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Norwich and Ipswich want Newcastle striker Ameobi who isn’t great, but he isn’t THAT bad!

I like Ameobi, he always seems to give his all and he clearly loves the club but clearly it isn’t working out for him at St James’ Park. He is hardly a goal-scoring machine I think we all know that but the gossip linking him with a move to East Anglia seems to be a little harsh on the former England Under 21 star.

Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi is a target for Championship pair Ipswich and Norwich City (various)

Stats can be misleading but the 26 year old forward has managed 46 goals in a Newcastle shirt in 135 starts (and yes about a ton of sub appearances) and whilst these are not startling stats they are hardly Chris Sutton at Chelsea-esque. There must be a Premier League club who would benefit from signing Shola? To consign him to the Championship would be somewhat unfair on a player with Champions League experience (and even a goal at Barcelona!). I think it’s time for an S.O.S – Save Our Shola – Campaign! We must demand he gets a Premier League berth! Which I guess that Ipswich may be able to offer come the end of May!

Watch Newcastle live online

Drunken Norwich player drink drives in his underpants

It’s bad enough that you are caught by the police for drink driving - for that, there can be no excuse whatsoever. However, the Daily Mirror reports that a Norwich City and ex-Newcastle United footballer has gone one better. Not only was Matty Pattison still hammered at the wheel when arrested on Sunday, he was also wearing very little.

On Sunday, apparently still drunk, Pattison allegedly woke up and jumped into his car believing he was late for training.

There was no training scheduled for that day. But wearing just his pants, a T-shirt and no shoes, Pattison began driving to the club’s Colney training ground. He was tailed by police halfway through the journey after he was apparently spotted driving erratically.

When the 21-year-old pulled up outside the Norwich training ground he was arrested after police were said to have found him unsteady on his feet and slurring his words.

The player has now been admitted to rehab by manager Glenn Roeder, who is now minus a decent player as the Canaries fight to preserve their Championship status. When will footballers stop pressing the self-destruct button and realise what a charmed life they lead?

Transfer Rumours!

Tottenham boss Juande Ramos is trying to slide under the closing transfer window with Sevilla winger Diego Capel. (Mirror)

Arsenal striker Theo Walcott doesn’t want to be fobbed off with a loan deal and is going to stay and fight like a man for his place in the team. (Mirror)

Portsmouth gaffer Harry Redknapp is so desperate to get his hands on Real Mallorca winger Jonas Gutierrez that he is set to offer £5m and Lauren in order to bag his man. (Various)
…And if Benjani does a runner to Man City then Harry Redknapp will try and lure Jermain Defoe to Pompey. (Times)

Middlesbrough, frankly desperate for someone who can stick the ball in the back of the net, are trying to bag Inter Milan forward Goran Slavkovski on loan. (Times)

Aston Villa are interested in taking Spurs midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng to Villa Park to rescue the German from his tepid Spurs career. (Times)

Both Norwich and Coventry are scrambling to secure the signature of Birmingham defender Martin Taylor. (Times)

Newcastle gaffer Kevin Keegan’s move for Levante’s Brazilian defender Alvaro has run aground. (Times)

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson reckons that if he ignores the fact that FIFA have blocked his deal for Rangers striker Daniel Cousin, he’ll be able to sign him anyway. (Mirror)

Charlton will only cough up Andy Reid if Sunderland give them Greg Halford and are ready to test Sunderland’s resolve by asking for cash plus Greg Halford in exchange for Andy Reid. (Star)

What was the biggest FA Cup shock of the day?

Upsets left right and centre in today’s FA Cup action. But what was the biggest shock?Coventry somehow managed to obliterate Blackburn 4-1, whilst League One Huddersfield beat Birmingham 2-1. Special mention should also go to Sheffield United who booted out Bolton with a 1-0 win lowly and injury ravaged Oldham, who beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park.

So what was your upset of the day?

Here are today’s 3rd round results in full:

Barnsley 2-1 Blackpool
Blackburn 1-4 Coventry
Bolton 0-1 Sheff Utd
Brighton 1-2 Mansfield
Bristol City 1-2 Middlesbrough
Charlton 1-1 West Brom
Chasetown 1-3 Cardiff
Chelsea 1-0 QPR
Colchester 1-3 Peterborough
Everton 0-1 Oldham
Huddersfield 2-1 Birmingham
Ipswich 0-1 Portsmouth
Norwich 1-1 Bury
Plymouth 3-2 Hull
Preston 1-0 Scunthorpe
Southampton 2-0 Leicester
Southend 5-2 Dag & Red
Sunderland 0-3 Wigan
Swansea 1-1 Havant and W
Swindon 1-1 Barnet
Tottenham 2-2 Reading
Tranmere 2-2 Hereford
Walsall 0-0 Millwall
Watford 2-0 Crystal Palace
West Ham 0-0 Man City
Wolverhampton 2-1 Cambridge Utd
Manchester United LATE KICK OFF Aston Villa

Watch Blackburn live online

Watch Aston Villa live online

From Barnsley to West Brom, via Hull City: BBC to broacast Football League matches

It’s not been a great year for Auntie, what with losing a load of funding, being found out to be dirty rotten cheats ripping of quiz contestants and Gary Lineker still smirking at the camera. So it with a smile on our face that we bring you better news from White City, the Beeb will be broadcasting Football League matches from 2009. Well, it worked for ITV Digital.

