Week 22

Football Academy · Cult Status

Week 22

Football Academy · Cult Status

Bookmakers have cut Catania manager Amilcar Vasquez from the list of favourites to become the new West Ham manager after he went public with his desires to stay at Catania.

Jozz · Cult Status

Football Academy · Cult Status

RE: Week 22

Football Academy · Cult Status

Re: Johndaniel Jaques Departs

Cadiz fans have reacted angrily to the departure of manager Johndaniel Jaques, with some blaming the board for showing disloyalty to their long serving manager.

Luke_C · Cult Status

Coakley thanks JD

Luke Cadiz today parted company with JD as manager, what was the thinking behind this move?

Well firstly we have to thank JD for his time at the club, the rebuilding work in selling off assets to allow the club to service massive debts was excellent. We now hope a new manager can build on this work and progress the club even further. Its a shame his reign couldnt end with a win that he deserved.

Some fans are unhappy with JD leaving, some claiming its disloyal?

Well JD was out of contract next week so the mutual termination is just a formality to allow him and us to move that little bit quicker in setting up our futures. No negotiations ever took place from either Cadiz or from JD to extend this contract so it seemed to come to a natural end rather than a forced end by either party. We believe in loyalty at Cadiz and as a chairman I would like to point out that no manager has ever been sacked under my reign at either Fulham or Cadiz. Contracts end and managers move on and that is part of football, its how we move on will be the key. Its time to move onwards and we hope upwards.

We know JD had already been contracted a number of times by Football Academy chairman so we wish him well in any new job .

Some are saying that Milan will be sold in order for a new manager to have funds to spend?

This is totally unfounded, I fully expect Milan to be at Cadiz next season and in the future. Every player has a value in world football but we rate Milan as one of the hot young prospects in the world and his price would come with a massive premium. When interviewing managers I made a point of stating that Milan is the future and he is a player that can lead the way.

Has a new manager been targeted and what can we expect from them?

A new manager has been targeted and a contract offer has been agreed and in the process of being send out for confirmation. If we can pull of the signing of the manager we have targeted we believe it will be a real coup for the club. Its someone with experience at the highest level around Europe and someone we fully believe can build on the good work of the previous manager. We have no set target other than seeing the club progress.

Will money be made available for the new manager?

The new manager will be backed fully just like JD was in the past. Every penny I have had has been invested into the club. Some went on finally clearing the historic debt and the rest has been for JD to use in the transfer market. Firstly we believe the squad needs to be reduced and playering quality improved so we look forward to the turnaround.

Football Academy · Cult Status

Cadiz have moved quickly and look set to announce their new manager in the next 24 hours, less than a day after agreeing the termination of Johndaniel Jaques contract.

paulh_85 · Cult Status

Harrington happy with "best week"

Last week you told us how massive the next two games were, against Bilbao in the semi final of the UEFA cup, and a massive game in the league against Sevilla. Two wins later, how do you feel?

Quite amazing really, its probably one of my best runs in management, coupled with a good win against Valencia, we are hitting some good form at the right time, and have set ourselves up for a sucessful season. However we havent achieved anything as yet and there is still two games to go, so its all to play for.

Your side can still claim 3rd in the league, and also a Uefa cup trophy, it must feel great to get to the final week of the season and still have so much to play for.

Yes its exciting to be fair. 3rd place in the league has seemed miles away for most of the year, we have slowly closed the gap on Sevilla and are just a point behind Valencia. I cant see them throwing it away from here, they have a great manager and team and fully deserve 3rd place, from our point of view, finishing 4th for the third season in a row, and above Sevilla is a massive achievement. We need a draw or better against Real Madrid, which will be tough, especially with minds on the Cup Final, but it would be great to get the point we need and end the season in 4th. Well will have to look at the squad and see who is fit. no one has an injury but there are a few players who cant play both games and we will have to look at which is the bigger priority and what sort of team we will put out.

Although you might currently be favorites for that 4th place in the league, you then head into the Cup Final as massive underdogs, is that a fair assessment do you think?

I'd say thats about right, Genoa have so many quality players, and they have pushed Juventus all the way this season, i think they will be a force to be reckoned with in Europe for many seasons to come. That being said i think, if we play like i know we can, we have a chance. Hopefully the magnificent fans we have hear will get behind us and push us on, and maybe we can give them something to cheer in return.

