Sunderland boss Steve Bruce slammed the inexperience of referee Anthony Taylor following his side's opening day 2-2 draw with Birmingham City.
The Black Cats threw away a two-goal lead as they were held to a stalemate at the Stadium of Light.
Darren Bent's penalty and an own goal from Stephen Carr had put the home side comfortably ahead.
However, midfielder Lee Cattermole was sent off just before half-time for a second bookable offence and afterwards Bruce was furious with the match official.
"Today, all the big decisions, in my opinion, he got them wrong," he said.
"I don't want to criticise referees but I think he's only been refereeing for four years and it looked like it.
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"For it to be in a Premier League game, when we've got (fourth official) Chris Foy standing there, one of the best officials, it doesn't make sense."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Former Bournemouth striker Brett Pitman has explained his reasons for snubbing a move to Blackpool, having opted to sign for Bristol City instead.
The 22-year-old seemed set to join the Seasiders, before heading to Ashton Gate in a deal worth in the region of £800,000.
Pitman told the Blackpool Gazette:"I chose Bristol City for a number of reasons. I know those reasons and obviously the manager knows them.
"This is a club going forward and going places, I feel, and I wanted to be part of that.
"Obviously a League One player turning down a Premier League club might cause a bit of reaction, but I've picked the club over the league.
"Bristol City have plans for a new stadium and they are signing some good players. That is what I want to be part of.
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"It is nice to stay in the south west, that is one reason I came to the club, but Bristol City are massive. I wanted to play for them."
Pitman scored 62 goals in 198 appearances for the Cherries before leaving to join the Robins.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has dismissed recent rumours suggesting that manager Avram Grant's position is already under pressure.
The Hammers have lost their opening three games of the new Premier League season, but Sullivan is confident that Grant will soon turn things around at Upton Park.
He told the News of the World:"I haven't relayed any messages to Avram at all. I just expect a gradual improvement in form. It's not all doom and gloom.
"You can't judge a team after three games, it's very premature. When you're building something it takes time and there have been changes at all levels.
"The next three games are very, very tough. Chelsea at home, Stoke who are particularly good on their own ground and Tottenham at home.
"Three tough games and then the season really starts with the Fulham game on October 2, but I hope to surprise a few people against Chelsea, Stoke or Tottenham.
"The Bolton game was a major disappointment but it's early days. There was a stage last season where we lost six games in a row, these things happen.
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"He inherited a very imbalanced squad. Over the next year he'll turn things round. Results will gradually come. Avram is very, very confident about the future.
"He'd love to have £30-£40million to spend but what manager wouldn't? I've got every confidence in the manager and every confidence in the team."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Sir Alex Ferguson has suggested Wayne Rooney's form for Manchester United has suffered as he is struggling to cope with the intense media scrutiny surrounding his private life.
Rooney has been left "exhausted" by the focus currently on him following newspaper allegations surrounding his private life.
The 24-year-old is the reigning PFA Players' Player of the Year following his 34-goal haul last season but has looked a pale shadow of the striker that terrorised Premier League defences last term.
Rooney, who was also below-par for England at the World Cup, was taken out of the firing line by Ferguson for the return to former club Everton two weeks ago.
"I don't believe he has a confidence problem. The boy is starting to realise probably, finally, without any question, what kind of focus is on him as a human being," said Ferguson while speaking to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I don't think the boy can turn without a camera on him but, for a young person, that is not what you want.
"You want to play and enjoy your football without that attention. That can be quite exhausting."
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Rooney has not scored from open play for United in five appearances this season.
His only goal came via the penalty spot in a 3-0 victory over West Ham United last month.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
In Patrice Evra Manchester United have one of football’s leading left-backs. Since joining the club in 2006 the French international has been the embodiment of a consistent performer. The same, however, cannot be said of their opposite flank where Gary Neville, Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Rafael da Silva all compete for the right-back slot. This week Manchester United have been rumoured to be tracking Uruguayan full-back Bruno Montelongo. Sir Alex Ferguson evidently does not have a natural incumbent in that position who is comparable to Evra, but is this tantamount to a dilemma? Rotation is the key phrase which will apply to that position again this year but who can expect to be granted the most playing time?
