Chelsea are reportedly exploring options for moving to a new stadium, after it has been revealed that no further renovation work can be done on Stamford Bridge to increase capacity.
The 41,800 seats at the London club is significantly less than The Blues’ top Premier League rivals, and chairman Bruce Buck has confirmed that this number cannot be increased.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve given up but after five or six years of looking at it we are doubtful that we can do something at reasonable cost that will give us a reasonable return financially and for the fans,” he told The Telegraph.
The newspaper indicate that Andre Villas Boas’ men have three possible locations for a new arena; Earls Court, White City and Nine Elms, which are all being explored.
Despite this, Buck maintains that there are no concrete plans, and that the club are dedicated to Stamford Bridge for the time being.
“We are here at Stamford Bridge, have no plans to move but like any good business looking at the future we are looking at everything that comes along and might make sense,” he stated.
“At the moment we have no discussions going on with any developer and we still have not made a decision that ‘yes, Chelsea want to move’.”
“More significantly, we are wondering whether long-term our stadium might be the right size. We may decide that 42,000 is fine and if we continue to have that view we would just stay,” he concluded.
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Welcome ladies and gents to the live blog for tonight’s Carling Cup Fourth Round tie that sees Premier League champions Manchester United make the long and daunting trip down to Hampshire to face League Two minnows Aldershot Town.
Just 48 hours after their derby day humiliation Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will still be licking their wounds after being thrashed 6-1 by noisy neighbours City at Old Trafford. An insipid display from the Red Devils prompted Fergie to deal out some of the famous ‘hairdryer’ treatment to his players in the aftermath of their biggest home defeat since 1955.
It’s been reported that a number of senior players will be dropped by Ferguson tonight after their poor displays on Sunday with the likes of Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick set to feature. There is the worry that the deflated squad may still be shaken and another embarrassing defeat at the hands of Dean Holdsworth’s Aldershot may be too much to handle. United should be confident though in what will be their 100th League Cup tie. They haven’t lost in the fourth round since 2006 when Freddy Eastwood’s delicious free kick gave Southend a memorable 1-0 victory at Roots Hall.
The Shots are the lowest ranked team left in the competition but have lost their last three home games at the Recreation Ground. In fact they’ve lost all three Carling Cup games since being promoted from the Conference in 2008 and haven’t progressed past the third round since 1984. Former Wimbledon striker Holdsworth has done a decent job since taking over in January and will be banking on 10-goal Danny Hylton to inspire his side to a giant-killing of epic proportions. Interestingly this is only the second time the two sides have met and the first since Aldershot Town were formed in 1992. Their last meeting came over 40 years ago when United strolled to a 3-1 win over the Shots in the League Cup. I’m sure they’d be happy with a similar result tonight!
England attacker Theo Walcott has stated that his side’s 1-0 win over Spain on Saturday shows the quality of the nation’s players, and feels it has put a marker down ahead of Euro 2012.
The Three Lions side put in a dogged performance to frustrate the world champions at Wembley, and a Frank Lampard goal in the second half gave the home side victory.
With the likes of John Terry, Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshere and Steven Gerrard all missing, a number of fringe players held their hands up for inclusion in Poland and Ukraine next year, which impressed the Arsenal winger.
“A lot of players who came in all took their chance,” he told The Daily Mail.
“But that’s what we’ve got in this England team. We’ve got so many great players in each position now.
“Tournament football, it’s very important to have 23 very physically fit players and the players that came in did that and everyone’s got to stay on their toes now.
“Our back four was absolutely fantastic – but not just them. Players who came on fitted straight in. Sometimes, it changes the flow of the game when you make substitutions but everyone took their chance,” he concluded.
England now take on Sweden on Tuesday night, and will look for another positive result to build momentum ahead of the competition next year.
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Chelsea scored three first half goals to comfortably see off Wolves at Stamford Bridge and relieve the pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas.
