Wigan ready to piss on Manchester United bonfire
May 9, 2008
Thirteen years ago, Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League title, despite losing 2-1 to Liverpool on the last day of the season. This was because rivals Manchester United just simply couldn’t get over the finishing line at West Ham, drawing 1-1 and spurning several chances to land the spoils. Could history be about to repeat itself at the JJB Stadium?
Despite a question mark over Steve Bruce’s allegiances to the Red Devils, his players are talking up their chances of ruining United’s big day in a big way. Emmerson Boyce has told the Daily Mail that the bobbly pitch, the way that the Latics will be organised and a burning desire to make their own headlines could stop Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in their tracks.
He said: “People don’t like coming to our ground and playing against us.
“It will help against Manchester United. On a perfect pitch all their top players will have a field day, but they will have difficulty passing and running with the ball on ours, even though they are top-class players. They won’t be able to play the game they’re used to, it’s nowhere near the standard of Old Trafford.
“We can get in their faces, test their touches and it will help us. A lot of people have moaned about it this season, but that’s usually because we have either got a good result or given them a tough game. We have got good results against the big teams because we love being the underdogs and there will be no pressure on us on Sunday, it’s all on them.”
He added: “We would like to emulate West Ham. People still talk about that team that cost Manchester United the title 13 years ago and I’d love people to remember us in 13 years’ time. We are loving the publicity. Everyone will be watching us across the world and it shows how far we’ve come as a club. We are going to enjoy being in the limelight.
“People are talking about Wigan right now and that’s a good thing. The fact we can have a say in the title race has given us extra motivation. I and the rest of the players want to show people what we can do against Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez and if we cost them the title everyone will talk about us. We are safe in the table. They are the ones with everything to lose.”
This will be music to the ears of Avram Grant and his Chelsea mob as they set about destructing Bolton on Sunday while holding a transistor radio to their left ear. That’s apart from Didier Drogba who will be moodily sitting on the subs bench, listening to his ipod as usual. Wigan managed to hold Arsenal to a goalless draw recently, thus helping to end the Gunners’ title challenge. Emile Heskey then scored in the dying embers of the match at Stamford Bridge to make it ‘advantage United’ in the title race. Will the Latics’ final act be to deprive the champions a second successive league title?
Wigan manager enjoying last laugh in battle with Birmingham board
May 9, 2008
Steve Bruce steered Birmingham back into the Premier League last season, although he didn’t stick around very long at St Andrews this campaign. Instead, the uncertainty over the club’s ownership saw the former Manchester United player leave the Midlands and take charge at Wigan, whom he’s managed to keep afloat with games to spare.
Not that it was a clean break between Bruce and his former club last autumn. Far from it, there’s been a spat between the two parties which have run over the past few months, becoming increasingly bitter in the process. The Wigan manager was forced to pay back some of the upfront cash he received from City for image rights, something that clearly rankles with him when asked about his former employers and their current predicament at the foot of the table.
Bruce said: “I will be sorry for the players, staff and fans if they go down. Anyone else at the club? No, that’s it.”
Miaow! Sky Sports report that Brum’s co-owner David Gold is not taking these comments lying down, snapping back in customary fashion. Do you think he and David Sullivan take turns to verbally volley with their former employee?
When quizzed recently “Steve has consistently made attacks on the board. Does he hold all seven of us responsible including Jack Wiseman, who is 90, or just some of us?
“At the moment an old man thinks he is responsible along with the rest of us and he’s not.
“So come on Steve, show some courage. Name names. Anything else is cowardly.
“It’s time he told everybody what it is we’ve done wrong. The truth is we have done nothing to be ashamed of. We treated him generously and acted more than properly.
“He should sit down with people other than ‘yes men’ and take proper counsel and he will then learn that we have acted more than fairly.
“We reduced substantially what we were owed on his image rights and told him to pay £300,000 over three years because we have shareholders to think about. There’s about £30,000 left to pay which shouldn’t make too much of a dent in the huge bonus he’ll get for keeping Wigan up.”
