There Is Only One Sinnacle

Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh says he would prefer to join Arsenal over Liverpool in the summer. Chamakh’s contract with the French club finishes at the end of the season. Daily Mirror

Too bad Wenger didn’t bring in Chamakh last summer instead of next summer. Maybe Arsenal title chances wouldn’t be flat lining.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas is to reject a new contract at Arsenal and instead join Spanish side Barcelona. Spanish newspaper Sport

No idea how legit this story is but after losing to Manchester United isn’t the best time to try and lock up Fabregas.

Portsmouth could be welcoming their fifth owner of a turbulent season after executive director Mark Jacob revealed that “two or three groups” have approached the board. Daily Mirror

To Liverpool or Manchester United fans who hate their owners just remember, things can always get worst. Compared to Portsmouth, Liverpool and Manchester United ownership picture looks rosey.

Sacked England captain John Terry has phoned new skipper Rio Ferdinand to offer the Manchester United defender his support. The Sun

First smart thing Terry has done in awhile.

Robinho made a dream debut on his return to Brazilian team Santos by coming off the bench to score the winning goal against Sao Paulo. Full story: Daily Mail

Could of used Robinho against Hull last weekend.

Euro 2012 Draw: Italy Meet Serbia, Germany-Turkey & Portugal-Denmark

The qualifying draw for Euro 2012 was made in Warsaw, Poland with Group C arguably the toughest where Italy, Serbia and Slovenia were placed together.

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I’m happy with the draw. Norway will be a tough 3rd seed but like the fact Portugal gets to meet up with Denmark again. Mind you I’m sure after beating Portugal in World Cup qualifying Denmark is pretty happy about it themselves. Hopefully this go around Portugal doesn’t take Denmark or any other country lightly.

Group A

Germany
Turkey
Austria
Belgium
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan

Group B

Russia
Slovakia
Republic of Ireland
FYR Macedonia
Armenia
Andorra

Group C

Italy
Serbia
Northern Ireland
Slovenia
Estonia
Faroe Islands

Group D

France
Romania
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belarus
Albania
Luxembourg

Group E

Netherlands
Sweden
Finland
Hungary
Moldova
San Marino

Group F

Croatia
Greece
Israel
Latvia
Georgia
Malta

Group G

England
Switzerland
Bulgaria
Wales
Montenegro

Group H

Portugal
Denmark
Norway
Cyprus
Iceland

Group I

Spain
Czech Republic
Scotland
Lithuania
Liechtenstein

If rumours are to be believed Fabio Capello has shown who is boss by stripping the captaincy from John Terry after a meeting which took place today.

My respect for Capello would grow if he took a firm and heavy hand in dealing with this matter. It’s like the movie Casino, old school Italians are not going to deal well with people missing around with each others wifes (or girlfriends). The only different is Frankie most likely won’t end up taking a bat to John Terry in some cornfield over this.

Aston Villa are to hold talks in the summer with midfielder James Milner regarding a new contract. He signed a four-year deal when he became Villa’s record signing in a £12m switch from Newcastle 18 months ago and is under contract until June 2012. Wolverhampton Express & Star

James Milner’s agent must be happy hearing this news. Between Milner and Ashley Young you have to edge the edge to Milner being Villa best midfielder this season.

Egypt striker Mohamed Zidan, who plays for Borussia Dortmund, is being chased by Manchester United, Arsenal and Barcelona – according to his dad. The Sun

Key part of his rumour “according to his DAD.” According to my dad I could be playing for Benfica if I had applied myself. According to reality I had no pace and no right foot.

City also want to bring Lazio striker Mauro Zarate back to England to replace Robinho – the Argentine previously had a spell at Birmingham. Goal.com

It’s not like Zarate is leading Lazio to new heights. He is a good player but it would be foolish spending lavish amounts of money for a player who won’t play week in and week out.

Manchester United are resigned to losing Nemanja Vidic in the summer, with AC Milan ready to rival Real Madrid’s £20m attempt to prise him away. Daily Mirror

You knew once Manchester United bought Chris Smalling from Fulham rumours of Vidic’s exit would heat up. Don’t image United buying Smalling so he can be a 4th central defender.

