There Is Only One Sinnacle

Manchester City are lining up a £50m bid for the Spain international and could offer an incredible £200,000 a week to lure him to Eastlands. Guardian

Benitez says Torres, who is 12 months into a four-year contract at Anfield, is not for sale. The Times

The current owners can’t sell Torres, even for 50 million. The second they sell him Liverpool’s value will drop. Not good when your trying to sell the club.

France legend and Uefa president Michel Platini says he does not expect Raymond Domenech’s team to do well at this summer’s World Cup – but he sees England, together with Spain and Brazil, as one of the three favourites for glory. (Groupe Hersant Media)

You could of said the same thing four years ago as well. Everybody was sleeping on France four years old with people thinking they were too old and too far removed from their 1998-2000 glory days.

Meanwhile, the Gunners have joined a growing list of Premier League clubs interested in the signature of Everton teenager Jack Rodwell. However, the Merseyside club are set to increase the midfielder’s wages to ensure he stays at Goodison Park. The Times

Rodwell is English, no way this happens even if I’m a huge fan of the player.

Manchester City are keen to tie up a deal for Germany international Mesut Ozil before the 22-year-old Werder Bremen midfielder has the chance to make a name for himself at the World Cup.
Full story: The Independent

Not words I say everyday but smart of Manchester City to have interest in Mesut Ozil and smart of them to try and sign him before the next World Cup.

Brazil striker Luis Fabiano has hinted Manchester United would be his destination of choice if he leaves Sevilla in the summer. Daily Express

Even with his skill, considering his age if Manchester United had wanted him previously they would of signed him.

West Brom are preparing a move for out-of-favour Stoke striker Tuncay, but will face competition from Fenerbahce. Daily Star

A move back to Turkey would do Tuncay some good. Too good of a player to just be coming off the bench.

Newcastle manager Chris Hughton has warned fans it will be difficult to recruit big names to St James’ Park in the summer. Daily Mirror

I for one will be interested to see how Newcastle will do in the top division next year after ripping apart the Championship.

Manchester United want to beat local rivals Manchester City to the signing of teenage Nigerian midfielder Ramon Azeez. Daily Mail

Watch Ramon Azeez to be laying about his age and really he is 22.

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, who has spent this season on loan at Birmingham, is a £10m target for Arsenal. Daily Star

Makes so much sense. Arsenal wouldn’t have to worry about a goalie for the next 5-10 years with Hart between the sticks.

Tottenham and England winger Aaron Lennon could be set to return from a four-month injury lay-off against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday. Daily Mirror

Lennon and James Milner could be scary on the wings for England this summer.

England boss Fabio Capello is desperate to take Tottenham’s Ledley King to the World Cup despite the defender’s recurrent injury problems. Daily Mirror

This would say a lot about how Capello feels about his central defenders if he brings in Ledley King.

ESPN did one better this time and got Bono to do the voice over for this World Cup spot. Must admit I liked it. Got goosebumps when they shown the stadium lighting up with fireworks.

It’s not fair to be that good as a full back. What a goal to finally break the deadlock between Inter Milan and Juventus.

High Hopes And Faint Fears Welcome Sven-Goran Eriksson To Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast’s FA yesterday put an end to weeks of fears and speculation about the potential coach for the Elephants as the clock ticks on to South Africa 2010.

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Given myself a day to think about this. I should be happy Sven Goran Eriksson got the Ivory Coast job. Anyone but Guus Hiddink would of made me happy. Everything suggests I should like this appointment but I still feel weird about it. Eriksson wasn’t about to adapt to the Mexican football culture, it isn’t far fetch to suggest his style will clash with these Ivory Coast players. Sven also has a great history losing against Portugal in both Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006. I just hope it isn’t 3rd time lucky for Sven this summer.

Just going to touch on a bunch of random stuff dealing with the site today.

It’s been two years since my first post appeared on this site. So much happen in football during the last two years. From Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties to win the Champions League. Torres scoring for Spain and winning the European Championship in the process. So many coaching changes my head spins thinking about it. Barcelona epic season last year. Real Madrid and Barcelona making huge moves in the transfer market etc.

The last couple of months been quite busy trying to make some other things happen. Basically I know I’ve been slacking but right now I only have so many hours in the day. It’s weird, a couple of days ago I finally checked on my web stats and fully expected it to drop like a rock. To my dismay it hasn’t, it actually has gone up. Thank you John Terry you cheater for the SEO love and my Manchester United coming to Toronto post which still hasn’t happen yet…..but will. Most of all thank you for still visiting.

Sorry if I’ve disappointed anyone with the lack of posts recently, if you can bare with me for another month everything will be back to normal heading into the Champions League final and going strong into the World Cup.

Harry Redknapp who is known from coming up with a headline or two recently said, “In the future there will be no English managers coming in the EPL.” I’m not here argue that nor I’m I looking to kick dirt on Rafa Benitez coaching future at Liverpool but what if Liverpool do sack him? Now I know what your saying, hey Liverpool isn’t a top four side right now. Yes, I know but they are one of the four major clubs in England even if they are down in the standings right now.

Now if your Liverpool and your searching for a new coach do you go the European route where the likes of Rafa Benitez, and Gerard Houllier have had success but in the end an EPL title is still missing or do you hire an English manager. It would be refreshing to see an English manager coaching a big club in England and you know who I think should be considered?

Tony Pulis

That’s right, Tony Pulis. He has taken a club who traditional hasn’t be a division one club and has them punching above their weight for the second season in a row. Sure the long ball approach isn’t pretty but he is working what he is has. I’d doubt Pulis would tell Gerrard to kick up 40 yards and hope Torres gets under it. Tony Pulis may not be a sexy name like Mourinho or Guus Hiddink but given a chance he may just be the right man for the job.

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.

Dynamo’s Holden Signs With Bolton Until End Of Season

“There is an incentive for Stuart to try to get himself in the team,” Coyle said to Sky Sports. “He’s had a little thigh knock for the last three or four days which has curtailed his training a little bit, but he did ever so well in the first week and he comes looking to push his career on.”

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I’m a fan of Stuart Holden. He is an industrial type of player out there that will give it his all. Those are the types of players who tend to do well in English football. Plus American players have found a lot more success playing in England than other places in the Europe. From Bolton’s perspective the six month deal is a curious one. What if Holden plays well for Bolton then helps lead the U.S into the knockout round of the World Cup? You then have a pretty valuable asset. Under this short term contract you can sure Holden would walk if he shines during the World Cup.