On-loan Stoke City winger Jermaine Pennant is refusing to give up hope of being capped by England.
Pennant, 27, joined the Potters from Spanish side Real Zaragoza on a loan deal last month and has made three appearances so far.
The former Arsenal, Birmingham City and Liverpool moved to Spain after seeing his career stall in England.
Pennant was a regular at under-21 level for England but has failed to kick on and win a full cap.
However, he still believes he could have a future with the national team should he shine during his time at the Britannia Stadium.
"Every player would love to play for their country and if that ever came it would be a great achievement, but first of all I have to do it for my club," he said.
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"I have been in and out of teams and been abroad but now I am back in the Premier League and hopefully will be here for a bit longer.
"If I can do well every week and stay injury free, then hopefully my name will get thrown about a bit."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Wolves winger Matt Jarvis has laughed off suggestions that he is playing well enough to earn an England call-up.
Fabio Capello will name his squad for this month’s friendly against France in the next week, and there have been calls for former Gillingham star Jarvis to be given his chance.
However, the 24-year-old has played down his achievements, saying:“If Sir Alex (Ferguson) was impressed by what he saw, that’s fantastic coming from a manager of such standing in the game.
“But I’ve got to stay focused and keep doing well for Wolves and making sure my performances don’t drop.
“I’m playing well and everything seems to be going well at the moment. I’m enjoying playing against these players (in the Premier League). I love taking them on and seeing how I fare against them.
“It’s hard for me to talk about England. If it happens it would be fantastic for me. It’s one of the things I’ve always wanted to do. But I’m not assuming anything yet.”
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Having been an integral part of the coaching staff at Stamford Bridge since September 2008, Ray Wilkins’ departure has caused sizeable tremors at Chelsea. With some feeling that the insensitive manner in which Wilkins, who began his footballing career at The Bridge in 1973, was unceremoniously given the boot has facilitated a noticeable dip in form from the 2009-10 champions. But is Wilkins’ departure the principal reason for such a tangible reversal of fortune?
The clandestine way Wilkins was relieved of his duties must signal some sort of backroom fallout, and as the assistant manager is not that far in the background, this will, without doubt, have had an effect on the players. As Wilkins himself has recently noted;
“I am very disappointed that the board decided that I had no further contribution to make at Chelsea Football Club which has played such a huge part in my life… The LMA’s legal advisors are assisting me in obtaining answers to a number of questions arising from my undoubtedly unfair dismissal, and all efforts are being made to reach an amicable solution”
With Carlo Ancelotti reportedly wanting to quit after the fallout from Wilkins’ departure, and more reports of ‘player power’ being a factor in the sacking, turmoil is reigning supreme at Stamford Bridge, and it is being felt on the pitch, not necessarily just in terms of results, but also in terms of performances.
The truth is, although undoubtedly a good coach and assistant manager, Ray Wilkins departure alone cannot cause the dip in form that Chelsea are currently suffering. Rather than the man himself it is more the principal of the entire situation that has affected the squad.
Through Wilkins’ sacking, if player power was indeed involved, we can see Chelsea heralding back to the days when Avram Grant was in charge and it was highly publicised that the players essentially ran the team, and that is not a road Chelsea want to travel down again. For every player that wanted Wilkins out the door, there will be another who didn’t, and if the order to get rid of the 54 year-old came from higher, then the players may be more than a little disgruntled, both on and off the pitch.
If you liked this and would like to read more, then why not check out my blogs, or follow me on Twitter, where you can also keep up to date with the latest Chelsea news!
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Click on image below to see a gallery of Christian’s lady wife
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Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is targeting a top ten finish after he saw his side beat West Ham 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
The Black Cats were made to work for their victory over the Hammers but the win takes their points tally to 23 and sees them sat in seventh place in the table.
That is the position they finished in twice under Peter Reid and Bruce is challenging them to repeat the feat this time around.
He said:"Nothing has changed since I came here 18 months ago. We are seventh going into the Christmas period.
"I have always said, we have got to stop being a yo-yo club – that was my immediate aim – and if we can get ourselves into the top 10.