Consecutive home defeats at the hands of top four rivals Arsenal and Liverpool had put the Portugeuse boss in a precarious position with reports suggestion that owner Roman Abramovich was set to dispense with his services after barely five months in charge. A series of under-par performances had seen the Blues come in for some serious criticism but they roared back into life scoring three goals in the first forty five minutes to secure an important win. Captain John Terry started things off heading home Juan Mata’s corner after seven minutes before the Spaniard set up Daniel Sturridge to make it two just before the half hour. The midfielder then got on the scoresheet himself on the stroke of half time lashing home Ashley Cole’s low cross to complete the scoring and put the smile back on his managers face. Eyes will now be cast over to Mick McCarthy who must be shouldering his fair share of pressure with his side now fourth bottom after losing for the seventh time in nine games. Wanderer’s have won only once in that sequence and look form candidate for relegation after putting in another poor display in West London. McCarthy’s men rarely threatened the home side who strolled to one of their more convincing wins of the season.
A rapid start was needed to lift the Stamford Bridge faithful out of their seats after conceding two late goals in the space of three days against Liverpool last week and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday. Whilst the performance wasn’t vintage Chelsea did enough to secure the win and got off to a flyer when Terry gave his marker the slip before heading home Mata’s corner to break the deadlock after seven minutes. However the hosts failed to build on that lead allowing Wolves to settle into the game and looked like a side severely lacking in confidence. Despite being presented with a chance to get themselves back into the game the visitors failed to really test the Blues defence as their lack of creativity became increasingly evident. The best they could muster was a looping header from Steven Ward that never really looked like testing Petr Cech. The next goal would go onto define the contest and it was Chelsea who grabbed it on 29 minutes with Mata once again the provider crossing for Sturrige to side foot home from close range for his sixth Premier League goal of the season. The Spaniard was by far the home side’s brightest player and he deservedly got his name on the scoresheet converting Cole’s cross with aplomb and giving Chelsea a cushion going into the break.
Wolves responded well after the restart and should have nicked a goal that would have caused the tension levels to rise inside Stamford Bridge. Steven Fletcher had their best chance firing a shot narrowly wide of Cech’s goal as the away side strived to give their travelling support something to celebrate. The Blues were still a threat though and were denied more goals by some tremendous goalkeeping from Wayne Hennessey who pulled off two stunning saves to keep out strikers from Mata and Sturridge. His opposite number in the home goal was equally as impressive thwarting Matt Jarvis and Fletcher as Wolves threatened to nick a consolation. However neither side could convert the opportunities presented to them with Chelsea holding on to secure a precious three points and more important clean sheet. Villas-Boas will face tougher tests over the festive period and his side will need to perform better away at Newcastle next week.
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Manchester United missed the chance to go three points clear at the top of the Premier League over the Christmas period after a shock home defeat to lowly Blackburn Rovers. Just a few days later and the Champions now need a victory away at Newcastle United tonight to move level on points with leaders and rivals Manchester City.
After the disturbing result at Old Trafford against Rovers; in which Sir Alex Ferguson dropped Wayne Rooney and was without a whole host of injured players; midfielder Michael Carrick came in for some criticism from United fans and pundits alike for his role at centre half. One of the most consistent Premier League players over the years, Carrick was playing out of position and under pressure and did not look out of place up against the in-form striker Yakubu.
A product of the successful West Ham youth system, Carrick quickly became one of the Premier League’s best young midfielders at Upton Park before joining Tottenham Hotspur in 2004. An impressive spell at White Hart Lane convinced Sir Alex to fork out £18million two years later for Carrick who was bought to replace the departing legend Roy Keane.
It has taken time for the red half of Manchester to take to the North-East born midfielder, but this season he has shown his class in an injury stricken United side. After Paul Scholes retired at the end of last season, Fergie decided not to bring in a replacement as he was confident his current midfielders could step-up. But injuries to Anderson, Tom Cleverly and Darren Gibson along with defenders Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans have given Carrick the chance to play week-in-week-out and earn the praise that he deserves.
The England international is set to make his 250th appearances for United as he returns to his native city tonight in a huge game at the top of the Premier League. It is thought that Carrick could well return to his favoured central midfield position in the live game on SkySports and will no doubt put in a consistent, workman like performance that will not be praised by the likes of Ray Wilkins and Jamie Redknapp.
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The word underrated is often used nowadays with regards to players in the English top flight, and I believe Carrick defines the word. His creativeness is obvious to see and his passing and vision is on the same level as the much missed Scholes. His height and aerial ability meant that Sir Alex was comfortable to play him at the back and as you could see with his brilliant individual goal at Queens Park Rangers this season, his work rate and determination is unquestionable along with a deceiving eye for goal.
