The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Rio Ferdinand to Tottenham
On Tuesday, only 42% of thespoiler readers disagreed with the sentiment that Rio was finished. For now, Sir Alex is in that minority, although if Ferdinand were to have another couple of iffy matches,he may quickly dust off his ruthless side and bring in Jonny Evans. Needing to play first-team football ahead of the Coupe du Monde, could Rio return to Uncle Harry, and join the White Hart Lane circus?
Thespoiler truth-ometer: GivenDaniel Levy’s reluctance on deadline day to give Harry any cash to sign David James, he surely wouldn’t shell out the huge fee that signing Rio would demand. Ferdinand also seems to be one of those players who love playing for Manchester United. The step down may not appeal to his ego, or the Rio brand.
Jack Rodwell to Manchester United
Despite only making 27 appearances for Everton, Rodwell has been hailed by many pundits as the, ‘next Rio Ferdinand.’ Which is handy for Sir Alex given the form of the old one.
Thespoiler truth-ometer: Although United did sign Rooney from Everton as a youngster, he had played almost three times the matches of Rodwell. Plus, with his development faring so well at Goodison, why go to United?
Federico Macheda to Middlesbrough Since that goal, Macheda has somewhat withdrawn from the scene, with Sir Alex preferring to go with immobility in the form of Berbatov and insecurity in the form of Michael Owen. Is a loan move to Middlesbrough what Macheda needs to get back up and running?
Thespoiler truth-ometer: Macheda was one of the names on Gordon Strachan’s leaked list earlier in the week, and one would expect him to score goals in the Championship. With Jeremie Aliadiere out injured, Boro’s need for a centre-forward has become even more pressing, but the relationship between Strachan and Fergie has never been the best, with wee Gordon even accusing Manchester United of deliberately losing a match at home to Derby in 2001, to help put his Coventry side down. Favours may not be forthcoming.
Robbie Keane knows a thing or two about the bench, having of course parked himself on one at Liverpool for six months. So when he talks about them, thespoiler listens.
Having realised trying to claim Spurs have a better team, manager, ground, history or support than Arsenal was ludicrous, Robbie decided to attack the Gunners where it hurts - the all-important sub selection. Keane told the London Evening Standard:
“You look at the two squads and we’re definitely on a par. It will be judged at the end of the season but if you look at the bench we have, it is probably a little bit stronger than their bench.”
Indeed, the North London derby this Saturday should provide a perfect opportunity for Keane to test his theory, when with ten minutes left, and three goals ahead, Wenger turns to his bench to rest key players ahead of the midweek fixture.
But is Keano right? Here are the two benches for the most recent league games:
Tottenham’s bench v Stoke:Michael Dawson, Jermaine Jenas, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Alan Hutton, Carlo Cudicini, Gareth Bale, Kyle Naughton Arsenal’s bench v West Ham:Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo, Manuel Almunia, Mikael Silvestre, Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs
On their way to winning the Worthington Cup, consider this 4th round tie the coming of age party for Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City. Whacking a strong United side including Keane, Scholes, Cryuff and Poborsky (the latter of whom cost more than the entire Leicester first XI), was typical of O’Neill’s disregard for bigger clubs, and in his time as manager, Leicester won at Anfield three times in a row as well as securing famous victories at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge.
Steve Claridge’s brilliant first was added to by 18 year old Emile Heskey (whatever happened to him) 13 minutes from time, with a Paul Scholes missed penalty in between. United scored three times in the last fifteen minutes to win the league match a week later, but Leicester recovered to finish the season in 9th.
Bolton Wanderers 6 Tottenham Hotspur 1
27/11/1996
Another stunning result on the same night, as First Division leaders Bolton trounced Premier League comedians Tottenham Hotspur. Super John McGinlay bagged a hat-trick, and further goals from Gerry Taggart, Nathan Blake and Scott Taylor were answered to only by a Teddy Sheringham freekick.
Even back then it was customary for sides to rest players for the League Cup, yet incredibly it was Bolton who had left their three key players on the bench. Less incredibly, Gerry Francis was out of work 12 months later, his huge mullet following him out the door a few days later.
Arsenal 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1
2/12/2003
The night Cesc Fabregas, at the age of 16, entered the record books as the youngest goalscorer in Arsenal’s history, as the next generation of Wenger starlets battered fellow Premier Leaguers Wolves, in a devastating display of attacking power. Whilst the first team were proving to be literally unbeatable that season, Wenger was showing that the future was pretty bright too
Interestingly, only Cesc and Gael Clichy have survived to the Arsenal first team, whilst MOTM Jerome Aliadiere is currently plying his trade in the Championship
1. Dimitar Berbatov is the worst signing in football since Seba Veron:
If anyone can name a truly big match Berbatov has turned or contributed to since he strutted in to Old Trafford last summer, could they kindly alert thespoiler. Surely £30million players should occasionally do that, or at least look like they are trying to.
