Week 12

Spartikus47 · Cult Status

Week 12

Football Academy · Cult Status

Sneak Preview - England

Football lives off the youth academy productions across the globe and coming up to the start of the new season, every manager will be waiting for their staff to hand over the final reports of any youth prospects being promoted into the first team at this point. As usual, the media get a collection of videos of the best prospects from across England.

Scott Loach GK - Watford
An athletic keeper who commands his box well. After unsuccessful trial spells at Nottingham Forest Loach was signed up to Watfords academy after impressing scouts in a match for his local side Southwell United. After taking up loan options away from Watford at Bradford City and Morcambe academy bosses have recommended that he get his chance in the first team.
Touted as the next: Paul Robinson

Ross Jenkins CM - Watford
A versatile midfielder who has consistently produced excellent performance for the clubs academy and reserve sides. A compact and tidy player who supports play well Ross has been tipped for future England honours and will join up with the Watford first team with the hope of cementing a place quickly.
Touted as the next: Scott Parker

Fred Sears ST - West Ham
Sears has representing England youth teams since he was 15 and is widely regarded as the next bright prospect to come out of the famous West Ham academy. With pace to burn Sears hit an incredible 20 goals in just 15 appearances in his first season in the West Ham youth team, catching the attention of bosses at the club. Academy bosses are confident he will make an impact in the first team.
Touted as the next: Jermaine Defoe

Frazier Campbell ST - Man Utd
The most recent product of Manchester United famed academy Campbell has spent time on loan at partner club Antwerp, where he scored over 20 goals in his debut season. With pace in abundance and an eye for goal Manchester United youth team bosses are tipping the youngster for big things.
Touted as the next: Michael Owen

Emiliano Insue LB - Liverpool
An explosive left back who likes nothing more than to get forward and get involved in play. A typical Argentine physique and tidy left foot alerted Liverpool to his promise. The reds poached Insua from Boca Juniors academy and a string of mature performances have seen him make the step up to the first team.
Touted as the next: Juan Pablo Sorin

Jack Rodwell CM - Everton
A highly rated prospect brought through the Everton academy that produced the likes of Wayne Rooney, he has been impressive for Englands Youth Teams with many not only talking of him becoming a Premiership regular, but a potential next captain of England. His tough tackling doesn't detract from his ability to roam forwards and shoot from distance.

Sean Scannell ST - Crystal Palace
Although being born in Croydon, London Scannell chose to honour his fathers Irish roots and has gone on to represent his adopted nation throughout youth age groups. A good all round striker Scannell possesses a keen eye for goal and knack for being in the right places. Palace academy bosses are hoping Scannell can adjust quickly to the demands of first team football.
Touted as the next: Ian Wright

Jonjo Shelvey CM - Charlton Athletic
An upright and powerful playing style has seen Jonjo wow academy bosses at the Valley during the first part of this season and they are now convinced he is ready to graduate and give Charlton some much needed quality in the centre of the park. Having already represented England at under-17 level pundits are already tipping him as a future England star.
Touted as the next: Steven Gerrard

Adam Matthews RB - Cardiff City
Bluebirds fans everywhere rejoiced when their management poached this young talent away from bitter rivals Swansea and since then the player has gone from strength to strength. Having already been included in multiple Welsh squads, and impressing in Cardiff's youth team he will make the step up to the first team with confidence.
Touted as the next: Glen Johnson

Phil Jones CB - Blackburn Rovers
At just 18 Jones has already earnt various plaudits from bosses at Blackburn, as well as appearing in England's under agegroup sides. A physical style will suit English leagues and with so much time on his side it is hoped he will develop into possible captain for club and country.
Touted as the next: John Terry

Vito Mannone GK - Arsenal
Young Italian stopper who was brought to London after impressing Gunners academy bosses in a pre-season tour. A 6ft 3in frame, combined with good levels of athleticism suggest he could develop into a fine keeper. Will be hoping chances in the Arsenal first team arise, however a loan option looks likely.
Touted as the next: Francesco Toldo

All the rest will be available when team sheets are updated following the mid-season update.

