Sampdoria "can lift consecutive Italian cup prize"!

After watching his depleted Sampdoria eleven earn a draw at home to relegated Brescia a defiant Mark Rollings issued a final rallying cry to his players and fans ahead of the eagerly anticipated Italian cup final against prospective league champions Juventus. Juventus go into the game as red hot favourites after a stunning season which see's them staring down the barrel of a Serie A title. Sampdoria on the other hand have had an efficient, if unspectacular, term back in Italy's top league and many believe a youthful Juve side will have little trouble seeing off the Blucheriati. Rollings refused to accept his team were their to make up the numbers however, and suggested their opposition would be foolish to not pay his side the respect they deserved.

"For sure Steve (Jenkins) will be confident in his players. They have shown their class over a season and have done a great job. They deserve to win the league and I am pleased that a manager has shown just what you can do with a patient attitude and faith in the younger generation. However, we are equally confident in our ability and the eleven who take the pitch tomorrow night are more than capable of bringing the trophy home. I believe this squad is the strongest Sampdoria has seen for a fair while and Monday is the close to our first choice eleven. I think we saw this weekend that Juventus rested a few lads with this in mind and this gives a clear indication of where we have come as a side. We will stand up to them and take the game to them, we have respect but no fear!"

Although Rollings rested some of his older pro's his team selection suffered a pre final blow as suspensions to right back Torres and holding midfielder Castellazzi limited his options. The Welsh boss was quick to brush off this and focus on his available eleven.

"They are missing the biggest game this season and its their own fault. It doesn't worry me, castellazzi will be replaced by sodinha and we will have a very creative midfield who will cause them problems. Torres should be kicking himself but their was no guarantee he would have played. I tried something earlier this season which produced one of our best performances to date and we will go down the same route now. We are confident we can retain our trophy!"

Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine this week, Nottingham Forest manager Steve Davies-Evans has warned his Cardiff City counterpart Stuart Price that his Forest side will be no pushovers and if they want to gain promotion, they will have to do it the hard way.

Davies-Evans.... "Yeah I read Stuarts quote in the press that they are going to barrage our goal in order to gain promotion. I think Stuart sees it as abit of a forgone conclusion and I am sure that will give my players that little bit of extra incentive to go out and try and gain a positive result from this game. They are clearly favourites for the game but if Stuart thinks that my players are going to roll over and die then he is much mistaken.

We will send out a side that we feel is capeable of getting something from the game and we are confident that we can do just that. Despite our two defeats recently, I feel that we are starting to play better as a unit and I think that we would have gained a point away to Birmingham had it not been for the sending off.

A few people have pointed out that it's the perfect game for Cardiff as we are bottem of the league but I don't think that gives my players the credit they deserve. As for the link up between ourselves and Cardiff, that means nothing this season as it wouldn't next season if we were in the same division. No matter what link up the two clubs have, we are professional managers that will be going out to get the best positive result possible for our teams. I wouldn't be a happy Sunderland fan if they saw us roll over and make sure Cardiff go up just as a favour. That isn't how football should be and I am sure that Stuart or Cardiff City wouldn't want it that way either. If Cardiff are to gain promotion this week, then I'm sure everyone connected with the club will want to have done it the right way.

I wish both Sunderland and Cardiff all the best this week and I hope the best team goes up. "

So Davies-Evans clearly up for this last game of the season and eager to make sure that these rumours that he will make sure Cardiff are promoted are put to bed. It will be an interesting afternoon at the City Ground on what could be a huge day in both Cardiff City and Sunderlands promotion hopes

Italian final hailed as a tribute to fast flowing attacking football.






Juve manager promises the best is yet to come!

Davies-Evans - "We're looking forward to a fresh start!"

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Davies-Evans has been speaking to Football Focuse's Manish Bhasin about the last game of the season and how he is looking forward to the new season.

Manish - Steve, It's been a rough season for Forest, Are you looking forward to putting it to bed and starting fresh?

SDE - "Yeah absolutley. I think it's been hard for the Forest fans only seeing their side win 1 of a possible 21 games so we are looking forward to what hopefully will be a much more fruitful campaign".

Manish - So what do you have planned for the next season?

SDE - "Well we need to look at the areas we are weakest in and clearly strengthen in them as I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to work out that we are very lighweight at the moment. I have already targeted what I feel is quality players that will take us forward as a club and push on up the league."

Manish - Are you in a position where you will have to sell players in order to bring in new faces?

SDE - Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. This club has been through the ringer abit over the past few seasons and making sure that their status as a football club is the most important thing so throwing money around isn't going to help us. I have worked on "shoestring" budgets at Leicester and Cagliari before so I am very confident that I can bring in very good players without having to spend alot of money.

Manish - You are also going to be linked to Cardiff City next year and will provide a place where Stuart Price can send some of his younger players. What do you think boh clubs will gain from this?

SDE - Well we aren't in a position where we can go out and purchase £10m players so loaning is going to be a big part of this football club for the next couple of seasons until we get back on our feet. I have worked with feeder clubs before with Simon (Newcombe at Arsenal) and Adam (Goble at Barcelona) and I know how much it can help. Stuart has some very talented young players that will give our squad an obvious lift instantly. For Stuart, he knows that he will have a safe club that will look after his players where there will get as much playing time as possible and I think that it's huge for Nottingham Forest to be linked to such a huge club as Cardiff and an equally prestigious manager.

Manish - Where do you see Forest finishing next season?

SDE - Well it's going to be a tough league as there are some very good teams in there anyway without the teams coming down. We are rock bottem at the moment so any position higher will be classed as an improvement but I think that if we can stay injury free and stay as consistant as possible then we have a chance of 6th place next season.

Manish - Wow! That would be a huge improvement on this season. Is this not giving the Forest fans false hope?

SDE - No, Not at all!! It won't be easy that is for sure and I'm not going to guarentee them that we will get into the playoffs, I am mearly saying that if things go our way, we could get there. Time will tell and many deals will have to be done to shape this team but if we do things rigt and we work as hard as possible then the fans should have alot more to sing about.

Manish - Well good luck for the new season Steve and thanks for speaking to us.

SDE - No problems Manish and thank you.