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"Our immediate aim is to go and mirror what we have just done, take 20-odd points from the next 16 games, and that would set us up very nicely for what should be a nice spring."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
There is just no need for commentators and pundits alike to be so overtly biased towards British teams in European competition. If I wanted to see say Arsenal – FC Partisan analysed by someone so clearly favouring Arsenal I would have asked a friend who’s an Arsenal fan. I do not want to hit by an overload of tired worn out phrases about how great Arsenal are. And I would also like to see a bit more honesty and impartiality in the actual commentary.
Little phrases that try to alleviate any blame form players when they are representing British clubs have become far too common. ‘He had every right to go down there’ is currently the one that most annoys me. Supplying an excuse for when players dive by suggesting it was a foul anyway and the ref wouldn’t have noticed it had he not gone down. No! Not good enough in my mind, you should always try to stay on your feet. The only time you have a ‘right to go down’ is when it’s actually impossible to stay on your feet because they’ve been taken out from under you. ITV’s Live Champions League programme and particularly Andy Townsend is the worst for this, their highlights show punditry isn’t actually that annoying and at times even quite good.
I used to think this may be some form of jealously manifesting itself as I never got to see my own team, Spurs, talked about in this way as they were never on ITV in the Champions League. A couple of excursion into the UEFA cup never got the full ITV1 treatment of non-stop ass-kissing. Yet this season changed all that, Tottenham made it into the Champions League group stages and preceded to exceed expectations, winning the group and being joint top scorers on the way. I can now safely say it is not meagre jealously at having to sit through experts praise Arsenal and assess the game through such a warped prism.
This is because it is far more annoying when they are heaping praise on Spurs. The sheer volume of superlatives thrown in the direction of Gareth Bale, in the midst of his hat-trick in the San Siro was beyond infuriating. They have no right pretending to be so caring and excited by how well Tottenham are doing. Each empty word of praise for Spurs from Clive Tyldesley and the rest is like a dagger in my back as these are people who a week earlier were full of praise for Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea. And as a true Spurs fan I feel I can speak for the club when I say we don’t want your fake non-genuine support. To say ‘oh they just support the British clubs’ and want the most Premier League representation in the latter stages simply isn’t good enough! I don’t care if it’ll affect your ratings if there’s no English teams in the Semi finals or final. There’s no way you can justify to pretending to support Arsenal and then Tottenham in consecutive weeks!!
So in the future pundits, commentators and presenters of ITV, and to a lesser extent Sky, could you refrain from pretending you’re Tottenham fans because it isn’t desired and just call the game from a point of neutrality. With your overwhelming favouring of Spurs in games, you are taking something away from the true fans, somehow dampening the achievement by jumping on the band wagon. You have no right to bask in the celebration of beating the European Champions at White Hart Lane, calling it a glorious night. It was a glorious night for the club and us, the fans, not you who really don’t care for Tottenham when the cameras are away.
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The New York Cosmos have appointed former Manchester United star Eric Cantona as director of soccer.The Cosmos were one of the biggest club’s in the MLS throughout the 1970’s, and were successful in luring Brazilian legend Pele to play out his final years as a professional in the US, before the franchise folded in 1985.
They were re-launched in August last year by English businessman and former Tottenham director Paul Kelmsey, who has brought Pele on board as president and revived the club’s aim of returning to the MLS.
Cantona will be assisted by former Coventry player Cobi Jones who has been appointed as an associate director of soccer.
“It’s a wonderful project. It’s kind of a mix between football and art,” Cantona said.
“The Cosmos are very strong, beautifully made, with a great past.”
“I will do everything that I can to help us first find our way to regain the number one position in the United States, and then for us to become one of the best clubs in the world over the coming years.”
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The 44-year-old Frenchman, who was voted Manchester United’s player of the century in 2000, shocked the football world in 1997 when he announced his retirement from the game at the age of 30.
There have been several men knighted for their services to football. The bloke on the training pitch at Tottenham may join them before long, apparently. Though perhaps for services to the male grooming industry. Yet if anyone should be honoured for services to fellow footballers, it has to be Jimmy Hill.
