Manchester United raise £504m to cover most of the clubs dues

Manchester United have successfully raised £504m through a bond issue, which will cover most of what the club owe to international banks.

http://sportsbizfreak.blogspot.com/2010/01/articles-worth-reading-25-january-2010.html

Neville fingers Tevez

Tevez was out to prove a point in the Manchester Derby and he did quite spectacularly. He scored both goals to secure a remarkable win over United. City are now one match away from their first Final appearance since 1981. 

Tevez was quite incensed with the way Gary Neville had written about him recently but decided to respond on the pitch. "I just think Gary was very disrespectful which, to be fair, is out of character, but he didn't know the whole story of why I left Manchester United and I believe I deserved his respect," Tevez said last night. "We achieved a lot together at United, I was the second top scorer there in my first season at the club and I deserve respect from my fellow professionals."

Tevez's reaction after scoring the first of his two goals on the night.

Picture taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/

This was Neville's resposne from the bench.

Picture taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/20/carlos-tevez-gary-neville

EPL January Transfer Window update

Beyond all the speculation and gossip that a few newspapers,websites and channels ocassionally create , the bottom line is that it has been a very slow January transfer window this year in England.

Read the full post at:
http://sportsbizfreak.blogspot.com/2010/01/transfer-window-11-days-more-to-go-and.html

EPL January transfer update: Rodriguez, Chamakh for Liverpool. Flamini for Spurs.

Liverpool: Reds sign Argentina international Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer from Atletico Madrid on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Liverpool:  Marouane Chamakh has agreed to join in a £25million deal and the club expect the player to sign a big money pre-contract agreement before the end of the month. The highly rated striker was wanted by Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and West Ham.

ARSENAL: Old and new. As well as Sol's return, Arsene Wenger is poised to sign Bolivian wonder boy Samuel Galindo. Wenger snatched the attacking midfielder, who is his country's under-21 skipper at just 17, who had been training at Everton.

TOTTENHAM: Tottenham are set to make a shock move to bring former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini back to north London and want West Ham's Matthew Upson while Zenit St Petersburg have tabled a bid of £10.2million for striker Roman Pavlyuchenko (Daily Mirror). Harry Redknapp is monitoring Joe Cole's contract situation at Chelsea (Daily Star) and has agreed personal terms with Internacional's 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder Sandro.

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

Manchester City replace United in partnership with Sporting Lisbon

I personally had no idea about an agreement between United and Sporting Lisbon that allowed United first shot at their players. Sporting has a history of producing some outstanding players including CR7, Figo, Nani, Quesresma, and Moutinho amongst others. Just the fact that Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford in 2003 is courtesy of this agreement where Sporting were required to inform United of any bids and allow them first refusal.

That agreement between United and Sporting is now kaput which has allowed city rivals Manchester City to take lead. Mancini's City has now signed a similar agreement which would allow them first shot at any exceptional talent from Lisbon.

Read the complete story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/11/manchester-city-partnership-sporting-lisbon

EPL January Transfer Window update

Headline: Joe Cole could leave Chelsea for Manchester United, Tottenham or Liverpool...

Chelsea: With Joe Cole set for a Stamford Bridge exit, Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery could back-track on his 'Spain or bust' claims and move to London.

Chelsea: Spanish wonderkid Sergio Canales could be the latest small boy to leave a decent European club for Chelsea's reserves.

Chelsea: Another exciting winger tipped with a move to the Bridge is long-term target Angel Di Maria of Benfica. There was talk of a £35m buy-out clause but sources claim they will accept £20m for the Argentina starlet.

Source:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

EPL January Transfer Window update

Latest interesting developments :

Chelsea: Joe Cole's contract situation at Chelsea 'precarious' (he wants £120k a week; they will only offer a measly £100k), Manchester United could pounce (The Times). He'd be available on a free too, which is nice for the debt-laden US owners

WIGAN: The Sun claims the Latics are looking to solve their goal problem with an audacious £5m move for Mallorca striker Aritz Aduriz. The Basque, formerly of Athletic Bilbao, has hit eight goals in 14 Liga games this season and scored 11 last time out. Steve Bruce, meanwhile, says he will NOT bid for Latics keeper Chris Kirland

Sunderland: Kenwyne Jones probably will not leave Sunderland, because he would cost too much, so says boss Steve Bruce.