So, what are the details?

The BBC will show Football League and Carling Cup matches from the 2009 to 2012 seasons after winning the contract in a joint bid with Sky.

Oh yeah, the Carling Cup too, we forgot that.

It means Championship matches will be screened live on the BBC for the first time, with 10 first-choice games per season exclusively live on the BBC.

And what’s more…

The Carling Cup final will be simulcast live with Sky, and two semi-final legs shown exclusively live on the BBC.

No, we don’t know what that means either. So, is this a step forward for the Championship or just another sign that BBC sport ain’t what it used to be?

Norwich Boss Glenn Roeder Plunders Newcastle For Talent

Glenn Roeder is filling his boots already, first Tiny Taylor and now a new coach, former Newcastle hero Lee Clark. You may remember Clark as the lifelong Newcastle fan who moved to Sunderland, rather controversially, and then appeared in an anti-Sunderland T-shirt and had to be sold. Hilarious. So he should make a great assistant coach for Roeder, and he’s happy about it anyway:

“When he asked me to join him, it was a decision I couldn’t turn down,”

“To prise me from a club I love - in that respect it was a tough decision.”

Just ask Peter Reid, he didn’t find it too difficult…

“But to come and work alongside someone like Glenn again was the perfect opportunity, and to be given the role of assistant manager means he’s shown a lot of faith in me.”

Time will tell, though rumours Clark will turn up to today’s derby in an Ipswich shirt are unfounded.

Roeder begins his Norwich career by signing Birmingham’s Martin Taylor

There’s so stopping Glenn Roeder when he gets going, just three days in the Norwich job and he has already brought in hulking Birmingham City centre-back Martin Taylor on loan. The defender, nicknamed Tiny Taylor due to being actually rather big (footallers, eh? What wags), has only played once for Birmingham this season and will be at Norwich until returning to Birmingham in time for a lovely festive period in the second city if all goes to plan.

“He’s a player who I’ve followed throughout his career and he’ll be an outstanding member of the team while he is with us.

“He brings much-needed height,”

said Roeder in Stuart Pearce’s voice (we know we used that joke a couple of days ago but we are sticking with it until EVERYONE has heard it, because it’s true goddamit). And we for one think he is probably right, Taylor has proven himself to be more than adaquet in this division and that is more than enough for Norwich at the moment.

Taylor will make his debut in the East Anglia derby with Ipswich this weekend, which Norwich will probably still lose.

Who is the best player outside the Premiership?

For a while it was Kevin Phillips, for ages it was Jason Koumas, there was even some rubbish talked about Robert Earnshaw at some point. But who is currently the best player outside the Premiership? Well, here are some options, but feel free to pick your own?

Kevin Phillips (West Brom) - Is he past it? Probably, but a bit of expeience never hurt anyone.

Darius Henderson (Watford) - Scores a shed load of goal, but is he just a flash in the pan?

Zolton Gera (West Brom) - Top class midfielder, who really should be playing in Premiership soon.

Robbie Fowler (Cardiff) - Stop laughing at the back, he used to be the next Jimmy Greaves, that’s got to be worth something.

Jimbo Beattie (Sheff United) - The only good thing about Bryan Robson’s reign?

Peter Halmosi (Plymouth) - An outsider for the title, this Hungarian winger is leading Ollie’s Argyle revolution.

Any better suggestions?

Not Good Enough For West Ham or Newcastle, But Good Enough For Norwich?

It is a good time for managers with seemingly no achievements under their belt. Not only if Gary Megson now in charge of Nicolas Anelka, but now the man with the face of a librarian and the voice of Stuart Pearce is back in employment, yep someone loves Glenn Roeder and that someone is Norwich chairman Robert Munby. Let’s just have Munby confirm that:

“After a lengthy and diligent search I’m more than delighted to confirm Glenn Roeder is the board’s unanimous choice as the next Norwich City manager.”

How diligent the search was we are not sure, but judging by what they found we get the impression that Munby is the sort of person who would spend 20 minutes looking for his glasses when they are on the top of his head.

But is this all a little unfair on Roeder, who did have one good season at West Ham and wasn’t that bad at Newcastle? Will he show us his worth as a football manager? Any words of wisdom for the Norwich fans on what to expect?

Three Things You Learned From Midweek Championship Action? Charlton, West Brom, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace and more

While many people may have been distracted by Arsenal and their showing off at the Emirates, the Championship continued to show itself to be as unpredictable as Rafa Benitez’s substitution policy last night (Zing! An oldie, but a goodie). Charlton were leapfrogged by Plymouth, who beat them 2-1 at The Valley. Sheffield United won for the first time in 184 games against Leicester, while their former manager lost his first home game in charge of Crystal Palace against the ugly-but-effective Stoke.

