Arsenal are set to start talks with Theo Walcott, as the winger’s current contract expires in the summer of 2013.
The Gunners faced a difficult situation last summer, as Samir Nasri entered into the last year of deal at the Emirates Stadium and refused to put pen to paper on an extension.
This forced the North London club to sell the France international to Manchester City, instead of potentially losing him for free 12 months later.
Robin van Persie and Walcott are both out-of-contract the summer after next, and The Telegraph have stated that Arsene Wenger has scheduled initial talks with the attacker to try to extend his deal with the club.
The newspaper indicates that Walcott looks at the potential extension in a positive fashion, and was full of praise for the side’s current form and team spirit.
“The atmosphere in the dressing room is fantastic — the best it’s probably been for a long time,” Walcott stated.
“We are a bit more of a team, we work harder when we haven’t got the ball.”
Van Persie has also seemed reluctant to sign a new deal at the Emirates, with the team’s fate this season potentially having a key factor in whether the club’s star players stay or go.
By Gareth McKnight
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Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho is not yet thinking about the UEFA Champions League semi-finals after his team beat Tottenham on Wednesday.A second-half howler from Tottenham goal-keeper Heurelho Gomes gifted Cristiano Ronaldo the only goal of the game at White Hart Lane, Real winning 1-0 to take a 5-0 aggregate victory in the tie.
It sets up a semi-final El Clasico between Real and arch-rivals Barcelona.
But Mourinho said there were more pressing challenges for his side, who will face Pep Guardiola’s team in the La Liga on Saturday and in the final of the Copa del Rey on April 20 before the Champions League first-leg a week later.
“Let’s see what happens. We have ambition to beat Barcelona,” Mourinho told ITV Sport.
“The semi is a semi (and) anything can happen. We have two matches against them before the semi-final and there is no time to think.”
Mourinho insists his decision to play his strongest team was the right one, despite defender Ricardo Carvalho picking up a booking and consequently being suspended for the first leg of the semi-final.
“I think I was right when I decided to play with a good team because even playing with this team in a serious way Tottenham had a couple of chances,” Mourinho said.
“Of course 4-0 is a very good difference but if they had scored in the first half, with this incredible crowd, and this team, it could have been difficult but when Cristiano (Ronaldo) scored it was all over.”
Despite the loss, Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp believes his club can still be proud of a campaign that saw the club reach the quarter-finals of a competition they had never played in before.
“It was a fantastic experience for everybody and we’ve enjoyed every minute of the adventure,” Redknapp said.
“What we have do in the next few years is make sure that Tottenham build a team that can challenge every year and get in the Champions League.”
“There is no good doing it once and not doing it again. You have to keep improving.”
“You need to tweak your squad to keep doing it. That’s what we want, like Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United do every year. There is no reason why Tottenham can’t do that.”
Redknapp will now turn his attention to the Premier League, where he hopes Tottenham can finish third and gain automatic entry into next season’s Champions League group stage.
“It’s going to be tough,” Redknapp said. “We have to try and finish above Man City and Chelsea.”
“That’s what we are aiming at and it won’t be easy. We will give it everything we’ve got. We will play some great football, as we always do, and let’s see where it takes us.”
Wigan Athletic have dismissed reports linking assistant manager Graeme Jones with the vacancy at Championship side Swansea City.
Jones was part of current Latics boss Roberto Martinez's backroom staff at the Welsh club prior to taking the reins at the DW Stadium 12 months ago.
However, he will not be returning to the Liberty Stadium despite reports in Wales claiming he is in line to replace Paulo Sousa in the hot-seat.
Sousa stepped down last week to take over at Leicester City.
"Wigan Athletic would like to confirm that Graeme Jones is looking forward to the new season at the club and remains deeply committed to carrying on his work at the club alongside manager Roberto Martinez and the rest of the coaching staff," read a club statement.
"Media speculation over the weekend would suggest that Jones is a frontrunner for the vacant manager's position at his former club Swansea City, but the club can confirm that Jones is fully concentrated on taking the team through pre-season and into Latics' new Barclays Premier League campaign.
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"Jones is travelling with the team for this week's training camp in Sweden."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Bolton are ready to appeal Gary Cahill’s red card from their 3-0 defeat to Tottenham at the weekend, as the struggling side look to minimise the suspension the defender will have to face.