Roma striker Stefano Okaka will join Fulham, according to his agent.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12012010/63/okaka-se

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

EPL January Transfer Window

Some interesting transfer news:

Arsenal: Long-time Gunners target Marouane Chamakh will soon reveal his intended destination. The Moroccan striker, whose contract with Bordeaux expires at the end of the season, says he will give an answer at the end of January (The Sun).

United: Manchester United may seek a new striker following the news that striker Dimitar Berbatov may need exploratory knee surgery.

Stoke City: They have made an official approach to Real Madrid for veteran striker Ruud van Nistelrooy

Liverpool: Rafa Benitez wants to take former England U21 defender Nedum Onuoha on loan from Man City

PORTSMOUTH: Pompey have told Manchester City and Sunderland that they won't sell Younes Kaboul for less than £14m (Daily Mail).

Found a nice place for all the latest football transfer news:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

Voronin, Dossena leave Liverpool...

Ukraine striker Andriy Voronin has left Liverpool to join Dinamo Moscow on a three-year deal. This ends his disappointing spell at Liverpool. Earlier Dossena had left Liverpool for Napoli.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8450798.stm

African Cup of nations in Jeopardy after firing on Togo's team bus

Togo international football players, including EPL stars Adebayor and Salifu, were ambushed en-route their training base in Angola. Angola is host to this year’s African cup of nations. The team bus carrying Togo’s team was attacked with machine gun fire killing the driver and injuring 9 others.

Latest fallout of this incident could be a pullout by Togo while some EPL clubs demand their players' immediate return to England. It has been a sad start to an important year for African football with the World Cup set to start in South Africa later this year.

Read the full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/08/togo-football-team-ambushed-angola

I am back and so is Patrick Vieira!!!

I am back after a brief hiatus and though I have not been blogging for more than a week, rest assured I was catching up on most of the International sports on the tube. What a wonderful couple of weeks these have been with loads of drama in football as well as cricket. Ah, so that reminds me to why I am here writing today and not tomorrow or a day after.

Looks like the first big January move has been wrapped up in Manchester and sorry but there are no prizes for guessing the Clubs name. Sir Alex still appear to be as uncertain about who he wants to bring to United as he is about the depth of his pocket. Quite contrary to how most English clubs are positioned financially, City seems to have the most supply even after the club reported £92.6 million loss in the year to 31 May 2009. Mancini appears to be a man possessed- with all the money- after a fine start at City and there is little doubt his bosses in Abu Dhabi would let him run amok if he wishes to- if not immediately than surely next summer.

It must therefore come as no surprise that Mancini has made the first big scalp as City has confirmed the arrival of Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira at £100,000-a-week. At 33, age is not on his side but with French International recall for the World Cup in sights, Vieira might have enough fire to power City to a Champs League birth ahead of Liverpool and Villa. Mancini would like to believe Vieira is still the same player as he was when they were together at Inter and it looks like a great move for City.

Read more about the Vieira story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/07/patrick-vieria-manchester-city-internazionale


PS: I have made some amount of interesting observations while watching sport over the last couple of weeks and I would soon be back with some interesting thoughts. Stay tuned…

"I love it here, I love it here, I love it here." - Mourinho

Jose Mourinho looks eager to move back to England next summer and he made no bones about it while speaking to Sun. He said, "I want to come back to England. I want to be back. I'm not the kind of guy to his feelings hidden. I love it here, I love it here, I love it here. I believe I will be back one day. I don't leave any club in mid-season to go to another, so until the end of the season, there is no chance I will leave Inter."

Meanwhile Mourinho's interest in England has sparked a slew of speculations about the club he will come to. Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are reported to have eyed Jose Mourinho as a possible replacement for Rafael Benitez. Rafa however continues to deny any news of his move away from Liverpool.

Read more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/4861058/Liverpool-linked-with-Jose-Mourinho-as-Rafael-Benitez-replacement.html

David Villa set for Premiership. United-Chelsea likely suitors.

Valencia and Spain striker David Villa is all set to spark a bidding war between United and Chelsea. Villa, who had decided to stay at Valencia last summer due to 'family' reasons, has now expressed his desire to play in the Premiership.

So how much will he cost and who has the money? Liverpool is out of the race straight away and it would be a fight between United, City and Chelsea. All 3 clubs seem to have the pockets deep enough and it appears that United are set to offer 35 million.

