Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has stated that he is glad that his side’s stadium name has reverted back to St James’ Park.
The Tyneside club have signed a £32million four-year shirt and stadium sponsorship with loan suppliers Wonga.com, who have announced that the original name will be preferred and the Sports Direct Arena will become defunct.
Despite the controversy expressed by locals in deal with a company with a poor reputation, Pardew is glad that the St James’ Park name has been reinstated.
“I’m a romantic. The name change hurt me and it hurt the team. It’s one of those business decisions which you can’t get your head round at times as a football person, so to have it back as St James’ Park is great,” the coach told The Daily Mail.
“The same sign should go back up — not a new one, the old one. I am absolutely overjoyed.”
A Wonga.com spokesman has admitted that the sponsor is eager to win over the club’s fans.
“We saw what matters to the fans. Football is an emotional sport and it is really important to them. That is why we did it,” he concluded.
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Premier League champions Manchester City are set to bolster their squad with a move for Steven Jovetic in the January transfer window.
Liverpool and Chelsea have both been known to have an interest in the Montenegro international and City could land him for £25million.
City boss Roberto Mancini tried to sign the 22-year-old in the summer but proved unsuccessful, but a fresh bid is expected which would see the Italian build his team around the exciting midfielder.
Patrick Viera, the football development executive at Man City was present during Fiorentina’s 2-1 defeat against Inter Milan, and despite failing to shine his talent can’t be doubted.
Mancini hopes to agree a pre-contract agreement with Jovetic, who has scored 28 goals in 89 appearances since joining from Partizan in 2008.
The Montenegro international has a contract until 2016, which gives the Florence club leverage in agreeing a suitable fee for their prize asset.
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Jovetic seemed likely to join Chelsea in the summer before deciding he would stay one more year with the Italian giants to help them push for Europe.
“I stopped those negotiations. By the time they had made their move from England I had already decided that I would stay in Florence,” he told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
and Chelsea’s scouting networks have been busy over the last couple of months, with three talented players arising as transfer targets for the London duo according to Mirror Football.
It is believed that both Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo will look to bolster their squads when the opportunity arises in January, with a number of potential targets on the continent.
The first name to pop up is that of Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Patrick Herrmann, who is also wanted by Inter Milan.
The Germany under-21 box-to-box midfielder impressed last season in helping his side to a third-placed finish in the Bundesliga, but with a number of other leading players leaving Monchengladbach, Herrmann could well be next.
Tottenham are thought to be especially keen on Feyenoord midfielder Jordy Clasie also.
The 21-year-old has made two full international appearances for Netherlands of late, and is part of a younger generation of Dutch players coming through the ranks in Holland.
The defensive midfielder is thought to be available for around £5 million and has been watched by Juventus and Roma also.
Finally, Lazio midfielder Senad Lulic has caught the gaze of Chelsea in particular, and is thought to be available in January after a standoff with the Stadio Olimpico outfit over a new contract.
The Bosnia international has played against Spurs in the Europa League this term, and both the Blues and German powerhouses Bayern Munich are weighing up a bid for the talented eastern European in January.
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Lazio have other options in the centre of the park, and are thought to be responsive to the opportunity of offloading Lulic.
Norwich will be looking to continue their encouraging run of form when they welcome Stoke to Carrow Road on Saturday.
The Canaries go into the game on the back of a dramatic Capital One Cup victory over Tottenham in midweek, and completed a run of three games without defeat.
The run began with a 1-0 win over Arsenal in their last home game, whilst a 1-1 draw against former manager Paul Lambert at Villa Park was another step in the right direction.
Stoke City have been the draw specialists so far, and need a win in order to kick start their season. Last weekend saw them draw 0-0 with Sunderland in a game that was far from memorable.
Norwich defender Russell Martin is making a good recovery from his back injury and could be fit after missing the midweek win against Tottenham.
Andy Wilkinson is set to fill in at left back for Stoke, following the news Marc Wilson is set to miss three months with a fractured fibula picked up in the draw with Sunderland.