So just like those bastards following the Premier League we ask you to tell everyone the three things you learned from the midweek results, it’s a chance to share your thoughts and see what others felt as well. Here are the results as a refresher:

Burnley 2-1 Norwich

Charlton 1-2 Plymouth

Coventry 0-3 Watford

Palace 1-3 Stoke

Ipswich 3-1 Colchester

Leicester 0-1 Sheff Utd

Preston 0-0 QPR

Sheff Wed 1-2 Scunthorpe

West Brom 2-1 Blackpool

Three Things You Learned From The Weekend’s Championship Matches?

It was back to the rat-race for Championship players at the weekend and they looked more than happy about it; turning in some great performances.

Sheffield Wednesday continued to get their season back on track with a impressive win at Stoke while Watford continued to steamroll their way to the Premiership as Marlon King grabbed another goal against Hull. Meanwhile, Neil Warnock almost got off to a winning start before Palace returned to their usual form and Man Utd’s Lee Martin proved to be a wise loan signing for Plymouth with a man of the match performance.

But here’s your chance to tell everyone what you learned from the weekend’s Championship results, and to see what others thought as well. Sort of a lower-league love-in, only not quit as disgusting.

Barnsley 1-1 Burnley

Blackpool 1-1 Palace

Colchester 3-2 West Brom

Norwich 1-3 Bristol City

Plymouth 1-0 Coventry

Queens Park Rangers 1-1 Ipswich

Scunthorpe 0-0 Leicester

Sheffield United 1-1 Preston North End

Stoke 2-4 Sheffield Wednesday

Watford 1-0 Hull

Wolves 2-0 Charlton

Championship Prediction Mania

Like the first day back at school after half-term, domestic football returns tomorrow and it doesn’t look too appealing. But wait, don’t run off to MFI to buy that decking for garden just yet, their are some appealing fixtures in the Championship. How about Neil warnock’s first game in charge of Crystal Palace? Then, of course, there is the battle of the B-ley teams at Oakwell (ok, we’re stretching it here). What will happen is anyone’s guess, but why not show your guess is better than ours by challenging our predictions, below:

Cut and paste into the comments with your own predictions, or just put down a few thoughts:

Barnsley v Burnley - away win

Blackpool v Crystal Palace - draw

Colchester v West Brom - home win

Norwich v Bristol City - home win

Plymouth v Coventry - draw

QPR v Ipswich - home win

Scunthorpe v Leicester - away win

Sheff Utd v Preston - draw

Stoke v Sheff Wed - home win

Watford v Hull - home win

Wolves v Charlton - draw

Southampton v Cardiff - away win

Last Stop Norwich For Former Arsenal, West Ham and Celtic Star

There has been a lot of rubbish spoken about John Hartson; he’s fat, he’s ginger, he once stole sheep. The usual kind of things.

But as his career slowly draws to a halt with a move to the rather tepid Norwich City, let’s take a moment to consider a damn good target man. The peak? Well, not many people remember that Hartson scored in the Cup Winners Cup Final (in fact not many remember the Cup Winners Cup) and he wasn’t too shabby at Arsenal at all.

Then he went on to barge his way around the Premiership to much affect for a decade or so, saving West Ham from certain relegation at one point. So, he almost brained Eyal Berkovitch? But really, the Israeli midfielder was last seen wearing a leather suit at an England game, so mabe Johnno had a point.

Anyway, enough of the facts, heres the prediction. Hartson is just what you need as a stuggling Championship side and he will be awesome for Norwich, won’t get the credit he deserves though. As always.

Without Neil Warnock in the frame, who will Norwich and QPR end up with?

Anyone fancy a flutter on the Championship jobs market? Well here are the odds and an ill-informed tip or two.

Norwich:

Paul Jewell 4-1

Ian Crook 4-1

Martin Allen 5-1

Mark Bowen 11-2

Dion Dublin 11-2

Steve Bruce 13-2

It’s too early for Bruce to be interested, he has another couple of months at Birmingham, and surely Paul Jewell will wait for something bigger. So we’re putting our fiver on Martin Allen.

QPR:

Francesco Guidolin 1-8

Glenn Hoddle 8-1

Gianluca Vialli 10-1

If you can’t work that one out, well…

Who Should Step Into Peter Grant’s Rather Small Shoes At Norwich?

Peter Grant has left Norwich after a year in charge, as Delia searches high and low for someone to take the canaries back to the Premiership.

Grant wasn’t making excuses for his less than impressive reign though, saying:

“Unfortunately for me, I feel that the balls haven’t bounced the right way for me over the last 12 months.”

That will be those new lighter balls they brought in last summer, they are very tough to control and perhaps why the team hasn’t scored in six games. Or maybe he’s talking about his balls, which would make this news much more interesting.

Who is next for Norwich then? Any suggestions?

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