Former United defender Gary Pallister has urged United fans to allow Carrick to prove his worth and agrees that the 30-year-old midfielder has been in excellent form this season.
“He is one of the players that if things go wrong the fans berate and put all the blame on but he has been terrific this season,” Pallister told Goal.com, “Michael has really come to the fore, especially during this injury crisis in central midfield and at centre-half. He has had a fantastic season up to this date.”
“His reading of the game is what makes him such an effective player. He understands the game inside-out and he puts himself in very good positions, especially when he is protecting that back four. Plus in terms of range of passing, he is possibly the best player at the club for that, certainly now that Scholesy has left. His long-range passing is great and his ability to keep things ticking along in midfield with short, simple passing is superb. He has loads more experience now as well and he is playing really well.”
A perfect explanation and description from Pallister that is worth taking in and with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Jack Wilshere struggling for fitness or form, it is a matter of time until Carrick gets another chance for England and becomes a vital player for both club and country.
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Do you think Carrick is deserving of more praise and a spot in the England midfield? Let me know below or on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
Sebastien Bassong’s White Hart Lane hell could be over this month after French giants Lille and Lyon are set to go head to head for his signature, according to this morning’s Daily Mirror.
French-born Bassong has attracted interest from his native country after finding himself well down the pecking order at Tottenham and is desperate to get his career back on track. Harry Redknapp has confirmed that he may need to sell in order to buy in January and Bassong is certainly the sort of player that the Spurs boss may look to move on.
The Cameroon international arrived in North London for £8million in 2009 from Newcastle United but has only made 44 league appearances at the Lane with the likes of Michael Dawson, Ledley King, Younes Kaboul and William Gallas all ahead of him in Redknapp’s thoughts.
Spurs have no chance of receiving the same sort of money that they paid out for Bassong three years ago but with Redknapp keen to bring Chris Samba to the club this month and the return of Swansea loanee Steven Caulker in the summer, Bassong will only fall further back in the Spurs squad.
The 25-year-old defender is set to start a tug of war between the French rivals after his proposed move to QPR fell through after Neil Warnock was sacked.
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Liverpool are set to up their efforts to sign a new attacker in January, with The Reds linked with moves for Crystal Palace’s prospect Wilfried Zaha and out-of-favour Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe.
The Anfield club are having issues hitting the back of the net currently, highlighted by their 0-0 draw with Stoke at the weekend, and with Luis Suarez suspended the Merseysiders look slightly toothless in attack.
Mirror Football indicate that both Kenny Dalglish’s men and Manchester United are keen to sign highly-rated youngster Zaha, but Palace manager Dougie Freedman has issued a hands-off warning.
“I’ve had chit-chats with Kenny Dalglish and Alex Ferguson, but he is not going anywhere,” the Scottish coach stated.
Meanwhile, England international Defoe has been forced to watch Tottenham from the sidelines for the majority of this campaign, with Harry Redknapp preferring to partner Rafael van der Vaart with Emmanuel Adebayor up front.
Defoe’s agent has been pestering Redknapp to play his client on a more regular basis, but Liverpool may well be able to offer him regular football; Mirror Football again state that they are ready to bid £10 million for the diminutive marksman.
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With Euro 2012 just around the corner Defoe needs to be playing more frequently to force his way into Fabio Capello’s squad, and could be interested in a move to Anfield.
With so much pressure on managers and players to perform to the, often unrealistic, standards set for them by fans we should ask ourselves: are there other characters in the football pantomime who are often failed to be held to account? The people I’m talking about are of course the back room staff; the coaches, the assistant managers, the sporting directors and so on. How much influence do they really exert and should we be calling for a change in club staff as much as we do for managers?
Assistant Managers
The fact that Ray Wilkins’ departure last season coincided with a huge dip in form for Chelsea could be coincidental, but clearly it is too important a coincidence to overlook. Whilst nearly all eyes were focused on Carlo Ancelotti it was the absence of his number two that seemingly sparked the demise of Chelsea. They eventually recovered towards the end of the season but in the two months following the sacking of Ray Wilkins Chelsea took just seven league points from a possible twenty-seven including just one win in their nine Premier League games over that period.