Of the 3, United would be the most eager considering their lack of firepower upfront. Berbatov might be in line to be offloaded to part pay for Villa. John Terry had mentioned Villa sometime in 2008 to Abramovich and it wouldn't be a surprise if Chelsea throws in some more to take Villa away from United. City are likely to give Mancini some free hand in the summer transfer window and he will surely bid if Villa is available.

My personal view is that Villa is most suited for United and it would be a better career move considering how many more minutes he would get to play for United. At Chelsea he would risk sitting on the bench more often.

Clearly Villa is one of the premier strikers today and he would be a great asset whichever team he decides to play for. How the bidding war would turn out is going to be make headlines coming summer.

Just to add, Valencia might put few more players including David Silva and Mata up for sale considering their financial plight and that would mean more opportunities for English clubs.

http://www.clubcall.com/intl-football/villa-tempted-england-move-995728.html

Weekend confirms decline of the Premier League elite

Chelsea made a hash of the great opportunity that United had presented them on Saturday. They could have gone 6 clear of United at the top of the premiership instead they were quite lucky to salvage a point against West Ham with a fortuitous penalty. United would heave a sigh of relief with this result as the gap has not widened too much as was widely expected though they still stand 4 points adrift and that would take some catching.

It is also quite obvious now that this year’s championship is not a two team fight to the top. The challengers are looking tougher while the leaders are stuttering to make the championship race most fascinating. The way things are currently poised, the season appears to be heading towards an enthralling second half in 2010 and I am sure that it is going to be a fight till the very end this time around. Chelsea has a clear edge in the standings, they however appear to have lost a lot if it on field. The heat is on the leaders and it is how they respond that will ascertain the final standings in 2010.

You could read the match report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/20/west-ham-chelsea-match-report

Read more about the saturday games and United debacle at :
http://expresssport.blogspot.com/2009/12/united-feel-heat-at-fulham-gunners.html

United feel the heat at Fulham. Gunners biggest benificiary.

United were wounded even before the game and the crushing 3-0 loss to Fulham could spell doom for their premiership chances this season. The way this year’s championship is poised this loss could be hugely damaging for United.

With loads of lower ranked teams springing surprises, the season is far from over however the gap at the top is widening and Chelsea have a great chance to make it 6 by the time this weekend is over.

Gunners are the biggest beneficiary of United’s loss and they have responded well with a fine 3-0 win over Hull. They are looking to find back their feet and could soon be moving above United in the standings.

The game itself was dominated by Fulham with United appearing a pale shadow. Zamora and Duff were exhilarating while United missed some key players in defense. As the season progresses, loss of Ronaldo is starting to hurt even more.

"We were playing against a wounded Manchester United," said Hodgson, "Alex has my sympathy. But it was up to us to take advantage and we did it from first minute to last."

Sir Alex was quite candid when he said "The way the league is at the moment I hope it is not too damaging," he said. "I hope it doesn't cost us the league. It was a dreadful day for us, but given the fragility at the back, I have some sympathy for the players in that respect."

The other results on Saturday mean both Spurs and Villa continue to take right steps forward and Liverpool continue to slide into oblivion.

Find all match day results at:
http://www.premierleague.com/page/FixturesResults/0,,12306,00.html

City sacks Mark Hughes. Mancini to take over.

Mark Hughes was handed the sack by City bosses soon after his team won against Sunderland. I had mentioned earlier that Guss Hiddink was touted to take over at City but for now it is the Italian- Mancini.

"A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set," read a City statement. "Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change.

"This is a particularly difficult announcement given the personal investment over the past 15 months on all sides and we would like to put on record our respect for and thanks to Mark Hughes and we wish him the best in his future career."

City is currently sixth in the Premier League, having lost only twice in the league all season, and are through to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup. They beat league leaders Chelsea a fortnight ago, ending a run of seven successive draws in the top flight, but suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at Tottenham in midweek.

The 46-year-old Welshman enjoyed a glittering playing career as a striker with Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea before moving into coaching by taking charge of Wales and narrowly missing out on qualification for the Euro 2004 finals.

The 45-year-old Italian- Mancini won 36 caps for Italy and spent the majority of his playing career at Sampdoria before a brief stint with Leicester City in 2001 just before he retired.
He has managed Fiorentina and Inter Milan, where he won three successive Italian League titles and two Italian Cups, before being dismissed in May 2008. Since then, he has regularly been linked with managerial vacancies in England.