At Spurs of course, Berbatov was a notorious flat-track bully, scoring just one goal against top-half opposition in his first season at the Lane. At United he has continued this trend, scoring this season against Wigan, Stoke and Sunderland.
Due to deference to Sir Alex, and how the spurs-obsessed media egged on the signing in the first place, the papers never analyse and corrode his transfer policy, as they do to Rafa. But this was bad, bad business indeed.
Fergie himself effectively recognised this when speaking to the weekend press about Berba’s strengths, declaring, “he knows when a short, simple pass is the best option.” Indeed - but there are probably cheaper players one can find on Hackney Marshes who can do that.
2. The Premier League is no good:
“Liverpool’s thunderous victory over Manchester United was a cracking scrap but where was the class?” So said Martin Samuel no less in today’s Daily Mail.
And in truth, that has been emblematic of the entire Premier League season. The most influential player on the game yesterday was probably Lucas. Jamie Redknapp’s post-match dissection informed us United were missing Darren Fletcher - both of whom are simply players who run around a lot and neither of whom one would pay to watch.
3. Barcelona are the best team in Europe this year:
Poor old Jermaine Pennant. Having been thrown onto the scrapheap in England, here was his chance back in the limelight at Camp Nou. He used Friday to mouth off about Rafa to ensure maximum pre-match press coverage, and Sky spent the weekend filling our screens with his blabber about how happy he was that his friends and family back in Blighty will finally get the chance to watch him play
So here old Jermaine was, at Camp Nou against the best team in the world. On the telly. And how did it go?
In truth, so awesome were Barca that Pennant might as well have been watching at home with his family too. He hardly touched the ball.
4. Mark Hughes spent badly in the summer:
£38m hasn’t bought him a decent pair of centre-halfs. Close to £50m on Tevez and Santa Cruz has yielded precisely two goals. The heat is now on City, who were always going to be reliant on results and momentum to keep a happy ship sailing along. Three draws in a row may spell trouble for Hughes.
5. Steve Bruce always buys well:
Hughes’ former United colleague on the other hand, does seem to understand the transfer market. Add Hugo Rodallega to a list that already includes Palacios, Zaki and Valencia.
6. Spurs start to the season hasn’t been as good as everyone thinks:
Ignore the freak win against Liverpool, and their other five wins have come against the five worst clubs in the division. Against top opposition, they have been found out time and again.
7. Ashley Young is getting back to his best:
Ever since Martin O’Neill hailed him a genius for that goal against Everton, Ashley Young hasn’t quite been himself. Villa fans will point to the absence of a natural left back behind Young as a cause of this trouble, with Luke Young filling in on his wrong side instead. As a result of having a right-footer on that flank, the ball down the line in behind which Young thrives on, has been that less frequent.
But with Saturday’s MOTM, and natural left-footer Stephen Warnock now ensconced as the Villa left-back, Young has been slowly getting back to business. He provided both goals in the victory against Chelsea, and his flick in the build-up to the Villa goal on Saturday was what Martin O’Neill would certainly call “genius”.
8. Steve Sidwell remains a true mystery:
Aston Villa’s points average per game with Steve Sidwell on the field is close to 2 pts better off than when he doesn’t play, yet nothing he does on the pitch suggests a reason for this. On Saturday, he cannoned the ball into Richard Dunne’s arse (admittedly a large target) rather than into an empty net, and for good measure, gave away the decisive penalty too. Surely it’s time for O’Neill to swallow his pride, and give Nigel Reo-Coker another chance.
9. Small, skilful players can no longer cut it in the Premiership:
The Championship’s two star performers this weekend, were two youngsters for whom there was no place in the physical minefield of the Premier League. Adel Taarabt and Peter Whittingham were deemed surplus to requirements at Spurs and Villa respectively, and are flourishing now in the Premier League. thespoiler is sad that there is no place in the top flight for these nimble, quirky players whom fans tend to adore.
Breaking news from Russia, and it appears thespoiler favourite Juande Ramos will yet again, to paraphrase Wyclef Jean, be “gone by November.” No stranger to the Spanish Archer, Ramos has now bade farewell to his 13th club. Ramos’ P45 from CSKA Moscow will appear in the post almost a year to the day since Daniel Levy sent him one printed on Tottenham Hotspur-headed notepaper.
