Alan Pardew has defended the controversial sponsorship deal Newcastle United have made with money lender Wonga.
The payday loans company has been criticised for its high interest rates, but this was not a point the Toon boss was keen to focus on.
Instead he went on to state that the financial implications of the deal are hugely important for the consistent improvement of the club.
Pardew told The Guardian: “As manager of this football club I can only say to have the best sponsorship deal we’ve ever had is a good thing.”
The importance of building an academy and having more financial muscle to compete with the top four sides was not lost on the former West Ham and Reading boss.
The Newcastle manager was quick to dispel claims that Wonga won’t live up to the expectations of being a Premier League sponsor. He mentioned that fans should contact those of Blackpool, who appear to be settled with having the brand emblazoned upon their shirts.
The manager also referred to as ‘Pardiola’ by some, sees no reason to distract away from the positive moves the club with this announcement. He believes there is a hypocrisy that this deal is being so heavily challenged when people consider other football shirt sponsors.
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For this reason he believes that his Muslim players Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Cheik Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa will not see the deal as conflicting with their religious beliefs, as some quarters of the press had claimed.
Wonga’s decision to buy the stadium rights taking it back to its traditional name of St James’s park seems to have won over several fans. There is expected to be an official renaming ceremony next week.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is monitoring the situation of Real Madrid attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil as the German is becoming out of favour at the Bernabeu, according to the Sunday Mirror.
The arrival of Luka Modric has forced Ozil further down the pecking order in the Spanish capital and Real gaffer Jose Mourinho has been forced to sit down with the German international to discuss his poor start to the new season.
Ozil is under contract until 2016, but he won’t want to become a second string player and so a move away from Madrid next summer may well be conceivable and Liverpool have been tracking Ozil since his Werder Bremen days.
Liverpool currently have another Madrid midfielder on loan and Nuri Sahin is starting to show his class on Merseyside, proving Mourinho’s decision to only let him out on loan a shrewd one.
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When Sahin returns to Los Blancos at the end of the season, it may well see the end of Ozil’s Real Madrid career and you can be sure that Rodgers and Liverpool will be interested.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confessed that his team need to be more ruthless following their shock Premier League defeat to Norwich.
The Gunners face German opposition in the shape of Schalke during today’s Champions League encounter and will be looking to build on their two wins so far.
The Frenchman believes that if his players are to succeed they must follow the examples set by Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker and become ‘more German’.
Wenger hailed the pair as good professionals and likened their influence to that of former goalkeeper Jens Lehmann:
“The Germans are usually very professional and always ready to work hard,” Wenger is quoted as saying by The Express.
“We had good experiences with the German players we had before and they have a very strong team attitude.
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“They are qualities that are welcome at the top level. You need to bring it all to a team. Your talent is not enough.”
The North Londoners currently lead Group B with six points and know that victory against the Bundesliga team will give them a good chance of reaching the last 16.
Whilst most sports have scoffed at the likes of cricket and tennis, it is now becoming more common in football that players are switching nationalities from youth to senior level, or playing for countries outside of their birth.
As a result of globalisation, which is primarily a good thing for society, we are seeing the issue arise in the media spotlight more frequently and an increase in the amount of players who are applying to switch nationalities. Only yesterday there were two examples of international call-ups that have ignited the issue. They are both very different tales. One is a case of a man, Shola Ameobi, who played for England at youth level, and perhaps envisaged he would play for the senior England side one day, and has accepted that he isn’t, and therefore has stated that he wants to play for his country of birth, Nigeria, to whom he was given his first call-up for a friendly against Venezuela next week. The other case is of a man, Carl Jenkinson, who at Charlton Athletic probably envisaged he would never play for England and therefore decided to represent Finland under-19’s, has realised that he is actually wanted by England and as a result has just had international clearance to play against Sweden next week.
Other examples domestically include Victor Moses, who played for England at youth level, and who now plays for Nigeria, and perhaps most famously Ryan Giggs, who played for England at youth level and then chose to represent his country of birth, Wales. This issue is not a new phenomenon in football either. Between 1946 and 1961, Laszlo Kubala played for three international sides – Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Spain, whilst Michel Platini was able to play for both France and then a game for Kuwait in the 1980’s.
Last month, in my disappointment of England’s game in Poland being postponed I decided to watch the Belgium versus Scotland game. With four minutes remaining, Genk’s Ilombe Mboyo replaced Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke for the home side. When the commentator revealed that both players were actually born in the Congo, ESPN’s co-commentator Craig Burley, who was probably a bit hacked off by Scotland’s performance by now, exclaimed, ‘It’s ridiculous, you should play for the country from where you are born and that should be that’.
