Week 23

Besty · Cult Status

Week 23

tonymdf · Cult Status

Wood responds to Media Speculation

Middlesboro manager Tony Wood today issued a statement in response to recent media speculation linking him to the vacant Newcastle Job

Wood I would like to confirm NO approach has been made to me from Newcastle United or any other club for that matter, I know managers who achieve some success will always be linked to one club or another but as yet Middlesboro have not won anything Yes we have managed to turn things around from a club on the decline when I was appointed to a team on the brink of the Premiership but that is all we are on the brink. I am committed to Middlesboro football club who showed faith in me after my much talked about departure from Valencia, and I want to repay that faith, I am not interested in Newcastle if i was i would have applied for the job before I applied for Middlesboro when their manager left.

I wanted to publicly dispel any rumours about me leaving as I felt it was important that at this crucial stage of the season going into our Play off semi Final against Wigan that minds are focused on the job in hand rather than speculation. We need to carry on the momentum into that game.
To finish 3rd in the league in my opinion is fantastic considering where we were when I was appointed, confidence is high , the players mental and physical attitude for the game has been restored along with faith in their own ability. We go into the match on Monday knowing we can reach the final, Wigan are a good side and have dangerous players that can hurt any team we will be up for and totally focused on the game and not underestimate them..

-- Edited by tonymdf on Sunday 3rd of May 2009 01:02:42 AM

Bluebird99 · Cult Status

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Davies-Evans joins presenter George Gavin on the show tonight to look over the weekends results in League 1 and also preview the upcoming Playoff games.

George - Steve, Firstly welcome to the show. How have you enjoyed League 1 this season?

SDE - Well for me personally George, It's been abit of a rollacoster but the league in general has shown exactly why it has so many top managers trying to get into it. The excitement on the least day of the season was as intense as normal and I'm sure the playoffs will be no different.

George - Yeah you mentioned it's been a rollacoster, Are you happy at Forest?

SDE - Yeah completley! I had a couple of offers approaching the end of the season but as soon as I was offered a contract to stay on at Forest, I had no hesitation in signing on.

George - So it's Birmingham and Cardiff up automatically, How do you rate their performance over the season?

SDE - Well I think they have been the most consistant teams in the division so deserve to go up. Walter has kept a very tight ship together at Birmingham and has done it with no fuss and has kept his eye on promotion all season and that's what he's delivered. Cardiff have done well because when Stuart took over, he started a total overhaul of the squad so to deliver promotion during a transitional period is no easy task so well done to them.

George - Yeah, So that leaves Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and Leeds to fight it out in the playoffs, How do you see that going?

SDE - I think it's going to be facinating George. You have a "Steel City Derby" in one round and a team struggeling against a team with total momentum in the other. I can see Wednesday winning the derby game. They are clearly the bigger team in Sheffield and have the better players so although Andy Fletcher has done well, I think this will be a bridge too far. In the other game, it's all gone wrong for Sunderland over the past few weeks and they have seen their season completley implode. It's stark contrast to that of Leeds season that see them as the form team going into the Playoffs. A few weeks ago, I could only have seen Sunderland strolling this game but now I think it's the other way and I fancy an inform team in Leeds to win on the night. As for the final.....It's going to be a tough one and it will depend on fitness and suspensions but I think momentum can be a huge factor and Leeds havea great chance of getting promotion.

George - Yeah your brother Dave has done a very good job over there and seems to have his team really fired up for the playoffs!

SDE - Yeah he has. All Dave wanted to do was get to the playoffs and his team have gone on an all-out assault in the past few weeks to geth there, Now they are they, they seem to realise what a great chance they have of actually going up.

George - Will you be at Elland Road on Monday night?

SDE - Yeah I will be there. My season is over but if I can lend some support then I will. It's a strange one for me as my brother will be going up against a very good friend in Dale Price so whatever the score, I'm sure we'll all enjoy a glass of wine after the game.

George - Steve, thanks for your insight into League 1 this season and we hope to have you on next year.

SDE - I'll look forward to it.

Jozz · Cult Status

Following a play off semi final defeat at the hands of his former side Chievo, the Napoli manager JD Jaques spoke to the press.

