Rumour Mill

Simon Newcombe's future at Arsenal has been thrown into doubt yet again as the club slipped to 8th with a dreadful start reminiscent of 2 seasons ago where he was 1 game away from the sack.

The board at Juventus are concerned with the poor start to the season and are preparing to meet with the manager to discuss the situation but deny these will be 'crisis talks'.

Man City's owner has praised Chris Hanton yet again for taking the club to joint top of the Premiership.

Marcelo has told Chelsea fans he's enjoyed the year since he moved from Brazil but insists Chelsea need to improve their forward line to remain competitive.

Villarreal are planning a surprise move for ex-Sevilla manager Stuart Price after he successfully guided the Spanish club to multiple trophies.

Pietro Arcidiacono has told his fellow Cardiff loanees at Nottingham Forest that they can make names for themselves by taking Forest up this season.

AC Milan are ready to offer Brescia manager Huw Evans a year long deal to become either assistant manager or head of the youth team in the hope the right hand man job is more attractive than managing the Serie B team.

Victor Anichebe has warned Napoli fans not to expect miracles after he told reporters the club has none of the attributes required for promotion.

Chelsea loan star Samir Nasri believes manager Iain Kochanowksi should not have left the Premiership and is 'too good' for La Liga.

Juventus are preparing to rectify a poor start to the season by signing Watford fullback Giuseppe Santarelli, Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano and Parma keeper Eros Corradini.

Leicester defender James Perch is due to have a medical at Sunderland later this week.

Sampdoria manager Mark Rollings is prepared to offer Stiliyan Petrov in exchange for young Sunderland striker Martyn Waghorn who has hit form since signing a professional contract.

Catania want ex-Deportivo manager Adam Tyrone Davies and a Midlands newspaper believes Wolves are prepared to let him discuss terms.

Atalanta have surprised many by wanting Sheffield United manager Andy Fletcher as their next manager.

Thomas Sorensen believes his manager Liam Riste is the manager of the month following a number of battling matches in their first month in the Premiership.

Blackburn owner John Williams has fallen out with manager Amilcar Vasquez over his disregard for the club stating current form is more down to the assistant manager, and will make a surprise approach for Blackburn fan Steve Davies-Evans before sacking Vasquez.

Thomas Sorensen believes his manager Liam Riste is the manager of the month following a number of battling matches in their first month in the Premiership.

Liam Riste spoke today about this comment:

" This comment proves that my boys are still confident in our club, as I had feared that they would be disheartened by our early league postion. I am glad that they understand the horrid fixture list given to us early on; but they all have risen to the challenge and are showing the determination that we need to survive.

As much as it pleases me to know that Tommo believes I should get the Manager of the Month Award, I think that it would be a little unfair to other managers that are flying high and getting great results. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel that we lost 2 points at Blackburn and it is always playing back on my mind. Apart from that, we as a team have been strong minded and have battled so hard in our first month in the top flight. Our next few games may not be as tough, but I can't see our efforts dropping at all. "

Jefferies Shocked by Loss

Spurs boss Richard Jefferies was shocked to lose at home to Blackburn in a game dominated by Spurs from start to finish. He said " We completely out played them but managed to lose the game, they had four shots on target and scored three goals" He added "My team played some lovely flowing football once again but flattered to decieve and ended up losing again, hopefully the chairman will see fit to give me a few quid to strengthen the squad and enable me to challenge the top teams, my players are doing very well and the team spirit is great but would be just nice to go out and get that little bit of quality"

Coakley backs Rollings comments

 

AC Milan manager Luke Coakley today backed Mark Rollings comments regarding the quality of manager in Italy and believes the best is yet to come.

 

"The quality of manager in Italy is of a very high standard and only the best will survive here. I do think the quality of playing squads are not as high as in Spain and England and that has been shown with the results in Europe in recent years but times are changing.  A few years ago the Italian clubs seemed to grow old together and the league was on its knees in my opinion.  Now a new generation of fans are into Italian football and with a good strong bunch of managers looking to bring new life into the league and I believe the league is getting stronger and fresher and over time will again become the top league in European and world football.

