Jom Football

A New Year and new hope for football fans around the world. I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very happy New Year to all SoccerNews readers. I want to thank you for reading and commenting on the site, it is really appreciated. We might not often agree, but we all share a love of this great game of ours.

So what do we all hope for in 2009? Here are ten things that I wish for:
# I would love Watford to go on a long unbeaten run and find a way into the Championship play-offs and promotion back to the Premier League.
# I would love my own team, Wilton Town, to go on an unbeaten run between now and the end of the season and find our way off the bottom and up the Wiltshire League Division Two table.
# I would love referees to stop making really poor decisions that affect the outcome of important games.
# I would love players to stop shouting at referees and arguing with them.
# I would love players to stop diving and cheating.
# I would love the battle at the top of the English Premier League to go all the way to the last weekend.
# I would love the Champions League to have a surprise success rather than just the English teams or Barcelona.
# I would love to see no more of the smaller clubs fighting against administration whilst the bigger clubs rake in their millions.
# I would love to see a wage and transfer fee cap so that football, particularly in England, can return to some sort of normality.
# I would love to see negative and route one football eliminated and pass and move, fast flowing, attacking football become the norm.

That little list isn’t too much to ask for is it? OK, which of the ten wishes are likely to come true?

Sadly, I don’t think any of them are very likely really. I don’t mind too much though, because I love the game just as it is.

If Watford and Wilton Town were winning all the time I wouldn’t have anything to feel miserable about and we all love feeling miserable sometimes.

If referees got everything right and players accepted all decisions without question what on earth would we argue about?

If players stopped diving and cheating, what would become of great players like Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo :)

If the Premiership race for the top four was close and ‘outsiders’ did well in the Champions League, then it would make those who predicted otherwise, like me, look silly and we can’t have that can we?

If small clubs had more money and big clubs had less we would lose the glamour of the Premier League and I don’t think any of us want that to happen.

If the wages of players were reduced what would the gossip magazines have to talk about?

If route one and negative football were eliminated then the top teams would continue their domination of the game. It is great that a physical route one team can upset the likes of Arsenal. That is what football is all about.

So there we have it. I don’t actually wish for any of that. I just hope that 2009 is another great year for football supporters everywhere. More of the same would be just fine. Well, a couple of wins for Wilton Town would be nice…

Written by Graham Fisher · Tags: Editorial, General Soccer News

As we come to the end of the year one group of people who must be feeling a little confused are Newcastle United fans. 2008 has certainly been a year of mixed emotions for them and 2009 looks as though it will be little different.

Uncertainty

As we all now know, owner Mike Ashley has confirmed the club are no longer for sale and says that he hopes his decision will end the uncertainty over the Magpies’ future. Ashley had initially put the club on the market back in September when former manager Kevin Keegan’s sudden departure led to the fans turning against Ashley and Dennis Wise in all sorts of ways. The ‘Cockney mafia out’ campaign meant that neither man felt welcome at St James’ Park.

However, despite the media and Ashley’s people themselves claiming that there was plenty of interest in buying the club, it would appear that no suitable offers were actually forthcoming meaning that Ashley has now taken the decision to remain in charge.

Ashley said in Newcastle’s matchday programme,

“I am happy to end the uncertainty fans may have had about the future direction of Newcastle United. I know just how important that is to you. I have withdrawn Newcastle United from the market, and for me 2009 will be the year in which we drive the club forward together. Even when I haven’t been at games I have remained a keen supporter, kicking and heading every ball and cheering the team on TV and being the first to congratulate Joe whenever there’s a good result. When I took the decision to put the club up for sale in September I made a point of saying two things were very important. Firstly, any potential buyer would have to show they had the best interests of Newcastle United at heart and had both the commitment and finance to be worthy custodians of such a fine football club before I would even consider doing a deal. And secondly, I gave you my word that as long as I remain owner, this club would continue to be run responsibly at all levels. I hope you will accept that I have stood by that pledge.”

Mike Ashley originally bought the Magpies in the summer of 2007 and in January this year he brought the fans idol Kevin Keegan back to manage the club. This was a popular move and one that was sure to win over the Toon Army. Some sceptics suggested that was the reason for the appointment rather than it being a carefully planned football decision, but either way, it was an appointment that went down well on Tyneside.

The Messiah

So 2008 started pretty well for Newcastle fans with the return of ‘The Messiah’ although early results under Keegan were disappointing. This was not too much of a problem however because firstly, Keegan would be given as much time as he needed to turn things around by the fans, and secondly, as far as they were concerned, anything was worth getting rid of Sam Allardyce.

However, what did become an obvious problem fairly quickly was the fact that Keegan wasn’t happy with his role and the role of others at the club. In particular, he was unhappy with the role of Dennis Wise and the club’s transfer policy in general.

Hate campaign

Keegan left just a few weeks into the current season when the row over the club’s transfer policy, spiralled out of control. The fans were distraught at the loss of Keegan who had managed to turn things around sufficiently last season but was struggling again now. A hate campaign ensued against Ashley and he decided he had no option but to sell the club.

Sceptics were at it again when the sale was announced. Ashley had priced the club at a level whereby a sale seemed unlikely. Was the sale just a ploy to give Ashley some breathing space from the Keegan furore before returning to the club?

Those who said so at the time will be feeling pretty smug with their ‘I told you so’ smiles at the moment, but we’ll never know if that was really the case.

Genuine

Clearly, something had to be done before the transfer window opened as Newcastle are in need of players and who would go to a club in turmoil and officially for sale? What ever anyone thinks about Ashley, I believe that we all know he is a genuine Newcastle fan and he would have known that he had to make a move now.