So does Craig Burley have a point? Should players have to play for their country of birth, or at the very least not switch allegiances once they have made a decision at youth level upon which country they should play for?
Since the crazy days of Kubala playing for three countries and Platini playing for Kuwait, FIFA has become stricter on their eligibility regulations. From 2004, they have stated that players must have a ‘clear connection’ with the country they represent. For those readers who haven’t revised the FIFA Statute yet (it’s an enthralling read), I will let you in on what Article 17 states. There are three main premises on which a player is allowed to play for their country. The first obvious one is if you’re born in the country you wish to represent, the second being if you’re parents or grandparents were born in the country you wish to represent, and thirdly, if you have lived in the country you wish to represent from the age of 18. In regards to switching nationalities from youth level to senior level, a player must apply for the change to be made before the age of 21. Additionally, once a player plays a competitive match for one country, they cannot go on to play for another.
So it is primarily a question of whether one perceives these rules to be too relaxed. I think that generally, FIFA’s eligibility rules are fair enough. For example, with regards to Shola Ameobi, although he may have live in England most of his life, he was born in Nigeria, his parents are Nigerian, he sees himself as Nigerian, there are no reasons as to why he shouldn’t play for them. My only gripe with the striker’s decision is that if Ameobi feels so strongly about being Nigerian, as he claims to do, then why was he turning out for the England under-21’s ten years ago? I believe that every player should state in their first professional contract the country they wish to represent and stick with it. It would surely avoid so much confusion.
I believe that the other limitation with the current rule is for a player being able to represent a country based on the player’s grandparents being born there. Unfortunately, it has invited managers in the past to take liberties with the rule and look to manipulate the rules slightly on eligibility in order to get their player to represent their country. It has also reduced the pride of playing international football. My case in point her is West Brom’s James Morrison, who was born in Darlington, but plays for Scotland through his grandmother. His reasoning for playing for Scotland was that, and I quote, ‘opportunities for England will be limited’. If I was Scottish, quotes like this wouldn’t exactly make me jump up and get my kilt from the wardrobe and start playing the bagpipes along to the Proclaimers at full blast in celebration of being proud to be from north of the border.
The dilemma is that the issue is just so complex and there are so many different individual cases that can cause problems. As a result, the rule can just become comical. For example, the now former Scotland boss Craig Levein tried desperately to getting the 17-year-old LA Galaxy striker Jack McBean, who is born and has been raised in America all his life, but with Scottish parents, to play for the Tartan Army. Levein admitted to being on the phone to McBean’s dad trying to persuade him to get his son to play for Scotland, which just made Levein appear daft and desperate.
Another individual case that caused problems for FIFA was that of Ryan Shawcross’, who was born in England with English parents, raised in Wales, played in England, represented Wales and then England at youth level, was subject to a call-up from Wales and has taken the decision to play for England, it’s just exhausting! As a result of Shawcross, FIFA changed the ruling in 2009 to allow a player who has had five years compulsory education to decide which country he wants to play for.
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Whilst Craig Burley’s comments may have been misguided in regards to Mboyo and Benteke, you can’t help feel that life would be much easier if player’s took his advice and represented the country of their birth.
Don’t forget to vent your spleen on this issue on Twitter @matt_of_the_day
Brendan Rodgers has lauded Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard’s influence to Talksport, with the player due to receive his 100th England cap.
Gerrard is set to lead out the three lions on Wednesday night in a friendly encounter against Sweden and his boss was full of praise for his midfielder star.
The Reds talisman also reached a milestone at club level recording his 600th appearance for Liverpool recently.
The England playmaker has been a crucial influence at Anfield for the best part of a decade and this was not lost on his current manager.
Rodgers went on to tell Talksport: “I’ve watched him from the outside for a long time, but to actually work with him on a day to day basis, you realise he’s great player and an even better man.
“The way he conducts himself off the field, he has real old school values and ethics. He never has a lazy day. He comes in every day to work hard and is a real inspiration to the young players at the club.
“He’s a wonderful role model and he’s still got a few years left in him yet. He’s been outstanding, a real good man, and hopefully he can keep performing.”
At 31 years of age his manager is aware that he has to use his skipper effectively to ensure that he will remain fresh for their Premier League fixtures, hence Rodgers’s decision to rest him in Liverpool’s last Europa League match against Anzhi.
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Rodgers also insisted that his captain had several years left performing at the highest level and could be a key figure in regalvanising Liverpool’s season outside of Luis Suarez.