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A huge part of the atmosphere at any football stadium is the noise generated by the home crowd. At once voicing their fervent support for their club, but also doing everything possible to intimidate the visiting team, some grounds are truly notorious for reaching ridiculous decibel levels.
Recently a study was conducted with the aim of finding which Premier League team has the loudest home supporters. “We have taken a series of measurements on the terraces of each club’s home ground and averaged this out across games and the season,” said Michael Dennis, Fan Chants managing director. Fan Chants is a website that allows you to upload your favourite football songs or chants. The study raised some interesting results, placing Wigan Athletic above Tottenham Hotspur in terms of decibel levels reached by supporters at home stadiums. Heavy criticism was aimed at the study, with many critics stating the study did not account for stadium size, how fans are spread out and how stadium shape can transform acoustics. A particular critic asked “Who were the home teams playing at the time? Was it a match that had a bearing on their league or European hopes or aspirations? How many people were in the ground at the time? Were the home team winning or losing when the readings were taken?” I am inclined to agree with these critics – and so decided to put together this poll for FootballFanCast readers to have their voice heard. It’s an incredibly difficult medium to scientifically measure – so putting together real football fans’ opinions on the matter should give us the most accurate result.
For you, which is the noisiest home ground in the Premier League – CAST YOUR VOTE!
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Liverpool FC boss Brendan Rodgers has warned the club’s fans not to expect major signings when the January transfer window opens.
Rodgers took the Reds to his former club Swansea at the weekend as both teams played out a goalless draw on his return to South Wales, despite creating enough chances to return to Merseyside with all three points.
But despite the club’s lack of strikers, the Liverpool boss doesn’t believe that there will be major reinforcements when the Premier League transfer window opens for business, something he attributed to the amount of money spent prior to his arrival.
“I am not so sure it will be in January to be honest. This year the club wanted to balance the books and see where it was at,” Rodgers said.
“There was a big investment in the club and obviously a lot of players went out in the summer and a few came in.
“We will look to do some business in January to help and support the players here, but that is where we are at as a football club and it is something the owners trust me to grow over time. Eventually we will get there.”
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Every Premier League club has always has a player who just isn’t good enough to be playing in the Premier League and, probably as a result, rarely plays or only gets an opportunity when mass injury hits the squad or its a cup game when normal first team players are rested.
This season we’ve seen several poor performances from players from almost every team, especially at the likes of QPR, Reading and Aston Villa who have all struggled in the first half of this season.
To make it as fair as possible, and to ensure this wasn’t a list of the top 20 QPR, Reading and Villa players who aren’t good enough for the Premier League, I have picked just one player from every top-flight side who I believe shouldn’t be playing at the level they currently are.
Click the picture of Titus Bramble to see the Premier League’s worst players.
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Sometimes it’s worth taking a few steps back and asking at which point did we become more than sports fans? At which point did the internal workings of a football clubs begin to weigh so heavy on the minds of supporters? This is central to Arsenal and I’m not talking about the destructive nature of other clubs in England or the rest of Europe.
It was interesting to observe the reaction following the announcement of Theo Walcott’s contract extension on the weekend. All the positives can be spoken about Jack Wilshere, and the midfielder is arguably Arsenal’s best player—but Walcott is the club’s most important at this time.
It would have been far more devastating for the morale from top to bottom at Arsenal had Walcott been allowed to leave, and it’s very difficult to envisage any positives that could have been created from it. But some of the reactions to the makeup of his contract has been a little perplexing.
Maybe it’s the financial information of football clubs that is so readily available; the nature of Twitter and the involvement of many journalists also helps to enhance or complement on some details included in newspaper stories. But why are there such damning conclusions about Walcott’s contract, rumoured to be just shy of £100,000 per week?
I get it, the information available to us means everyone can draw an opinion on what is suitable wages and what exceeds the value of a player. But really, why do so many care? And once again, I’ll point to the fact that I am strictly talking about Arsenal, not the actions of others in the past.