Indeed, there’ll be a Brucie bonus and a half coming from Dave Whelan after the Latics manager kept them in the Premier League for the third season running. However, you might not be able to put a price on watching Birmingham get relegated for their ex-gaffer, especially as he won’t have to visit St Andrews next season!
Manchester United manager slates ‘partying Bolton players’
May 9, 2008
Have the Wanderers squad been on the lash ever since beating Sunderland on Saturday? According to Sir Alex Ferguson, they’ve certainly been letting their hair down ever since they made sure of their place in next season’s Premier League. Indeed, much has been made of Wigan’s approach to Sunday’s game against the Red Devils, yet there’s been little mention of how motivated Bolton are likely to be, following something of a great escape in recent weeks.
The Manchester Evening News reports that SAF continues to play his own special brand of mind games, questioning the motivation of the Trotters ahead of their visit to Stamford Bridge. Whether they’ll notice the Scot’s words of warning is another matter, those hangovers often take some sleeping off.
“All the press seem to be talking about is the integrity of Wigan,” said the United manager.
“Nobody has questioned Bolton. Nobody has even mentioned Bolton. It is interesting the different attitudes. All we have had is Wigan players saying we will beat Man United and that’s fine.
“We have no problem with that. We are a big club.
“And then you hear about Bolton players out celebrating all week. It amazes me the difference in attitude.
“Both teams are safe. Both can relax. Both are confident but one team can celebrate while the other is all keyed up to play Manchester United!”
It now appears that Gary Megson has ordered his players to stop drinking. At least on the Saturday before the match. Well, at least they’ve been asked to stay off the spirits and just stick to long drinks like beer and wine. But will they pay attention to their manager now that they’re safe. Cheers!
Manchester United alert! Chelsea keeper’s gotta brand new shirt
May 8, 2008
What a contest the Champions League final promises to be. The bookmakers can’t split Manchester United and Chelsea in the betting, with both teams packed to the brim with talent. Just one moment of brilliance or madness could make all the difference in Moscow. Or maybe just the colour of a goalkeeping jersey…
The Daily Mail have revealed that Petr Cech is almost certain to wear a bright orange goalkeeping top for the contest against the Red Devils. He’s claiming it’s more likely to distract the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez when they’re bearing down on goal with the ball at their feet. Could there be anything in this?
“Studies say the orange colour spreads the most when the striker attacks, in the split of a second as he focuses,” said Cech, whose side need to get a better result at Stamford Bridge than United achieve at Wigan to win their third title in four seasons.
“This colour is like a sort of alarm or alert which really spreads and is very difficult to avoid, so this should be good for me.”
Petr, as a goalkeeper, your hands and arms should be very good for you, not the colour of your goalkeeping shirt. Apparently there’s no truth in the rumour that Edwin Van Der Sar is going to dress up as a clown for the final, squirting water out of a flower and into the eyes of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka. Which is a shame as we all would have liked to have seen that!
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Wigan manager: ‘Yeah, we’re going to try really hard against Manchester United, honest’
May 8, 2008
Avram Grant, John Terry and Michael Ballack are all confident that Wigan are going to try their level best against Manchester United on Sunday. Or at least they have stated this in public. Why shouldn’t Manchester United be asking the same of Bolton Wanderers, who now travel to Chelsea knowing that they will be playing in the Premier League next season?
Nevertheless, the Daily Telegraph report that Wigan boss Steve Bruce has cited two million reasons for his team to beat the Red Devils on Sunday. It’s hardly convincing as an argument, especially when put up against the motivation for their opponents to land the three points.
Bruce, who helped United to win three Premier League titles during his nine years with the club, said: “We’ve got to be professional and we will be. The difference between finishing two places in the Premier League these days is almost £1.5 million.”