If you’re a Togolese fan, reports suggesting that Emmanuel Adebayor has temporarily suspended his career with the national team probably don’t’ constitute the best news you’ve heard all season. For Tottenham Hotspur fans however, the ex-Manchester City man’s decision to stay away from the African Cup of Nations next month offers their side a timely boost ahead of the hectic festive period.
And in many ways, it’s a boost that’s felt a long time coming from Adebayor this season. While a combination of fitness and injury issues have understandably lessened his availability for Andre Villas-Boas’ side, the biggest mark he’s made this term was the one on the inside of Santi Cazorla’s leg – and even that was questionable.
Indeed, while Spurs’ No10 might not wield too much control over a niggling hamstring, he’s certainly got the power to decide whether to fling himself into reckless lunges or not. His red card against Arsenal in the 5-2 defeat at the Emirates last month cost his side dearly and in many ways, put both his team and particularly his manager, well in the mire.
A hotheaded derby day red card isn’t necessarily something that Adebayor can be crucified with, but it certainly couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Lilywhites. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but make no mistake about it, the sounds of discontent at White Hart Lane before the West Ham game were a lot more palpable than simply mere whispers.
Andre Villas-Boas and his side have of course subsequently came through the gauntlet unscathed, taking nine points from crunch fixtures against the Hammers, Liverpool and Martin Jol’s Fulham side. The relevance of his absence may certainly seem dampened, but these were vitally important fixtures that Adebayor should have been there for.
The 3-0 win at Craven Cottage on Saturday saw the big Togolese sit out the final game of his three-match suspension, but given the superb recent form of Jermain Defoe, there are no guarantees that Adebayor is simply going to waltz back into the side. And this is perhaps where his first real test since first arriving at White Hart Lane in 2011, may lie.
A man never short of a spot of speculation or a comment or two to the media, supporters have heard Adebayor pipe up several times this season. Although reports of discontent with Villas-Boas over a starting place seem odd, considering his infrequent availability this season, we’ve already heard the ex-Arsenal man claim he’ll leave if Spurs want him to. A fair enough statement perhaps.
It hasn’t stopped there, though. We’ve also listened to Adebayor publicly criticize the team’s performances.
“I try to keep positive so I don’t really want to think about how bad it could be, but worse than this, I think we’d be gone,” he said, speaking after the 0-0 draw away to Lazio last month.
“At the moment things are looking bad. We just have to try to find a way to get through this. Why aren’t things clicking? I don’t know. We’re all frustrated about the way things are going. We need it to start clicking soon, otherwise, trust me, we will find ourselves in difficulty.”
Again, there’s not much to seemingly criticize from what appears to be nothing much more than a brutally honest, albeit slightly pessimistic, bit of public opinion. Although whether you agreed or disagreed with his sentiments, the phrase ‘time and a place’ has more than a touch of gravitas, here.
Yes, the fitness issues he faced at the beginning of the season wasn’t necessarily his fault and his injury trouble couldn’t have been helped either. But however you frame it, Adebayor’s not been playing anywhere near enough football to begin piping up and offering doomsday like soundbites to the media. He needs to get his head down and concentrate on playing his football.
What we want to see is a fit, fresh and determined Adebayor return to the fore at Spurs. And that includes playing his part as a member of this squad, as well as simply putting the ball into the back of the net.
Despite his goal scoring form, Jermain Defoe isn’t without faults within this Spurs team, with the England man often resembling something of a peripheral figure during games. Emmanuel Adebayor’s all round skillset would appear a better fit for the 4-2-3-1 system that Villas-Boas employs and when he has actually played, Tottenham certainly seem a better outfit in terms of ball retention.
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Although wherever you stand on Defoe’s all round game, the point is that Adebayor isn’t going to be handed a starting place on a plate every week as he was under Harry Redknapp last season. For however gifted his talents may be, he’s going to have to work hard to become a mainstay in the side and on the occasions he may find himself on the bench, there can’t be any room for drama or the courting of sympathy.
Emmanuel Adebayor is going to have a massive part to play if Tottenham really are set to achieve their designs on a fourth placed finish in the Premier League this term. And in many ways, given the abject lack of momentum he’s had so far, perhaps Adebayor’s term is only now truly set to begin.
Bar the flash point at the Emirates, Adebayor has enjoyed arguably one of the most controversy free spells of his career in White Hart Lane. Now it’s time to keep that trend going, with a fuss free, drama free and also a quote free return to form, fitness and availability.
Clint Dempsey will aim to show Fulham what they are missing when he and his new Tottenham team-mates travel across London on Saturday. Dempsey and Moussa Dembele left Fulham at the end of the summer transfer window to join Tottenham and will face their former team-mates for the first time on Saturday.