Arsenal are heavily criticised for their wage structure, which should take the shape of a pyramid but which is far more even throughout. The best players should be paid more (and does that include the team’s most valuable, regardless of quality in comparison to others—for me, yes).
It was interesting that I came across a viewpoint that a top striker in a top league—so a player who has the potential or current ability to score 20 league goals—is always going to warrant or command wages exceeding £100,000 per week. So again, with Theo Walcott and what we’ve seen, where is the problem?
An extension of this argument against the concern over club finances stretches to aspects that do directly affect supporters. The rise in ticket prices, notably. With high wages comes high ticket prices, as Arsene Wenger recently said. But with ticket prices unlikely to get any higher, doesn’t this apparent restructuring or new approach make for better reading? Walcott is one of the faces of Arsenal, is one of the leading names in that group of British youngsters, so why shouldn’t he be paid in the top bracket?
The point is, there is plenty of concern for what he is going to earn over the next three seasons, but how much more would have been said if Arsenal didn’t offer him top wages to stay at the club? Did that play a part in Robin van Persie leaving Arsenal? We’ll never know, however a lot of what’s been said suggests the Dutchman always had eyes to leave north London.
Another major point is that Arsenal are not about to crumble by offering Walcott big wages. I don’t believe handing out one or two big contracts is a bad move for a club who perceive themselves to be one of Europe’s elite. I don’t stand by the idea that a lack of Champions League income will cripple Arsenal beyond repair. And I also don’t believe Champions League football is close to impossible to reclaim once it’s been lost for a season or two. Many will use Liverpool as the prime example to counter that stance, but where’s the bigger picture? Where’s the nod to the mismanagement of that club? Where’s the nod to excessive transfer fees being spent on players who are actually worth less than half?
A lot of Arsenal’s transfers in the years leading up to and following the move to the Emirates were small spend in comparison to others. It’s the view of most supporters that the club won’t spend £30 million for a player anytime soon. For that, why not concentrate the finances on retaining the club’s best players and paying the market rate for those who merit those wages?
And I really don’t want to get too far into the idea of who deserves or merits £100,000 per week. This is football, a business that works well beyond the parameters of normality and what most of us are used to. There’s absolutely no use getting into the debate about why people and some youngsters deserve to be paid so much for kicking a ball.
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For Arsenal, the club are investing that big pay packet for much more than just Walcott’s abilities on the pitch. I also believe Wenger and the board were backed into a corner and felt they had to extend the player’s contract because of the team’s position and the frustration among fans.
Some hold the view that Wenger lives in a different era of the game, wanting to use the values and an approach that was held 10-plus years ago. Now that the club have appeared to take a step to break out of that ideal, the questions have emerged.
Yes the fans pay big money, but that was something in place prior to this contract being offered and signed. So why worry? Why not just accept football for what it is? The biggest talking point is that Arsenal have secured one of their best talents when something far more damaging looked increasingly likely.
Aston Villa winger Charles N’Zogbia admits his hard graft has allowed him to reach his best form to help the Premier League strugglers.
The Frenchman has experienced troubles trying to impress at Villa Park, since his arrival from Wigan back in summer 2011 after a £9.5 million move.
However, the 26 year-old seems to have found the rhythm under Paul Lambert’s management and tells The Sun that thanks to hard work in training his performances in the last few games have finally made an impact.
“You can have a gift but if you don’t work on it you can do nothing with it. If I’ve improved it’s because of the way I am training,
“Every day I’m here I’m working hard because if I want to stay in the team that’s what I have to do. I’m even doing a bit of extra work after training and it is helping me”, he recognised.
Aston Villa host the current league champions Manchester City in tonight’s Monday night football, with Lambert’s squad in need of points to jump out of the relegation positions.
N’Zogbia is aware the poor level the team have shown during the season, but believes every project need time to achieve the best results.
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“It’s hard for any new team to get it right from the start. Even Barcelona weren’t put together in a season”.