The England international was shown a straight red card by referee Stuart Attwell in the game at White Hart Lane, as he was adjudged to have fouled Scott Parker whilst being the last man.
Although Spurs were 1-0 up at the time, the dismissal effectively ended the game as a contest, and both managers agreed that Cahill’s punishment was harsh after the game.
With Bolton in relegation trouble and in dire need of points, Owen Coyle has admitted that they intend to challenge Attwell’s decision.
“I will be appealing the decision as soon as I can. It was baffling, bemusing,” the Scottish coach confirmed to Sky Sports.
Cahill is out of contract at the end of the season, and the side from the Reebok Arena are expecting January bids for the centre half, with Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea all interested.
Bolton meanwhile face Aston Villa this weekend, and find themselves in 19th place equal on points with bottom club Wigan.
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If reports are to be believed and admittedly that’s a massive ‘if’ then Sir Alex Ferguson will be handed a transfer war chest large enough to buy Joleon Lescott, Emmanuel Adebayor, James Milner and Mario Balotelli.
However, while you’d arguably be better off torching £100 million than spending it on that quartet of overrated donkeys, there are a lot of players out there who could improve United’s squad.
Ashley Young, Jack Rodwell, Jordan Henderson and Luka Modric have all been touted as possible United targets and if Sir Alex were to decide to buy all four he’d probably end up forking out the same amount that City ‘invested’ in their glorious aforementioned foursome.
I’ve argued in previous articles that I, unlike many of my friends and fellow Reds, do not feel United need to spend any money in the Summer on new players- well certainly not to the degree that’s been suggested. For Ashley Young, see Ravel Morrison, for Jack Rodwell see Paul Pogba, for Jordan Henderson see Darron Gibson for Luka Modric see Tom Cleverley.
I genuinely believe United already have the players on our books to challenge for honours next season- and yes I did say Darron Gibson earlier, amazing at it may sound that someone who’s watched Gibson regularly could actually advocate a policy of keeping him, but believe me given a chance I think he may still have a future- or at least be as worthwhile as Henderson would be if he were signed.
Yes I know that none of the players I’ve mentioned are anywhere near as experienced or proven as the ones touted to be signed, but then again David Beckham wasn’t as experienced as Darren Anderton- who Fergie considered signing in 1995, Nicky Butt was seen as a somewhat lesser replacement to Paul Ince, Paul Scholes wouldn’t be able to replicate the goals and influence of a Mark Hughes.
My faith in United’s youngsters may sound slightly deluded but I’ve watched United’s academy sides since the early nineties when you could go to Old Trafford for a quid as a youngster and see the likes of Ryan Giggs and Mark Bosnich learning their craft- to varying levels of success admittedly. I’ve not been as excited about a group of young players since we had the class of ’92 and I’m sure that if Fergie were to stick his neck out somewhat he could save the club a fortune it doesn’t need to spend, at least not on players.
The point I’m making is that if Sir Alex doesn’t need to spend the money on players, rather than give it back to those kind deserving benevolent chaps that go by the name of the Glazer brothers why not give it back to the fans in the best possible way. Increase Old Trafford’s capacity.
Before you start screaming a list of reasons Old Trafford cannot be expanded allow me to give you a counter argument for every one.
Continue to the NEXT PAGE…
£100 million. That’s the point I’m making, if United could invest £100 million in expanding the stadium then surely that would be enough to bump the capacity up by at least 8000. Would that be worth it? Well if each seat was worth say £800 a season then it would probably take around 15 years for the full £100 million to be paid back. That’s of course saying the club could get rid of all those tickets which is by no means a guarantee. However even if it took that long or longer, it could be worth it in the long run and that’s what United is all about sustaining our place at the top of the food chain, or even raising it slightly.
Even Sir Alex had advocated stadium expansion in the past, stating:
“I’m on to David all the time about expanding the stadium. I know what we could do with the main stand at both ends; we could build a structure up and across. We could do one corner at least and maybe get another 6,500 seats to take the total capacity to 83,000.”
The extra seats shouldn’t be sold as season tickets they should be used for one simple reason. Pay on the gate. This may sound like a recipe for disaster but I remember vividly in the early nineties when my Dad finally allowed me to got to games on my own- or more to the point just with my mates, saving up ticket stubbs, adding them to the token sheet then queuing for over an hour at the ticket office.
