Manchester City are willing to propose 13-year-old Foday Nabay an unprecedented offer in order to ward off interest from Manchester United, reports The Daily Mail.
Nabay was previously playing at Birmingham City but has severed ties with the club and is now actively seeking a new team.
Sportsmail revealed that the Sierra Leone-born youngster met with Red Devils officials on Monday, but two days later City have blown their bid out the water with a sensational offer that is unheard of in English football.
The Citizens would be unable to pay the youngster anything directly until his 17th birthday but they may well still gazump their local rivals to the signature of one of England’s most hottest properties.
In addition to the Manchester duo, Nabay has also held talks with Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa but Sportsmail understands that he will look to join the team that will offer him first-team opportunities at the earliest point.
The Premier League giants are free to discuss terms with the 13-year-old following the end to his contractual relations with the Blues.
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However, some compensation will be due to Birmingham but it is only expected to be at the value of a rather meagre £65,000.
Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has warned teammate John Terry to expect abuse at every away ground they visit this season. The defender was given a sample of what lies ahead at Villa Park during the Community Shield last weekend, with Manchester City fans hurling abuse at him from kick-off.
Boos rang around the stadium every time Terry touched the ball and chants accusing him of racism also persisted. There was prompt for further jeering as he led his Chelsea teammates to the podium to claim their runners-up medals. Terry did not seem deterred by his hecklers, and Cech believes they are wasting their time. “He’s a strong lad” Cech told The Guardian, “I don’t think he was surprised and I don’t think it will affect him in any way”. “All I need is for him to be JT and to play well. As long as he does that, everyone will be happy.”
Terry was found not guilty of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League fixture last October. He was cleared at Westminster magistrates court in July after the judge, Howard Riddle, felt there was ‘sufficient doubt’ over the exact context of Terry’s words.
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After putting in a dismal display at Dagenham on the Tuesday prior to our game at Oxford, I came away saying that we will play much better than that on occasions yet lose. My point was proven a little earlier than I had hoped, as Argyle lost 2-1 at the three sided Kassam stadium to slide into the relegation zone, albeit because of the alphabet.
Carl Fletcher opted to make changes for this game, as strikers Nick Chadwick and Matt Lecointe were dropped to the bench in place of Warren Feeney and Paris Cowan-Hall as Argyle started the game in a 4-5-1 formation.
Surprisingly it was Argyle, not the early pace setters in the league, that had the better of the opening exchanges after Tom Craddock sent his shot flying over Jake Cole’s goal. Argyle had the ball in the back of the net on the 10 minute mark through Warren Feeney although it was rightly flagged offside. The play in the lead up to the disallowed goal was promising though, as Conor Hourihane played a neat one-two with Andress Gurrieri before storming into the Oxford box. His ball across the box for Feeney to smash home was a good one, but the Northern Ireland international was miles offside. Truth be told, had Hourihane got a good shot on target himself, he probably would have scored.
At this point Argyle, backed by the Green Army in full voice, were well on top. Darren Purse directed a Hourihane corner goal-ward only for it to rebound back off Feeney who was desperately trying to get out of the way of it.
And then, in a cruel three minutes, the game was all but beyond the Pilgrims.
Stand in right-back Curtis Nelson failed to clear his lines which resulted in the ball being played into the box for Deane Smalley to take a few touches before smashing the ball past Cole from close range, and before the home celebrations for the goal had died down, Smalley made it two.
Conor Hourihane was caught in possession of the ball in the Oxford half which allowed the U’s to set up a swift counter attack. Alfie Potter led the charge with Smalley racing to catch up with him. As Potter reached the edge of the box he laid the ball off for Smalley to run on to, who fired home for his second of the game.
After failing to score in our first two games of the season it was looking highly unlikely we would get anything from this fixture, but at least the Greens gave themselves a half chance of getting back into the game by getting to half time with no further damage.
Fletcher made two changes at half time. Robbie Williams replaced an ineffectual Gurrieri, which pushed Onismor Bhasera up to left mid and Durrel Berry replaced Curtis Nelson at right back for his first appearance of the season due to injury.
