Week 11

Football Academy · Cult Status

Week 11

Fletch · Cult Status

£100m for Genoa..................WOW

CRadford7 · Cult Status

Radford Under Pressure?

After Man United lost to Arsenal at home this weekend, rumours broke out that fans started questioning Craig Radford's ability to manage the team.

Radford clearly stated that although his job is huge, he wasn't feeling any pressure regardless of what the press had to say!

The manager also admitted that recent results haven't been great, but that he feels the club are in a transitional period. Radford was of the belief that the squad he inherited when taking over was fairly strong, but didnt have that extra quality to challenge the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal.

Due to this, the United manager firmly believes that it will take time to get a squad together that is capable of challenging for the title again. He urged fans not to doubt him, but to get behind him and his staff.

richj363 · Cult Status

Spurs fail again.

Spurs lost at home to bottom club Newcastle despite dominating the game, Spurs manager Richard Jefferies said " We had 14 chances and had 7 shots on target but only scored twice, they had 4 shots and scored 3."
He added " It was the most frustrating game i have ever been involved with and i can't believe we ended up with nothing, We just need a change of luck, The boys played some fantastic football and just need a break"

tonymdf · Cult Status

Middlesboro Appoint Wood as Manager

Tony wood the ex Valencia manager today took up the vacant managers position at Middleboro, The Middlesboro Daily news attended the press conference and gained this interview with Wood

MDN Welcome back into Management Mr Wood how does it feel to be in England?

Wood Thanks, I am delighted that Mr Gibson and the board have given me this opportunity to come back into management, it seems a long time ago I was actively involved and want to get to work as soon as possible, It is cold here tho

MDN You have been out of the game for a while following your sacking at Valencia, why Middlesboro?

Wood I think Middlesboro have suffered under some bad management in the past and have slowly slipped down the league however the foundations of an excellent team are here to build on and start to climb the table again, the Chairman here was a big factor in my applying for the Job, he is a very patient man and has a track record of backing the manager

MDN something you feel you didnt have at Valencia?

Wood Valencia is now in my past, I want to concentrate on the future and that is here with Middlesboro so no more questions about Valencia please

MDN Your New Assistant Manager has been openly critical you recently have you met and discussed his concerns?

Wood I Know what was written in the press and have met briefly with Walter Mazzarri, he has made it clear that he will be leaving the club this week, I will be making an announcement of our New assistant once the details have been confirmed.

MDN You have started negotiations already then?

Wood Yes after it was clear that Walter wanted to move on, it was essential that a new assistant was a priority, We are very confident an announcement will be made before this weekends game against Southampton

MDN you have some Transfer funds at your disposal, have you identified any potential new signings yet?

Wood I have spoken with the board about Transfers, We are close to agreeing one deal to bring somebody in which will fill our Team allocation so some players will be moving on

MDN The club has seen a lot of our star players leave recently, can you assure the fans some quality will be joining and no other stars leaving?

Wood I am here to rebuild Middlesboro into a force our aim is to gain Promotion that will only be achieved by building on the quality that is here yes some players will be moving on but I can assure fans I have no plans to sell their favourite stars

MDN Have you had a chance to watch any of the games recently from the Championship?

Wood I did watch our draw with High flying Everton at the weekend and thought we played very well and unlucky to only come away with a draw against a team that are pushing hard for one of the automatic promotion places, I have had scout reports from our nearest rivals, the Championship is a very close league with a lot of quality, there are some very good managers at this level so results will have to be earned

MDN Our next 2 games are against relegation rivals what are your thoughts on these games?

Wood Southampton at home in my 1st game should be a good test, they are battling for survival and a victory for them would close the game to just one win so it is essential we get the players motivated and look to build on last weeks result, Norwich the week after will be equally a tough task as they are no push over at home, our aim is for 2 wins to set us up for the Derby Match, 3 wins out of 3 is my target which should get us into the play off places!

MDN Thank you for your time, I am sure the Fans are looking forward to some success under your management, good luck

Wood Thanks I hope we can give the fans something to cheer about, there is nothing more fearful for visiting teams to come to a packed Riverside and feal the force of the fans our 12th player so hope many suffering fans that have been staying away will come along this weekend to give us there support

Football Academy · Cult Status

(Just a note, the rumour mill doesn't include 100% truth!! Just remember that when reading stories.)

Rumour Mill

An unnamed Sunderland official has told fans to aim their anger towards the manager and not the board that the club isn't top yet.

Middlesbrough have told incoming manager Tony Wood that they expect Premiership football to be delivered.

Birmingham fans have celebrated the surprise success this season as they top the table, putting in some very impressive performances so far.

Arsenal fans have widely admitted they deeply regret the 'missed opportunity' after dropping from top of the Premiership after just one week.

The Middlesbrough assistant manager has told the club he will not be returning to work following the appointment of Tony Wood.

Wolves fans have begun calling for the managers head in disappointment at league current position.

Tony Wood has already highlighted a replacement to join as his right hand man.

Genoa's chairman has refused to comment on speculation he'll invest £100 million if they reach Serie A.