Football Academy · Cult Status

Sneak Preview - Italy

Football lives off the youth academy productions across the globe and coming up to the start of the new season, every manager will be waiting for their staff to hand over the final reports of any youth prospects being promoted into the first team at this point. As usual, the media get a collection of videos of the best prospects from across Italy.

Mato Jajalo - Siena

Andrea Poli - Sampdoria

Simon Kjaer - Palermo

Sokratis Papastathopoulos - Genoa

All the rest will be available when team sheets are updated following the mid-season update.

Football Academy · Cult Status

Sneak Preview - Spain

Football lives off the youth academy productions across the globe and coming up to the start of the new season, every manager will be waiting for their staff to hand over the final reports of any youth prospects being promoted into the first team at this point. As usual, the media get a collection of videos of the best prospects from across Spain.

Sunny - Valencia

Carlos Diogo - Real Zaragoza (I apologise now, this shows zero of his skill with a ball, but is worth watching I think)

Adrian Gonzalez - Real Madrid

Daniel Parejo - Getafe

Aythami - Deportivo

Toni - Celta Vigo

Eduardo Salvio - Atletico Madrid

All the rest will be available when team sheets are updated following the mid-season update.

Steve · Cult Status

Football Academy wrote:

Carlos Diogo - Real Zaragoza (I apologise now, this shows zero of his skill with a ball, but is worth watching I think)

You can tell he's in a Spanish team, he'd never get into an Italian or British team if that's the best he can fight!

PUREADE1 · International Player

DANDO DISSAPOINTED DEPSITE POINT

Bristol City manager Hayden Dando has said he was dissapointed with his players despite the Ashton Gate side gaining a point at previosuly 4th placed Aston Villa. "As time goes on each game becomes more vital and i feel that we need to start picking up wins to have any kind of chance of surviving in this division, i brought John Carew into the club and kept Nicky Maynard despite interest in him and yet they have yet to produce the goods, things need to start changing as the players owe it to the fans who pay their wages to do more than this".

Dando has also arranged for a goalkeeper to join the club on loan at the halfway point of the season, stressing "A keeper was a priority but i feel the current players really need to up their game otherwise i have no problem with bringing new guys in who want to perform for this club"

Fletch · Cult Status

Napoli Take point at High Flying Brescia

The nature of the weekends draw at Brescia is a notice of clear intent from Andy Fletcher and his young Napoli side. With no less than 6 players under 25 a relatively inexperienced Napoli side gave Brescia a fright when young midfielder Mario Arini opened the scoring on 15 minutes after Sergio Aguero set up a perfect through ball. Arini is proving a huge hit in central midfield at a very young age.

Predictably, Brescia fought back with two goals from Adama Fofana and were sure they had the points in the bag when scoring sensation Lavezzi popped up to finish a Gentile cross on 88 minutes. This is only the second time Brsecia have dropped points this season and it keeps Napoli hanging on to the play off positions with Siena gaining ground after a weekend victory.

Sergio Aguero returns to England this week after a two match spell at Napoli where his prescence returned 4 points in two games, the pressure will be on the young guns now to maintain some consitency into the second half of the season.

It remains to be seen if Andy Fletcher will strengthen the squad with any loan signings but the priority is on squad development rather than honours this time round.

-- Edited by Fletch on Monday 5th of July 2010 01:39:22 PM

Ash · Cult Status

Real Zaragoza manager Ashley Harris spoke to the assembled media after his side 5-3 win in the top of the table clash against Real Betis.

Press: Well, you must be delighted with the win and the performance which has put you 7 points clear at the top?

AH: Yes, it was great to win, it was a very important game in our season, we know Betis are a good side and if we won it would put us in a very commanding position at the top of the Segunda so i empthasized what we needed to do out there and the players didn't let me down, all 11 played great and it would need an almighty collapse now for us not to get promoted, which i will make sure will not happen! Were 7 clear at the top, but were also 9 clear inside the automatic promotion zone so i coudn't be more delighted with our posotion at the halfway stage.

Press: So what are your aims for the second half of the season?