Lastly, James Vaughan has been a revelation since joining on loan. He scored two and created one in the win against Sevilla. Is there a chance he will be staying beyond this season?

Unfortunatley not, James has been great and i think he was the difference between the two sides last week. Bringing in him and Casillias has really given everyone at the club a huge lift, and at the right time too!! But he will be going back to Roma next season, im not sure if Roma are still making him available to buy, but either way he will be going to his next club on fire and in top form. He is sharp on the training ground and eager to get a few more goals in the last two matches!

Luke_C · Cult Status

Cadiz delight at management coup

Cadiz statement:

"We are delighted to announce Iain Kochanowski has agreed a contract to take managerial control of Cadiz football club with immediate effect and starting with this weekends game away to Gimnastic.

We believe Iains experience of managing at clubs like Manchester United, Real Madrid and Spurs can bring that extra step needed to make Cadiz a success. Although a different challenge we know this is one Iain will revel in.

Many managers and agents contracts the club about the managers positions but it was Iains ambition to succeed that made him the obvious candidate not shown more by him agreeing to take a pay cut of over 4 million from his days at Spurs to allow him to have further funds for team building. This is a quality in a character that speaks volume and we believe this to be a major coup for the club.

We will back Iain to our maximum ability however will not make the mistakes of chairman in the past and spend beyond our means. This is a smaller club than many around us but we believe with the fans backing us we can improve season on season and make this a club one to be extremely proud of"

-- Edited by Luke_C on Wednesday 14th of September 2011 05:08:54 PM

-- Edited by Luke_C on Wednesday 14th of September 2011 05:09:12 PM

GarethGardner · Cult Status

Gardner plea to Boro fans

Quietly spoken Middlesbrough manager Gareth Gardner today came back into the media limelight asking his fans to get behind his team.

" Calling to all Boro fans, lets get fully behind the side and push our club back into the Premier League. Im expecting Aston Villa to be the 1 to beat in the playoffs this year, after our great victory against them this weekend our players are oozing with confidence. Im calling on our fans to fill our stadium for the Everton game next week and make the ground as hostile as possible. The players have proved they have the ability and tactically it looks like we are finally clicking as a team.

I for 1 will give my word to the fans that if we fail with a full stadium and strong team, then I will promise to offer my resignation to the Middlesboro Chairman and board.

I obviously would love to stay for longer after pumping so much of my own money in to raise our youth profile, but if we fail then i will take all the blame and let the fans, board and chairman to decide how they may.

But Please Boro fans. GET BEHIND THE BOYS AND MAKE SOME NOISE !!!!!

Your our 12th man and hopefully we will all celebrate together with another win in these playoffs as we did together the season before last ".

When questioned about being linked to the Spurs job which everybody knows hes a boy hood fan Gardner answered -

" Iv got a job to do here at Middlesbrough, My priority lies here and I love it here at The Riverside. If Spurs came in with an offer, then that would be down to the Chairman to decide if it financially helps the club. If he thinks its time for a change and allows Spurs to talk to me, then i would consider it as it will show a lack of faith in my managerial ability by the Chairman, but if he wants me to stay and sign a new contract, then im happy to sign for the next 10 years ! "

Besty · Cult Status

Best hopefull of final day survival

FA Evo news reported Jeff Shreeves caught up with media shy Newcastle manager Jamie Best going into the final league weekend of the season.

Jamie, a relatively poor season overall, battling relegation when your target was a top 6 finish, and out of the cup in the third round, what do you feel has gone wrong for you this year.

Its probably quicker to tell you what has gone right to be honest Jeff, but in all seriousness i think we are a team still in transition, we managed to survive last year and i wanted to push on and build my own squad but unfortunately whilst doing this i havent managed to get the necessary results which has left us still unsafe going into the final game of the season and this is not where we want to be.

So what happens if you go down?

Well thats up to the chairman, i have a relegation release clause in my contract so the chairman can let me go if he decides that is the best option, it would be a shame as i feel we are going to make a big improvement next season but obviously the chairman has to make the best decision in the interest of the club. Even if we manage to stay up i may not be safe as the target i was set has not even been got close to so we will see what happens.