Neville has been described as a player that could only be loved by his club’s fans. As a tribal, lifelong supporter that label will never trouble the right-back who has had a distinguished career with the Red Devils. The Bury born defender was the natural successor to Paul Parker having graduated from United’s youth academy. The passionate Neville’s influence is arguably greater off the pitch these days, his playing time having been restricted by a succession of ankle injuries. Yet Ferguson once said, “He also showed that quality to return after a year and a half out with injuries.” He sporadically seemed to be rolling back the years last season, particularly at home against Milan when he assisted Wayne Rooney with a perfectly weighted cross.
However the veteran full-back suffered at Goodison Park last season and did not fair much better in that fixture this September. He was outpaced by the lively Steven Pienaar and flustered when the South African moved infield, forcing Neville to make a rash challenge early on. Nani’s back tracking runs were essential to protect the besieged defender. Some have argued that the mantle may therefore fall to another life long United fan in the form of Brown. The 30-year old has retired from international football, presumably in an effort to concentrate on his club performances. He signed his first professional contract in 1996 but has habitually been beset by injury. For instance in the 2008/09 season he did not make the requisite number of appearances to qualify for a League Champions’ medal. Highly versatile, he has featured in central defence but has appeared more contented at right-back. He is proficient in the air and has a good turn of pace but will have to show character to be a regular full-back which he was in the 2007/08 season.
The two most likely candidates to dominate that role this season are the cosmopolitan duo of Ireland’s O’Shea and Brazil’s da Silva. They embody two neatly contrasting styles which is inferably as asset to Ferguson. The Irish international is the more cautious option but he is extremely flexible and willing to play across the defensive line and in midfield. The selfless player initially impressed as a left-back for United, gaining a reputation for athletically rampaging down the wing. O’Shea is a composed, adept passer but has rarely been a regular for the club. His defensive qualities are offset by an apparent lack of speed and a reluctance to make overlapping runs when attacking.
That trait is not found wanting in the game of the young Brazilian, Da Silva. For those who question the team’s inability to name a permanent successor to Neville, this defender is possibly the future. His authority is mounting in the present too, adding a degree of attacking flair to that position. He announced himself emphatically to English football by scoring a last minute volley at the Emirates in 2008. Confidence may not be a predicament but insufficient defensive awareness arguably is. He is strong in the tackle but can be forced to make impulsive decisions when rushing back from offensive positions. In the Champions League quarter final last season he had largely nullified the threat posed by Franck Ribery. But he was sent off for hauling back the Frenchman after having previously kicked out at Mark van Bommel.
The headstrong 20-year old palpably enjoys the confidence of his manager and offers an extra, attacking edge to the right flank. This is especially important after the untimely injury to Antonio Valencia. His defensive intelligence should improve with an extended run of competitive action too. But for the biggest occasions the manager may turn to older and wiser heads. This position may appear like a revolving door but it is currently to United’s benefit.
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The news this week that Chelsea are in talks to move to the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Earl’s Court exhibition centre must be seen as a step in the right direction for the economic future of the club. Earl’s Court is set to be demolished after hosting the Olympic Volleyball tournament in 2012, and Chelsea have reportedly expressed an interest in the site. They will have a fight on their hands to secure the land, however, as there has already been interest in turning the site into a residential estate with over 8,000 homes being built there. But in order to keep up with the footballing giants of this world Chelsea must move, as over the past decade they have slowly but surely outgrown their spiritual home of Stamford Bridge, and the logical step is to increase capacity and increase revenue.
With Roman Abramovich’s desire for the club to become self-sufficient and UEFA’s new regulations coming in, which somewhat tie owners hands when it comes to financing their club’s needs, Chelsea need to increase their fiscal means somehow, and through selling around 20,000 extra tickets per home game, they may find the answer. This, combined with the increased revenue more corporate boxes a new stadium would bring, such as the facilities found at the Emirates and Eastlands, will greatly increase the matchday financial intake.
Although they have the 5th highest average attendance in the Premier League, Chelsea fall well behind title rivals Manchester United and Arsenal, and, as has been mentioned above, in terms of revenue from corporate boxes, they rank well below Manchester City. Like Liverpool, whose average attendance ranks 4th and whose Anfield stadium holds a little over 45,000 compared to Stamford Bridge’s 41,841, Chelsea are searching for pastures new in order to compete both globally and financially in years to come.