"I thought we played well today. Unfortunately our game plan did not quite come off, with them scoring two quite early goals. Credit our attitude though, we never gave up and I thought that we were particularly unlucky not to get a penalty in the second half. Had we got that, we could have gone on and won the game. I dont like to comment normally on referees because they have a tough job, but that decision was shocking becasue the ref was not up with play where he should have been, and it has robbed us in the end."

"The lads are gutted to be quite honest, but we knew that Chievo are a good team, even though they did seem to clatter some of our players in the second half. Whichever team gets promoted into Serie A, between Chievo and Messina, will have to bring about a miracle not to come back down next season. I thought that Udinese would have brushed aside Messina, and that result has upset many people's predicitions. I would like to wish Chievo all the best for the final and my money would be on them to go up, although Messina have showed that they can take anyone on and get a result."

"We now look to next season and to try to improve on our position in the league. One of my long term rival teams Empoli will be joining us in Serie B and I look forward to playing them. Whilst the rivalry stemmed from comments made by one of their former players Sculli, who is no longer with them, it will personally be good to take them on again. Ryan, (their manager) probably is not aware of my personal historical rivalry with them, but he will when we pepper their goal next season. He better invest in a new keeper as Roberto is not up to much; but where he will get the money from is anyone's guess. I will be marking our games against them up first when the fixture list comes out for next season."

"As manager of Napoli I am pleased that we just managed to exceed our target of a top 6 finish in the league. However, to lose in the play offs is always dissapointing. I am always working on a tight budget, and will be speaking to the Chairman over coming days to impress my views on him as to how we should be looking to make Napoli a team that can get promoted but more importantly can remain in Serie A. That would normally take some investment, but the Chairman's views on big boosts to club finances have been made public in the past. So it looks like we will need to bring some players in on loan if we can whilst thinking about loaning out some of our own if we can."

"We will also be reviewing ticket prices, seeing as we have the lowest ticket price in Italy at £5 and one of the cheapest in Europe. We would hope to keep ticket prices low, but they may have to be raised slightly."

Fletch · Cult Status

Blades Boss Seeks New Contract Approval

Still reeling from the play off defeat to bitter rivals Sheffield Wednesday, Blades boss, Andy Fletcher has made a statement to the club.

"After one season in charge we were delighted to make the play offs, however I don't take defeat lightly and this defeat in the play offs is very difficult to accept. I fully understand if the board or the fans want me to resign due to the failure to achieve promotion."

-- Edited by Fletch on Tuesday 5th of May 2009 12:57:20 PM

Bluebird99 · Cult Status

DAVIES-EVANS - "WEDNESDAY DESERVE PROMOTION!"

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Davies-Evans has told Sky Sports News that he thinks his former side Sheffield Wednesday deserve to win the playoffs and deliver promotion the chairman desperatly craves. We caught up with him at the Forest training ground where he spoke to our reporter - Bryn Law.....

"I thought the playoff semis were excellent and had mixed reults for me. Obviously I wanted to see Leeds progress for my brothers sake but Sunderland did well to sneak past them. I was really pleased that Sheffield Wednesday got through to the final and I think they are the team to beat now.

Obviously Sunderland are a good side but I think that since Dale has been there, they have sneaked through game opposed to dominating them and I think Wednesday will be too strong for them."

On his former side......

The fans really deserve this. They have been excellent all season and I hope they get the success that both them and the chairman deserves. I will be at Wembley and I will be interested to see how it goes.

On Andy Fletchers offer to resign......

I can see why Andy has made the offer but I think it would be pointless to make a knee-jerk reaction just because they have lost. I actually think he's done well with what he's had at his disposal. He wasn't really going to compete with Sheffield Wednesday sue to the cash on offer to them and you have to expect them to go up either this season or next.