The fact is local youngsters who want to watch United the way I did from the age of 12 onwards just cannot either afford or obtain tickets. This may sound like an outdated, irrelevant point, after all we don’t need just local people to attend Old Trafford, but the way things are going I genuinely worry how many of Manchester’s kids will be United fans in the next few years. To ignore the importance of Mancunian support when it comes to United would be short-sighted and somewhat foolish yet allowing a ‘pay on the gate section’ could also help the atmosphere improve.
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‘Pay on the gate’ may also encourage a few more die hard fans to come back to Old Trafford as more than a few have simply grown disillusioned not just with the Glazers but also the lack of atmosphere and difficulty in obtaining tickets.
I know you wouldn’t need to expand the capacity at United to implement a ‘pay on the gate’ policy but it would make it a lot more feasible and a lot easier to put into practice. You wouldn’t be taking tickets away from anyone as they’d be coming from the additional seating.
The idea of having a ‘standing section’ seems to be less and less likely with the powers that be reluctant to risk letting football fans actually enjoy themselves at games nowadays so something else is surely needed.
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The more I sit lamenting the atmosphere, while listening to my mates tell me how they can’t afford to take their kids to Old Trafford, or can only get tickets for ‘lesser’ games, the more I see people leaving in droves with 20 minutes left to go and the more I see the club losing touch with the fans that made it what it is today, the more I believe drastic action is required.
Manchester United once went 26 years without winning the league, we once suffered the indignity of relegation a mere six years after we’d been kings of Europe, Liverpool were practically perennial champions while we had to settle for the occasional distant second place and I do mean occasional.
The idea that United could ever return to such dark times seems laughable, but with Sir Alex Ferguson one day retiring what better shape to leave the club in, than with the biggest stadium in the land and a crowd capable of raising the sort of atmosphere that used to be the envy of Europe.
£100 million on expanding the stadium may seem like a waste when you can buy at least four top class players, but it may turn out to be a bargain, if it keeps the club at the very top for many years to come.
Have I gone in off the deep end yet again with absurd flights of fancy masquerading as insightful suggestions or is there a modicum of truth to the rantings I’ve subjected you to? Feel free to comment abuse and discuss below.
Read more of Justin’s articles at Red Flag Flying High
Blackpool's home game against Wigan Athletic on the opening day of the new Premier League season has been switched to the DW Stadium.
The August 14 curtain-raiser has been moved to Wigan by the Premier League while the newly-promoted Seasiders continue upgrading their Bloomfield Road stadium.
Blackpool secured their place in the top-flight after a Championship play-off final victory over Cardiff City back in May.
They immediately started work on improving the East Stand at their ground and league officials anticipate no further schedule changes.
"The board felt it was important to take this decision as early as possible if there was any potential for Blackpool FC's stadium not being ready for the first match of the season," read a Premier League statement.
"This is the only Blackpool fixture that will be affected.
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"This decision will give both clubs and fans maximum time to plan accordingly."
Blackpool are hoping to increase the capacity of Bloomfield Road to 17,600, with the original schedule featuring a second home match against Fulham on August 28.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
In this weekend’s game between Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers there was another soft penalty awarded. But Norwich City won’t mind because it enabled them to grab a draw out of a game, they didn’t play particularly well in.
However, it does seem this season that referees are awarding an alarmingly high number of soft penalties. Norwich City themselves were victim of this early on in the season when they found themselves conceding a penalty in all of their opening five games. As a rule the bigger clubs tend to get the big decisions and when you’re struggling in this division you tend to have no luck at all.
But that all being said, sometimes players do not help themselves. At the start of the season Norwich City was unlucky, but they were also naive in the way they defended. The same can be said on Blackburn Rovers surrounding the events which resulted in the penalty kick on Saturday.
According to Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean his player Stephen N’Zonzi was appealing for a foul which is why he had his arms out in the air. His defence seems to be that he wasn’t looking at the ball when it hit his arm and the handball was therefore unintentional.
Paul Merson claims it is the worst decision he has ever seen. If that is the case I would suggest Mr Merson needs to get out and watch more football. As Norwich City fans we have seen League One, Championship and Premier League referees in recent seasons. And we have certainly seen far worse decisions than the one we saw on Saturday.
A player diving in the box with no contact or someone accused of handball when they head the ball out are surely far worse decisions. As much as we are all frustrated by referees, please understand that we are seeing the elite in the Premier League. There is clearly a big, big difference between a League One referee and a Premier League referee. However, they are still human, and they still make mistakes.