A move half a mile down the road to Earl’s Court may seem ideal, keeping the club in west London, and, in fact, moving the club from the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, but there may be some problems along the way. Namely, that neither the Stamford Bridge pitch, nor the naming rights of the club are owned by the club. They are both owned by the Chelsea Pitch Owners. This was originally set up in the 1990s to protect the ground from property developers, before the time of Roman Abramovich, and means, if Abramovich moved the club without the consent of the CPO, the club would no longer be able to operate under the name of Chelsea FC. In financial and legal terms I don’t see this being a problem for Abramovich as he could surely just buy these rights back. But what could become interesting is if the CPO have an ideological opposition to the move, after all, the CPO number over 12,000 fans who bought a share in the non-profit organisation for the precise reason of protecting the club and its traditional home. If the move goes ahead, there could be some interesting ramifications.
Stamford Bridge has been Chelsea’s home for over 100 years and has a long history and heritage, but in order to keep up with their main rivals in England, Chelsea must look to their future, as well as taking solace in their very successful present, and secure a move to a new, purpose built, stadium.
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With the FA Cup third round draw to be made this weekend, who better to talk to about what the FA Cup means to people than Tottenham legend, Ricky Villa. It is coming up to 30 years on since that Wembley goal – one of the most iconic FA Cup moments. The Argentine is in England promoting his new book ‘And Still Ricky Villa’ and Football FanCast was lucky enough to meet with Villa to discuss all things football, including that 1981 FA Cup run.
Ricky Villa has a love for the FA Cup – which is common with many foreign footballers playing in England. Look at the record of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. The FA Cup has a magic about it – where a minor club can host a major club. Maybe it has something to do other nations not having the same love for their cup competitions, but the FA Cup still holds great memories for Ricky Villa – even over playing and winning the World Cup in 1978.
‘The World Cup in 1978 was special, but the highlight of my career has to be 1981. Keith Burkinshaw had the confidence to give me another chance in the replay. It symbolises me as a footballer. When one game I am brilliant and the next week I am not.’
It is this passion for the FA Cup that has kept it alive, even in its most difficult years when Manchester United pulled out of the competition. Due to goals like Villa’s in the 1981 FA Cup semi -final and final, the competition has a spark. Even a player who has played at the World Cup remembers these moments as the highlight of his career.
‘It wasn’t the greatest goal I ever scored in my career, but it was the most important.’
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This further goes to illustrate how much the FA Cup means to one the greatest players of an era. Just imagine what it means to a football who plays for a minor team – but because of the FA Cup, has a chance to showcase his skills at one of England’s top clubs. It is what dreams are made of. The FA Cup exists because of these iconic moments – and how many more will we have this season? Ricky Villa has given us two, and now it is up to the new generation, with the draw for the 3rd round this weekend, to give their fans a few more to cherish.
As well as the FA Cup ‘And Still Ricky Villa’ goes into great detail of Villa’s love for Tottenham as well as England in general. Villa describes his affection for a country, who on the whole treated him very well, and a club that have given him legendary status.
‘I couldn’t move to another English club as Tottenham is in my heart. The English people are great and they looked after me and treat me brilliant.’
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Maybe we can all learn a lesson from Tottenham. If we treat players well and give them a chance to shine, the results can be as successful as Ricky Villa. Maybe its too much of a political point, in terms of football we do things we right. Generally we pay our players well and we look after the ones that have left their homelands. With austerity measures hitting The United Kingdom next year, maybe some magical FA Cup moments, like those from Ricky Villa will go some way to cheer us all up come Saturday evenings.
Ricky Villa’s new book ‘And Still Ricky Villa’ is on sale now.
Albeit slightly premature, I think it’s fair to say Rafael van der Vaart has been the signing of the season. His performances for Tottenham since his deadline-day arrival have helped transfer the North London side into a real force in the Premier League. But whilst Harry Redknapp can congratulate himself on a job well done by signing the Dutchman, are the rest of the top clubs bosses bemoaning a missed opportunity?
The deal which brought van der Vaart from Real Madrid to Spurs was surrounded by conspiracy theories. But whatever the case may be, for £8 million, Redknapp pulled off a major coup. Although his record speaks for itself, credit is due to the Spurs manager for bringing in a player who represented something of a risk. His career has been consistently interrupted with unfortunate injuries and the player himself stated he was beginning to fall out of love with football after becoming bored with Jose Mourinho’s regime at Madrid.
But now Tottenham’s new ‘Messiah’ has rediscovered the form which gave him his name as one of the worlds brightest talents, the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson must be wishing they had taken a chance on him.
Despite being second only on goal difference, Manchester United haven’t yet managed to set the Premier League alight this season, and at times, they have desperately missed that creative spark someone like van der Vaart could provide. At the moment, they are doing more than enough to compensate; unbeaten this season proves that, but when Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs do finally decide it’s time to hang up the boots, there is going to be a huge void left in United’s midfield. A void that a certain Dutchman would fill quite nicely.