Wigan were floundering in the lower reaches of the top flight when Bruce took over and he’d certainly have bitten your hand off if you’d offered him Premier League safety at the end of the season. Therefore, while there may be a couple of million to play for, it’s only the same as what the Latics manager might expect to receive for keeping the Lancashire club afloat. We should also remind you of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tendency to phone his former player earlier in the season.
Chelsea will be hoping that Wigan deliver a similar performance to that which beat Villa 2-0 last Saturday, although the six matches between the two teams have yielded the same result every time and it’s extremely difficult to see any other outcome on Sunday.
4 OUT, 3 IN, Liverpool make £30m transfer bids: Rafa starts summer planning
May 6, 2008
So, here we are just one match from seasons end and Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has many irons in the fire. With moves involving a mass of Premier League teams including Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Newcastle among others.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is on the verge of a summer clearout with £30m rated quartet Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant, John Arne Riise and Xabi Alonso all set to leave in order to bring in the cash for bid for the likes of Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry, Borussia Dortmund full-back Philipp Degen and Wigan Athletic’s Antonio Valencia. (various)
So that’s one hell of a transfer mouthful. Some of these deals seem more likely than others but it does seem like the Spaniard wants to make a raft of changes. Are the players linked with moves to and from Anfield the kind that Liverpool fans would agree with?
Wigan v Manchester United, Chelsea v Bolton, Birmingham v Blackburn - which game will you be watching?
May 6, 2008
It’s possible that Sky may have missed a trick by not showing Portsmouth v Fulham on Sunday, especially as the Cottagers’ chances of survival (along with Birmingham and Reading’s) rest in their own hands. However, the Sky Sports website reveals that they’ll be televising the matches from the JJB Stadium, Stamford Bridge and St Andrews instead - which game will you be watching?
Sunday’s title showdown is in danger of being a complete anti-climax, especially if Manchester United tear into Wigan from the off as they did against West Ham last Saturday. The ITV website reports that Michael Ballack expects the Latics to put up a decent fight, although it was only a fortnight ago that Steve Bruce was reporting a smooth operator that goes by the name of Sir Alex Ferguson had been calling him up.
“The pressure is on and I hope Wigan are proud enough to give everything in the last game and we have to beat Bolton.
“United have everything in their hands, but we are relaxed now. We did our job. We will give everything to beat Bolton at home and we will see what they do.”
Goodness me, the German captain is really getting into this fighting talk malarkey. One minute he was out of favour with Mourinho, now he’s leading the calls for United’s opposition to give it their best shot! Let’s also hope that the Wanderers play with pride at the Bridge after essentially guaranteeing their Premier League safety against Sunderland.
The match being televised at St Andrews could also be pretty dull, although the Sky cameras are likely to have some gratuitous shots of football fans in tears, with Birmingham extremely likely to be relegated after their 2-0 defeat at Fulham. Watch out for small children sobbing their hearts out - and a few grown men too!
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Fulham, Birmingham, Bolton and Reading - who are your picks to ‘go down with the Derby’
May 2, 2008
There’s an almighty scrap at the top of the Championship to determine who will be playing Premier League football next season, which teams will the likes of West Brom and Stoke City be replacing? The bookmakers still don’t give Fulham much of a chance, despite their heroic comeback at Manchester City last weekend. A victory against fellow-strugglers Birmingham on Saturday would mean that their top flight safety could potentially be in their own hands!
Surely Reading fans are a touch on the concerned side, considering their team’s inability to score, let alone win a game. OK, so they managed a creditable 0-0 draw at Wigan last weekend, although the decision to bring back Leroy Lita from his loan spell at Charlton smacked of desperation, while the Daily Mirror report tension in the camp ahead of Saturday’s game against Spurs. The Royals record signing won’t play for his ’stupid team’ anymore apparently.
“It is not clever at all to suspend your own players, it is stupid,” said the 24-year-old. “The sanction is heavy - two weeks!
“I cannot understand their attitude. I refused to play with the reserves and they said: ‘Okay let us meet on Thursday’.
“But in the meantime I received a letter saying I am axed.