Watching the game from the stands as a Norwich fan, we were all claiming for that decision. And had it happened down the other end then the Blackburn fans would all be claiming for a penalty to. To be fair to the referee in real time, it looks a penalty.
The real issue here, though, is what the hell is Stephen N’Zonzi doing? Play is ongoing and he is supposed to be defending for his team. Leave the decisions to the referee and his assistants. I’m sure though he feels the irony of the fact that by appealing for a free kick, he has inadvertently given away a penalty.
The bottom line is players need to wise up and play the game sensibly. Don’t lean into a striker when he is through on goal and be surprised when he dives for a penalty, and don’t throw your arms in the air and be surprised when a penalty is awarded. Referees have a hard job out there so players need to ensure that they don’t look guilty, even when they’re not.
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While Arsenal have had some wonderful players that have donned the Red and White of shirt over the years, there have equally been just as many who were anything but fit to wear it. For every Thierry Henry there is a Francis Jeffers; for every Tony Adams there was a Gus Caesar and for every Patrick Viera there was a Junichi Inamoto.
This article is a tribute to the worst Arsenal XI of all time and while I am sure there are many players that we all agree on, I am certain there are other players that many of you will believe should have been included on the list. Scan the gallery and my reasons for each player’s inclusion in the team; however please feel free to add any glaring omissions that I may have made in the comments below….
Click on the Famous Marble Halls to see Arsenal’s Worst XI of all time
Everton defender Leighton Baines has admitted that he was shocked and disappointed to be left out of England's World Cup squad.
The 25-year-old former Wigan Athletic left-back was in Fabio Capello's initial 30-man squad before being one of the seven players omitted from the group that eventually travelled to South Africa.
Capello opted to take Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock rather than Baines who played poorly in the warm-up match against Mexico and was then quoted as saying he was worried about being homesick if selected for the tournament.
However, Baines told the Liverpool Daily Echo:"I must admit it was a massive disappointment and something of a surprise even though, like most of the lads in the squad, I knew full well that I wasn't guaranteed a place.
"I was feeling low because I knew I hadn't played my best against Mexico and I spoke to a reporter I know about how the game had gone.
"At the end of the conversation I was asked if I was missing the family while we were away, and I said I was but that it's all part and parcel of being a footballer. I'm not embarrassed to admit that being away from the family is difficult at times but I'm not the only player who feels that.
"It's natural when you've got a young family and you're away from home for long spells so I was shocked when I read some of the reports that later surfaced.
"I'd never mentioned the word 'homesick' once. I felt that my comments had been misconstrued and I came across as a bit of a moaner, which is not like me at all.
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"I was as desperate to make the plane as every other member of the squad and my family was 100 per cent behind me, so I was bitterly disappointed when Mr Capello told me that I wouldn't be going.
"It was a football reason though and had nothing to do with anything written in the newspapers. I respected his decision and wished him and the lads all the best for the tournament."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
The key to great comedy is timing – something Mark Hughes sweems to have mastered this week. The same goes for his agent, the lovable, cuddly Kia Joorabchian.
As misguided interviews go, this was up there with the best. On the day before the Manchester derby (and on the day itself), a couple of journalists released their exclusive interview with Mark Hughes, which discussed his time at Manchester City and Fulham. In it, he came across as an embittered, jealous loser, like the jilted lover that sits at home swigging vodka and listening to Alanis Morissette (though Sam Wallace over at the Independent was keen to state at the end of his article that Hughes was not bitter. No siree).
On pre-derby day, it was all about City.
“We went through a lot of pain,” Hughes said. “Other people have had the gain.”
Few City fans thought Hughes was fit to lead the team to the top. Many thought he should probably have been given until the end of the season, and City were criticised for the manner of his dismissal, searching for a replacement whilst he was still employed. Now without any bias whatsoever, I can honestly say that City did the right thing. You cannot dismiss a football manager without having a replacement lined up mid-season – it makes no sense whatsoever. It might seem cruel to the manager at the helm, but that’s the life of a manager – he got a £3m pay-off to console himself with. What’s more, it was two years ago – perhaps time to get over it? I’m not sure what pain he went through for other people’s game, apart from not winning many games prior to his dismissal. Whatever, owners who have pumped a billion into a football club are probably entitled to install their own man. And he seems to be doing ok.
