Nicolas Anelka could be the latest big name player to make the move to the Russian Premier League with FC Terek Grozny lining up a move for the Chelsea striker the Daily Mail reports.
Stars like Samuel Eto’o, Roberto Carlos, Balázs Dzsudzsák and former Stamford Bridge teammate Yuri Zhirkov have all moved to Russia in the last 12 months to join Grozny’s rivals Anzhi Makhachkala who are also interested in the Frenchman.
Anelka’s contract in West London expires in June and has been linked with several Turkish clubs interested whilst a move to America a possibility with a clutch of Major League Soccer teams considering a move for him.
However it’s now emerged that Grozny who are drawing up a lucrative contract offer for the 32-year-old as they strive to compete with fellow Russian giants Anzhi, Spartak Moscow, Zenit St Petersburg, CSKA Moscow and Rubin Kazan.
Despite competing with a host of top strikers Anelka has featured in every Chelsea game so far this season making nine appearances and scoring one goal.
His cause has been helped with Daniel Sturridge and Fernando Torres both serving suspensions, Didier Drogba suffering a serious injury and 18-year-old Romelu Lukaku being eased into Premier League life making him the only senior forward consistently available to Andre Villas-Boas.
However his early season form may not be enough to warrant a new deal and his five-year stay at Chelsea could end next summer with a move looking increasingly likely.
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Charlie Austin couldn’t have timed his return to goalscoring form any better. With Jay Rodriguez looking set to miss the next few weeks with a groin injury, I was concerned about our goals drying up between now and the end of the season.
I needn’t have worried. Austin, who has played second fiddle to Rodriguez for much of the season, came off the bench at Portsmouth and bagged his first career hat trick in the final fifteen minutes. He began the season well, scoring 9 goals in his first 17 appearances, but then a shoulder injury suffered against Leeds United in November set him back, and after missing four matches he struggled to find the net upon his return.
Before his hat trick at Portsmouth, he had scored only twice in his previous eighteen appearances, and I think that was down to a lack of confidence brought about by the dislocation to his shoulder. It can’t have been easy for him to watch his strike partner Rodriguez – who has scored frequently and consistently throughout the campaign – grab the headlines but his goals on Saturday should provide him with the boost he needs.
With Rodriguez facing a battle to return before the end of the season, Austin has a genuine chance to overtake his partner’s league tally of fifteen. He currently stands two shy of that mark, and a fully confident Austin could be about to benefit from a purple patch over the remaining seven fixtures. Three of those games are against teams in the bottom four, and I’m sure Austin will be looking at the next few weeks as a chance to stake his claim for a regular starting berth next season.
Of his 39 appearances so far this season, 13 of those have been as a substitute and often he has only entered the action in the final ten minutes of games. On Saturday at Portsmouth he came on shortly after half time and I think that this is much more suited to his game. It gives him the time to get up to speed with the action; as we saw on Saturday, his first goal arrived twenty minutes after coming on, and two more followed in the next fifteen minutes.
His finishes were all predatory, coming from a combined distance of about fifteen yards and as an out and out goalscorer he brings something different to the squad. Rodriguez is more of an all-round forward who holds the ball up, wins the flick-ons and scores all types of goals. Martin Paterson is a workhorse; never likely to be prolific in the Championship but his high energy performances create chances for others. Danny Ings, who scored his first goal for the club at Portsmouth, looks very sharp but as yet Burnley fans have not seen enough of him to make an informed opinion.
The types of goals Austin scores remind me of watching Andy Payton in the late nineties, and as a Burnley fan I can’t pay him a higher compliment than that. He is not particularly tall, muscular or quick, but he often finds himself in the right place at the right time in and around the penalty area. His partnership with Rodriguez has produced 35 goals so far this season, and if a Premier League club do come in with a good offer for Rodriguez in the summer, Eddie Howe will have to base next year’s campaign around Austin’s goals. His display at Fratton Park on Saturday suggests he is up to it.
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It is without a doubt one of the most addictive developments in the history of football, so much so that it has even been cited as the reason behind about 30 divorces in the UK since its inception in 1982. Football manager games have brought an entirely new dimension to football fandom, the ability to take control of a club and run it the way you want. The games have advanced to a such a stage that you find yourself entirely immersed in this fantasy world, accelerating into a make-believe future with your club, sometimes even losing track of who the club has signed in real life or in the game.