Chelsea have missed the injured Frank Lampard and despite bringing in the likes of James Milner, Adam Johnson and Mario Balotelli, Manchester City have lacked any kind of attacking prowess so far, apart from last weekend of course.
Arsene Wenger argued that he decided against bidding for the Spurs man because he didn’t need another midfielder. Insisting his squad was the best he’d had in years, the Arsenal manager reeled off a list of names to back up his point. Admittedly, Wenger has acquired an impressive attacking line-up, but on this form I question which side wouldn’t be improved by Rafael van der Vaart?
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Even if the rest of the Premier Leagues big guns did now decide that the Dutchman should be plying his trade at their respective club, it’s hard to see the attacking midfielder being prepared to leave White Hart Lane. Harry Redknapp has given him a platform at Tottenham to express himself and play the way he enjoys; eight goals in 13 games would suggest the player is happier at Spurs than he has been in a while.
If van der Vaart’s form continues, Tottenham can continue to improve and upset the odds. The win at the Emirates was a huge sign of what Redknapp is trying to build at Spurs and whilst other managers may look longingly on at the Dutchman, Harry will carry on building a team around one of Europe’s best.
Late wins may be the stuff of champions but a so-so central midfield and a decidedly suspect backline most certainly are not.
Harry Redknapp has been talking up his team at every opportunity and though they can be one of the more exciting and dynamic sides in the league going forward, they won’t be winning anything until they get some central defenders who are as good as Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate but can actually stay fit for more than a game at a time. A quick glance the goal difference says all we need to know.
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Birmingham are a little closer to the relegation zone then Alec McLeish would like but they’ve started to improve with just one defeat in their last seven games which has included an away draw against Man City and a home win over Chelsea.
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The 23/10 on a home win is a good price when you consider that Spurs have lost two of their last three on the road and a scoreline of 1-0 at 9/1 or 2-1 at 10/1 for the home side are the more likely outcomes.
It’s more difficult to motivate players to play against Birmingham and after three straight win, Spurs are due a dud performance.
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Last week the International Football Federation of History & Statistics’ (IFFHS) released it’s ‘manager of the decade’ list.
All the familiar faces were there and there were no glaring omissions but the thing that did catch my eye was the order in which the managers were ranked. Now a list like this will all was be open to be questions but the IFFHS have a system in place to rank managers annually and at the end of the decade using these scores they were able to compile this list:
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1. Arsene Wenger (France) 156
2. Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland) 148
3. Jose Mourinho (Portugal) 135
4. Fabio Capello (Italy) 120
5. Guus Hiddink (Holland) 112
6. Carlo Ancelotti (Italy) 108
7. Luiz Scolari (Brazil) 101
8. Marcelo Bielsa (Argentina) 101
9. Rafael Benitez (Spain) 97
10. Marcello Lippi (Italy) 88
As I said they have a system in place to rank the managers but what system would allow a manager who hadn’t won a trophy in the later half of the decade to be named the best manager of the decade? I do not write to speak ill of Wenger, he is a good manager but from 2000 to 2010, I’m pretty sure there are managers, namely Sir Alex Ferguson, who could and should have ranked higher than him.
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If we look at the the decade and compare United’s results and achievements with Arsenal’s it becomes apparent that Wenger was actually the best manager in England over the past decade let alone the world.
United won the league in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009; the FA Cup in 2004; the league cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010 that’s just domestically if you add to that the Champions League in 2008 and the Club World Cup in 2008 the sum dwarfs Arsenal’s haul of the league titles in 2002 and 2004 and FA Cups in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Of course Arsenal’s unbeaten season has been taken into account as well as the times they have finished as runner up domestically and in Europe but in a competition to decipher who exactly has been the best manager over the past 10 years it kind of defeats the purpose to reward not actually winning!
I have only mentioned Sir Alex’s achievements in comparison, if we were to then look at say Jose Mourinho’s too it would make for lugubrious reading from an Arsenal perspective considering Mourinho has did the treble twice in the time span being considered (albeit he spent the early part in Portugal, considered a weaker league in terms of European football).
I’m not 100% sure how exactly points are awarded by the IFFHS but I would imagine having to declare a manager who hasn’t won a trophy in nearly 6 years kind of harms their credibility.
Read more Manchester United articles at the excellent ‘The Busby Way’
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