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But the foolishness of his interview is less about whether he deserved the sack, but how he sees fit to comment on a manager far more successful than he will ever be, and all whilst out of employment, a blatant PR exercise to remind owners of his availability.
“I don’t know the guy personally,” said Hughes of Mancini, “but looking at him from the outside, he comes across as autocratic. It’s either his way or the highway. I’m not sure he indulges players, tries to get to know or understand them. I’m not sure he’s that type of manager.”
A good rule generally when deciding whether to comment on someone you don’t know, is to stay quiet.
“Managing like that in the modern age with modern footballers is more difficult. To be an absolute autocrat and not be flexible in terms of how it’s going to be done and not understand your decisions can impact on players is difficult, because they do. If you manage like that, there are going to be clashes and the likelihood of having clashes with players is, on the law of averages, going to be more prevalent than managers who try to get the best out of players doing it the other way.”
How bizarre to pass comment on how Mancini manages – Hughes must have the brain cells to realise how bitter it makes him look. If only Mancini could have managed more like Hughes and eclipsed his illustrious managerial record. Or perhaps become a bit more laid-back like that rather successful guy down the road – oh, hang on…
Continue reading on PAGE TWO…
So what if there are clashes and fall-outs? Hughes seems to think players should be pampered – well I’m sorry, but that’s drivel .They are paid obscene amounts of money (those at the top) and should do as the manager says. And tough luck if they don’t like it. And there will always be fall-outs with managers and players – no style of management can avoid this.
“Carlos (Tevez) is strong-willed, certainly,” he said. “Yes, he wants to play and for a guy who has come through life the hard way he still has a genuine desire to want to play every week. I never saw him as volatile. I can’t think of one incident where there were flashpoints, but I played a long time and I can handle things like that. You learn how to take the sting out of it. It would never have happened under my watch.”
Yep, suddenly Hughes is the master man-manager. Funny how he doesn’t mention failing to handle Robinho, the biggest name at the club for much of the time, or his total failure to work with Elano, once making him wait outside his office for an hour like a naughty schoolboy. The reason he had little problem with Tevez was that it was the player’s first season at City – and he tends to behave in his debut season.
Just how would he have avoided flashpoints? Well as mentioned earlier, by indulging the player. Well City tried that, and Tevez took advantage even more. It’s a dangerous game to bow down to the whims of any player, and it tends not to go down too well with other players. Fancy that.
The best though was left to last.
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“Whether or not the group as a whole work as diligently and with the same mantra Manchester United have, I’d maybe suggest not. Every Manchester United player understands what United is about. The players understand it is a privilege to play for them. They show the club that deference. I’m not sure the group at City understand that yet.”
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City fans are used to this oft-repeated rubbish that United players all play for the shirt, would play for free if necessary, and that City are just a bunch of over-paid mercenaries after the money at a club ridden with ill-discipline, and poor team morale. Well apart from the fact that if they were just playing for money it would be fine (it is their job after all), the evidence seems to suggest otherwise does it not? And if you are going to come out with such steaming piles of dog-poo, best not to do it the day before City beat United 6-1 at Old Trafford – it just makes you look even more stupid, and even more bitter.
By Sunday he had enraged Mohammed Al Fayed, and when the man that erects a statue of Michael Jackson outside his ground calls you strange, then you know you’re in trouble.
“What a strange man Mark Hughes is,” he said. “Sacked by Manchester City, he was becoming a forgotten man when I rescued him to become manager of Fulham Football Club.”
“Even when results were bad, I did not put pressure on him. I gave him every support – financial, moral and personal. He fully negotiated a two-year extension to his contract. On the day he was due to sign, he walked out without the courtesy of a proper explanation. And now he insults the club, saying it lacks ambition, and the players who delivered an eighth position finish last season and a place in the Europa League.”
In my opinion, he is an average manager who would be out of his depth at a top job. He surrounded himself at City with his friends (The Welsh maffia, or as many called them – The Taffia”), bought Jo and Santa Cruz for £35m, and lacked the imagination to take the club to a higher level. Rather than taking agent-led snide digs at a man he doesn’t know, a man with a managerial record far to superior to his, perhaps he should concentrate on working out why he is out of work, and try to work on his own deficiencies. And when even journalists on Twitter are saying you sound bitter and twisted, then perhaps the problems lie closer to home.