AH: We know were in a very commanding position, but we must maintain our focus and i demand 100% from the players every week and we want to get our return to La Liga sown up as soon as possible. There's a great feeling around the club at the moment and hopefully we can continue playing great attacking football for the fans in the second half of the season just as we have for the first half.

Press: It was announced this week that Shay Given, Cris and Kutuzov will retire at the end of the season, how does this effect you plans?

AH: Well it was to be expected to be honest, all 3 are in the twilight years of their careers and me and the chairman were prepared for this decision, i wish them well in their future endevours and hopefully we can find suitable replacements in the coming months. We hope we can send them off happy having had a successful last season.

Press: Finally any news on the possible return of Victor Moses?

AH: Well i am just waiting for Liam to decide really, We would love to have him back but that's down to Liam so we shall just have to wait and see on that one.

Press; thanks for your time.

AH: No problem.

Spartikus47 · Cult Status

Toffees steeled for Rodwell bids

Everton welcomed the latest academy prospect into their ranks this week but manager Mark Rollings has warned the club are primed for a "gamebreaking" offer for the starlet. Touted as a future England captain clubs from throughout Europe are reported to be monitoring the situation and Rolings asked fans to try and understand the situation the club were in.

"He is the brightest talent to come through the youth ranks here since Wayne Rooney. Obviously our goal is to create a sustainable and successful squad and Rodwell fits into that ethos. With his ability and potential he will develop into a top, top player. I understand that Everton fans want to see their local talent in the blue of Everton and that is something I have shared with my fans since my time at Bilbao. We are under no financial pressure to sell and with the current league position we are confident that we are in a position to bring out the best in Jack. However, we have had a staggering amount of early interest in Jack. All I ask is for the fans to understand that any decision will be made in the best interests of Everton FC."

Rollings also announced that he had secured renewel of the loan agreements with Fiorentina for Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Alex, although revealed it looked unlikely starlet Aaron Ramsey would be rejoining from Manchester City.

"We are delighted that Rob O'Brien has allowed us to take his lads back, they have been fantastic for us this season and will come back to help us win the league. Sadly it looks as though Aaron will be moving elsewhere. He has been terrific for us this season and we hope we have given him good experience in return. We thank Stuart at Manchester City for the help he has given us and will continue to work with Vlad Weiss and Torres Ramon to repay the faith he has shown in us. Ultimately we want to grow the squad so we don't rely on loans, but with pre-set targets we need to be progressive aswell."

Bluebird99 · Cult Status

Saints boss looks to marquee signing to boost promotion bid.

Speaking to loacal media "Solent News", Southampton boss Steve Davies-Evans admitted that a big name signing would help lift the side and challenge for promotion. Davies-Evans did however conceed that without funds for such a player, the likelyhood is that they will have to work with their current squad.

"Obviously a high calibre of player coming in would always be a great addition. Our main problem is that we have now used our transfer budget so other than a couple of loans here and there, it is likely to be what we have now. We haven't been ruthless enough for me infront of goal so that it something I have tried to address. We broght in Chris [Brunt] from Reggina last week and he's been terrific for so I'm hoping that can continue. I'm also pleased to have brought in Vivo from Roma. He's a very tidy young CM that I worked with at Forest and to be fair, he's a better player now than he was then. Hopefully, we can start putting a few more chances in and winning a few more games. We are 5 points off 7th and we obviously play Wolves this weekend so it's a big game for us. It could have a huge bearing on where we finish at the end of the season".

Davies-Evans had earlier in the season predicted Everton to win the title, they recently beat Norwich to claim top spot in the league and here's what Davies-Evans had to say...

[chuckles] "I'm never one for I told you so's but....[chuckles again], No in all fairness, there is a long way to go yet but they are where I expected them to be. Mark has done well and really got the best out of what he has to work with. He's got the two lads from Italy coming back so that's a boost for him although I imagine Ramsey will be a big loss. We were also offered Ramsey but as is the way these days, it came with stipulations of loaning other players and we just couldn't commit to that. We would love to have Aaron here along with Ched Evans but it's not something I can do as we've already commited to other loans etc. Maybe next season. Everton will only get stronger under Mark, he is always active in the marketand has got a very good reputation within the game. People like Rodwell coming through is a major help to him as he will either keep a very good young prospect or he willtrade him in for one or two high quality players, either way you can be assured that Everton will be stronger for it."