Sheff Utd will be one of the front runners next season in what will likely be one of the weakest League 1's in a few seasons. I don't really expect the teams coming down to offer to much unless there's much change so I think Andy and his team will be seen as one of the favourites for promotion. I imagine that he's hurting right now but the beauty of this game is that we have got friendlies this week and then we are straight back into the season again. I hope to see Andy at the helm when we visit Sheffield next season"

Sinky2707 · Cult Status

Jonny Sinclair stated he was eager for the new season to start and get Ascoli's promotion push back to Serie A underway

'I can't wait for it to start i'll be at the Serie B Play-Off final and watch both teams knowing one will still be in our divison next season i'nm in the odd position of knowing how both teams will feel at the end of the match because ive experinced a win and a lose in a play-off final so its a make or break situation for both teams'

'Next season is looking promising we're signing an experienced striker next weekand we have our link up with Inter Milan so more youngs talneted players should be playing here next season and maybe we might have a couple more youth players by he start of next if Iva has found any gems out there again i wouldn't be surprised, we have James (Wesolowski) and Kasper (Schmeichel) coming back from oan so they'll be competition again for Rm and Gk although i might loan James out again if he stuggles for a way to get past Davide (Raffaello) who has taken up first team duties for that position quite well our aim this seasn is to get automatically promoted and hopefully be champions but of course its not going t be as easy as that i must mak sure my players are ready for he battle and i have to make sure they have the mental strength to beat these team because they have the skill and talent to do so'

'I'd also like to congratulate Francesco (Marigliano) on being player of the season it hasnt been the greatest of season but he has still managed to score seven goals for us this along with four assists he has been are most dangerous and consistent performer of the season so im delighted for him he was unlucky not to win it when we went up if it wasn't for loan strike partner Pietro (Arcidiacono) last season he would have won he has to keep it up because he is really impressing me and the fans and long may that continue'

tonymdf · Cult Status

Woods looks ahead to biggest game of his career -

MEN (Middlesboro Evening News) caught up with Middlesboro manager Tony wood today for a exclusive interview ahead of this weekends Championship Play off Final

MEN - How pleased are you with the semi final win over Wigan ?

Wood - To be honest even at 2 - 0 down with 20 minutes to play I knew we could get back into the game, if we could get one back and thats just what we did although I am dissapointed in our 1st half display the 2nd we totally dominated and think it was only a matter of time, our confidence level never dropped and have to say the crowd played their part in pushing the team on.

We started extra time very casually which could have cost us dear after pulling back from 2-0 we had took the wind out of their sails and they looked tired but we gave away a sloppy goal and had to pick up the pace again full credit to the players there.

The Penalties were a lottery I am pleased we put all 5 of ours away which put real pressure on Andreas Johansson and fortunatly our keeper has made a great save with his legs to put us through!!

Wigan gave us a very good game as i knew they would but i do think the better team won in the end, I thought the young lad Adam Prince was superb for them up front and took his goals very well, ironically I tried to sign him when I first took over at Middlesboro so as has done a few times this season players i have been linked with always seem to have a stormer against my team!

MEN - You now play Blackburn in the final what are your thoughts ?

Wood - It was not the final I was predicting but then Everton only have themself to blame for that.. They had a massive points advantage when I took over here but we pipped them to 3rd spot and how they could leave out their 2 best Central Midfielders for a game of such importance is beyond me, maybe now a new manager will come in and spend that healthy bank balance on revamping the team, but you can take nothing away from Blackburn who went out there and did a job on them, but they have suffered as a result and will be missing 4 of their best players for the final.

I said 2 weeks ago it will be down to the best use of the squad over the closing stages that will make all the difference and am glad I have a fully fit squad to choose from.

MEN - Have you decided on your starting team for the Final ?

Wood - I have not decided my final 11 yet, I have been working on 1 or 2 options in training this week, Obviously Blackburn have key players out so we might look to exploit that with a different formation from the Semi Final, but am sure it will be an exciting game with a massive prize.

MEN - You go into the Final Slight Bookies favourites do you think you can win ?

Wood - We go into every game thinking we can win, this game is no different, Blackburn will enjoy being the underdogs as the pressure is lifted off them slightly, we drew 1-1 with Blackburn earlier in the season so it will be a tight game but i know we have the quality to see us through and achieve promotion into the Premier League where a club like Middlesboro belong.

MEN - Good luck and thanks for talking to us