The sense of realism is clearly what sells the games to the fans, because stripped away as nothing more than a spreadsheet and a collection of intricate flow charts it is hardly the most interesting of concepts. But just how close to real life is it?
Scarily close. Let’s use new Bristol Rovers boss Paul Buckle as an example. Buckle joined Rovers on the first day of June, and since then has brought 14 players into the club, quite a haul in less than 2 months. He was recently asked how he managed to accomplish such a feat, to which he replied that he had, over the space of 4 years, created a database of players that he had scouted and assessed, and as a result was able to call upon his research as a source for new players. Whether this was experimented with as a result of playing Championship Manager or another similar title was not explained, but the comparisons between what Buckle has managed to do and what you or I could do with a laptop and a copy of Football Manager are clear.
Yet while Buckle created his own database, others have decided to jump on the back of the likes of Football Manager’s scouting resources for their own uses. In 2008 Everton signed a contract with Sports Interactive to be able to use the company’s network of 1000 scouts in 50 different countries before the game was released, supposedly allowing them the best opportunity to pick up talented players before on the cheap before anyone else can get involved. Whether or not that has worked depends on your view of the Everton transfer policy, although even a highly knowledgeable group of scouts can’t make much difference when the chairman employs a strategy of ‘let’s not buy anyone, ever.’
These games do have a proven track record of pointing-out rather than unearthing gems, particularly in youth squads. The likes of Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi and David Beckham were all destined for greatness according to previous versions and have successfully gone on to prove the developers and scouts right. There have also been some instances of players on the game out-performing their real-life selves, for example Ramon Calliste who helped this writer catapult his Southend team from Division 3 to the Premier League on Championship Manager 03/04, scoring more than a goal a game throughout his career. Back on planet Earth, Calliste is hunting for a club after being released by Scunthorpe.
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But what could be more realistic than a failed foray into the transfer market? You only need to look at some of Alex Ferguson’s signings over the years to see that even great managers and scouts get it wrong sometimes. Liam Miller, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Massimo Taibi, Bébé… you just can’t win them all.
So you’ve led your team from the bowels of the Football League to the glory of the Premier League title, maybe with a few European and domestic trophies thrown in for good measure. Basically, you’re a legend. Could you cut it in the real world?
Some have tried. In 2006, one plucky football fan took his knowledge of management games, and his experience of managing an under-11s team, put it in a CV and sent it to Middlesbrough, manager-less following Steve McClaren’s ill-advised decision to become England coach. In his covering letter, John Boileau described himself as, “a young, ambitious football manager with vast experience (on Football Manager 2005)” whose greatest achievements included signing Raul, Fernando Torres and Thierry Henry as his strikeforce at Doncaster Rovers. Somehow Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson managed to overlook the talented Boileau, stating in his reply to the former Doncaster manager that, while he was clearly the outstanding candidate, Gibson feared he would be snapped-up immediately by a bigger club.
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So right now it would appear that the transition from fantasy to reality is still a fair way off. But the rate these games advance, how long before we see a real-world rookie in the hotseat at a top club?
Are you a Championship or Football Manager fan? Favourite game in the series? Let me know on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/_tomclose
The 20 ‘Championship Manager’ cult heroes that fell by the wasteside
Manchester United are set to break Liverpool’s record and seal their 19th League title if they gain a point or more against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon. Therefore, United’s final match of the season against Blackpool could prove to be a worthless game. With the Champions League Final set to take place against Barcelona at Wembley on six days later, don’t be surprised if Sir Alex Ferguson fields a weakened team at Old Trafford as he looks to preserve key players for one of the most important games of the season.
However, the final game is far more important to Blackpool and their rivals as they look to preserve their Premiership status. In what is proving to be a close relegation battle, surely the likes of Wigan, West Ham and Wolves would have serious cause for complaint if Manchester United were to field a reserve side and Blackpool won and prevented relegation?
This is not the first time Ferguson has been in such a situation. In 2008/09, United fielded a weakened side against Hull but still managed to win. Of greater notoriety was the final day of the 2006/07 season when West Ham defeated United at Old Trafford and saved their Premier League status at the expense of Sheffield United. A hot-headed manager at the best of times, then-Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock was furious at Ferguson’s selection that effectively consigned The Blades to relegation and refused to accept the latter’s apology.