The second-half was a totally different affair to the first. Oxford appeared to take their foot off the gas a little and Argyle dominated the possession yet rarely created any clear cut chances until Bhasera was brought down on the edge of the Oxford area. Up stepped Robbie Williams, whose sweet left foot is starting to become a good source of goals from free kicks, to curl the ball perfectly around the wall and into the bottom corner of the goal. It was the first goal Argyle had scored in the league and the first Oxford had conceded, the Pilgrims had 15 minutes of normal time to find an equaliser.
Argyle surged forward at every opportunity but could not find the goal to complete the comeback, although Berry went close with a speculative long range effort.
We are three games in to our League Two campaign, but only have one point to show for it. Had we been battered yesterday and played as poor as we did against the Daggers I would be very concerned, but I am not that worried – yet. Apart from the three minutes in which we conceded the goals yesterday I felt we were more than a match for Oxford, I left pleased with the performance despite the result.
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It will be interesting to see how we fare when Jamie Lowry and Rhys Griffiths return from injury as I think they are two key players our side is missing. If we perform like we did against Oxford, one of the better teams in this division, on a regular basis I am sure the results will come. I just hope for Carl Fletcher’s sake that it is sooner rather than later, as there are already some fans making noises about how the chairman should think about removing him from his duties.
England under-21’s have booked a place in the playoffs for Euro 2013 with a 1-0 win over Norway on Monday night.
The result means that the youngsters top the Group Three Qualifying Pool, and are now on the brink of competing in the tournament in Israel.
Sunderland’s Connor Wickham scored the only goal of the game at the B2Net Stadium in Chesterfield, and Stuart Pearce is delighted with the progression of his side.
“To win seven out of eight games in international football isn’t easy and we’re pleased to top the group but we know we’ve got to play better next month to get to the finals,” The Telegraph quote Pearce as saying.
“There are some outstanding teams left in the draw and no matter who you get, they will be up for the fight and the challenge,” he revealed.
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The draw for the playoffs will be made in Nyon on Friday.
Queen’s Park Ranger’s defender Ryan Nelsen has criticised Chelsea captain John Terry for going down too easily in the penalty area, according to The Mirror.
Much of the talk before the goalless west London derby revolved around the pre-match handshake involving QPR’s Anton Ferdinand and Chelsea’s John Terry and Ashley Cole.
In the end the handshake proceeded pretty much as expected. Ferdinand snubbed both Terry and Cole’s invitation for a handshake, with some solidarity shown on the part of his Rangers captain, Park Ji-Sung.
Despite this, Nelsen, who joined QPR on a free transfer from Tottenham in the summer, believes that on the pitch, the Chelsea captain was ‘embarrassing’ for falling to the floor numerous times during Chelsea’s set-pieces, “If you ask John, he just fell down. He fell. I was holding him, of course, but he just fell down. Nelsen added, “He’s bigger than me – but he made me look really strong, actually.”
Nelsen said he was happy that referee Andre Marriner didn’t succumb to Terry’s penalty pleas, “If the referee gives that, it’s ridiculous. If you really know the game, that’s never a penalty.”
Nelsen continued, “It happens all the time. You watch him fall – that’s life. Fortunately it didn’t work. The ref was smart enough to see it. He was nowhere near the ball, was never going to win it, so he just fell down. He was just trying to get a penalty and something for his team to win. I wouldn’t make anything out of it.”
The Kiwi international also said that it wasn’t the first time he has witnessed Terry’s diving antics, “He does to everybody in their box. I said to him, ‘that was a bit embarrassing, John’, and he laughed when he ran off. He didn’t say anything – he was too embarrassed, I think.”
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Unlike Terry, Nelsen was full of praise for Anton Ferdinand’s solid performance on Saturday amidst difficult times personally for the centre-back, “I thought he was fantastic. With all the pressure, unnecessary pressure that was put on him, because Anton didn’t deserve this, with all the stuff that’s gone on, he was great.”
Nelsen will be hoping that his side can muster their first win of the season when they travel to White Hart Lane on Sunday to face a Spurs in what is their second out of three consecutive London derbies.
England defender Ashley Cole has accepted the FA’s charges of misconduct, and will now be subject to punishment.