Why do you feel there will be a big improvement next season?

We have a number of young players which i believe will continue to develop and make the squad stronger as a whole next season but again this remains to be seen and i can only do my best in helping these players become the best that they can be. I also plan to make investments into the youth academy here using monies raised through the sale of Athletic Bilbao. One of my reasons for selling them was to focus on my job here at Newcastle and so i hope i get the chance to repay the club's faith in me by keeping them in the Premier Division and developing again next year.

The trick seems to have worked, since the sale of Bilbao you have climbed out of the bottom three, do you think this added focus was the only reason?

No not at all, i think it has helped but only in the extra time i can spend looking for players, and this soon became redundant when the window closed so its not the only reason.

What else then has helped improve your form?

Well the players themselves have been performing better i feel, we have found the net a bit more and created more chances. The signing of Van Persie has helped us in attack and also the addition of Gary Cahill from Valladolid has helped to stop the leak at the back, as evident by our clean sheet on Saturday against Man City.

And what a good result that was, did you expect to get anything from the game?

We are always looking to take points from any game, however they had a couple of players missing and we performed well, the tactics we played worked and by limiting them to only a few chances the single goal we scored was enough. It's what we have wanted to focus on (improving the defence) and so to keep a clean sheet was really pleasing.

So what now?

Well we can only look as far ahead as the next game and on this occasion the game is crucial, if we dontequal or better West Ham's result then we could be in serious trouble but the good thing is it's in our hands so we will try to focus on this and get a result out of the game.

Well good luck Jamie and thanks for talking to us.

No problem.

Tezza · Cult Status

Siena News

The Siena manager, Terry Manifold, is busy this morning preparing his side for the last real league match of the season. Tonight they play Catania before preparing for the first play-off match on Monday.

PRESS

What do you expect from this evenings match?

TERRY

Tonight is about keeping all my players fit and well. The result this evening is not important. Catania are a good side. Amilcar Vasquez has worked wonders with the club. Tonight will be very interesting Amilcar will throw everything at us he is already secure. A result tonight will obviously lift Siena for next week but we are planning to keep all the players available for selection for Monday. We have spent a few days discussing and running through some tactical moves for the play-offs and I do need to keep my options open and all the players available.

PRESS

How do you see next weeks matches go?

TERRY

There is no reason to believe that we can't beat Brescia or even Atalanta.

I think Siena is stronger this season and given the normal luck in running we should be able to mix it with these boys.

PRESS

There were rumours in the press that you were in London last week looking at another club.

TERRY

It is true I was in London last week. My daughter graduates shortly and we were buying clothes from back home.

PRESS

No truth in the rumour then. You are committed to Siena?

TERRY

I wasn't talking to anyone over the weekend. I am happy here and the next week will see me either sign an extension on my current contract or seek employment elsewhere. A manager has to do what is best for him and his family. Success does not come easily and you have to grab your opportunities. I can say, however, the progress being made here, win or lose next week is very encouraging. I have already had offers to take good loan players next season.

-- Edited by Tezza on Friday 16th of September 2011 01:08:57 PM

Football Academy · Cult Status

Valencia have agreed a two year extension to keep manager Stuart Price at the club.

Football Academy · Cult Status

Manchester United have used a final clause in manager Craig Radfords contract to extend his stay one more season.

Football Academy · Cult Status

Reports from Italy suggest ex-Cadiz boss Johndaniel Jaques is hours away from a move to Italian football.

Football Academy · Cult Status

Real Madrid have agreed a huge compensation package with Real Valladolid and have sent representatives to the league champions this morning to negotiate a contract with manager Simon Jenkins.

Tezza · Cult Status

Managed to get a quick word with the Siena manager following the defeat by Catania this evening. "I am very pleased with the performance tonight and I think that even with a weakened team we held them for a long while," said Terry.

"The lads will be encouraged by the way we held the line and scored the first goal,"" We honestly felt that we should have had at least one of the penalty decisions." said Terry, "That would have been even better."

"I think we are ready for Monday whoever it is." said Terry, "We will give it a real go with a few changes to the line up."