Clearly this instance on its own is not enough to state the extent of the role that assistant coaches play in a club’s success, however when you look at the attitude of the most successful manager in British history then their importance is visible. Like any company, to enjoy consistent success football clubs need to reinvent themselves on a regular basis in order to keep up with the changing times of the industry. Whilst Alex Ferguson has been at United for over two decades he has had the foresight to change his assistant managers on a reasonably regular basis. During his time at the club he has worked alongside Archie Knox, Brian Kidd, Steve McClaren, Jimmy Ryan, Carlos Quieroz, Walter Smith and Mike Phelan.
I’m not saying that the continued success of Manchester United is down to the high turnover of staff, clearly Ferguson is the key factor; however, the assistants have invariably helped to add a freshness of ideas that is clearly lacking at other top clubs. Take Arsenal for example. Arsene Wenger, undoubtedly an exceptional manager, seems to have lost his way in recent years. Often it seems that the club are stuck in a rut and, whilst clearly this can’t be blamed purely on Wenger’s assistant Pat Rice, it is undeniable that the Northern Irish, former Arsenal defender has had a role to play. Rice has been assistant manager to Wenger ever since the Frenchman took over and whilst he enjoyed success early on he is indicative of the stagnation at the club, particularly if you consider Arsenal’s defensive frailties over the last few years (Rice is the defensive coach). It doesn’t mean that Rice is a bad coach or assistant, perhaps just that without fresh faces behind the scenes clubs like Arsenal, after a while, lack originality.
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You could also look at England under Fabio Capello. Capello’s number two was Franco Baldini who, it was said, conducted most of the team talks and ‘hands on’ elements to the national squad. If this is true then perhaps he too should be taking some of the blame for performances such as England’s during the World Cup in South Africa.
Bureaucracy
It’s not just the assistants that impact either. The bureaucratisation of football clubs has also had an impact on the teams’ performances. For example the ever-increasing numbers of ‘Directors of Football’ are hugely influential in a clubs success. Take Liverpool’s underwhelming league form this year. Arguably that is down to money poorly spent on expensive, average signings. Who was responsible for the signings of Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson? Damien Comolli – Liverpool’s Director of Football. Or you could look at Chelsea where the hierarchy have signed players such as Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku who, whilst excellent players, were not chosen by the manager and therefore hinder his performance in the role. Lukaku’s recent statement that he was unhappy about his lack of playing time is testament to the influence these individuals have behind the scenes and the negative effects they can have.
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I know a lot of this may seem obvious but the point I’m trying to make is that in a culture in which we are so quick to criticise players, to call for a change in the management of the club and express dissent at the earliest opportunity perhaps we should be looking at the other factors involved. Yes, Arsene Wenger seems to have lost his way a bit but is he actually a worse manager than he was in 2004 or does he just need to refresh his coaching staff? Yes, Villas-Boas has been poor this year but isn’t it understandable when the club keep buying players that he doesn’t want as he attempts to rebuild Chelsea’s squad; and yes, Daglish is hardly the same manager he was but can you blame him when £35m of his transfer money is spent on the likes of Andy Carroll? Ultimately the managers are accountable for the success or failure of a club but next time you find yourself calling for a manager’s head, or declaring your disgust at your manager’s choice of signings, take a minute to consider who else had a role to play.
After last week’s JPT final defeat at Wembley, Swindon were back in league action yesterday looking to increase the gap at the top of League Two.
However in a dire affair at the County Ground they had to share the spoils with Bristol Rovers after failing to find the cutting edge.
The best chance of the a rather uneventful match fell to Swindon’s Alan Connell whose shot hit the underside of the crossbar before bouncing away from goal after a superb Matt Ritchie cross. Di Canio’s men started brightly and could have been in front in the first few minutes if Jonathan Smith had made a better connection from just inside the box. Rovers tried to keep tight towards wingers Ritchie and Holmes so they could not pose the threat they have so often done this season. Matt Ritchie had a few crunching tackles come his way and after one, he had to receive treatment for a lengthy period due to a reckless challenge on the half-way line.