The Chelsea left-back could be in hot water, after he labelled the governing body a ‘bunch of twats’ when his defence of Blues team-mate John Terry in the ongoing racism saga was questioned.
With a new code of conduct for England players set to be installed, the footballing world will watch on to see what punishment the defender receives for the abusive outburst.
The FA have already stated that Cole will be allowed to play for England in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino on Friday night and Poland on Tuesday, with there no grounds for a ban from the national team.
Cole quickly apologised to FA chief David Bernstein in the wake of the comments, and has now accepted that he was in the wrong.
“Ashley Cole has admitted an FA charge in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute,” an official FA statement reads, which was published on the governing body’s website.
“Cole has requested a non-personal hearing, the date of which has yet to be set.”
It is believed that Roy Hodgson will rest the veteran full-back against San Marino, but will be reinstated to the Three Lions’ starting XI for the away game in Poland.
Chelsea have already fined Cole for his actions, as controversy seems to be awash at the club with John Terry and Ryan Bertrand also guilty of misdemeanours in the recent past.
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Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has told the Reading Post that he is happy with his team’s long ball footballing style.
Statistics provided by Opta have revealed that 17.65 per cent of the Royals’ passes have been more than 35 yards, more than any other club in the Premier League, leading some to criticise Reading of playing unattractive football.
McCarthy however is happy to play more direct as long as it provides results for the club, who are yet to win in the Premier League this season.
The shot-stopper told the Reading Post: “We like to put the ball in behind and turn teams around. Passing the ball around a lot and not getting anywhere is not our style of play.
“We like to turn teams behind and put it around the penalty area, so we’re happy to be a long-ball side.”
The young Englishman was brought into the Reading first team after poor performances from Australian keeper Adam Federici at the start of the season. Since then, the 22-year-old has managed to keep his place in the starting XI.
McCarthy is now looking forward to getting back into action when the Royals take on Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.
“It’s a massive game. These are the ones that you look forward to in your career so I really can’t wait.
“I’ve played at Anfield before in a youth game but playing in the Premier League with a full crowd will be unbelievable.
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“We’ve gone three games unbeaten so you could say that it’s a good time to play Liverpool. Hopefully we can take the positives out of the previous games and get a good result,” he added.
The BBC’s landmark The Price of Football survey across the entire nation, taking into account teams at every level from the Premier League and below, has led to some shocking revelations about the real expense that the game has on our bank accounts, so what does the future hold for the everyday fan? Are we being priced out altogether or are there other alternatives out there for us to try and make the best of?
Of course, being in a double-dip recession, having disposable income around is difficult and is simply not readily available to everyone and anyone, but even in tough economic times such as these, football fans turn out in their droves every weekend. It’s like a ritual, there’s nothing better to do on your Saturday but the startling statistic that the average cost of the cheapest adult ticket in the top four divisions of English football has risen by 11.7% – more than five times the rate of inflation, is enough to make you choke on your Bovril.
It all depends on geographical location as much as anything it seems, even if the division that your side plays in will obviously have a knock-on effect. Your average season ticket for Arsenal will set you back a cool £1,995 and they also come in as the most expensive average day out for a fan, totalling a whopping £134.30 in total, which when you compared it to Sunderland costing on average of just £48, then it becomes clear that certain clubs are more than taking their fair share.
According to the findings, seven out of the 10 most expensive match days for supporters in League Two alone are based in the South and South-West of the country, with four of those being based less than 36 miles away from London. This trickle down effect is alarming to say the least. We all know that the majority of the nation’s wealth resides in the South of the country, but does that necessarily mean that it’s acceptable for clubs to rip them off? At the very least, it’s hugely cynical, at it’s worst, borderline exploitative.
Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the FSF said of the survey: “We want football to be available to all income levels. Certainly at some clubs that is not the case. We are in the wrong ballpark for prices of tickets.
“I hear all the time of long-term supporters who have given up season tickets because they resent paying the money they are asked to pay. There is a danger that supporters feel alienated. Despite the difficult economic times we live in, prices at some clubs and at some levels of the game are still exceedingly high.