The Gunners boss has also apparently stepped up the chase for £14m France striker Loic Remy, dubbed the ‘new Thierry Henry’. The Sun

Ryan Babel was once dubbed the Dutch Thierry Henry, that hasn’t gone according to plan.

Manchester City have offered first-team regulars at Eastlands a bonus of £1m each to take the club into the Champions League and win the FA Cup. Daily Express

What do they mean by first team regulars? Manchester City do play a lot of different players. Would Rogue Santa Cruz be listed as a first team regular and if not what motivation does he have then? This offer should be for the entire team in order to make it mean something.

Aston Villa have banned youth defender Nathan Baker from this month’s League Cup final after the 18-year-old was caught selling his ticket allocation for the game on social networking site Facebook. (Various)

The kid is 18, it was dumb and he’ll learn from it. Image he’ll be getting more friend request in the coming days.

Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks is looking into selling his company’s NHL ice hockey team the Dallas Stars. The Guardian

Tom Hicks would sell you the shirt off his back if you came up with enough cash.

Five Portsmouth fans will walk into the Premier League’s luxurious offices in London on Friday looking for answers as to why their club has become football’s financial basket case. The Times

Really are those fans dumb? Fratton Park only holds 20k with no luxury boxes. Toronto FC make more on game day than Portsmouth does. Toronto FC hasn’t paid over 50 million in transfer fees nor have players making serveral million dollars on the books. The Premier League’s TV money can only take you so far.

Deco reveals retirement plans

Deco, 32, was born in Brazil but received Portuguese citizenship in 2002 after spending six years in the country playing for Benfica and Porto.

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After all these years I have never quite figured out what I should make of Deco. He was always one of those all or nothing type players. You can generally tell within the first 20 minutes of a game if Deco is going to make an impact or not. I even remember at the time wondering if Deco should even be on the National team, then he kissed the crest when he scored against Iran in the last World Cup. From then on I’ve been good with Deco playing for Portugal.

Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs believes team-mate Wayne Rooney is about to join Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid duo Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo in being seen as the best players in the world. Daily Star

Win and score in a Champions League final as the key player of a team then we will talk. No denying the form Rooney is in however.

England manager Fabio Capello will give Chelsea defender John Terry the chance to quit as England captain following newspaper revelations about his private life. The Sun

Newspapers must love this story breaking just after the transfer window closes. Gives them plenty to write about in normally quiet period.

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, who is on loan at AC Milan, has signed up for an Italian cookery course. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said the former England captain. (Daily Star)

Guess in point stories like these.

Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai, who has so far lent Portsmouth £20m, is exercising his right to seize control after the cash-strapped club failed to honour their repayments to him. The Sun

Chainrai has taken over the 90% shareholding held by Ali Al Faraj to become Portsmouth’s fourth owner in a year. The Guardian

No idea why Chainrai took over the club now, if he had bought it earlier in the season Portsmouth would at least have a chance to stay up.

Capello’s hopes of having Owen Hargreaves fit for the World Cup finals have suffered another blow after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson removed the midfielder from his Champions League squad. The Times

Hargreaves was one of the few England player’s who plays better in a big game. Still remember him and Arron Lennon scary the hell out of me when England took on Portugal four years ago. Was the only player to score from the spot too.

Barcelona are piling the pressure on Arsenal, with the Spanish giants planning a £40m summer swoop for midfielder Cesc Fabregas. The Sun

Barcelona are also interested in another Gunners player, midfielder Emmanuel Eboue. The Sun

Both Fabregas and Ebouse rumours to Barcelona leave me sppechless.

Arsenal midfielder and captain Cesc Fabregas is set to rejoin Barcelona in the summer. The 22-year-old Spaniard is contracted to the Gunners until the end of the 2013/2014 campaign but is unhappy with the team’s lack of ambition. (Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo)

At least Fabregas would remember what it’s like to win again by joining Barcelona and no I don’t believe this rumour.