Fifty years ago last week, he won his greatest victory, when, as campaigning chairman of the PFA, the maximum wage of £20 a week was abolished. Football was cheap back in 1961. I would regularly play in front of 65,000 crowds at Stamford Bridge, who each paid two shillings and sixpence (12 and a half pence) for the privilege of seeing plenty of goals and some of the most hilarious defending in the western world. Twenty quid a week was just above the national average wage, which stood at about £16, but it only applied to first-team players. If you got injured, you could be down to little more than half of that figure and would be genuinely struggling to pay your mortgage.
While a top-flight striker and an England Under-23 international, I was still weeding the terraces at Wimbledon’s Plough Lane ground to make ends meet during the summer months. Two Chelsea team-mates, Peter Sillett and Dave Cliss, set up a window-cleaning business, buying themselves a van before they got round to realising that they shared one another’s fear of heights. Something had to give – but it needed the immense courage of Jimmy Hill and PFA secretary Cliff Lloyd to make it happen.
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When the maximum wage was finally declared illegal, players were about to go on strike. With the entire football programme about to be wiped out, a series of exhibition matches had been arranged on the Saturday afternoon for places like Hackney Marshes, at greyhound stadiums and other venues not affiliated to the FA. It would have been some spectacle and it’s a bit of a shame that the maximum wage was abolished just before we took our action. It was an extraordinary time to live through. I was convinced that the PFA would be proved right and always attended the southern branch meetings at the Great Eastern Hotel near Liverpool Street station.
The most famous story came from a northern PFA meeting, when one player spoke up against a strike by insisting that his father worked long hours down a coal mine and earned less than a footballer. To which Tommy Banks of Bolton stood up and said: “If tha father wants to mark brother Matthews on Saturday for 20 quid a week, he’s welcome to it” – we were all ‘brothers’ and ‘comrades’ at that point, even Sir Stanley.
While support for a players’ strike was supposedly unanimous, there was actually a remarkable lack of courage among many of my fellow pros, especially in the south. Many were frightened about their financial futures, short-term and long-term. Half a century on, in an era of immense player power, this is difficult to imagine. But clubs were bullies. After the maximum wage was abolished – a decision which would come into effect in the summer of 1961, just as I was leaving Stamford Bridge for AC Milan – I was fined my final week’s Chelsea pay for refusing to go on a post-season tour of Israel. The club even had me banned from playing for England against Mexico at Wembley.
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It was another couple of years before George Eastham won freedom of contract for players, so footballers continued to be bound by rules which would never have been allowed in any other industry. Fulham chairman and music-hall star Tommy Trinder made himself few friends among fellow club owners when he claimed he wanted to pay his captain Johnny Haynes £100 a week. I used to play tennis with Tommy and was well aware that Mr Trinder was somewhat backwards in coming forwards when it came to buying a round. Having made the £100-a-week comment to raise a laugh, Tommy had to stick by it.
When I returned from Milan at the end of the year, I was actually offered £120 a week to go back to Chelsea and £60 a week to join Tottenham, the league and Cup double winners. Chelsea’s previous treatment of me had been so poor that I had little hesitation in choosing Spurs.
It was not until the Premier League and the Sky TV money in the 1990s that footballers’ wages lost all semblance of reality. Although I’ve never felt jealous of modern players, I do find it laughable to hear average footballers earning silly money. You can only hope that those who rake in £40,000 a week for sitting on the bench, will be raising a glass to 82-year-old Jimmy Hill this week.
New Racing Santander owner Ahsan Ali Syed intends to compete with Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Syed’s Western Gulf Advisory group purchased Racing on January 22, but with the club an unremarkable 13th in the La Liga table, they are unlikely to challenge the top two this season.
Racing have never won a trophy in their 98-year history and are relative minnows compared to the illustrious outfits at the Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabeu.
But Indian businessman Syed – who was linked with a takeover of English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers in 2010 – has lofty ambitions for the future of his latest investment.