 

On Genoa

Some have dismissed Chris Ratcliff performance at Genoa but for me he has done a great job, he is in a highly pressurised situation and although Genoa have spent a lot of money the progress they have made is astonishing considering where they were just a year ago.  Its very easy to spend money and have nothing to show for it just ask Bernie the Sheffield Wednesday chairman, but they do have quality at Genoa now.  Ill be honest and say I didnt expect Genoa to be fighting for the title this season but they are top and looking strong, the age of the team may mean they slip away towards the end but who knows what will be invested at the half season point.  I find it very fascinating to watch and I think the investment has given an extra exciting edge to Serie A which is very positive.  I dont see there progress as a bad thing for Serie A, infact I welcome the challenge and at the end of the day no matter how much money they spend AC Milan will always be the biggest club in Italy.

  

Scouting Market purchases are planned

 We have quite a lot of money to spend and we have already targeted players in Germany and have the cash available to purchase them.  The Brazil scouting mission was a bit of a wasted journey to be honest as we couldnt find what we were looking for but we hope to add to the squad over the coming weeks, we may see a high turn over in players as we push on for the season.

 

On rumours that Huw Evans is set to link up with Milan

Huw is a friend but I know nothing about him joining up with Milan, he has been very loyal to Brescia so I would be surprised if he took a role that wasnt of manager.

-- Edited by Milan on Monday 15th of June 2009 05:34:52 PM

V

"Runstrom is a danger - Davies-Evans"

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Nottingham Forest manager Steve Davies-Evans has answered questions from the press and has admitted that his side will have to stop Fulham stiker Bjorn Runstrom if they are to get a result this week.

Media - Steve, after two home games recently how much of a different proposition are Fulham at Craven Cottage?

SDE - Well they're a tough team and there's no doubt about that. I think they were very unlucky last week when they lost to Southampton and it shows that they have undoubted quality in their side.

Media - After the Leeds game, is this a game that you feel you can get something from?

SDE - Well I thought we could get something from the Leeds game and as we entered the 90th minute, it looked like I was right but I think it's important that we show our bouncebackability now and put in a good performance against Fulham.

Media - Dean Lea**** has come in and could well face one of his old sides, how important will his precence be in that defence?

SDE - Well hopefully it will be a big improvement. I'm hoping that he helps the other around him defend strongly. It's something we have looked at and hopefully we will add more strength there after this week.

Media - Have you had a good look at Fulham and if so, where you think they can cause you problems?

SDE - Yeah we've done our work and I've had a look at their side and a nummber of possible formations and tactics they may use against us. I think that we know how they will play and we have worked on the key areas of the field where we will need to be strong if we are to get a positive result. I think that their main danger man is probably Bjorn Runstrom as he's been in decent form and has 3 goals and 3 assists from 6 games so if we can keep him quiet then we will have a better chance.

Media - Alot has been made of Terry Manifolds placement at the bottem of the recently published FA Manager Index. What were you're thoughts on the list?

SDE - Well, it's a difficult one to comment on. The people who comprise these lists obviously felt that Terry deserved to be bottem. I personally think that he was quite unlucky to be there as there are one or two more candidates that could have been given that placement but Terry will bounce back from that. He's a good manager and an even better guy so I can only imagine that he will be going all out to prove those people wrong and that means we will have to be even more on our game as he will target us to get a win.



-- Edited by Bluebird99 on Thursday 18th of June 2009 12:43:34 PM

When we caught up with Terry Manifold, manager of troubled Fulham, he told us he is really looking forward to the game with Nottingham Forest. "When I lived in West Bridgford I was a season ticket holder." "It will be great to welcome Steve and the team to Craven Cottage."
When asked if Steve Davies-Evans would pose any problems he replied, "I can promise it will be close." "We don't have anything to lose." With that final remark he left for training ground with a wink and a smile.