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Domestic cup competitions are on somewhat of a slide in English football. The FA Cup may still profit from the tradition that surrounds the competition but what about the often disregarded League Cup?

Last week QPR manager Neil Warnock admitted he was pleased that his side were out of the Carling Cup after an embarrassing 2-0 home defeat to lower league Rochdale. But where has the passion gone from Warnock or many other managers who see the League Cup as a distraction rather than a profitable competition? Football clubs should start showing more regard to a cup that could see them play in a final at Wembley and have the chance of European football.

Warnock was quoted as saying after the defeat,

“I don’t think people care about the competition. I’m not disappointed to be out. The competition is not a priority for us.”

But he was not the only Premier League manager to suffer a similar fate as both Swansea and Norwich also exited the competition early, with Norwich boss Paul Lambert making 11 changes from his previous Premier League game. To be fair to managers like Warnock, I can see the angle he is coming from. The League Cup is not held in a high regard within England generally and it must be hard to get excited about a mid-week clash against lower league teams. Staying in the Premier League is obviously vitally important to the newly promoted sides and another fixture on the calendar does risk having an effect on their season. Warnock also said that the cup needs to be revamped, a point on which I agree with the QPR manager. Its schedule has become rather stale and gets lost amongst a busier calendar and so its does need to be revamped to win back at least some of its lost appeal.

But by playing weakened teams, or in Warnock’s case disregarding the competition, it does a disservice to not only his players (many who would probably relish a possible trip to Wembley or a chance of European football) but the fans as well. Loyal supporters take every opportunity possible to see their team play, which is made especially hard by increasing match day prices. QPR fans cannot have enjoyed paying for a ticket to see their side lose to a lower league team. Fans deserve a better experience and like the players, many wouldn’t forget a possible cup final or even a chance to take on one of the Premier League big boys again in an earlier stage of the competition. Obviously there is every chance that your team may not even reach the final but the opportunity for smaller Premier League teams is there to win silverware.

Despite the decreasing popularity that the Carling Cup has suffered from in recent years, last year’s final showed that the cup has a big part to play in the English football season. Birmingham City and Arsenal met at Wembley in February to battle it out with underdogs Birmingham snatching victory in the most dramatic of circumstances with a late winner. Birmingham were jubilant at winning what should still be called a major trophy whilst Arsenal were distraught at missing the chance to finally add a piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet after so many years. On the day both teams and their fans desperately wanted to win in what was a fantastic showpiece event. But the effect it had on both their seasons after the final could be used as an example to justify Warnock’s point, no one would have expected both Birmingham Arsenal’s seasons to end in such disappointment.

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Neil Warnock’s comments could be seen as the QPR manager simply saying what many managers and fans are thinking as they watch their team battle on a cold mid-week night for a cup held in little regard anymore. But smaller teams, from the Premier League down through the lower leagues should not underestimate the League Cup as it is one of the few chances many of these teams will ever get to win a piece of silverware.

Do you think clubs should make more of an effort in the League Cup? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5

Arsenal target Marvin Martin has signed a new deal at French side Sochaux but a release clause could see him move to the Emirates Stadium next summer, the Metro reports.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger had tracked the highly-rated playmaker throughout the summer as he sought to boost his midfield in the wake of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri’s impending departures.

It’s thought Wenger tried to sign the 23-year-old on deadline day only for his approach to be rebuffed by the French club – leading to the loan signing of Yossi Benayoun from Chelsea.

Martin has now signed a new and improved deal at the Ligue 1 club until 2015 but doesn’t envisage fulfilling seeing out the full length of his contract.

He has revealed that an agreement has been struck with the Sochaux board which will allow him to leave next summer if a club like Arsenal comes in.

Speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe he said: “We had a good talk and we found an agreement.”

“The officials made a promise. Indeed, an agreement to let me leave. I will remain at Sochaux until the end to the season.”

The Gunners could now wait and move for the highly rated midfielder, who made his debut for the French national side in June and now has five caps to his name, next summer as opposed to during the January transfer window.

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England manager Fabio Capello has stated that Rio Ferdinand must start playing and performing well if he is to be included in the national squad for Euro 2012.

The veteran Manchester United defender was left out of the squad that ensured qualification with a 2-2 draw against Montenegro on Friday night, with Gary Cahill starting alongside John Terry in Podgorica.

The centre half has been plagued with nagging injuries and struggled to get a solid run in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, as youngsters Phil Jones and Chris Smalling continue to impress in their appearances alongside Nemanja Vidic.