Ashley-ccfc16' · Cult Status

Udinese to rip up 3 contracts in order to cap wages and free up space within the Serie B team.

The Italian team have always insisted on a clause which means any contract can be terminated at any stage. The latest figures from the governing body FA have suggested Udinese are a top team with high wages but low lying in their division. The club has stated if the team isn't in the top flight then contracts are ripped up and no compensation is giving.

Ashley Davies the clubs manager admitted the clause is excellent for the team but not for the players released, he hopes them all the best and sure they can find a new club. The 3 players released are belive to be among the top earners at the club but are just sitting ducks.

Udinese tough stance will outrage players as the new ruling over wages will cause crisis among lower league clubs.

-- Edited by Ashley-ccfc16' on Wednesday 7th of July 2010 12:19:48 PM

-- Edited by Ashley-ccfc16' on Wednesday 7th of July 2010 12:20:12 PM

tbarro25 · Semi-Pro Player

GIMNASTIC APPOINT BARRO

Experienced, proven, creative, genius - these are just some of the words that have never been used to describe new Gimnastic manager, Tom Barro. His appointment has been met with mixed reviews in Catalonia - derision from the Gimnastic fans and general hilarity elsewhere, although nobody could argue that the 24 year old Welshman was the obvious choice for the job; the only other contenders being Dennis Wise and Dave Bassett.

Pasties
Gimnastic chairman Xavier Salvado had to act quickly to snap up Barro who was offered the job immediately after arrival for interview. A source close to the club claimed "Barro had an interview with Gregg's Bakery in the afternoon and the thought of having to appoint Wise or Bassett was too much for the chairman to handle."

Fate?
Barro was very nearly born exactly a century to the day after Gimnastic were founded, and both of Nastic's superstitious fans are apparently extremely optimistic about the new boss' astrological connection with the club, although neither would offer this report an official statement.

What remains to be seen is what Barro, a man with no footballing past and no footballing connections, can do to the fortunes of Gimnastic - a club with an inflated wage bill, an ageing squad, and more dead wood than Fran Healy. Only time will tell.

-- Edited by tbarro25 on Thursday 8th of July 2010 08:28:48 AM

Tezza · Cult Status

I wish you the best of luck.
A breath of fresh air!

Spartikus47 · Cult Status

"A breath of fresh air"...Terry I will be interested to see whether your still saying that after a few weeks!

The Tom Barry ego will split opinion I am sure ;)

Just kidding mate, glad you have come on board!

tbarro25 · Semi-Pro Player

There's no need for ego in the Segunda División, Mark, just ask Christopher Coleman.

Stu · Cult Status

Premier league sings the Blues

Only goals for separates you and Chelsea. Can you break their stranglehold on the league?
"That is our aim of course. They are the biggest team in the world and have one of the best managers. After 11 games we have the same points and same goal difference. I have tried to save my older players for this half of the season so I am confident we can last the distance. We will need some of the others to have a go at Chelsea and not roll over. I think it is important for all the teams in this league to show we arent a one team league. We have good teams behind Chelsea and its time they stood up and were counted"

How confident are you of beating Liverpool tomorrow?
"They are a team I hope can challenge Chelsea now. That makes them tough opposition for us. We have to go in to every game looking for a win now but some games are harder picking the team than others. We have some loan players back with us and we have Ibrahim joining us from the academy team so there is more competition for the team sheet this week than usual"

Is it true Ramsey wont be returning to Everton?
"A new deal has been agreed for the loan players. Everton still have Roman and Weiss and they will do a sterling job for Mark. We were reluctant to send him back to Everton but Mark was ever insistent. The offer of a large deal for Rodwell with Man City loans as the cherry on top was dismissed because Everton and Mark were insistent they wanted to keep Rodwell. I was told I was disrespectful in offering the loans as part of a deal, so negotiations failed. I notice Rodwell has been sold a day after that. Our close working relationship with Everton was damaged by the allegation but I think now we feel like the disrespected party for being lied to just to get our loans. Everton and Rodwell have moved on and so have we so I wont be answering any questions on the matter"

