Ahead of the Game: Anelka's £15m Deal

AHEAD OF THE GAME

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Friday, January 11, 2008. 1600 GMT
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The news in 60 seconds

ANELKA'S £15M DEAL
Le Sulk has become the most expensive footballer in history after joining Chelsea in a £15 million deal that takes the combined total of his career transfer fees to £85 million. That puts Anelka ahead of Juan Sebastian Veron, who also arrived at Stamford Bridge with a massive reputation, transfer fee and high expectations...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3171652.ece

JOB ON THE TYNE FOR 'ARRY
It looks like 'Arry Redknapp will be packing his bags (not the ones under his eyes, that would take too long) and heading for the North East. The Portsmouth manager blanked today's press conference with reports suggesting he has been given permission to speak to Newcastle.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3170792.ece

REDKNAPP DODGES PRESSER
As Redknapp disappeared out the back door, desperate reporters rushed off in search of a glimpse of the manager (hopefully boarding a plane). The hacks were disappointed, but not half as much as those who hoped Joe Jordan could shed some light on events. Nick Szczepanik was in Portsmouth to watch the latest episode of Carry On Pompey.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/portsmouth/article3172170.ece

SKRTEL JOINS LIVERPOOL
Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Martin Skrtel, the Zenit St Petersburg defender who has fewer vowels in his name than is entirely natural. He's signed a four-and-a-half year contract with the Merseyside club, but we're just glad we don't have to try and pronounce it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article3172920.ece

SPURS WANT NEW NO 1, SAYS CERNY
Radek Cerny may have replaced Paul Robinson in goal for the club's most important match of the season, but he still thinks he's on his way. He's admitted the club want someone decent. "I know that the club are looking for a new goalkeeper and everyday new names appear," Cerny said. It doesn't take Jermain Defoe to work out what that means for Robbo.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/tottenham/article3173087.ece

SAVIOUR RETURNS TO OLD CLUB
A club legend and former world-class centre forward with no experience as a club manager is returning to his former club to help revive the sleeping giant. No, don't worry, Newcastle fans, it's not Alan Shearer. Jurgen Klinsmann has been confirmed as the new Bayern Munich manager.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article3170580.ece

UNITED ON BORROWED TIME
If you're struggling to meet the repayments on your credit cards after that colossal Christmas spending spree, don't worry: you are not alone. Manchester United have announced profits of £59.6 million - but £42 million of that has gone on paying the interest on the debts racked up by the Glazers' refinancing. It makes the APR on AOTG's Egg card seem like a sound long-term investment.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3168706.ece

RONALDO GOING NOWHERE
Manchester United have issued a hands-off warning over Cristiano Ronaldo. They say the midfield player is not for sale at any price - not even to pay off the interest on that credit card. "We're a buying club, not a selling club," David Gill, the United chief executive, said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3168710.ece

McCLAREN TO OPEN SHOP
The bad news: Steve McClaren wants to return to work as a manager. The good news: it's more likely to be of an umbrella shop than of a top-flight club. "I've got hundreds of them, enough to start a shop," the former England manager said in his first interview since being found out. He tells Matt Dickinson why he sported that brolly, why he can get back to the top of his profession and even why he would take the England job again. Deluded just about covers it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3168429.ece

PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM NEWS
Paul Jewell is likely to hand a debut to Robbie Savage among others as Derby County attempt the greatest escape since Houdini, Philippe Ponderous is a doubt for Arsenal and Middlesbrough may be forced to reshuffle their midfield. All the team news for the weekend's matches.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3153198.ece

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If you've got another couple of minutes