Juande’s latest sacking followed a 3-1 defeat to FC Moscow at the weekend, a result that leaves CSKA struggling to make Champions League qualification with just four games remaining in the Russian season. A CSKA statement read:
“Following an agreement between all parties, CSKA have cancelled their contract with head coach Juande Ramos. We are very grateful to Juande Ramos for the work he has done with the team.”
Clearly very grateful. The Ramos career remains something of an enigma. He passed through a plethora of mediocre Spanish teams whilst making very little impact, before bandwagonning on the the transfer brilliance of Sevilla’s Sports Chief Monchi, to take the club to back-to-back UEFA Cups. His time at Spurs was a disaster, before relative success at Madrid. And now chaos at CSKA.
It appears Ramos does his best when in Spain, but once on his travels, he likes to sign large contracts, and then do his upmost to get the boot. His time at Spurs famously included starving his players on matchday, naming teams in the dressing room that included players who were suspended or out on loan, and trying to sign Jesus Navas, a player who gets chronically home-sick even on away trips within Spain.
Having failed to engage with the English language at White Hart Lane, did he ever truly expect to master Russian, a language composed of an entirely different alphabet and with many regional variant dialects? Or was Juande once more up to his old tricks?
The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Frank Ribery to Manchester City
Ribery was keen to leave Germany in the summer, but Manchester United swallowed hard and balked at the price tag. The owners of Manchester City by contrast, don’t balk at much, and could no doubt find a spare shekel or two down the back of the couch to pass on to Bayern. Robinho’s replacement in January perhaps?
Thespoiler truth-ometer: If Bayern get out of their qualifying group, Ribery would be unlikely to walk out on a Champions League campaign. Having kept his powder dry, the French hunk is surely most likely to wait an extra few months, and attempt to engineer a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Romelu Lakuku to Arsenal
This 16 yr old striker has been keeping Tony Adams off the streets of late, with the ex Arsenal skipper being dispatched to spy on the Anderlecht striker. (Thanks to Caughtoffside for bringing the link to our attention)
Thespoiler truth-ometer: Given Adams’ scouting reports back to Wenger regarding Thomas Vermaelen (”I think Thomas is a very good player but I don’t think he’s ready for the Arsenal,”) and Emmanuel Adebayor (”Adebayor was playing for Monaco against Lille and he said what do you think of the left winger and I actually said no!”), it’s unlikely the Arsenal boss would send Big Tone to watch anyone he wanted to sign. It might be a decoy.
Vadis Odjidja to Tottenham
Premier League commentators everywhere will be praying this transfer doesn’t go through, but today’s Sun reveals Spurs are monitoring the 20yr old from Brugge. Odjidja can play anywhere across the back line or midfield, so should be a suitable replacement for any of Spurs’ injury-prone defenders / midfielders.
Thespoiler truth-ometer: A signing more in tune with the imaginative Comoli regime, rather than Harry’s transfer plan of just bringing back old Spurs players or anyone managed by Willie McKay. The Current Bun quote Odjidja simply as saying, “I cannot rule anything out,” which is simply the Sun saying, “We need to fill some space here. Anyone got a quote?”
The big debate: Treat those who paid for your house with decency or antagonise them?
Tough one. Harry Redknapp knows the answer though. Writing in today’s Sun (available online for those who have dramatically ripped up their copy already,) big H makes it clear where he stands. On Adebayor he says:
What on earth was controversial about it?
He took a load of abuse from Arsenal fans, scored against them, ran the length of the pitch to the away end and dropped to his knees as if to say to them ‘I’ve scored, ‘ave some of that’.
I think the FA are wrong to charge him in the first place. But, then again, I think the whole goal celebration issue has got way out of hand.
Whereas Carlos Tevez’s apologetic celebration is lambasted:
Look at Carlos Tevez on Monday night. He scores against his old club West Ham and then says he refused to celebrate because of his love for the club and its supporters.
What a load of old tosh.
I couldn’t for the life of me see why he didn’t want to punch the air in recognition of a goal. Why shouldn’t he?
He should have scored the goal and then celebrated like he wanted to inside.
He has no reason to be on the same side as West Ham fans.
Redknapp puzzlingly concludes:
If you don’t want to score goals, don’t play football.
Redknapp’s verdict is of course nothing to do with the fact that were Adebayor to obtain a further ban, he would miss City’s next match against Aston Villa, who happen to be Spurs big rivals for a Europa League spot.
So what is the verdict readers? Agree with Harry? Or has Tevez demonstrated a better example of how to behave?
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