Week 4

Tezza · Cult Status

Baggio strikes for Atalanta

Stu · Cult Status

Week 4

bigwave1927 · Cult Status

SSN have today caught up with Fulham manager Dave Davies-Evans

SSN. Dave its been a rollercoaster of a week for Fulham. What are your views on the take over of the club by Chris Hanton??

DDE. Your right things have been a little crazy over the last few weeks, but ive tried to keep the players away from all the take over talk and just concentrate on there game. I am delighted to have chris as the chairman and i am looking forward to working with him to get this club back where it belongs.

SSN. What about the debt that the club has hanging over its head then Dave??

DDE. Myself and chris are working closely to remove the vast amount of the debt over the next few weeks. I have had to sell some of our better players this week but i have ample replacements coming in. I am hoping to give the chairman in the region of £6 to £7m pounds over the next couple of weeks to pay the bank loan.

SSN. Players are coming and going would you like to elabirate Dave??

DDE. I am saying goodbye to two great CBs this week Carlos Bocenegra and Dominico Criscito also i have released some of the fringe players, i would like to thank them all for there services to this club and wish them all the best for the future. I will be bringing in two top strikers over the next couple of weeks who i know will get us the goals we need.

SSN. Many thanks Dave!!

DDE. Thanks very much.

Steve · Cult Status

Juventus have Brescia for lunch before watching Leicester over tea!

A busy day for the Juventus manager who saw his team demolish Brescia's finest, before he quickly boarded the club jet for an appointment to see his new acquisition - Leicester City - produce a creditable draw against Midland opponents Wolves.

Clearly the subject of a great deal of local press interest due to the takeover he refused a press conference but issued a statement before leaving for the return flight to Italy.

"It has been a busy but satisfying day. Having rested players against Brescia my fringe players showed that the squad realise when their chance comes they have to take it. My sympathy to the Brescia team. They played well, and if they had been against just a good team instead of a great one I am sure the result would have been closer.

I have had time to assess the Leicester squad and also a brief opportunity to discuss immediate plans with the manager Mr. Gregory. I have told him his position is safe, but it is clear that the squad will need to be trimmed of those who would be better off re-joining their local pub teams. This league used to be full of sleeping giants but is now full of sleeping dwarves who dream they are giants. The sooner Leicester get out of this league the better - if Sunderland could do it then it can't be all that difficult.

Realistically Leicester are looking at the play-offs as a minimum this year - as their previous target becomes meaningless now we have a new board. I will be leaving my Italian under-21 international striker Maniero here as the first of a group of players to strengthen the Leicester squad. Once our plans are in place we will start to buy in new players and reward Mr Gregory appropriately."

At which point he departed to begin preparations for next weeks home game against AC Milan.

Besty · Cult Status

Sky Sports News interview Arsenal manager Jamie Best after their latest defeat to Man City

Jamie, a 3-2 defeat at home you must be disappointed?

I cant believe we have lost, we completely outplayed them! We had more chances, more shots on target, everything. I am just gutted that after three games we only have 3 points on the board.

Your friend Stuart at Man City will be delighted i'm sure with the win, do you like what he has done at Man City?

I did before tonight but now i'm not so sure! No Stuart is a top manager and i have the upmost respect for him but i think he'll know as well as everyone else at the Emirates tonight that his team were very lucky to get 3 points. I think we'll just have to put this down as one of those games where it just doesnt happen for you as we did everything right apart from the defending which has inevitably cost us.

You face Middlesboro away next, do you fancy your chances?

Well i was confident before tonights game that we would take some points from our next couple games but the result tonight has proven that nothing can be taken for granted so we will go there hoping to put in a good performance and with the right attitude because if we are too confident then we could easily get overturned.

A couple transfers for the club this week have you got anymore planned?

Yes we saw Koumas leave for West Brom as i could give him the games he wanted, he is getting a bit long in the tooth now and Gareth should be able to give him games there whereas he was struggling to break into the first team here. Todorov is a promising youngster who will be returning to Ascoli on loan and hopefully be another player for the future. I have a couple transfers coming up in the next few weeks but i wont be talking about them until they are completed and playing for the team.