Unsettled striker Roman Pavlyuchenko could still secure his Tottenham exit. The transfer window remains open in Russia and Pavlyuchenko’s agent spoke to the Lokomotiv Moscow president three times on Monday about a deal. Daily Mail

This exit will only come in the summer til then it’s more of the same for Pavlyuchenko.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher is unconcerned with stories surrounding boss Rafael Benitez. Despite reports in Italy over the Spaniard’s potential move to Juventus, Carragher said: “Liverpool has always had speculation about managers, players, players coming, players going and it’s the same as managers.” (PA)

Rafa’s people sure attached themselves to the Juventus coaching uncertainty quite well. Rafa Benitez is like dating a girl who you’re pretty sure won’t cheat on you but will talk to other guys at the bar.

Paris St Germain’s bid to sign Manchester United midfielder Anderson fell through because the French club were reluctant to pay the Brazilian’s wages. Daily Mail

How far along in the process could PSG of been if they didn’t want to pay Anderson what he is making at Manchester United?

One of the most unusual deals on deadline day was Mido’s move to West Ham – where he will be on the lowest wages for a player in the Premier League. The Egypt striker signed on a six-month loan from Middlesbrough for £1,000 a week and Hammers owner David Sullivan called the deal “one of the most amazing of all time”.: The Sun

Mido to West Ham might work out for both club and player. Mido is used to life in London playing with Tottenham, then again the oft travelled Mido is used to life in a lot of different cities.

Midfielder Park Ji-Sung has warned Chelsea that Manchester United will not capitulate as the Premier League title race heats up. The Sun

Was Chelsea at any point thinking that Manchester United was going to lay down and give them the title?

Fiorentina and ex-Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu, who tested positive for the banned substance sibutramine last week, has been labelled a “child” by the Italian club’s sporting director Pantaleo Corvino. The Sun

Considering the offers Fiorentina must of turned down over the years for Mutu this positive test must make the club sick.

It wasn’t the most dramatic of transfer deadline days, with less than £20m being splashed out in the final 24 hours of the window. Daily Mirror

Not even close to the £170m that was spent this time last year.

Been gone for a couple of days so I’m catching up on some stuff. Here we go.

Arsene Wenger is like a Mayor who has been in office for way too long. After awhile you just get use to that person holding office and you vote for him regardless of recent performances. Arsenal quite simply bugs me, they bug me because in a lot of ways they get running a football club right but as times change so should Wenger. The game evolves and I’m sorry I don’t see Wenger keeping up. Wenger can’t blame the Chelsea and Manchester United’s of the world for throwing crazy money around because no one spent 10 million during this transfer window. Wenger needs to look at himself here and Arsenal fans need to ask this question to themselves, Do they want to support a club near the top of the mountain but a long shot to ever climb to it’s peak or do they want a winner again? Another year of false hope and broken promises. Maybe Arsenal can win the EPL or Champions League but nothing on Sunday showed me they are even close to a truly elite club.

It’s easy to sit back after the game and point out flaws, I understand this but why in the world was Arsenal playing a 4-6-0 against Manchester United. If Arsenal has a lack of depth at the striking position due to injuries and form whose fault is that? Wenger could of addressed this in the transfer window but again didn’t and it cost them. 4-6-0 while unnatural can work against a mid to lower table club who is trying to pack the midfield but against Manchester United they were able to soak up any pressure Arsenal could bring to them.

- Good job Nani with his recent performances for Manchester United. It’s one thing playing well against Hull, it’s another to tap dance around Arsenal all game long. Now if only Ricardo Quaresma could find his form the world may truly be off it’s axis.

- Dumb football fans I’m fine with, passion in life is a good thing even when it comes at the cost of using better judgment. My worry is far too often people who would mess up a cup of coffee are in charge or have a large say in football matters. How in the world can Confederation of African Football president Issa Hayatou twist the knife by expelling Togo from the next two African Cup of Nations is beyond me? What kind of a heartless human being is this? The players were almost shot to death in Angola, I really can’t blame them if they want to leave the country A.S.A.P after wards.

- Congrats to Egypt for winning their third straight African Cup of Nations title. Didn’t mention much about it on my site because the games weren’t shown here and you can only get so much by reading about it instead of watching it.

