The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Stephen Warnock to Aston Villa The Mirror say Sam Allardyce has handed Martin O’Neill “The Warnock Ultimatum”. It’s not a Robert Ludlum novel, but rather a 48-hour deadline to snap up the left back.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Balckburn want a little more than the £8m Villa are offering, but we think it will go through before Blackburn’s League Cup bout with Gillingham tomorrow.
Some sort of defender to Everton
After their thoroughly crappy start to the new campaign and the imminent loss of Joleon ‘bad attitude’ Lescott to Manchester City, The Toffees are looking at a number of options to strengthen their back line, say The Times. Bolton’s Gary Cahill and Boro’s David Wheater and Robert Huth are said to be in consideration, for no real reason other than that they have been linked with some other clubs over the summer.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Everton definitely need fresh blood, but landing
The Three Lions could continue their 100 per cent record in 2010 World Cup Qualifiers tomorrow, something that the bookies believe is a near certainty. The Spoiler also believes Fabio Capello will bring three points back to Blighty, and will do so starting with the 4-2-3-1 formation shown above.
We believe Robert Green will earn a cap, thanks to another great domestic season and the costly errors of Mr Robinson and Mr Carson. Matthew Upson was Man of the Match on his last away start for England in Germany, and therefore gets in ahead of Joleon Lescott (who has never really shone at international level) and Gary Cahill, whose newbie status means he’s unlikely to start.
We were toying with putting Michael Carrick in ahead of Gareth ‘Moneybags’ Barry, but the Manchester Utd star was poor in the Champions League final, and his City equivalent has played almost every game under Capello.
Crouchie’s international scoring record is a thing of beauty (13 goals in the last 13 he has started), so he should keep his place over Emile Heskey (whose form has dipped since joining Aston Villa) and Carlton Cole (who has only started once in two months because he got injured on the crappy Wembley pitch).
Let us know your opinions and choices for the starting line-up below…
Wigan staff try to help one another win Fabio Capello over
Fabio Capello has named a number of unlikely candidates in his England squads over the last twelve months: Joe Lewis, Michael Mancienne, Jimmy Bullard and Carlton Cole to name a few. However, Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland has pushed the boundaries even further by tipping Titus Bramble for a call-up.
The Wigan defender, famed for screw-ups like the ones in the video above, has had a good season but surely still has some way to go before he can justify the label “international standard”, especially considering many other English centre-backs like Phil Jagielka, Matthew Upson and Gary Cahill have impressed this year.
However, talking up one another’s England prospects appears to be in vogue right now at the JJB, as Steve Bruce, who was famously never capped, has put in a good word for Kirkland, labelling him “the best goalkeeper in England”. All that remains now is for Bramble to point out that Bruce should be the next England manager and a perfect triangle will be complete.
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