Whether this is a spur of the moment move or one that he had always planned is open to conjecture. Whether he will be welcomed back with open arms by the Newcastle fans or not is also open to conjecture.

The one thing about which I am relatively certain is that Dennis Wise will never be accepted by the fans and if Mike Ashley really wants to stay and drive the club forward, he will have to do so without Wise.

Hatred

I don’t know what to believe about the current situation and I still feel that if an offer was made to buy the club that was financially sensible for Mike Ashley he would take it. He is a Newcastle fan but he can’t ignore some of the hatred that was directed towards him and his family after the Keegan affair.

If he is genuine in his desire to stay with the club, backs Joe Kinnear with some funds and sacks Dennis Wise, it is just about possible that the old wounds could be healed. I just fear for the club that all three of those points may be questionable.
.
Written by Graham Fisher · Tags: Editorial, English Premier League

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has been arrested after a fight in a bar on Merseyside, reports and a police source said Monday.

The fight took place overnight in Southport, near Liverpool, in north-west England.

“Six men were arrested on suspicion of section 20 assault on Lord Street,” said a spokesman for Merseyside Police, without officially confirming England midfielder Gerrard's identity.

Written by SoccerNews · Tags: English Premier League

Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford on Monday lost an appeal against an 18-month ban imposed by the Football Association in July for breaking regulations when signing up the England striker.

Stretford was also fined 300,000 pounds (then 377,000 euros) in July after being charged by the FA following his troubled appointment as Rooney’s agent in 2002.

Seven of the nine charges brought by the FA against Stretford for breaches of world football governing body FIFA’s players’ agent regulations were proved.

The charges included failing to protect Rooney’s interests and failing to respect the rights of third parties.

Stretford was also hit with an improper conduct charge in relation to the “making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police and giving false and/or misleading testimony to Warrington Crown Court” in a case about the circumstances of how he came to represent the England striker.

Stretford made it clear he would lodge an appeal but an independent appeal board here Monday upheld the original punishment.

“The board dismissed Mr Stretford’s appeal in its entirety and the decisions of an independent regulatory commission in July 2008 were confirmed,” said a statement on the FA’s official website.

Stretford can now go to an arbitration panel to challenge this latest ruling and his ban will be suspended until he has made that decision.

Written by SoccerNews · Tags: English Premier League

In goal, there are a few decent candidates. Chelsea’s Petr Cech was really good but won nothing and made a mistake that cost his country dearly at Euro 2008. Without him, we need to look at keepers that won things.



Pepe Reine won the Golden Gloves award, but remained as second choice behind Casillas for Spain. Van Der Sar wan the Premier League and the Champions League and Iker Casillas won La Liga and the European Championships.

It’s a tough choice but Casillas gets my vote.

Back four

The back four has no end of contenders. Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra from Manchester United’s double winning side are all worthy of a place in the squad as are John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea’s nearly double winning side.

Sagna and Clichy at Arsenal made many ‘team of the season’ selections last Summer and Bosingwa at Chelsea might make quite a few at the end of this season.

Maicon at Inter, Daniel Alves at Carles Puyol at Barcelona and Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid are all screaming for selection as is Philipp Lahm from Bayern Munich.

That list is only scratching the surface. Chiellini had a great Euro 2008 and it seems very strange to select a list of the world’s great defenders without nominating anyone from Italy, the home of the magnificent defender.

Anyway, my back four looks like this:

Ramos, Ferdinand, Puyol, Lahm.

Midfield

Into the midfield and I am sure there was some fellow at Manchester United who did quite well this year! Yes, it would be a strange selection if we weren’t to include the Portuguese wing wizardry of Cristiano Ronaldo. Forty-two goals, fantastic skill and tricks and the ability to produce Olympic style tumbling at the faintest of touches make him an automatic choice!

Strangely, after winning the double, it is difficult to think that any of the other Manchester United midfielders that would be nominated in this category. Carrick, Anderson, Scholes, Hargreaves, Nani, Giggs all played their part, but none of them stood out enough to make this squad.

At Chelsea, Lampard, Ballack and Essien were all excellent for their club and Essien may well have made this team if he hadn’t been injured for most of this season so far.

For Liverpool, Mascherano and Gerrard were superb and at Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas came of age.

Pirlo and Gattuso continued to produce the goods at the ageing Milan side and Frank Ribery has developed into the world class player at Bayern Munich that we all thought he would as an under twenty-one international.

The European Championship winning midfield of Barcelona’s Xavi and Iniesta and Villarreal’s Marcos Senna probably all deserve to be in the team, but are difficult to accommodate in my rigid English 4-4-2 system!

Other players who could have made the squad include Wesley Sneijder, Kaka and Quaresma.

It’s a very, very tough choice but I’m going with the following:

Ronaldo, Senna, Xavi, Ribery.

Strikers

The strikers sort of pick themselves. I know that Lionel Messi isn’t a striker but give him a free role playing off the main striker and he will be more effective than anyone else in the world.

The main striker is probably between the two Spaniards who led their country to European glory. Fernando Torres and David Villa.

Many other strikers deserve a mention. Benzema, Rooney, Tevez, Drogba, Ibrahimovich, Klose, Arshavin and even the evergreen Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

For me though there are only two names for the team. Messi and Torres.

So there we have the SoccerNews representative team:

Casillas

Ramos, Ferdinand, Puyol, Lahm

Ronaldo, Senna, Xavi, Ribery

Torres, Messi

Written by Graham Fisher · Tags: Editorial, General Soccer News