Celta Vigo deny they were approached over Gareth Gardner leaving the La Liga outfit.

Valladolid wonder kid David Cortez has told Simon Jenkins he can't wait to leave Cadiz at the end of the week.

Simon · Cult Status

Football Academy wrote:

(Just a note, the rumour mill doesn't include 100% truth!! Just remember that when reading stories.)
Rumour Mill

Valladolid wonder kid David Cortez has told Simon Jenkins he can't wait to leave Cadiz at the end of the week.

Thats definitely 100% truth!

JOP · Cult Status

Petty asks for fans support

In a statement to BlackCats.com Jonathan Petty has asked for support from the fans of Sunderland FC.

"I heard a rumor that the fans are disappointed that we are not top at the moment. I really hope this is a rumor as the fans have been fantastic since I joined the club and have been very good too me. We currently sit joint TOP and are in the best position we have been of getting promoted, we have a seven point gap between us/Birmingham who are joint TOP and thrid place. Like I said at the start of the season we will win the league and I stick by that."

-- Edited by jop1927 at 20:22, 2009-02-10

bigwave1927 · Cult Status

Leeds manager has come out in support of his great friend Jonathan Petty. Speaking this evening Dave Davies-Evans said;-
"Sunderland should be very proud of there manager, it has gone wrong in the past but i cant see it happening again. The Birmingham situation amazes me as there is never any transfer activity. If Walter has a couple of injuries then they are in trouble.
I will be going all out this weekend to get something out of the Brum away game and if Jonathan can do his buisness on the pitch then they will be top.
I am really excited about the prospect of watching my new signings making there debuts this week. Krancjar is a quality player and will get us a lot of goals this season with the tatics and formation we play.
On a final note i would like to thank Sunderland for there support in the players we have brought in from them, and we will be bringing in a few fresh faces in the next couple of weeks.
Many thanks

-- Edited by bigwave1927 at 20:32, 2009-02-10

tonymdf · Cult Status

Middlesboro announce new Assistant Manager

Jim Duffy was today officially announced as Middlesboros new Assistant Manager,

After New manager Tony wood was appointed on Monday the current assistant Walter Mazzarri made it clear he would not work with wood and has since been on Special leave.

An approach was made to Norwich for Duffy because of his Knowledge of the Championship, his skills with training and bringing through youth from the academy which will bring qualities to the club that Mazzarri never possessed.

I am looking forward to working with Jim who will join us after this weekends game it is another step in the right direction for Middlesboro football club
[spoiler]

-- Edited by tonymdf at 00:07, 2009-02-13

Bluebird99 · Cult Status

Leicester v SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY pre-match press conference
With Sheffield Wednesday manager Steve Davies-Evans

Press - Steve, you suffered a blow to your automatic promotion chances last week with a home defeat to Cardiff City, how do you feel this has affected your players?

SDE - Well I won't lie that they were down during training the next day but this is a very strong group of players and by Monday mornings training, they were back more focused than ever on getting 3 points against Leicester.

Press - How confident are you that you can take maximum points from this game?

SDE - Well I'm confident going into any game we play as I will be when we travel to Chelsea in a few weeks time so I believe that we have what it takes to win this game. My players showed great bouncebackability after the Sunderland game to then come straight back and beat Birmingham so we need to show the same sort of character this week.

Press - Do you now feel though that you are too far behind Birmingham and Sunderland to catch them?

SDE - Until it's mathmatically impossible, we will still be doing everything possible to get an automatic position. If we cannot turn round the 9 points difference then we will have to settle for a playoff place. Don't forget, we still have the top 3 to play in the second half of the season and we have a home game against our neighbours Sheffield United next week so it's all in our own hands if we want to go up!

Press - Your chairman Bernie Ecclestone had hinted that he may be willing to back you with more transfer funds in order to close the gap on the leaders, is that going to happen?

SDE - I couldn't tell you at this point. What the chairman decides to do with his money is totally up to him. It would obviously be a help if we can re-inforce the side even further as I feel we are a few quality players short but if he decides not to then we will work with what we have and plough on trying to achieve promotion. The Chairman is a top bloke and he will do what's right for Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

Press - If you do get more financial backing, have you identified players already that can come in?

SDE - Yes, I have spoke to a number of managers over the past couple of weeks and we have identified a group of players that we feel could take the club forward, if then more transfer funds become available, I will be contacting the managers that I feel have offered the best deal for us and will be trying our hardest to sign those players.

Press - Do you have anyone coming in this week?

SDE - Yes we hope to have a very experienced defender coming in this week that will still very well in our back line. I am not going to name names but I would like to thank the manager involved and say that it was very good doing quick and simple business with him.

Prsss - Steve, this game will mark the halfway point in the season, are you happy where you are at the moment?

SDE - I think that if given the choice, I would like to be sat abit closer to the front 3 in the league but we are in a decent position. This club finished 11th last season so we are obviosuly making strides if we are even talking about promotion but I feel that if we put a good run of games together now, we could get right back in contention with the top 2 and hopefully end up claiming one of those places.