“They are not courageous enough to tell me things in the eyes, man to man, in five minutes.
“I am an adult, I can recognise when I make mistakes. I can also admit to people when I am wrong. The team needs all their players for the last two games.
“For sure my future is not with Reading.”
Not exactly what you need when you’re teetering on the edge of the drop zone, although perhaps this will galvanise the rest of the Reading squad, who face a last-day trip to Derby after the weekend game against Spurs. Bolton are in action at home to Sunderland and will at least have the comfort of the Black Cats having nothing to play for after their 3-2 win over Middlesbrough last weekend.
Liverpool line up £10m winger bid: He’s good, but he’s not THAT good!
April 28, 2008
Reports are suggesting that Rafa Benitez and Sir Alex Ferguson are both considering a bid for £10m rated Wigan winger Luis Antonio Valencia.
Wigan Athletic boss Steve Bruce has claimed that he may have to sell Manchester United and Liverpool target Luis Antonio Valencia. (various)
“Valencia is a dying breed,” said Bruce. “He’s direct, quick and goes past players. He has an exceptional future. I don’t want to lose players like that, but I’m a realist. If big clubs are going to come and wave their chequebooks, then it’ll be difficult to stand in the boy’s way.”
I like the 22 year old Ecuadorian and think he is a useful player but I don’t feel he would be anything other than a squad player for either United or Liverpool. The valuation also seems slightly off. Do fans of either team feel he would add anything worthwhile to their side?
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Do you agree with PFA Team of the Season?
April 28, 2008
Especially the decision to not include a single Chelsea player in the line-up? After all, this is a team which could still quite feasibly win the Premier League title, while they are favourites to beat Liverpool and make it to the Champions League final.
Team: James (Portsmouth); Sagna (Arsenal), Ferdinand, Vidic (Man U), Clichy (Arsenal); Ronaldo (Man U), Gerrard (Liverpool), Fabregas (Arsenal), Young (Villa); Adebayor (Arsenal), Torres (Liverpool).
Are there any glaring omissions from the XI selected? Naturally, these things are always subjective, although it’s difficult to argue that any of the above haven’t stood out for their teams this season. Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and John Terry might have had more of a look-in if they hadn’t been injured for chunks of the season, while the likes of Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry and Glen Johnson have all performed extremely well for their respective clubs.
Who would feature in your team of the season?
Are Birmingham missing Bruce as Liverpool player suggests?
April 28, 2008
They have just two matches to save their Premier League bacon, and if Birmingham fail to get anything from Saturday’s match at Fulham, it’s possible that relegation will be out of their hands. Alex McLeish saw his Blues team storm into a two-goal lead against Liverpool on Saturday, before being pegged back to a 2-2 draw, a result which keeps them in the bottom three.
According to Liverpool and ex-Brum winger Jermaine Pennant, it didn’t have to be this way. The Daily Mail reports that he reckons City would be safe if they had kept hold of Steve Bruce as manager. After all, the Wigan boss has done extremely well at the JJB Stadium instead, steering the Latics away from the drop zone with several games to spare.
Pennant said: “If they go to Fulham and get a result I am sure they will get out of it, but without a shadow of a doubt they have missed Steve Bruce.
“He got the club up and did well for Birmingham. Now he is doing it for Wigan because they have scrapped their way out of it.
“Birmingham miss him and it will prove costly because getting a new manager halfway through the season when you are in a tight spot is a massive upheaval.”
After Bruce left the club, Blues co-ower David Sullivan stated that they were better off with McLeish at the helm and had done very well for themselves. These words could come back to haunt him, especially with the public spat that has ensued between the Birmingham board and their former manager in recent months.
Arsenal boss angry about missing out on £10m Manchester United target? I doubt it!
April 18, 2008
Arsene rarely gets it wrong in the transfer market so the idea that he finds it hard to sleep because he missed out on Wigan’s £10m rated Wilson Palacios is a little hard to swallow.
