports blog was that if Diarra was worth £21m then Palacios was definitely worth £14m. Crazy cash, you might say. However if all transfer fees are relative then Spurs have paid more money for players such as David Bentley and Darren Bent, should Spurs sign him Harry Redknapp will be hoping for consistent displays like the one he witnessed on Sunday. Palacios covered every blad of grass against Spurs as my Dad and I looked on at a deflated Lily whites team. His strengthes are breaking up the play and maintaining possession, he also displayed great athleticism with a spectacular overhead kick.

Steve Bruce is gently hinting that the deal is close, providing great player revenue to Wigan Athletic and Spurs with a quality, young midfielder.

Kaka, Kenwyne Jones, Latest

Football isn't a funny old game any more. It is just pure madness. Some football clubs could be bought in its entirety for the recent £91m bid tabled for Brazilian international Kaka by Manchester City to AC Milan. £500,000 per week as a wage in the credit crunch....not bad really. Despite Kaka saying that he wants to 'grow old' one would imagine that money will talk yet again in our beautiful game. Although it is crazy numbers, if you've got it why not spend it.

"We believe the deal is very close," Bowen said today to BBC Sport Wales.

"We are selling the future plans of the club to the player.


Tottenham's latest target is Kenwyne Jones, who has impressed for Sunderland. The rumour is that Spurs have offered £15m for the Trinidad and Tobago international.

Chelsea feel the wrath of the Cigar of God

Diego Maradona's love for cuban cigars was apparently the reason for the disruptive night at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel at 7am on Sunday morning prior to the big clash with title holders Manchester United.

The Sun quoted a fireman at the Radisson Hotel: "It looks as though it was set off by Diego and his entourage smoking cigars on the 14th floor. I saw most of Chelsea outside shivering. It wasn't the best preparation for a vital game."

Although the Greater Manchester Fire Service couldn't confirm in a statement what caused the alarm, a fireman said that Maradona and his associates were responisble.

Hotel manager Steve Miles was quoted as saying: "We followed procedure. It was a genuine alarm."

A tired looking Chelsea were taken to school in their 3-0 loss at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. Despite Scholari saying that this put a dent in the Premier League aspirations, I think Chelsea could come good and win the Premier League.

Portsmouth v Manchester City and Fulham v Blackburn Rovers called off

Premiership matches at Fratton Park and Craven Cottage have been called off because of the winter cold snap.

Portmouth do not have undersoil heating at their ground, alternatively they opt for a heated blanket and blowers to prepare during winter frost.

Should these standards be higher for all Premiership clubs?

Hughes keen to pair up with Santa Cruz

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has had a £12m bid refused by Premiership strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

Roque Santa Cruz played under Hughes last season at Ewood Park and has impressed since he came to the Premiership in 2007. It is expected that Manchester City will bid again, however with the credit crunch looming in terms of its impact on the footballing world Hughes has no real competitors in his quest to get Santa Cruz.

The Paraguayan striker recently signed up for four year contract at the Rovers in the summer but has attracted alot of interest and speculation in the Premier League.

Carling Cup latest: Derby 1 Manchester United 0 Kris Commons goal

New Derby boss Nigel Clough watched his side from the stands as they managed a euphoric Semi-final victory against Premier League champions Manchester United.

Kris Commons from early on in the first half looked impressive with a real cultured foot - one for the future perhaps spectators possibly thinking...with an expectation of an onslaught from the Red Devils.

However, after 29 minutes it was Commons that scored an absolutely fantastic goal from 25 yards leaving Man Utd 'keeper Tomasz Kuszczak routed to the spot. Make sure you see this one people.



In the second half, Manchester United were wasteful in possession and Derby managed to put together some good passing moves and threaten the Manchester United goal.



After all of the recent negative publicity with Paul Jewell's exit, this was a fantastic night for all Rams fans.

Arshavin linked with Arsenal and Juventus

St Petersburg and Russian international Andrei Arshavin is linked with Arsenal and Juventus for a fee of around £20m.

Arshavin, one of the big stars of Euro 2008 impressed in the recent tournament which led to rival Tottenham Hotspur's interest in the forward but the two clubs couldn't agree on the transfer amount.

Apparently St Petersburg are demanding the whol transfer fee in one amount, whereas this fee is commonly negotiated on the amount of appearances across the contract period and in multiple installments for cashflow reasons.

Rodallega signs for Wigan

23 year old Colombian striker Hugo Rodallega is expected to sign for Steve Bruce's Wigan Athletic by the end of this week for a reported £4.5m.

Rodallega played for Necaxa previously, racking up 15 goals in 36 matches. He is potentially a replacement for soon to be out of contract Emile Heskey. Strikers Camara could also be leaving as well as the Zaki rumours reported back since November although Steve Bruce is denying the latter.

Lactics boss Steve Bruce said: "He is an exceptional player in South America and will be an exceptional player for us.