But squad rotation has become increasingly common in the Premier League as teams look to prioritise European and cup competitions over domestic games. With teams boasting increasingly large squads designed to cope with more congested fixture schedules, surely it is up to managers to select appropriate teams that are capable of winning titles yet durable enough to survive up to and sometimes over fifty games in a season. Teams rest key players and ultimately sacrifice points throughout the season. It is just unfortunate that this example comes at such a crucial stage for the teams faced with possible relegation.
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The Premier League has in place rules designed to protect the integrity of the fixtures. Blackpool themselves have already been fined £25,000 for fielding a weakened team and action would surely be taken if Ferguson was deemed to have selected a second string XI.
But, what if the final game came around and, say, Edwin van de Sar collided with Nemanja Vidic and Wayne Rooney pulled up lame with a hamstring injury? If United lost three crucial players before probably the most important game of the season in an otherwise meaningless game, Ferguson would never hear the end of it. Both fans and pundits would criticise his selection and he then would not be able to field a full-strength team in the Champions League final. Therefore, when put into context, if United faced a fine of a similar amount to that received by Blackpool then surely it would be a small price to pay for protecting their chances of European success. Yes, it could have a direct effect on the other relegation candidates, but at the end of the day teams don’t play football for the benefit of other teams; they play to win themselves and should do whatever is necessary to succeed.
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FootballFanCast.com WORLD Exclusive, Robbie Savage’s Face in a Baby Scan
Barcelona and Real Madrid both face UEFA charges following the fall-out of Wednesday’s Champions League clash at the Bernabeu. Both Carlo Ancelotti and Arsene Wenger have dismissed the talk of conspiracies, although I am sure the likes of Jose Mourinho will beg to differ.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Ferguson claims United lack a Ronaldo; Houllier leaves hospital, while Arsenal fans beg Kroenke to halt ticket prices.
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Real and Barcelona go to war again after Uefa charges – Guardian
Wenger won’t sell star names – Sky Sports
Ferguson: United lack ‘Ronaldo’ factor – Daily Telegraph
Newcastle join hunt for Leeds’ winger Snodgrass as Pardew looks for pace – Daily Mail
Arsenal fans beg Kroenke to halt price rises – Daily Telegraph
Gabbidon charged with improper conduct by FA for X-rated Twitter rant – Daily Mail
Houllier leaves hospital – Sky Sports
Carroll told to expect Newcastle abuse – Guardian
Redknapp is a goer for Asamoah – Sun
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Mancini: Tevez could quit even if we reach Champions League – Mirror
Etherington likely to miss Cup final – Guardian
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Listen to the third episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, who performs a live version of his cult tribute to Mark Viduka, with Razor on backing vocals!
Bolton boss Owen Coyle announced that he is not interested in signing transfer listed Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton.The 28-year-old was placed on the transfer list by Newcastle on Monday after criticising owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias.
Barton was linked to several clubs including Bolton, but Coyle said on Thursday he would not try and sign the one-time England international.
“I think Joey Barton’s best position is in the centre of midfield, that’s not an area we are looking to strengthen,” Coyle said.
“What I do know is whoever does manage to sign him is getting a hugely talented player and I’d imagine a player with a point to prove so it will certainly be good business for someone.”
The Scottish manager has not ruled out a move for Manchester City wingers Sean Wright-Phillips and Vladimir Weiss.
Coyle helped Bolton to 14th in the English Premier League last campaign, but said his team was capable of producing surprises this season.
“I think if you ask anybody at the beginning of the season they would say that the top six places should fill themselves, barring something going horribly wrong any of those elite clubs,” Coyle said.
“But I think it’s also fair to say that on any given day we are all capable of beating whether it be the top six or not.”
“Consistently we know that we’ll not match them over the season but we know game to game we can go and win games and take points and that’s why it’s the best league in the world.”
Bolton meet La Liga outfit Levante in a pre-season friendly at Reebok Stadium on Friday.
Rangers closed the gap on Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League to two points after a 1-0 win at Hamilton on Sunday.Hamilton’s last league victory came way back in November when they won 1-0 at Motherwell. Amazingly, they have not won a home fixture all season, meaning Walter Smith’s side entered the clash as red-hot favourites.
But the reigning champions were given a test by the SPL cellar-dwellers, with the first half almost entirely non-eventful until Nikica Jelavic scored on the stroke of half-time.