Thanks Jamie

Football Academy · Cult Status

FA Merchandising

The leading members of the FA from all countries are today meeting in London to discuss a proposed move to expanding the merchandising sector of football in the world of FA. For seasons now teams have received a basic pay dependent on what level of professional football they play in with the Premiership and La Liga, and then Serie A being the top three paid leagues in the sport. However leaked reports today suggest clubs will be able to expand on this.

Proposals going before the members of the FA today are expected to bring to light an idea for a football kit manufacturing process to be implemented across the board for all professional clubs. If FA decide to hand clubs the chance to brand and produce their own kits this could open the door for bidding wars over shirt sponsorship as well as provide an outlet for clubs to sell their shirts to the fans. This will boost revenue for football clubs across the game.

Suggestions that factories have already begun to be built and that access will be available via the Managers Office have remained unconfirmed although Italian officials did admit they were on route to London regarding "an important meeting".

bigwave1927 · Cult Status

FULHAM DEBT FREE

SSN. Welcome to Craven Cottage, a press confrence has been hastedly arranged this morning at Fulham FC.

DDE. Good morning everyone and thanks for turning up at short notice. When i joined this club last season they were on there Knees, the morale was down throughout the club from the top down. I am pleased to say we have steadied the ship on the playing side and the whole place has been lifted. We have a new chairman in place and the club is on the up.
I would also like to announce that this football club will be paying back all its bank loans next week. We are Debt free which was my main target when i joined this club, so on a personal note im well chuffed. However we are losing some very good players. Let the rebuilding begin. I can promise the fans i will be signing players to cover the ones that are leaving. I would like to thank the fans for sticking by us and a message to those that have stayed away. Get your buts back down here and support the team.

SSN. And with a big grin on the managers face he bids farewell and heads off to the training ground.

-- Edited by bigwave1927 on Monday 16th of November 2009 10:50:44 AM

-- Edited by bigwave1927 on Monday 16th of November 2009 11:54:39 AM

richj363 · Cult Status

Spurs off to a good start

SKY SPORTS NEWS caught up with Spurs manager Richard Jefferies at training on Monday to get his thoughts on their start to the season.

SSN So how happy are you with your start.

RJ Well obviously i am very happy to have six points on the board at this early stage but not 100% happy with the performances we have put in. The two games we have won have been close with both Watford and Villa pushing us all the way. Our defending has been very suspect at certain times leading to too many goals being conceded.

SSN It was another close one on Saturday wasn't it.

RJ Yes it was, Liams team came with a great attitude and we had to battle right to the end to get the result like we did against Watford.

SSN Levi Porter has left for Barcelona, what are your thoughts behind this ?

RJ Well to be honest Levi has been great for us but he felt he wanted more 1st team football and i could not promise him that, So when Adam came in with the offer for Massimo to come here I thought the deal was good for everyone. Donati has been in top form for them this season and i hope to see a good partnership between him and Xavi.

Thanks Guys

Stu · Cult Status

Arsenal - Man City
2 3

You must be delighted with that result Stuart?
"It was a great game. They started so brightly you knew Jamie must have got them pumped up in their dressing room. It was important for us to equalise quickly because I think that they would have got the crowd behind them to give them a very big lift. It was important to stay in the game early on"

Jamie has said he couldnt believe you won at the end
"It was a good end of the match for us. Kranjcar was up front all game on his own but still got two goals against their strong defence. We played counter attack football. Normally I like to attack teams but I have tried counter attack a few times since I joined and the first try failed but we seem to be getting better with the players I have signed. Maybe Jamie thought we would try and out score him this week but Arsenal are too strong going forwards to be silly like that. They should be pleased we had to change our style to try and stop them"

Will you play counter attack football more now?
"I like attacking teams too much to do that. I could never stop Sevilla letting goals in so my defence training is very rusty"

Have you agreed a new manager for Napoli yet?
"I have been in conversation with two English based managers today. I hope a development will happen soon so I can invest the rest of my money and we can start to build some thing at Napoli football club. I hope I can make an official offer to a team tomorrow"

Who do you think will win the league now?
"I think our rivals will take Chelsea close this season. I can see Jamie and I fighting for third so that was a very important result to me"

Thanks Stu

Tezza · Cult Status

Manager Terry Manifold invited the Press to Atalanta F. C. this afternoon to inform them of a few measures the Club was taking in preparation for a move back to Serie A.

The additional seating to the stadium should be completed on time, and in budget, within the next two weeks.