Arsene Wenger strongly recommended Honduras international Palacios to Steve Bruce after the 23-year-old didn’t make the grade after having given the trials at Emirates stadium. Now it appears that Manchester United want Wilson in the summer and it will be the latest of a string of ex-Gunners trialists to win moves to big clubs, including Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure and Olympiacos’ Marco Ne. (various)
My God, what will Arsene do (sarcasm)? I mean, this can’t be serious. Palacios is good but he isn’t that good! I very much doubt he would get a look in at Arsenal, anyway, and I would personally be mighty surprised if Sir Alex signed him. If he did, he would be nothing more than a squad player.
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Someone in the squad’s not happy with Chelsea manager!
April 16, 2008
Avram Grant was criticised this week for leaving Joe Cole out of the starting XI that faced Wigan on Monday. Many fans at Stamford Bridge chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ at the Chelsea manager and according to The Sun, Tal Ben Haim might have been joining in.
You might be forgiven for thinking that Grant would look to include his fellow countryman in the team on a fairly regular basis, but the truth is that the former Bolton player has barely had a look in since Jose Mourinho left the club last year. And he’s not too happy about it!
He said: “Jose Mourinho is the reason I came to Chelsea and if I knew Avram Grant was going to be the coach then I would have signed for another club.
“It was Jose who brought me here and no one except he and I know the conversation we had when he tried to sign me the first time a year ago last January.
“The fact is while Jose was the coach I played most of the games and people who know me know that I would not have come here to be a reserve.
“I knew that nothing good would come with Grant as Chelsea coach.”
With Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry back from injury and Alex also ahead of Ben Haim in the pecking order, it’s surely a matter of time before the defender leaves for pastures new. You would imagine a middling club such as Aston Villa, West Ham or even Tottenham would be keen on signing a player who was an integral part of Sam Allardyce’s later success at the Reebok.
Will Chelsea really blank Sky before and after Everton match?
April 16, 2008
It’s all threatening to get out of hand at Goodison Park on Thursday, with the Daily Mirror reporting that Chelsea manager Avram Grant and his team are apparently under instructions not to speak to Sky reporters before or after the match against Everton.
It’s clear that the club are far from happy at having to play this match just 72 hours after their 1-1 draw with Wigan on Monday night, stating that it puts them at a clear disadvantage against title rivals Manchester United.
The club have used the £300,000 TV “facility fee” to supply free tickets and transportation to their 2,900 fans inside Goodison. Chelsea fan Dave Johnstone, editor of cfcuk fanzine, said: “Sky don’t care about the dyed-in-the-wool fans.”
That much is certainly true, why would they care too much considering they have millions of paying customers sitting in armchairs up and down the country watching the game instead? However, is it a case that Chelsea will be biting the hand that feeds them, considering the amount of money the corporation invest into the game?
Bruce reveals Manchester United manager is a smooth (telephone) operator
April 15, 2008
It’s clear that when Wigan are playing one of Manchester United’s title rivals, Steve Bruce can expect the phone to start ringing and hear a Glaswegian voice on the other end of the line. I wonder what Sir Alex Ferguson has been saying to the Latics manager which has meant Arsenal and Chelsea have dropped points against Athletic in the past few weeks?
The former Red Devils captain reveals through the United website that his former gaffer only calls when it suits him, not what we’d call a real friend here at COS.
“Sir Alex phoned me twice before the game and twice before Arsenal. He hasn’t phoned me any other time during the season. Four times!” said former United defender Bruce. “I have had a few calls from friends in Manchester but I am more pleased for us getting a point. The United players will be pleased but they know it’s not over yet.”
It may not be mathematically over but someone at the Premier League is currently tying red and white ribbons on the handle of the trophy again, that’s for sure. What do you think Fergie says to Bruce on these occasions? Does he provide him with a few tips on how to nullify United’s title rivals. Perhaps he sings a little serenade down the phone “Brucie, do you remember me?” or “I wonder why, Steve’s the greatest gaffer”.
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