Jelavic’s strike was of the highest quality, with his free-kick from the edge of the box curling past the wall and leaving Hamilton shot-stopper Tomas Cerny with no chance.
Throughout a tense second half, Rangers failed to get the all-important second half and left themselves vulnerable to a late equaliser from the hosts.
But it never materialised as Rangers kept the pressure on their arch-rivals Celtic.
Hamilton remain 12 points behind their nearest competitor St Mirren and have amassed just 16 points in 32 league fixtures this season.
Blackburn boss Steve Kean will be staring down the barrel of a loaded gun after watching his side slip to the foot of the Premier League table after they were beaten by fellow strugglers Bolton in an epic relegation six-pointer at Ewood Park.
In a game that will go a long way to defining both clubs’ season it was the Trotters who came out on top ending a run of five consecutive defeats to give them a real chance of getting themselves out of trouble during the christmas period. As for Rovers they had to endure a third successive defeat and now find themselves four points from safety having played a game more than their rivals at the bottom. The pressure is now firmly on Kean with reports suggesting that his job would be under increasing scrutiny should he lose against West Brom and Bolton in the space of four days. Supporters once again vented their anger and frustration over their manages continued tenure in the dugout leaving the owners with a serious decision to make over whether to give Kean a chance to save the club from the doom of relegation. Since taking over last December the Scot has won only seven games since then and failed to keep a clean sheet in 20 games since their last shut out in April – ironically against Bolton.
Owen Coyles’ side were clearly the hungrier of the two sides out on the field and it was no surprise when they took the lead with only five minutes on the clock. The normally reliable Christopher Samba saw his hashed clearance fall to David N’Gog who found Mark Davies and the midfielder made no mistake drilling the ball past Paul Robinson. The goal was met with jeers and chants demanding Kean be relieved of his duties there and then as the relationship between manager and supporter plummeted to new depths. Such negativity was clearly having an effect on the players as they struggled to and the noise around Ewood Park became even more blue as the Trotters doubled their lead just after the half hour mark. More shoddy defending from the hosts saw Morten Gamst Pedersen fail to deal with Martin Petrovs cross allowing the ball to find Nigel Reo-Coker who swiftly turned and lashed the ball home. Inevitably a torrent of abuse was directed towards the home dugout as Kean stood aimlessly staring out into the mess that was his Blackburn Rovers on field. It almost got worse before the half was over with N’Gog having a shot blocked before the whistle for half time proved the catalyst for more boo’s and jeers.
A major response was needed after the break and luckily for Kean his players provided it 12 minutes after the restart with Yakubu halving the deficit escaping the clutches of Gary Cahill to slam Junior Hoiletts pass into the back of the net. The Nigerian almost levelled the game later on only to see his shot deflected wide as Rovers went on the offensive. However their gung-ho approach left them susceptible to breaks on the counter and Bolton almost profited with Petrov speeding down the wing and crossing for Tuncay who failed to make contact with the ball as it flashed across goal. As the minutes ticked by the home sides hopes of an equaliser faded as the Trotters held on to secure a massively important three points and ease the pressure on Coyle’s shoulders ahead of their Boxing Day meeting with Newcastle. As for Kean and Blackburn, lets see what the morning brings.
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Football’s world governing body FIFA have rejected Mohamed Bin Hammam’s appeal against his lifetime ban from the game, but the shamed executive is refusing to let the matter lie.
The Qatari chief, who is the former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, was banned from the game back in July after being found guilty of bribery, and FIFA have confirmed that his appeal has been turned down.
“The Fifa Appeal Committee, under the chairmanship of Francisco Acosta (Ecuador), has confirmed today the decisions taken by the Fifa Ethics Committee on 23 July 2011 regarding the ban on Fifa Executive Committee member Mohammed bin Hammam for a breach of the Fifa Code of Ethics,” a statement on the official FIFA website read.
“The appeal made by Mohammed bin Hammam has been rejected and the decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee confirmed.
“The sanction of being banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at national and international level for life has therefore been maintained,” it concluded.
Despite this, Bin Hammam has refused to accept the governing body’s decision, and will continue in his protest.
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“As expected, the FIFA appeals panel, which met in Zurich today, upheld the 23 July ruling by the FIFA ethics committee, and we will therefore be taking our appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),” his lawyer Eugene Gulland stated to reporters after the decision.