ANELKA SIGNING IS ONE TOO MANY
It's a statement containing fewer words than Chelsea have players in their squad, but it's more disturbing than news that the Wally with the Brolly wants to make a comeback, the fact 'Arry's prepared to sell up on the Sarf Carst and the possibility that Robbie Williams will go on strike (every cloud...)
"Chelsea Football Club and Bolton Wanderers can confirm that terms have been agreed between the clubs for the transfer of Nicolas Anelka."
Admittedly, it's to surprise what Anelka is to club loyalty, but in 22 words, the West London club have proved what AOTG has been thinking for too long. The Premier League is about as competitive as school sports day, the SPL and a tennis tournament sponsored by the Russian mafia rolled into one.
As soon as a player starts to perform well, one of the big clubs signs him. It happened with Carlos Tevez last season, with Manchester United (and the player) treating his stay at West Ham like a glorified trial at a feeder club.
That's why the Champions League is becoming like an old boys' club for the big four: the top teams just buy all the competition with the dosh they got from the previous year's TV/appearance money, hence ensuring they qualify for the cash cow again.
At least in the SPL, third and fourth are up for grabs, even if the top two are as fiercely contested as a drop ball.
And because clubs get a £20 million windfall (minimum) for their participation in the competition, they can afford to give players four-and-a-half year contracts even though they only need them for a month while someone's away on African Cup of Nations duty.
In this case, a team that plays one up front now boasts a squad including two of the best strikers in Europe and Andriy Shevchenko and Claudio Pizarro - meaning that one of the best forwards in Europe and Shevchenko and Pizarro won't be playing every week.
So three world-class (that's a different debate, OK) stars won't be playing, week-in, week-out.
What's worse, all of them will be taking hefty sums out of the game without putting anything back in.
Chelsea have 25 established players in their squad. Manchester United have 23 (including Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Anderson, Paul Scholes, John O'Shea and Darren Fletcher all fighting for centre midfield places). Arsenal have a lot, too. We think 26, although it's hard to decide who's a kid and who's a proper player with Arsene Wenger's creative recruitment policy. Rafa would buy up most of South America just to tend his garden if he had his way (and different owners).
So what's to be done about it? Wage caps won't wash with the EU, so we're not going down that route. But what about squad limits? If clubs were restricted to a maximum of 20 first-team players then clubs such as Chelsea would only be able to sign stars such as Anelka if they sacrificed five others first. And the money wouldn't be going out of the game faster than two-footed tackles and sportsmanship.
It would have a number of other benefits too. United wouldn't be able to hoard midfielders, so Carrick and Hargreaves (and Fletcher if you're Scottish) could be getting some games rather than warming the bench, hence improving Fabio Capello's options.
In the event of an injury crisis or glut of suspensions, clubs would be forced to rely on their youth players. Not only would players such as Theo Walcott and Scott Sinclair get more games, but clubs would also invest (even) more in their kids.
Some will moan that this would affect English clubs in the Champions League, but with requirements on the number of home-grown players coming into force soon, it would actually dovetail nicely.
What's more, maybe the league wouldn't be such a closed shop, so the likes of Everton could seriously challenge the establishment, with their squads bolstered by players such as Fletcher and Carrick.
And besides, who cares if English clubs (without English players, in any case) don't dominate in Europe - there's no evidence that success in the Champions League does anything other than bring money into the top four. Just look at the national team...
But what do you think? Have we just gone off on one? E-mail sport@timesonline.co.uk

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>>>>>THE TABLOID EXPOSE<<<<<
MERSON GAMBLES AWAY 300K HOME - Daily Mirror
What you need to know: 1) Paul Merson is having a torrid. The "troubled football idol" is homeless after gambling away the roof over his head. 2) The former Arsenal and Portsmouth midfielder turned TV word-mangler has had to move back into his parents' house after failing to pay the mortgage on his £300,000 flat. 3) Who'd have bet on things going from bad to worse for Merse?
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A quickie before you go, sir?

RONALDO IS A DRAG STAR
It's on a rival's website, but that won't stop us showing it. Cristiano Ronaldo races a Bugatti (it's the fastest road car in the world) and wins. He cheats, but heh ... it helps explain why United won't flog him.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article673900.ece

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6
Successive league matches in which Portsmouth have failed to score at home. Bet that would go down well at St James' Park.
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In TheGame

Understanding what a Newcastle fan really wants is more confusing than trying to read the mind of the fairer sex after you've been caught sneaking in through the back door at 2am with a kebab in your hand on your anniversary (OK, we probably should have seen that one coming). Anyway, we're going to try and get to grips with the Novocastrian psyche. What do they really want? Exciting football, Alan Shearer - or just a sensitive, empathetic man who understands the modern world.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2008/01/debate-what-do.html
In Fanzine Fanzone , Wyart Lane, our Spurs fan, on why he's keeping the champagne from his manager of the month award on ice. Elsewhere, our Fulham man explains why Diomansy Kamara was never going to live up to his £6 million price tag and Gareth Harrison, of Newcastle, says that Mike Ashley may have been right to sack Big Sam. It's called blind faith, it's the voice of the terraces and it demands to be heard.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/fanzine_fanzone/