Rovers really didn’t test Wes Foderingham in the Robins’ net and mainly set out to frustrate the hosts and catch them on counter-attack with the likes of Chris Zebroski and Mustapha Carayol. However Swindon dominated the first half and really should have gone in-front after numerous chances went begging.
Bristol Rovers’ danger man Carayol had to be replaced at the interval after his hamstring started to tighten up, being replaced by Michael Smith. The second half was more of an even affair with Swindon’s chances falling to Ronan Murray and Paul Benson, a long ball over the top to Murray saw Bevan come slightly off his line, Murray then tried to flick the ball over the keepers had but in the end it was an easy save for the former Torquay stopper. Holmes was full of energy and ran at the defence every time he had the chance, he got to the by-line and curled in a right-footed cross towards Benson whom tried a diving header towards to the near post but it just went wide.
Bristol Rovers never really look like scoring themselves but did look a threat on the counter attack as they went forward in search of a winner and the Pirates will probably be the happier of the two sides after this goal-less affair but the point certainly doesn’t harm our title ambitions. We remain two points clear of Torquay but importantly have two games in hand, starting this week away at struggling Barnet.
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Other results in League Two were also beneficial to the Robins’ title hopes yesterday as 10-men Shrewsbury could only draw at home to Aldershot while Crawley were held to a 0-0 draw away at Burton Albion. This means if we can take all three points on Tuesday it will leave us eight points clear of 4th and one step closer to sealing promotion back to League One.
As I left Upton Park on Monday evening it was clear that no one knew whether to laugh or cry.
On one hand, we had just witnessed the type of home performance that we’ve been craving for months and salvaged a point from a game that looked all but over at the break. But on the other hand we knew that by dropping points we had an even steeper hill to climb if we were going to achieve automatic promotion.
Following Reading’s 1-0 win at Brighton last night, Allardyce’s men now have six points to make up in just four games. Although that’s only in the hope that one of Southampton or Reading don’t win more than six points from their remaining fixtures. It’s a huge ask. A monumental expectation. An almost impossible outcome. But it’s not mathematically impossible, meaning it can still be done.
Looking at the run-in, Reading arguably have the hardest. Yes, they have two consecutive home games with Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace but, they’re sandwiched by two very tough trips to Southampton and Birmingham. They are two games I think they’ll struggle to get anything from, leaving us with the task of ensuring we take at least seven points from the remaining 12 available to clinch second spot.
It would be unfair on Southampton if they don’t get promoted as Champions and I think they’ll do just that by winning all of their final four games. That’s not something that should worry us, though. Winning the league, that is. All we need to worry about is winning our games and hoping either Reading slip up twice, why just Reading? Because if we claw back six points now, it’s goal difference that will determine who finishes 2nd. Reading’s goal difference is only two goals better off than ours at the moment, so they’re the team we’d want to level points with.
Despite the current circumstances, though, the Easter Bank Holiday weekend began in emphatic and historical fashion. Winning 4-0 away at Barnsley set a new club record for most away wins in a single season and the football we played on the day was synonymous of a promotion winning side. Problem is, we haven’t done that every week.
Regardless of whether we win promotion or not, I’m sure there will be an inquest in to why we’ve made this season such hard work. We’ve recently been labelled as arrogant by people in the media and fans of opposition clubs, but the fact of the matter is this – We should be beating teams like Doncaster, Watford, Crystal Palace, Bristol City and Ipswich with the manager, players and budget we have. There shouldn’t have been a contest.
It’s accepted that every now and then said teams might cause an upset (like Ipswich did with their 5-1 thrashing of us at Portman Road) but, on the whole, those games should have been won. Why they weren’t won is a subject of real debate. Tactics, complacency, naivety and lack of confidence could all come in to play. That’s something I go on about with a few more thousand words, but what I have to say about it is what many of you will probably already know, so I won’t bore you with it now.
We’re staring the play-offs square in the face right now and that doesn’t necessarily mean our dreams of promotion are dead and buried. Look at it this way, if we do go up through the play-offs then at least we can enjoy a good day out at Wembley in the process. All we can do at this stage is keep supporting the boys, keep believing that something might finally go our way and just hope we’ll all be toasting an immediate return to the promised land come the end of the season.
Keep the faith, Hammers. We can do it.
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Agree or disagree? Think it’s all over for us? Let me know on Twitter @jj2388