With the European Championships now in all potential players’ minds, Capello has stated that he will not select Ferdinand solely on his past or reputation.

“All these players who were injured, including ­Ferdinand and [Steven] Gerrard, I hope will be fit in a really short time,” he told Mirror Football.

“Rio needs to play games. He has not played enough and last week he was on the bench.

“It’s my job, sorry, but I check all the players before I select them. If a player is on top form I select them. I select the player, not the name,” he concluded.

With Ferdinand’s place in the United first-team no longer assured, a move to the MLS has been touted, but this would surely mark the end of his chances of playing in Poland and Ukraine next year.

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By Gareth McKnight

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According to reports in Germany, Liverpool have been scouting Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender which could signal the inevitable end to Alberto Aquilani ’s failed career at Anfield.

After watching the 22 year-old German perform for Leverkusen on a number of occasions Damien Comolli , Liverpool’s Director of Football, reported back to Reds boss, Kenny Dalglish , impressed with what he saw. The youngster is currently in his third season with the Bundesliga side following his move from 1860 Munich and has become their prized asset after securing first-team status. Bender, who’s contract with Leverkusen runs till 2014, has also broke into the German national team collecting 3 senior appearances.

It is thought Dalglish could make an offer for the £12m rated midfielder in January but may wait until the summer when Alberto Aquilani is expected to leave Anfield. The Italian midfielder is currently on a season-long loan at AC Milan having been told he wouldn’t figure in Dalglish’s plans. After impressing for the Rossoneri, Aquilani looks set to make his loan move permanent with Milan having the option of buying the 27 year-old next summer when the loan expires.

“We can without doubt consider Milan activating the buy-out clause to be a pure formality, especially as he’ll soon reach the written parameters set by Milan and Liverpool,” Aquilani’s agent, Franco Zavaglia told ItaSport. “Alberto is doing well and I think this is clear for all to see.”

Former Liverpool boss, Rafa Benitez signed Aquilani for a reported £17m from Roma in 2009 in an attempt to replace Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso who moved to Real Madrid. Aquilani never reached the heights that were expected of him at Anfield and his exit looks inevitable, but how much will King Kenny recoup?

Article courtesy of Graham Duckworth from the Transfer Tavern

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Two sides sucked into an early relegation battle meet at Molineux on Sunday with both Wolves and Wigan desperate to start putting points on the board and move away from the drop zone.

Wanderers currently lie a place above the bottom three with two points separating them and 18th placed Blackburn. Mick McCarthy’s men have slid down the table at an alarming rate after a run of two point from eight games causing fans to turn on their boss in the 2-2 draw with Swansea a fortnight ago. The home support voiced their anger at McCarthy’s substitutions with his side staring down the barrel at a 2-0 defeat but to his credit Wolves pulled it back at the death displaying a resilience that had gone missing since their last win on the 21st August against Fulham. They’ve sorely missed the goalscoring exploits of Steven Fletcher who is still out with a calf injury with Kevin Doyle, deployed up front on his own, failing to deliver a regular source of goals. Matt Jarvis has also seen a dip in form and confidence and looks a shadow of the winger that terrorised Premier League fullbacks last season and earning an England call up. Their record against Wigan at home is a shameful one having lost in the previous two meetings and coupled with their poor form at Molineux, which has seen them take only four points from a possible 15, the omens look good for Sunday’s visitors.

Latics boss Roberto Martinez will be praying his side can continue their fine form against Wolves having lost only once against them since 2009. However in a mirror image of their opponents they too have been on a slippery slope despite starting the season strongly going three games unbeaten. Seven defeats in a row since their last win against QPR at the end of August has sent them hurtling to the bottom of the table. Martinez has yet to feel the pinch from owner Dave Whelan but the Wigan faithful will be concerned that their side show no signs of putting an end to their slump in form. Their away form is terrible with just one point gained from their five fixtures although they’ll be confident of getting something at Molineux which has been a happy hunting ground in the past. The frustrating thing about Wigan is that they have the players capable of winning games with Hugo Rodallega, Victor Moses, Ben Watson, James McCarthy and Franco Di Santo all capable of producing better than they currently are. November is a massive month for the club and they’ll to start picking up points quickly starting at Wolves with a December fixture list containing games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United that could make it a very unhappy Christmas at the DW Stadium.