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The Transfer Wrap

Manchester United are preparing a £12 million offer for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the Ajax forward. (The Sun)
Blackburn Rovers hope to sign Jason Koumas from Wigan Athletic in a £3.5 million deal. Ajax are chasing his team-mate, Denny Landzaat, but Wigan are reluctant to sell. (Daily Mail)
Sven-Goran Eriksson has been told he has only £10 million to spend in the transfer window and must offload players to raise extra funds. (The Sun)
Fredi Kanoute has said he would consider a return to Tottenham Hotspur from Seville. (The Sun)
Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, is expected to make an improved offer for Marlon King after Watford rejected a bid of £3.5 million. He is also chasing Stephane Henchoz, Jean-Alain Boumsong, of Juventus, and Leyrielton, the Brazilian full back. (Daily Mail)
Gary Cahill will snub a Premier League switch to either Birmingham City or Sunderland in favour of a second loan spell at Sheffield United. (The Sun)
Dietmar Hamann will be offered a new one-year deal to keep him at Manchester City. (The Sun)
Newcastle United are likely to call off a move for Lassana Diarra after he demanded wages of £90,000 a week. Newcastle had agreed a £5.5 million fee with Arsenal for the midfielder. (The Sun)
Derby County have accepted an offer from Leicester City for Matt Oakley. The player has to agree personal terms. (Agencies) Derby hope to finalise an 18-month deal for Mile Sterjovski, 28, the Australia international at Genclerbirligi, Greece. (Daily Mail)

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>>>>>THE RIVALS<<<<<
* Redknapp remains top target for Newcastle - The Independent
* £9m: the cost of sacking Allardyce and recruiting Redknapp - The Daily Telegraph
* Fly me to the Toon: Newcastle offer private plane if Harry hops on board - Daily Express
* Harry's in Toon turmoil: Redknapp offered £20m transfer kitty but fans still call for Shearer - Daily Mail
* I'm torn: Harry is 60-40 in favour of taking on the biggest challenge of his career at Newcastle - Daily Mirror
* Here's the deal 'Arry ... £20m PLUS return flights home PLUS You can go for Chimbonda PLUS £3m compo for Pompey - The Sun
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Joe Bloggs' Soapbox

With regards to the Ipswich fans views regarding Liam Trotter's sending off & FA's upholding of it - the FA upheld Wayne Rooney's sending off in the Amsterdam Tournament against Porto in 2006, where he got a red card for, well, being fouled by the centre half basically. ANY red card since that unbelievable decision CANNOT POSSIBLY be overturned, other than for mistaken identity. Which is why Everton didn't bother appealing Arteta's red card when his arm lightly brushed Fabregas's face.
It's about time some independent ex-footballers were on this judgment panel, rather than men in suits who have never kicked a football in anger.
If you're looking for ex-footballers, Bill in Doncaster, we gather Alan Shearer's touting himself around.

Sam Allardyce is a way better coach than any of those names [yesterday's AOTG]. He was just given (and accepted) a stupid job: Newcastle sucks, it's a known fact, and they probably always will. Look what Allardyce did at Bolton? By the way, he should've stayed, I believe he could have had them in Europe by next year; how many times did Bolton beat or draw with Arsenal in his years there? Many.
Also, LA Galaxy IS top-flight, I know it's hard to accept, and I understand the virtual impossibility of that notion for you, but just watch.
Rob , to take your points and wrap them up in one ball of fun, being good at Bolton is like being a top-flight side in MLS.

In response to Joe Fairs' letter in yesterday's AOTG. Whilst everyone and their mum may agree that Liam Trotter did not deserve to get sent off for the tackle, not everyone will agree that it didn't even deserve a yellow. People are very quick to complain, but the rules state that a card cannot be downgraded - it is either a sending off or nothing. As the challenge may have been a foul (albeit not a very dirty one), this means that the FA cannot completely rescind the card, therefore it must stand and it must stand as a red. Most feel that this is a stupid rule, but if it wasn't there, every decision made by a referee during a game would come under intense scrutiny and be questioned, therefore removing what little authority the referees still have and undermining every one of their decisions. Hard luck, but that's life.
A fair point from Paul Hemmings. But why does the FA bother with the charade of a video panel?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in reference to Joe Fairs' rant in Thursday's soapbox, is football not supposed to be a non-contact sport already. I was always taught that was the case, supported by the fact you tackle the ball, not the man. You're thinking of egg-chasing, old pal. Perhaps this English focus on the physical approach is why our players are considered technically inferior to our continental counterparts. Yours, fed up with hearing how Newcastle are a big club,
While we'd agree with Stuart that Newcastle are about as big as Big Sam ... what about the old-fashioned, common-all-garden, it's-a-man's-game-ref shoulder barge? We think football's a contact sport - and suspect Stuart must be a closet Arsenal fan.