In the lead-up to the London derby, Dempsey has claimed he would have stayed at Craven Cottage if Fulham had appreciated him enough.
“If you always felt valued and appreciated enough, I don’t think you’d ever leave but it came to a point where I didn’t feel valued and appreciated,” Dempsey told the London Evening Standard. Not by the fans but by other situations. That’s just the way things went. The situation is difficult because things go on behind the scenes that the fans don’t really know about. The fans were great to me, the chairman (Mohamed Fayed) was great to me but it got the point where I wanted to keep going and try to further my career.”
Tottenham will head to Fulham on the back of successive English Premier League victories having knocked off West Ham 3-1 and Liverpool 2-1 in their most recent matches. The back-to-back wins have helped turn Tottenham’s form around after four consecutive defeats to begin November.
By contrast, Martin Jol’s Fulham have not won in six games, but did manage a 0-0 draw away to Chelsea in midweek despite having only 38 percent possession. Jol will still be missing Brede Hangeland as the towering Norwegian defender completes his three-match suspension against Tottenham.
In some good news for Jol, however, Kieran Richardson could be set for a return after a hamstring problem, although Bryan Ruiz and Alexander Kacaniklic will remain on the sidelines with similar injuries.
For Tottenham, Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Steven Caulker have yet to recover from injury.
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Why should discussions about Arsenal’s next manager always be seen to have sinister motives behind them? Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are always linked with moves to Manchester United, and yet that is seen as an inevitable discussion; Alex Ferguson will eventually move on from the game and there will come a time when other managers are looked at as more than just ‘what if’ scenarios.
Arsene Wenger will also eventually move on from Arsenal, but at the same time this isn’t a campaign for his removal. A lot of people say that supporters should be careful what they wish for, and that is right to an extent. As Johan Cruyff said earlier in the week, “it can be the case that you have to deal with a decline, as at Arsenal, but eventually with this formula you will get to the top.”
But while that may be true, it is completely wrong for people to suggest there is no other man in world football who can do better than Wenger. Does it show a lack of knowledge beyond the English game? What about a complete lack of respect and even faith? There are many clubs in Europe who are in a far more worrying position than Arsenal but are nevertheless doing well with very good managers.
Let’s get Guardiola out of the way first: while it would be nice to have him at a club like Arsenal, others clubs such as Bayern Munich represent a much more likely destination.
The next stage would be to look at Jurgen Klopp. The Borussia Dortmund manager may find himself in high demand come next summer, with Real Madrid among many high-profile clubs looking for a new manager. Is Klopp good enough to do what Wenger does at Arsenal? Why not? He’s worked under conditions where the club’s debt fell from 150 million euros in 2006 to 42 million euros in 2012, while building a title-winning side in the process. And Dortmund’s game is built on extremely attractive and ambitious football.
It remains a question as to whether anyone can tempt Klopp away from Dortmund anytime soon. It’s been highly refreshing to see so many of the club’s top talent pledge their loyalty to both the manager and the prospect of further success at Dortmund. They would receive far more in wages elsewhere, but they’re a very tight-knit group that are happy to continue growing as a team. It shouldn’t be beyond realistic to assume Dortmund could go all the way in this season’s Champions League.
La Liga also currently houses a few promising prospects. Diego Simeone’s achievements with Atletico Madrid is sure to have many clubs taking notice. While it would seem absolutely disastrous for Atletico to let him go anytime soon, Simeone’s contract does come to an end at the end of the season. It would be surprising if they failed to offer him an extension, but at the same time Atletico are a club who are wholly unstable and have lacked any real consistency in terms of managers of late.
Simeone may be lacking in the desired experience for a club like Arsenal, but this is a young manager who is desperate to reach the top and achieve recognisable success with a major club. I’m confident he’d want to stay and continue to help Atletico towards a promising future rather than just patches of light in otherwise dark times, but if he is released and without a club, Arsenal really shouldn’t be turning their nose up at him.
The thing about Simeone, and something that is similar to Klopp’s style, is that he’s enterprising and brave. He wants his team to work hard and play with a fearless approach. He wants to test the biggest of opposition, even when it seems far more sensible to hang back and wait for your chances. But he’s also brought a real togetherness to this Atletico team, one who were ineffective and without direction under Gregorio Manzano.
Is he working to a budget? Other than the purchase of Radamel Falcao and whoever comes in to replace him should the striker leave, the current Atletico team weren’t assembled through heavy spending. Diego Costa won’t command big bucks, nor will Gabi, but he’s manufactured a hugely impressive team who know how to work as a unit and win.