- How do you feel if your an A.C Milan fan right now. It’s bad enough you took it on the chin against Inter the previous weekend but now Inter fans can mock loaning out of favour Amantino Mancini to their bitter rivals. Granted Mancini can be a useful player and I’ll always remember his Champions League goal against Lyon a couple of years ago but you don’t see Chelsea taking on a player rotting on Arsenal’s bench. A.C Milan is like the younger brother who is now wearing clothes his older brother no long cares for.

- Wait wasn’t Robbie Keane boyhood club Liverpool? How many clubs should one person support? Let’s hope Robbie Keane does better with his other boyhood club than he did during his short stay at Liverpool. Smart move by Tony Mowbray bringing Keane in a six month loan deal. It won’t make a lick of difference in the standings most likely as a 10 point lead for Rangers even with one more game played is a massive amount of points to be up by in the SPL but it does change the mood around Celtic Park. This move allows Tony Mowbray to buy some time as Robbie Keane should bring a level of excitement to the club instead of Celtic fans having to look way up in the standings.

- Everyone who has read this site knows I love Pedro Mendes so it’s no shock I love him going back to Portugal too play for Sporting in the hopes of making the World Cup. Mendes is a rarity in football, he is a total team player who didn’t moan when he didn’t get a fair crack at Tottenham for example but when he does play all Mendes does is make a team better. He won a Champions League with Porto, his goals kept Portsmouth up in the EPL when he first arrived there (too bad Portsmouth don’t have any money as they could use him again.) He leaves Portsmouth with an FA Cup medal in hand. Goes to Rangers and his goal against Celtic early last season was a key reason for the balance of power in Scotland to tip from Celtic to Rangers.

- The Adam Johnson signing for Manchester City is a win win for everyone involved. This signing reminds me a lot of the Joe Cole signing from West Ham to Chelsea many years back and it’s exactly the type of player Manchester City should be after. Forget about players from Real Madrid right now, none of them take Manchester City seriously. A player with talent like Johnson should look at Manchester City being a big challenge as for him it’s going to a big club. Middlesbrough should be happy with the nice transfer fee as it allowed Gordon Strachan to buy every Celtic player he could.

- I’m still fuming at this whole John Terry story. Believe me I’m not a moralist, I know I’m going straight to hell for some of the stuff I’ve done but even I’m upset at John Terry. Tiger Woods for example I couldn’t care less about, the only person Tiger Woods needs to be sorry too is his wife. Everyone else he hasn’t hurt at all. The media are just trying to take there pound of flesh off Woods because he has always controlled his image, almost like a robot over the years. John Terry is different, it’s like an unwritten code you don’t sleep with a friend’s girl. Break or no break it just shows what a selfish human being Terry is. There should be no way Terry should have the honour of wearing the arm band for England. I don’t care about his status with Chelsea. Too me clubs like Chelsea are corporations, me cheering for Chelsea is like me cheering for Wal-Mart and while I’m far from English I’d be offended if Terry was still captain of the English national team. There is no higher honour then to be given a captaincy for your country. You are wearing the hopes and dreams of millions of English fans on your sleeve. A man with a certain amount of character should be given this honour, not someone like Terry who clearly thinks only of himself and little of the effect his actions have on his love ones, friends, teammates, employer and country.

With the Glazers apparently tapping out on the Asian market, something about a bomb being planted in a Jakarta hotel would do that. Manchester United will now take their preseason show on the road with Toronto one of the rumoured stops. It would be the first time in five years that Manchester United have been to North America and their first time in history coming to Canada. Wonder if someone will ask Sir Alex Ferguson if he has any regrets not immigrating to Canada if his football career didn’t pan out?

Nothing official I can link too but below are the rumoured cities so far.

Chicago, New York and Toronto

High court overturns superinjunction granted to England captain John Terry

Lawyers for Terry succeeded in applying for a high court injunction on Friday last week, having learnt that a Sunday newspaper – believed to be the News of the World – planned to write about his private life.

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You know something is up when John Terry gets his lawyers involved to squash a story by the News of the World. Hopefully for John Terry his wife doesn’t take a golf club to his grill but something tells me this won’t be pretty when the story breaks.

UPDATE And now we know why. John Terry threw it former teammate Wayne Bridge girl friend. All class and great stand up guy John Terry is.