The January transfer window is imminent, moves are being planned and pre-planned and in swift attempts to shift deadwood for “transitional phases”, players are being told they can leave. One player to already fall victim to age discrimination in the workplace, is 32-year old Nicolas Anelka , who has been told he doesn’t feature in Chelsea ’s long term plans under Andre Villas-Boas , stating that, “the club has decided to work with Chelsea’s players of the future and I have accepted this.” Just how long Villas-Boas has to regiment his troops, fluctuates with the week and whether or not his vice-captain on the field of duty, Frank Lampard , is starting, or if his captain’s racially slurring his way through games next to an incompetent David Luiz.
However, as the fashionable debonair critic slayer continues to slay critics fashionably, whilst remaining debonair, “ the talent of this team is not in question,” he told reporters a week after having to defend his team’s talents, “this has been a continuous persecution of Chelsea, continuous aggression of one club. We have become your target. We have to accept it,” in the background, he’s been ushering players out of the door quietly. Some are, understandably, reluctant and are holding on to the door frame Winston-Bogarde-style.
A further five players could be set to follow Nicolas Anelka out of Stamford Bridge, however unlikely to do so in the wage-increasing style the Frenchman is, with a new path in his career in China with Shanghai Shenhua starting in January. Ivorian pair Drogba and Kalou have apparently been offered a way out, as well as the already transfer-listed Alex and Portuguese defensive duo, Paulo Ferreira and Jose Bosingwa. One player not aging, not cheap and not expected as potentially on the transfer list is Fernando Torres .
This isn’t because he’s top class, banging goals in week-in-week-out, or because he’s in high demand, this is because he cost Chelsea £50m less than a year ago. However, over thirty appearances later, Fernando Torres has spent much of his playing time in a pedestrian manner and has only scored five times. In a career that could be valued at £395,480.00 a goal, spreading his total transfer fees over his total goal count, he has cost Chelsea over twenty times that, at £10m a goal. If they do want to get shot of him, it’s to cut their losses, not make a profit.
The rumoured fee for the European Championships and World Cup medallist is as little as £20m, £30m less than Chelsea acquired him for from Liverpool , and the same fee at which the Merseyside club brought him for, before enjoying his services 81 times in front of goal in 142 appearances. At 27-years old, his career is far from over, and many a player has slumped mid-career, before reinvigorating themselves elsewhere.
It should be no different for a player that was arguably up there with the best just a few years ago. Signing him would be a gamble, but it could be a gamble that could see a player with class, just no form, signed at a cut-price deal with the ability to quickly prove his weight in gold.
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Another player with just as many goals, as well as the same price-tag, as Fernando Torres in the past two months is Carlos Tevez . The difference is that one has been frozen out by his own accord, and the other has been frozen out, making just one start in his club’s last 8 games, by his manager. For Carlos Tevez , there is no questions being asked of his quality, or whether he still has it, it is over his attitude. The Argentine has managed to steal much of Manchester City ’s limelight in a season that has seen them spend the majority of it at the top. His refusal to take to the pitch, whether it happened or not, his failure to return from Argentina and countless claims and counterclaims of defamation, have hindered all the good work going on at the Etihad. January may provide both parties with a way out.
The only deliberation left, is how to get rid of him. Carlos Tevez is wanted, make no mistake about it. His clash at Manchester City is very much on a personal level, and while he is lambasted as a mercenary, a sap to the game, a bad tag to the game even, a move away is the only feasible way a reasonable judgement can be made on the player. This is where the problem lies: Mancini only wants him to leave on a permanent transfer and to a club abroad; the interest is with other English clubs or loan offers.
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There is no denying that these two performers have ability in abundance. One is a shell of a former self. One currently lives in a shell. However, with reasonable fees on their heads, in a time of unproven English starlets selling for £10m, a cut-price quickfire double bid for the both of them could make a club’s season. A team such as Tottenham , a team such as Manchester United if Paul Ince is to believed on his views of Manchester United , could benefit tenfold by signing these two strikers.
However, as easily as the players could make a club’s season, they could break it. Torres has only scored 5 goals in the past 11 months and Tevez hasn’t been playing football since September. His attitude could turn on any team that takes a chance on him, and together, if both players were to act as they are currently, one club would quickly become broken.