"I hope we can tie it up. He is only 23 but he is an exciting player and it would be great if we could get him.

"He's fast, he's big, about 6ft 1in, he's good in the air, rangy rather than thick-set, can score a goal. He's just a genuine all-round striker.

"We're close to it (a deal) but when you're dealing with someone from abroad it is already racked with problems.

"We have to go and apply for a work permit. I believe that has been set for some time next week and I believe that's on the agenda.

"I don't envisage there will be any problems, I hope not anyway."

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

FA Cup Review 2009

After the upset of the weekend at the City of Manchester Stadium where Notts Forest won 3-0, it is fair to say that the magic of the FA Cup is very much alive. As Portsmouth proved in 2008, any team can defy the top 4 Premier League clubs and take this great trophy.

After Manchester United beat Southampton at St Mary's Stadium 3-0, Tottenham fans' fears were confirmed: away at Old Trafford. Fantastic Merseyside derby is the tie of the fourth round draw is Liverpool vs Everton at Anfield. Should Chelase beat Southend away they would face Ipsiwch Town at home and Arsenal are away at Cardiff City.

FA Cup 2009 fourth round draw:
Liverpool v Everton
Manchester United v Tottenham
Hull or Newcastle v Millwall or Crewe
Sunderland v Blyth or Blackburn
Hartlepool v West Ham
Leyton Orient or Sheffield United v Charlton or Norwich
Cardiff v Arsenal
Portsmouth or Bristol City v Histon or Swansea
Chelsea or Southend v Ipswich
Cheltenham or Doncaster v Aston Villa
West Brom or Peterborough v QPR or Burnley
Torquay v Coventry
Kettering v Fulham
Watford v Leicester or Crystal Palace
Derby v Nottingham Forest
Birmingham or Wolves v Middlesbrough

FA Cup 3rd round results

Tottenham Hotspur and Wigan had the first FA Cup match of 2009 at White Hart Lane on Friday 2nd January. Spurs won 3-1 with Ukranian striker Roman Pavlichenko showing good form and scoring twice.

The biggest upset of the weeken so far was Manchester City losing 3-0 at home to Championship team Nottingham Forest.

Southend also managed to scored an equaliser at Stamford Bridge in injury time against Chelsea to secure a tricky away replay for the Blues.

Arsenal looked comfortable against Plymouth Argyle in their 3-1 victory with Robin Van Persie scoring twice and taking the role of captaincy for the first time.

Liverpool were away at Preston North End and took the lead with Rierain the 25th minute and looked extremely vibrant but struggled to get a second goal. Captain Steven Gerrard made his feet do the talking after a difficult week with the arrest regarding an alleged assault on a DJ over the Christmas period. It was Gerrard that broke through in the 93rd minute with no Preston defensive cover and passed generously to a Fernando Torres (just returned from injury) to slot home a second to secure the Reds' progression to the second round.

Today's fixtures in the FA Cup 3rd round:

FA Cup 3rd Round 4th January 2009
Gillingham v Aston Villa 13.30
Southampton v Man Utd 16.00

Football Transfer Gossip

January 2009 Football Gossip

May I just take this opportunity to wish all Premier League fans a very happy and prosperous new year. I certainly hope to deliver you with great football news and welcome all comments about my footie blog going into 2009.

I absolutely love this time of year, the winter transfer window makes football journalists, forum members and club fans chin wag and speculate on who is coming/leaving all league clubs. So what's happening in the market....?

One of the most obvious transfer rumours linking Jermaine Defoe to his old club Tottenham Hotspur became stronger today when Tony Adams said that Defoe may have played his last game for Pompey. Defoe, loved by the Tottenham faithful has performed teriffically for Portsmouth but is strongly linked with Harry Redknapp who has managed the England international twice at West Ham United and Portsmouth. It was 12 months ago that Defoe went to Pompey, the move was underpinned by a Benjani exit to Manchester City.

Left-back wayne Bridge has agreed a move to cash rich Manchester City for an undisclosed fee which is rumoured to be up to £12m. The 28 year old has struggled to get into the first team at Chelsea with England international Ashley Cole taking the left flank slot full time. Bridge joined Chelsea 5 years ago and has been starved of first team action, so moving to Man City will be a great opportunity to get some first team football and put himself in front of England boss Fabio Cappelo on a more regular basis.

Manchester United have bought two Serbian players from Partizan Belgrade - Zoran Tosic (left winger) and Adem Ljajic (midefielder). Tosic will be straight into the Red Devil's squad and Adem Ljajic will be going straight back to Partizan Belgrade on loan.

Joe Kinnear is denying any sale of Shay Given. The 32 year old has recently been rumoured to be unhappy at St James Park, but the former Wimbledon and Notts Forest boss has ruled any depature out.

"He is our player and he is going to stay our player, it's as simple as that," said Kinnear.

West Ham United have 2 months left potentially until their ownership is in an insolvent position which will probably force Zola to sell players that he we would prefer to keep.