So where are they going?
"Ramsey and Evans will be going back into League One. I think it a good league for them to learn their trade and Ramsey can learn how to pull the strings in the middle with less pressure on him than when he plays for us. People were looking at Evans and Ramsey affecting the promotion race with Everton and I still hope they can with their new team. Changing loans could swing the promotion race on its head. After speaking to Steve Davies Evans Southampton look like they could come back in to it with their signings. It will be an interesting time"

Tezza · Cult Status

Atalanta News

Atalantas manager, Terry Manifold, looked in a cheerful mood as I managed to catch him before he left the ground this evening. In answer to my question about the clash with Ascoli tomorrow, Terry said, "Yes tomorrows game is a very important game for both sides really, Ascoli have made a real impression on this league and if we want automatic promotion then a win tomorrow is essential. "

"Dave will be coming here pressing for a win, so tactically I know what we need to do." "Palladino and Cirero cant be given the room they have enjoyed in other matches," Terry said, "Mark Beevers is making his first appearance in an Atalantas shirt and I think that will make a big difference to our overall structure." " We will need to keep it tight and take the chances as they will inevitably appear."

What if you drop the points? I asked, "Then my job here is that much harder and my continued presence becomes under greater threat ," said Terry, "I am running out of time to get this team back into Serie A. I can't develop the team further this is all I have to play with."

-- Edited by Tezza on Thursday 8th of July 2010 11:04:04 PM

Spartikus47 · Cult Status

Everton plan shake up to plan for future

Everton boss Mark Rollings has pledged "exciting times" are ahead for the Goodison faithful and promised personally that he would "leave no stone unturned" in his quest to return the Merseyside giants back to the Premier League.

With news leaking out of the club that new youth product Jack Rodwell was set for a sensational switch to City rivals Everton fans flooded message boards demanding to know details of the bid for their new protege. Rollings suggested he understood fans concerns but reassured all of the impact the deal would have on Everton FC.

"It is like someone has just injected £20million plus into the club. I have spoken at length with various managers about the future plans for this club, while also consulting those managers about the deal for Jack. With the players and cash we have coming in we will be a stronger outfit, with more options. Planning is already underway for next season, and this deal is the first step in that."

Rollings also moved to dampen the coals with regards to his reported spat with Stuart Price of Manchester City.

"I am not sure why Stuart chose his words as he did, because I didn't really believe their was any story there to be honest. He spoke on record about my insistence for securing Ramsey's loan renewal but which manager worth his salt wouldn't try his best to recapture a loan player who had provided just under 10 assists in 11 games. Stuart obviously feels aggrieved about something but we were honest and open with Man City and Stuart based on the situation at the time. I could sit here and tittle tattle about who did what but its pointless. As I suggested to him we are still very grateful for the loans of Weiss and Ramon Torres and will honour our commitment to Manchester City. If Stuart has a major problem then he is always welcome to challenge me on them. This really is a non-issue as far as I am concerned!"

-- Edited by Spartikus47 on Thursday 8th of July 2010 11:14:07 PM

bigwave1927 · Cult Status

We have today managed to track down Ascoli manager Dave Davies-Evans.

Gazzetta. " Dave big game this week"??

DDE" huge game this week, Terry has done a fantastic job at Atalanta and i take my hat off to him. I think if neither of us go up it will be us in the play off final. So may the best man win"

GN. Dave any transfers coming in???"

DDE. Im waiting to here from Sep Blatter about a deal ive offerd but he has gone awol. Must be soaking up the world cup to much. I made an offer for a CM player from the prem but as always you have to take his dad, mother, grand father, uncle,neice, 2nd auntie, to land the player."

GN. Dave you sound quite bitter about this???.

DDE. Its a joke in this game, you have to loan 6 players before i give you the good one. I loan out quite a few players with no conditions. I trust the managers taking them to look after them and play them as they will. Unlike the abscesses on the anusis of society. "

GN Thanks Dave.

DDE. Many thanks. X

-- Edited by bigwave1927 on Saturday 10th of July 2010 08:29:26 AM