Sunderland boss and former mate of Hughes at United said "You can't build a football club in 18 months and one transfer window. You need a bit of time,"

Arsene Wenger also said he was "sad" to see Hughes leave City, adding: "We all believe in patience on the technical side but on the other side it's not always the same."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/8422676.stm

Champions League: Enticing match ups in round of 16

Champions league round of 16 draw will guarantee loads of firework with United facing Beckham’s Milan and Chelsea pitted against Jose Mourinho’s Inter.

The Draw is as follows with team listed first playing at home in the first leg:

Internazionale v Chelsea
Lyon v Real Madrid
Milan v Manchester United
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
FC Porto v Arsenal
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla
Stuttgart v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina

The first-legs ties will be played on 16-17 February and 23-24 with the second-leg ties on 9-10 and 16-17 March.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/18/champions-league-draw-chelsea-inter-mourinho

Hiddink for City ?

City look set for a change with Guus Hiddink being linked for a summer move to City. Pressure on Mark Hughes to convince his bosses has rightly increased after 3-0 drubbing by fellow championship hopefuls-Spurs. Of the last 10 games, City has won one, lost one and drawn a whopping 8 games. They find themselves languishing at 8th in the league and somehow it appears that all of £170m+ spent this year has not been enough.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/18/mark-hughes-manchester-city

Who will win Barclays Premier League ?

Few weeks back I had mentioned Chelsea as the front runners with ManU and Arsenal close behind. Over the last two weeks things have not changed too much apart from the fact that Chelsea has left the door open for those chasing them. It would be difficult for most teams barring United to catch them but the way top teams are tumbling nothing can be taken for granted.

Look at the traditional top 4 and none of them look as strong as previous years. They all look fragile and prone to a shock. As the table stands right now, Chelsea are still upfront but they do not look as invincible as few weeks back when they had threatened to run away with the title. United had the opportunity but they failed to punish the Blues after City had shocked them. While Gunners have also failed to close in with a mid week draw with Burnley, Liverpool’s season is still waiting for a fillip which I guess will have to wait until next year and by that time it would be all too little too late for them. If the reds finish in the top 4 it would be a huge surprise for me looking at the way things stand right now.

Let's look at some of the outsiders who could upset the applecart. Villa and Spurs look threatening while City and Liverpool cannot be taken for granted at any stage. Then there are Birmingham and Fulham both capable of untimely surprises for any of the top runners. The closeness of teams this season has meant a wonderfully entertaining and competitive league- especially for an outsider.

Wenger has summed it up quite nicely by stating this years’ as the most open title race -
"Yes [this is the most competitive I have known the Premier League since joining Arsenal]. It is, why? Because nobody looks to run away early in the season and there are six, seven, eight teams that can create a surprise any weekend and it is certainly the most open race," Wenger said in his pre-match press conference. "I think yes, that many [eight] can mount a title challenge."

While Wenger is upbeat about his teams title chances, Harry Redknapp has proclaimed the end of the Premier League's big four by declaring that only Chelsea and Manchester United are certainties to finish in the Champions League places this season and that the other pair of prized berths for Europe's elite tournament could be filled by any two of several teams – including Tottenham Hotspur.

Redknapp said "I've said since the start of the season that the champions will come from Chelsea or Manchester United but after that it's up for grabs," he said. "Anything is possible this season. Look at Arsenal, you would have expected them to go up and win at Burnley after beating Liverpool, but they didn't so that shows you how hard it's going to be."

Read more at:

http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/12/15/1689097/arsene-wenger-highlights-most-open-premier-league-title-race

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/17/harry-redknapp-tottenham-manchester-city

City brings smiles in Manchester!!!

Holders Manchester United's thrashing of West Ham was followed by City's brilliant come from behind victory against the leaders –Chelsea. It capped a brilliant day for both Manchester sides. City desperately needed a win to put their season back on track and they were excellent all around barring last few minutes where they threatened to let the advantage slip away - once again.

City was good all through as they out played Chelsea for most part. They however came really close of getting another draw when Frank Lampard stepped up to take the penalty in the 81st. Shay Given saved the day for City after brilliant Tevez free kick had put City ahead. Chelsea's lead at the top has now been reduced to only 2 points but more importantly City have also showed that Chelsea is not unbeatable.

Detailed match report at:
http://www.premierleague.com/page/MatchReports/0,,12306~48535,00.html