“When La Liga is watched all across the world today, the first two teams that come to mind are Real Madrid or Barca,” Syed said.
“So I am sure there is a place for a third one. That is what global recognition is all about.”
“As I have already said in public, I will provide everything possible to see Racing grow in the world of football.”
“But I think that for more than financial investments it will require a lot of other investments, intellectual investments. It will require a lot of talent in the team.”
“That does not necessarily mean that if you are very aggressive, with huge money pouring in the club, the club will do wonders. That is not the case.”
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“But I personally feel that I want to make this club grow slowly, steadily but strongly, so that it can sustain whatever position it reaches for a longer time.”
“I want to make Racing a timeless institution in years to come.”
Juventus’ inconsistent form reared its ugly head again with a 2-0 loss at Lecce, while AC Milan kept the field at bay with another win.Juve’s hopes of snatching a European berth were put in jeopardy by their latest defeat, which came ater Gianluigi Buffon was sent off at the Stadio Communale Via del Mare.The Juve captain and goalkeeper saw red in the 12th minute for handballing outside the box, and Djamel Mesbah and Andrea Bertolacci made the Old Lady pay with goals either side of half-time.Luigi Delneri sacrificed Serbian midfielder Milos Krasic to bring on reserve shot-stopper Marco Storari for Buffon, but the incident seemed to rattle Juve and Lecce took full advantage in the 31st minute through Mesbah, the Algerian steering Gianni Munari’s lobbed pass beyond Storari.The hosts doubled their advantage three minutes into the second half through Bertolacci, the 20-year-old playmaker tapping home after being played in by David Di Michele’s header.Lecce also went down to 10 men when skipper Guiseppe Vives earned a second caution 20 minutes from injury time, but Juve were unable to capitalise and fell to their fourth loss in eight league fixtures.The latest defeat leaves them 14 points adrift of Serie A leaders Milan, though Palermo and Roma’s own dire form sees Delneri’s side safe in sixth place for now.For Lecce, the win takes them four points clear of the drop zone in 16th place.Elsewhere, Milan romped to a 2-1 win over 10-man Chievo thanks to substitute striker Alexandre Pato’s 82nd minute winner.The Brazilian latched onto a through ball by Gennaro Gattuso and shimmied his way through Chievo’s defenders before unleashing a wonder strike that goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino could do little about.The valuable away win maintains Milan’s five-point gap over second-placed Inter.Lazio edged past bottom-placed Bari 1-0 at home thanks to a lone goal from Brazilian playmaker Hernanes, while Roma slumped to a third straight loss in outrageous fashion, losing 4-3 at Genoa despite leading 3-0 at the break.Rodrigo Palacio and Alberto Paloschi scored braces for the hosts in the second half, providing yet another headache for under-fire Roma boss Claudio Ranieri.Meanwhile, Udinese’s upward momentum halted with a goal-less draw at home to lowly Brescia, Fiorentina and Sampdoria fought out a scoreless stalemate and Raffaele Palladino’s 89th-minute equaliser salvaged a 2-2 draw for Parma against strugglers Cesena.
Roy Hodgson is refusing to set West Brom a points target as he looks to drag the Baggies away from the relegation zone.West Brom are currently 17th with 28 points – just one off the bottom three ahead of Monday’s trip to Stoke. “It’s a little bit dangerous to start playing fantasy football and working out where you will get your points and other teams will drop their points,” Hodgson said.”For me the only thing we can do is take every game as it comes.””Traditionally we all think at the start of the season that 40 points will be enough, but there’s no guarantee, that 40 points will keep you in the league.”Stoke have built a reputation as a tough side to beat at home but Hodgson insists he will not change his tactics to suit their style of play.”Every week you play a team which has a slightly different focus to its play and normally when you start the week you tend to prepare your work around that focus,” he added.”It’s still important for us to do a load of things rights as far as we’re concerned, that we don’t change our game totally for the opposition, that we have a game of our own and a game plan of our own.”Hodgson has also reported he has no injury worries for the trip to the Britannia.