Wenger’s style of play and his managerial demeanour may bring about a few obvious targets if the club want to continue down the same path. In Manuel Pellegrini, Arsenal could be onto another hugely experienced manager with an impressive background.
Pellegrini has managed to keep Malaga’s spirits high following the financial shock of the summer. He’s brought the best out of young talents in the squad, notably Isco and Ignacio Camacho, and encouraged the ageing Joaquin to find the best form of his career. Again, Malaga are playing good football and are clearly overachieving. He’s a manager who knows how to do well following very little spend in the transfer window, but he also did well during a short spell with Real Madrid.
Pellegrini may not be the best manager to handle the egos and big names that Real Madrid had on their books at the time, but other than a horrendous exit in the Copa del Rey, he really did very little wrong. And as should be well documented, his time at Villarreal should be seen as a phenomenal high in the club’s history. Lets not forget that this is a man who managed Santi Cazorla at two different clubs and enforced some breathtaking football, especially while at El Madrigal. On a very small budget and at a stadium which holds less than 30,000, Pellegrini took Villarreal to second place in La Liga in 2008, as well as to the Champions League semifinal in 2006.
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Elsewhere there is Pepe Mel at Real Betis, Frank de Boer at Ajax and of course Dennis Bergkamp. The former Arsenal striker’s fear of flying may be an issue, but he, more than a great number of others, could be a real success at Arsenal.
It’s irresponsible and totally inaccurate to paint a picture that there are no ‘realistic’ options available to replace Wenger. After all, who would have thought an unknown manager based in Japan could have achieved so much in England?
It will eventually become a serious discussion, and it should be completely down to the current Arsenal manager when that discussion comes about. But the world will not end for the club when Wenger decides his time is up. There are many exciting options in European football beyond just Pep Guardiola.
manager Sam Allardyce hopes to help on loan striker Marouane Chamakh find his former Bordeaux form at Upton Park, reports Sky Sports.
Signing with the Hammers on loan this week, the Morocco international forward will be looking to take his chances to improve on his dire goal scoring record: one Premier League goal since November 2010.
Chamakh will face competition at the Boleyn, with Carlton Cole, Andy Carroll, Modibo Maiga all vying for an attacking slot in the West Ham starting line-up and Allardyce is eager to help resuscitate the Moroccan’s fortunes after a frustrating career in English football under the guidance of Arsene Wenger.
“We’ll try and get him to be that goal threat he was at Bordeaux,” said Allardyce.
“He’s been very disappointed with his lack of involvement at Arsenal, certainly for the last year, and he’s itching and hungry to get back and show what he can do.
“We’ll give him the platform and hopefully he grabs the chance with both hands and reproduces his Bordeaux performances.
“He won the league with them and played well enough for a team as big as Arsenal to want to take him.
“You need to provide the service he needs. He’s exceptionally good in the air and at getting between defenders from crosses.
“That’s what we can provide him with, the materials and ammunition for him to get a few goals.
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“He’s got a big chance to prove what he can do in the Premier League with us and it’s about him proving it to himself.”
Chamakh has scored 14 goals in 67 games during his two and a half seasons in North London, since his free transfer from Bordeaux.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has hinted that he will rotate his squad heavily during the season run-in.
The Red Devils are currently top of the pile in the Premier League and are still in the hunt for both the Champions League and FA Cup.
Fergie is no stranger to tough ends of campaigns, having led the Old Trafford outfit to countless trophies during his tenure.
He has admitted that he will once again look to use his entire squad to keep everybody fresh for the business end of the campaign:
“In this situation, anything can happen on the run-in. Players can all of a sudden find themselves playing in a final or an important league game because that is the kind of squad I have.” He is quoted by Sky Sports.
“It is very difficult to rotate the squad at the moment. They all wanted to play against Real Madrid and there were a lot of disappointed players.
“That was fantastic. It is a measure of their own confidence in themselves.
“But we had a chat. I said ‘look, don’t think for a minute losing a game for Manchester United is a trivial matter’. It is a serious matter.”
The Scot went on to reveal that he learned the importance of rotation during the 1999 season.
Paul Scholes missed United’s Champions League final appearance of that year after picking up a booking during their last four clash:
“In 1999 I left Paul Scholes out of the quarter-final against Inter yet he was the one who scored the goal that got us through,
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“I left him out of the semi-final because I couldn’t risk him and Roy Keane together as they were both on yellow cards. He accepted it graciously, came on, got booked and missed the final anyway.”
United face Real Madrid in the last-16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, and carry a 1-1 score line into the tie after an impressive display at the Bernabeu.