"The final piece of the Team jigsaw goes into place next week when Julian Bennett joins the club from Middlesboro. " Terry said, "Julian had a look at us today and likes what we have here and hopefully it will be pen to paper at the weekend." " Julian will give me that rotational option at LB. "

The Club have also decided to lower the ticket price for the rest of the season. Firstly as a reward for the loyal supporters and secondly to try and pull in a few more spectators. "If we can bring back the fans that left us last season we may improve the match day atmosphere and this will only assist the results on the field," Terry said.

"I have done all I can with the recourses available and it is now up to me and the lads to move this club back where it belongs." "The match against Napoli will not be easy this weekend, what with the Stuart Price buy out," "It always tends to lift teams when new owners come in with expectations." "They will all be playing to impress in order to stay on at the club." "Gauracs has scored three goals this season and will need to be contained."

"We will leave it there I thought you ought to know what we have been doing behind the scenes."

-- Edited by Tezza on Tuesday 17th of November 2009 05:14:01 PM

Football Academy · Cult Status

European Cup draw

FA met in Rome tonight to take part in the European Cup group stage draw. Along with the usual big name teams who have qualified this season are a few less established European sides. Manchester City enter unseeded following a third place finish in the Premiership and unseeded Atletico Madrid qualified following an impressive run in the Spanish Cup last season.

Conspicuous absentees are the likes of Liverpool and Roma who both failed to do enough to qualify last season and will miss out on the bright lights and big money of the elite competition.

Group A has European giants Chelsea along with fellow seeded Inter Milan although the two unseeded teams will be targeting a lacklustre Inter Milan after their shaky start to the new season. Barcelona and Arsenal are the two unseeded teams who join them in the first group which boasts an array of dazzling attacking threats.

Group B pits seeded Juventus against Italian Serie A rivals Fiorentina who enter the competition unseeded. Manchester United are the other seeded team and new boys Atletico Madrid complete the group as the only Spanish team and could face an uphill battle to qualify.

Group C is arguably the group of death this season. The two seeded clubs both come from Spain and are steeped in European pedigree consistently going a long way in this cup competition; Real Madrid and Sevilla. AC Milan are the first unseeded side and the only representative from Italy while new boys Manchester City represent England as the final unseeded team.

Bookies have Chelsea as favourites to win the competition with Real Madrid close second. Favourites not to qualify from the group stage have to be Atletico Madrid and Manchester City who lack the experience of many of the others and face difficult opposition in their groups.

Fletch · Cult Status

Napoli 1 Atlanta 1

New Manager Andy Fletcher had a baptism of fire at home to a high flying Atlanta side on his first taste of Italian Football.

" I thought we attacked very well, we matched them for formation and had the most of the attacks, we hit the post and the bar and should have had a penalty but the ref was never going to give that.

I'm pleased with the attitude and the spirit of the team, they didnt do much wrong except a keeper error when we should have perhaps cleared the ball before Kevin Smith got hold of it, we will work on these things.

I thought our wingers and two strikers gave them a lot of problems, Im pleased we are off the mark with a point but it should have been 3.

I'm looking forward to getting the best out of these lads this season, they have had a tough time with administration and seen some top players go but were a tight unit now and it will get better with our new Chairman at the sharp end."

Tezza · Cult Status

PRESS RELEASE

Sinky2707 · Cult Status

Week 4

Safehands · Cult Status

Charlton FC Press Release

Charlton football club and new chairman Simon Newcombe would like to thank the loyal fans support and understanding during the negotiations over the clubs new ownership and backroom team

We are all working together to insure that this once great club makes steady progress and gets back to the top flight status it used to enjoy not so long ago

The club remains significantly in debt via a loan - but the terms are stable and there is no huge pressure on the club in financial stakes at the moment - but plans will have to be put into place to addess this

New Chairman Simon Newcombe would like to welcome applications to become the new manager (please email him at simonnewcombe@googlemail.com). What the club is specifically looking for is an honest and loyal manager who will share the same notion of consolidated success, and share in the plans to get the club stable and shoot on from there. In return for his commitment the board is willing to offer significant investment each year to achieve these and attractive employment terms

We will also be contacting managers ourselves, so interest is invited early to avoid dissapointment

Many thanks

Executive Management Team - Charlton FC