“It is quite shocking that at Arsenal, for example, the cheapest season ticket is only £15 short of £1,000. We would like to see a much greater effort to reduce ticket prices and in particular give the benefit of the massive amounts of media income that comes in at the top of the game to the match-going fan.”
So what can we really do about the rising cost of ticket prices? Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis, never a man short of a word, gave a telling remark in his response to the findings, labelling the game as part of the ‘entertainment’ industry, arguing that rising costs is not solely concerning football. This appears to be the main crux of the matter, the evolution of the game from a sport into a fully-fledged entertainment industry, perhaps the biggest around the globe. The revenues are massive and while cheaper ticket initiatives, like the one that Arsenal currently fund, are a welcome reprieve, are they really doing enough?
One way out of the mire that’s been suggested is a solution termed ‘dynamic pricing’, which essentially means the later you leave it to buy a ticket, the more you’re likely to pay – the exact same way that we buy plane tickets or book hotels and it’s generally accepted that the later you leave it to book your holiday, the more it will cost you.
Prices change daily based on demand and it will certainly improve competition for tickets, perhaps meaning more sell-outs lower down the leagues as supporters try to get themselves the best deal and Cardiff, Bristol City and Derby have already brought in the pioneering scheme, which rewards loyal fans and season ticket holders above your casual fan.
Having been a casual fan of Leyton Orient when I was at university, it does seem a bit of a flawed system in my eyes and it could only lead to the growth of more ticket agents and touts in the industry than we already see and it looks like another step towards a corporatocracy being established in football.
There’s no doubt in my mind that season ticket holders should be rewarded and dynamic pricing means they will be in the long-run but at the expense of other fans? One of the best things about football is that there is no tiered system in terms of support by and large, but this idea could see you paying significantly more than the chap next to you on match-day.
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The average cost of following your team around the country now has risen dramatically and above the level of inflation, so the result means it’s skewed in favour of the clubs rather than the fans. Without any real demand or public cry for ticket prices to come down, they simply won’t do, and instead all we are left with are these piecemeal initiatives aimed at placating the masses.
The average fan is most certainly being priced out of the game, but then again, with most clubs seeing it as ‘entertainment’ as opposed to a sport, would they really even care if they lost their core die-hard fan-base? The painful truth is that they probably wouldn’t and they’d likely still sell the tickets anyway, which just goes to show you how expendable we’ve become.
Even though the Royals manager saw fit to omit the striker for the weekend’s Premier League fixture, Danny Guthrie is set to return against the Gunners.
With rumours of a bust up between Guthrie and McDermott denied by the manager, the former Newcastle player is set to face what looks set to be effectively the Arsenal second string as Wenger looks set to continue the tradition of using the trophy to bring through the youngsters.
Reading have no new injury worries ahead of the game on Tuesday night, with McDermott playing down any trouble between himself and Guthrie ahead of the game, saying “there was no bust-up. Danny wasn’t selected to play,” with Guthrie already forced to apologise to the club and manager this season after using twitter to air his views when previously not selected for the first team.
McDermott meanwhile has expressed delight at facing Arsenal for the first time as a manger, confiding “I’m looking forward to it, really looking forward to it.
“I was lucky, really, to be brought up at a fantastic club like that.”
He also leapt to the defence of Wenger and the lack of trophies the club have won over the past few seasons stating “I’m sure they want to win trophies – of course they do – but they always qualify for the Champions League, which is a phenomenal achievement in itself.”
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From Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and London, Rome to Rio and Buenos Aires – most cities have football clubs where derby day is the main event in the calendar for fans, publicans, pundits and police.
But some of the greatest football rivalries make no sense geographically. Supporters of teams across the world look forward to travelling miles and miles just to earn the bragging rights for another season.
Cultural, as well as regional differences contribute to the fierceness of these clashes & performances of players in such matches decide whether they will be eternally loved or hated. A mistake or a moment of magic can create history, but can also result in brawls, fights, clashes & riots.
So, whatever the background to the biggest grudge matches, I’ve put together a list of 15 of the fiercest rivalries in world football.
Click on Boca Juniors v River Plate below to get the ball rolling
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Have I missed any huge clashes that you feel should have made the list? Let me know on Twitter @dudeyoungy