Key Players

Jamie O’Hara – Wolves are crying out for some creativity in midfield and O’Hara is the man tasked with providing it. His performances have fluctuated this season but when he’s confident and playing without fear he can do serious damage to teams. Expected to play just behind Doyle on Sunday which could prove to be a role he thrives in.

Hugo Rodallega – With goals hard to come by for Wigan at the moment they need Rodallega to get his shooting boots on if they are to pull away from the foot of the table. Back from injury and still regaining his sharpness it will be his constant running and willingness to pressurise a fragile Wolves defence that could provide a path to goal for others.

Prediction: 2-2

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Jamie O’Hara and Karl Henry are leading the team on work rate, covering 122.75 m and 127.22 metres per minute on the pitch respectively O’Hara has been impressive all over the pitch, winning 92% of tackles and getting 57% of shots on target Wigan have three of the top ranked players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index in Maynor Figueroa (48 attempted, 85% won), Ben Watson (38 attempted, 82% won) and Mohamed Diame (34 attempted, 82% won) Watson and Figueroa are also in the Barclays Premier League’s top 5 interceptors having made 30 and 25 respectively

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Arsenal have been told that they will need to splash out £30million in January if they are going to sign long-term transfer target Mario Gotze according to talkSPORT.

Arsene Wenger has promised a star signing in January and is constantly linked with the 19-year-old wonderkid that has turned many heads in this season’s top European competition. The German international was a pivotal member of the Borussia Dortmund championship winning side last season but after crashing out of the Champions League in midweek, Dortmund are fearful of losing their prized asset.

Gotze would be ineligible for this seasons Champions League for Arsenal but could be the missing link to help them qualify for the tournament next season. Although Dortmund are adamant they want to keep the player a club source admitted: “Every player has a price, though, and for Gotze it is £30m.”

Whether Wenger will be happy to fork out a record sum for the youngster is a different story as he is a notorious shy spender, but the Gunners boss could see this as a necessity. Gotze is attracting many admirers and Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan have also been linked with the midfielder, however the £30million could be a stumbling block for all concerned.

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Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has clarified that striker Darren Bent is not for sale, and will not be leaving the club during the January transfer window.

The England international has been linked with a move to Liverpool over the last couple of days, as The Reds’ look for a solution to their goal-scoring problems.

Despite Bent having had an inconsistent campaign thus-far, mainly down to injuries, the Scottish coach has stated that the attacker will be staying at Villa Park.

“Yes, I say that now. He won’t be leaving,” McLeish told Mirror Football.

Bent scored the third goal in Villa’s 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and the forward is keen to get back to form for the rest of the season.

“It has been a frustrating time for me with injuries but I am now going in the right direction,” Bent stated.

“Long term I don’t think it was anything serious. I probably need to do a bit more work in the gym to get things stronger and just take it from there really.

“Hopefully that’s the last of my injury problems and I can look forward to some more time on the pitch and scoring goals now,” he concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Sir Alex Ferguson believes that there are still plenty of twists and turns ahead in the title race. Speaking ahead of their game against Bolton Wanderers, the Scot suggested that he expected United and all their title rivals to drop points in the coming months, especially against the teams at the bottom who will be fighting for their lives to stay in the Premier League. The Manchester United manager also took the time to praise Arsene Wenger’s decision to bring in Thierry Henry on a short term loan deal as a masterstoke and believes the 7 weeks he spends at the club could help shape the rest of Arsenal’s season.

Elsewhere in the news Mark Hughes has reacted angrily to Martin Jol’s comments and insists he is at QPR for the long haul; Villas-Boas confirms transfer approach, while Steven Gerrard secures his Liverpool future.

 

News

Frank Lampard going nowhere

Christopher Samba offers rejected

Gerrard secures Liverpool future

Mark Hughes in it for the long run

Everton hit with injury woe

Van der Vaart issues City threat

Andre Villas-Boas confirms transfer approach

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Transfer Talk

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Lille’s permanent move for Cole helps Sow seeds for striker arrival at Anfield – Daily Mail

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Cahill set for medical at Chelsea – BBC

Sunderland plot cut-price Zamora swoop – Mirror

Tottenham: Can we please Jav Jimenez? – Sun

Come and get me: Hazard gives green light to Man United and Chelsea – Daily Mail

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Twitter and football were in the news again this week, with the non-story in the Telegraph of certain City players getting annoyed at the tweets of certain United players, as more and more footballers join the twitter revolution. Tedious stuff, but it shows that footballers need guidance when communicating with the real world. The other week, Wojciech Szczesny became the latest footballer to get himself into Twitter hot water. Szczesny’s joke that his team-mate’s leisure attire made him “look like a rapist” was ill-advised to say the least.

For fans there is little to gain from these accounts – some generic tweets speaking of joy at a victory or disappointment at a defeat hardly make for exhilarating viewing, as most footballers know they can’t say anything too controversial or risk losing two weeks’ wages. Joey Barton is the exception of course, but managers seemed to have given up on trying to control him, and if he wasn’t in the public eye then no one could give a damn about what he says. Occasionally a footballer will let the mask slip, leading to twitter meltdown, and trouble for such players as Luis Enrique, Ryan Babel or Nathan Eccleston.

I follow at least five Manchester City players, but I’ve no idea why. I follow Michael Owen to make my life seem more interesting, and TSF (the secret footballer) because he has more to say of interest under the cloak of anonymity.

Whilst Manchester United have a relaxed attitude to squad players on Twitter, accepting as an inevitable price of progress, Alex Ferguson is dead against it, not surprisingly. Most managers would probably prefer their squad to remain out the public eye wherever possible. In an era when a story and a scandal can be created out of pretty much anything, managers don’t need the hassle of players interacting with fans this way, because a significant section of those fans will not want to do anything more than goad or wind up the footballers. And that’s the problem – we have for decades bemoaned how detached from normality footballers have become, how far-removed they are from the “common man” – but when technology comes along to at least partly redress the balance, the system is abused. Players receive media training, but I doubt it includes social network sites. The NFL on the other hand has a social media policy that all players must adhere to.

But whilst reading Joey Barton’s daily hypocrisy or his quotes of Wittgenstein and Nietzsche, or Michael Owen’s stunning expose of his love of cooked chickens; the last few months have revealed a darker side to the networking site.

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Footballers are discovering that putting yourself in the public eye leaves you open to abuse of all kinds. Calling someone rubbish is one thing, Piers Morgan taunting Rio Ferdinand another, but the recent spate of racial abuse of footballers is on another level altogether. Last week an Arsenal supporter was threatening death for Aaron Ramsey for a perceived bad performance at Swansea, adding that he knew where he lived. Nice.

Football already makes us fans ridiculously angry at times, and twitter can be used to condense that anger and bring out the worst side of some people, and the in-built prejudices and bigotry they harbour.

Stan Collymore was one of the high profile targets of racial abuse on Twitter recently, but there have been plenty more, no doubt not just against footballers of course (Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati left Twitter in June after being bombarded with racist messages). The problem is that behind a keyboard, these internet warriors thought that they co do anything and get away with it – thankfully Collymore and others thought differently, and arrests have been made.

The race rows involving high-profile footballers hasn’t helped Twitter’s image. The predictable drawing up of  viewpoints along club-lines has led ironically to fans displaying candid racist thoughts whilst arguing their side.Collymore “favourited” many offensive tweets to expose the abuse to users of the social networking site. He also said: “Have a look at my favourites. Tell me Twitter shouldn’t do something”. And he’s right – surely there has to be a check on such views. Twitter commented on the ongoing Stan Collymore racism storm, saying that tweeting racist abuse will always be taken extremely seriously. Only time will tell.

Thankfully the police are taking comments seriously, and deleting the account does not give the abuser an escape route. But the abuse continues. In the first ban of its kind, football fan Luke O’Donoughoe, 22 was was banned from Norwich City matches for life, and was investigated by police after allegedly posting racist comments on Twitter. In November 2011, two teenagers were arrested after racist abuse on twitter towards Newcastle’s Sammy Ameobi. Manchester City footballer Micah Richards also suffered racist slurs over the net. Premiership footballer Louis Saha was subjected to foul-mouthed racial abuse, and a Scottish premier league footballer has suffered similarly.

Gradually, it must be hoped that the users of twitter who think they hide behind anonymity will come to realise that they are responsible for their actions. Racist abuse is not a surprise – there are endless racists out there, and there always will be. But regarding social networking and the bond between players and fans, it must be hoped that Twitter becomes a more inviting place for footballers to visit, or we may soon see the trend of footballers joining Twitter being quickly reversed.

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I

t’s beyond belief that a football club the size of Rangers could even contemplate entering administration. But that’s the harsh reality they’re facing right now. An unpaid £9 million tax bill accrued since owner Craig Whyte bought the club from Sir David Murray in May has left the Gers’ SPL title defence in tatters following a 10-point deduction. Despite challenging at the top of their respective league, playing European football every season and holding the status of being Scotland they’ve managed to end up in a hazardous financial position.

That uncertainty resonated with me personally as a Newcastle United fan who almost saw his club suffer a similar fate. Relegation to the Championship in 2009 almost crippled the Magpies leaving supporters like myself unsure as to whether we’d ever recover. Years of heinous overspending, second-rate, money obsessed players and an owner incapable of making diligent football decisions left the Geordie nation staring into the abyss. Like Rangers, who’s future looks bleak under Whyte, the former Premier League giants had engineered their own demise and turned on the portly gentleman plonked in the executive seats. However whilst fans of the Scottish club are lusting after their owners blood it’s an entirely different picture at Newcastle these days.

It’s hard to believe almost five-years have passed since reclusive businessman Mike Ashley swooped in to save the club from financial ruin after former owner Freddy Shepherd frittered away most of the finances at St James’ Park chasing the European dream. Ashley was the best thing since sliced bread upon his arrival. Sitting with the fans at away games, chugging beer, sacking Sam Allardyce and replacing him with local messiah Kevin Keegan. He was the toast of the Toon. Even downing an Emirates pint put him in the Geordie good books. Nothing could go wrong. Well actually yes it could. You all know the story by now. Keegan left, fans revolted, the ‘Cockney Mafia’ tag was born, Dennis Wise, Joe Kinnear, Alan Shearer, Relegation. Enough said.

The toxic atmosphere around the town centre threatened to provoke uproar. Ashley had never anticipated becoming a figure of hostility. From my point of view he never fully understood how much the football club meant to supporters. To him it was just a business but to the Toon Army it’s a part of their extended family. But that was the problem. Ashley was just a businessman. He had no discernible knowledge of how to run a football club and the trust he placed in certain people to make decisions of a footballing nature backfired spectacularly. The premise of creating a team that would report between the manager and chairman looked fool proof on paper. But what Ashley didn’t understand was that the bond between owner/chairman and manager is an important relationship that doesn’t require a middleman to facilitate communication.

Realistically losing their top-flight status should have caused the demise of a club that once came close to winning the league title in consecutive seasons. Uninterested players, astronomical wages, transfer fees and debt left over from the previous regime and uncertainty on who would be guiding the club through it’s first campaign in England second tier for 18-years left supporters fearing the worst. Rumours that the Sports Direct mogul was preparing to sell the club were gripping the North East. Whilst the Magpies were put up for sale on a few occasions Ashley was also formulating a plan that is still in action to this day. Without him the club would still be trying to drag itself out of the gutter. Anyone continuing to doubt his business acumen should continue reading. You don’t become a billionaire over night.

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With the financial fair play rules coming into play Ashley decided it was time Newcastle dispensed with the big names and operate under strict regulations. His plan was to reduce debt, cut costs but not at the detriment to the playing squad. No more marquee signings, panic buying or thirty-somethings brought in to plug holes. How refreshing is that in the modern day by the way? Transfers are planned, well thought out and only sanctioned if they represented a good deal for the club.More importantly they had to be the right player for the dressing room. Players are scouted extensively sometimes for years on end. Chief scout Graham Carr is the man responsible for all that and has fast become the clubs biggest asset. Kudos to Ashley once again!

Carr’s talents have unearthed gems like Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Davide Santon and new number nine Papiss Cisse. But whilst his keen eye brought these players to our attentions credit must go to Ashley and chief executive Derek Llambias. It’s their negotiating skills that have made it possible for these individuals to pull on the famous black and white stripes without compromising the financial policies in place. Ashley and Llambias aren’t the type to give in to anyones demands or be held to ransom. Just ask Joey Barton. Anyway that group of players alone cost just over £20 million. A little over half of the £35 million received from Liverpool for Andy Carroll 12 months ago. You don’t see many people criticising that transfer anymore do you? Throw free buy and leading scorer Demba Ba into the mix and it’s even more satisfying for us Geordies.

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The decision to sack Chris Hughton and bring in Alan Pardew has also turned out to be a masterstroke none of us thought possible. The way events have transpired he is the best manager Newcastle have had since Sir Bobby Robson. The club are currently one point and two places away from the top four under the current regime. Who could have predicted that at the start of this season?

Like every human being on this planet Ashley has made mistakes but quickly learned from them and Newcastle United are better off for that. Looking at Rangers’ plight I can honestly say, Sports Direct Arena aside, I would’t swap him for the world. From the ashes he’s risen like a phoenix….or should that be magpie?

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