Shame on you, AOTG, resorting to the tired-hack cliche that Sam Allardyce has joined the dole queue. He is an extremely rich man, with enough money to avoid work for the rest of his life if he so wishes, and even if there still was such a thing as a dole queue, he would not be allowed to join it.
Alex in Bristol ... expect to be very busy if you write in every time we use a tired cliché [see The News in 60 Seconds, If You've Got Time ... etc]. But then, judging by your detailed knowledge of procedures for claiming unemployment benefits, is it fair to guess you have a bit of time on your hands at the moment? Cheap shot, we know...

"But why not just make it a testimonial, replace the national anthems with a Spice Girls hit [yesterday's AOTG about Becks' 100th cap]" - Do we really need to make England friendlies less palatable?
Good man . Amar Purohit.

Re Beckham's 100th cap and what the magic number means:
Two reasons he deserves it: first, Greece and, secondly, 'cos he actually wants it (unlike Shearer, Scholes, Carragher) - possibly the same reason actually.
Two reasons why he doesn't: he is maybe third in line on merit (mainly 'cos of his dead balls) and Fabio should build for the future, as others have said - DB's footie career is on the downhill.
Overall: as someone said, why not give him a few minutes at the end of a meaningless friendly that we are winning 2-0?
Significance: he'd be the fifth (I think) player to reach his England century but, nowadays cap numbers do not mean very much as many players gain a hatful from (often late) substitutions, distorting the cap count and, for those who manage it, the goal ratio.
Statistics: so the challenge is for AOTG to publish a league table of minutes played for England (limited, I suggest, to 90 plus any genuine extra time, not added on time) and the goals per minute on the pitch - and compare the top 20 capped players and top 10 goalscorers under the two methodologies, plus list the players who have taken most caps to amass 90 minutes.
Over to you - and, by the way, David Moyes is surely far too intelligent to even consider Newcastle: he could far more easily become a great by staying with Everton
It's like pass the parcel. Peter Gartenberg challenges us, so we challenge you ... You can double dare us if you like.

David Beckham - Don't get me wrong here, he is not the future of our national team, but the flippant remarks annoy me and I think he deserves his 100th cap not for sentiment, but because he still has something to offer. Are the remarks because he happens to be married to Posh (although not really 'posh', only Ginger lived up to her name in the Spice Girls) and has been marketed rather well and become mega-rich?
One tends to forget, that whilst he has never been the greatest footballer in the world, he has been dedicated and on occasions pulled out moments of sheer genius, e.g. remember against Greece at Old Trafford and off we went to the World Cup? He has done what he can do brilliantly.
Now you can say this is all a long time ago, but I was at Wembley for the debacle against Croatia. When Beckham was brought into the fray his energy, enthusiasm and yes, leadership, lifted the rudderless team, and who put the ball across for Crouch to score? Maybe once we were level, should the manager have sorted out the midfield - Hargreaves to hold at the expense of the ineffectual (in that game) Lampard or Gerrard?
If you look at the amount of opportunities and goals he has created for England it is unsurpassed. McClaren chose to mount a campaign without him, but changed his mind, I think too late. I believe Beckham should have been in the squad from the start for his experience and ability - there were other ways to get rid of the Wags. I don't say he should have started every game, but we missed someone to change a game with a perfect cross or free kick.
As Beckham showed he could bring still bring some influence to the Croatia game despite playing for LA, I believe he should be used by Capello for a few months at least until someone can take over that role.
Granville Hall , the latest person to prove that AOTG was wider of the mark than a Jermain Defoe tap-in when it suggested no one cared about DB's latest milestone...

Sometimes you just say it better than we do, which is why we've dedicated a corner of this e-mail to your views and boos: sport@timesonline.co.uk

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Tomorrow's news today

- Graham Taylor on Fabio Capello
- The Fink Tank on why Newcastle acted rashly

And expect...

'Arry to appoint Alan Shearer as a coach at Newcastle. Just to keep the fans quiet.

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