The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies

Klaas Jan Huntelaar to Manchester United
The Spoiler admires Sir Alex Ferguson for being bold enough to take a gamble on Michael Owen but he couldn’t risk placing all his eggs in the 29-year-old’s hole-ridden basket. Therefore, the rumours that United are after another striker aren’t too surprising, with The Sun speculating that £20 million-rated Real Madrid man Huntelaar is a target.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Far from being another Afonso Alves who can only score in the Eredivisie, Huntelaar managed a respectable eight goals in 13 starts and seven sub appearances in Spain last season. Real Madrid are unlikely to get back what they paid for him though considering they are selling just six months after buying and have made it clear they need to get rid of players.

Wesley Sneijder to Chelsea
With Real Madrid increasingly looking like the only club capable of prising Franck Ribery away from Bayern Munich, The Daily Telegraph are reporting

The Russia coach is in talks about succeeding Scolari

Guus Hiddink wants to take charge of Chelsea until the summer as a favour to Roman Abramovich but has no intention of walking out on Russia.

The Dutchman did the same thing with PSV and Australia during the 2005-06 season and managed to win the Eredivisie. It is plausible that he could juggle both jobs because Russia’s only competitive games over the next few months are against Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. He said:

“I must say that this is an exceptional situation. If it was any other club aside from Chelsea my answer would be a straight ‘no’.

“But Chelsea is different because I have good relations with the owner. So I would like to help them in this situation if I could. But this would only be for the next two or three months until the end of the season.

“I will not leave my job with the Russian national team. It’s out of the question. When I took the Russia job it was a long-term project and I don’t like to leave it unfinished.”

Is this a good move for Chelsea or should they make a permanent appointment? Who will be lined up to take over in the summer? Let us know what you think with a comment below.

UPDATE: The Russian FA have given Chelsea permission to speak to Hiddink about an interim role at the club.

Irritated fan gets his shove on

Yesterday was a frustrating day for fans of Eredivisie strugglers De Graafschap, who had to watch their team lost 3-0 to PSV Eindhoven. While 2-0 down, many supporters were enraged that the assistant referee denied a scoring opportunity for on-loan Chelsea striker Ben Sahar. The linesman appeared to make the correct decision, but this didn’t stop one angry chap from dealing with the situation in a rather Paolo Di Canio-esque manner.

The angry “Super Farmers” fan received a one-year stadium ban for this naughtiness.

[101GG]

FC Groningen boss directs schoolboy insult at official

If Joe Kinnear is looking for a more subtle way to attack referees than calling them “mickey mouse” in front of the entire world, then he can learn a lot from FC Groningen gaffer Ron Jans. The “give the middle finger and then pretend to stretch” routine never fails to get results.

[Video: 101GG]

Manchester City/ FC twente, 7.45pm, ITV4, Free £10 bet

While billionaires Manchester City are struggling to have any real impact in the Premier League, everyone’s favourite laughing stock Schteve McClaren is two points off the top of the Eredivisie with his new club FC Twente.

The former England boss squandered his chance to show what he’s capable of against Arsenal in August, but should take advantage of tonight’s opportunity by returning to Holland with a point or three. Here are ChickenDinner’s statistical thoughts on the matter:

1. Steve McClaren faced Manchester City eight times while manager of Middlesbrough and was never beaten, winning on five occasions.

2. During the period that City couldn’t beat McClaren, they managed three victories over Manchester United as well as wins over Chelsea and Liverpool. Significantly, the Citizens won their first three matches against post-McClaren Middlesbrough.

3. FC Twente have won their last two away games and had won four consecutive games without conceding before losing to Ajax last weekend.

4. The Dutch club

FC Twente boss continues to embarrass himself in the Eredivisie

Steve McClaren’s post match interview checklist:

• Foreign managers in the Premier league are successful, so try to emulate their mannerisms and command of English
• Put an upward inflection and pause at the end of every sentence to make it sound as unnatural as possible
• Speak unnecessarily slowly - this disguises the ghastly northern accent and ensures the interviewer is suitably patronised
• Use lots of tired clichés like “we killed the game by scoring more goals” and “anything can happen in football”
• Learn nothing from criticism of new speech pattern

Spoiler bonus: Check out Schteve’s Braveheart impression from earlier this week

[Spotted on Off The Post]

That Ronaldinho must be a bad influence

Being such a devout Christian, Kaka usually does everything possible to shy away from controversy but even he couldn’t resist a dig at Jose Mourinho after AC Milan triumphed 1-0 in the Milan derby.

The former Chelsea boss was adamant that his team deserved a point from the game and also took a swipe at Serie A leaders Lazio. He said:

“I saw two teams tonight and neither one deserved a win more than the other,” before adding: “When I look at the table, with all due respect, I don’t look at Lazio, Napoli or Catania. I see that we are ahead of Roma, Juventus and Milan.”

Kaka, whose compatriot and polar opposite Ronaldinho scored the winner with his first goal for the club, bit back by saying: