Roll up, roll up, for the Sale of the Century

Tuesday sees the opening of the January transfer window, the only time between now and the summer where clubs can sign players on permanent deals (apart from free agents of course).

Historically not a lot has really happened in this time. You tend to get the odd big-money move but usually gossip and speculation far exceeds reality.

Saying that though there are some relatively big names in the Premier League who could be on the move.

Nicolas Anelka will almost certainly find himself with a new club before 1st February. Chelsea, Manchester United and AC Milan have all been linked with ‘Le Sulk’, and personally I think he’ll end up in London filling in for Didier Drogba at the Bridge.

Across the capital Jens Lehmann could also find himself in new employment. Wolfsburg are the latest club to be linked so look out for him in the Bundesliga before too long, especially as Arsenal have effectively now opened the door for him to leave.

If Lehmann exits Arsenal it leaves a nice big space in the squad for a new keeper. Celtic’s Artur Boruc is the smart money to fill it, but I’d not be too surprised (and also quite pleased if truth be told) to see former Canary Robert Green in the Gunner’s goal either.

Closer to home and it’s a completely different situation. With City still in the mire it’ll be just as interesting to see who leaves Colney via the back door than who walks in through the front.

Paul Gallagher (currently on loan at Dunfermline) has made no secret of his desire to stay in Scotland.

Julien Brellier has apparently been spotted in Scotland recently, rumours that he too could be moving back to whence he came.

Simon Lappin and Ian Murray (who himself feels his days are numbered) have also been linked with moves north of the border, but I can’t see clubs paying much for them.

And what about Ryan Jarvis? And David Strihavka?

The four loan signings are all likely to extend their stay in Norfolk. Matty Pattison looks the most likely to sign a permanent deal you would think, with Mo Camara, Jimmy Smith and Ched Evans staying on loan until the end of the season.

And then there’s Martin Taylor. The whole “will he, won’t he?” debate has more than a little of the Huckerby about it. Birmingham have said he can go, but QPR are the only club that have had an offer accepted – only according to Norwich he doesn’t want to go QPR and we won’t be increasing our offer.

It’s a mess. A big, nasty mess. For what it’s worth I still think he’ll roll into Carrow Road, but it’ll go down to the wire.

And I see we’ve also been linked with Callum Davenport again. One thing’s for sure – it’s going to be an interesting month.

OTBC.

Somebody Save This Man From Himself

Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton has been charged with assault. Again.

This is the same Joey Barton who, at the 2004 Manchester City Christmas party, stubbed out a lit cigar in team-mate Jamie Tandy’s eye.

The same Joey Barton who in the summer of 2005 was sent home from Manchester City’s tour of Thailand for allegedly assaulting a 15 year old Everton fan who had provoked him by verbally abusing him and kicking his shin.

The same Joey Barton who bared his backside to Everton fans after an injury time equaliser in a game at Goodison Park in September 2006.

The same Joey Barton who, when called into the England squad for the first time in February 2007, publicly criticised members of the squad who had released books following the 2006 World Cup with the priceless quote:

“England did nothing in that World Cup, so why were they bringing books out? ‘We got beat in the quarter-finals. I played like sh*t. Here’s my book.’ Who wants to read that?”

The same Joey Barton who in May 2007 was suspended by City for allegedly assaulting team-mate Ousmane Dabo, causing injuries including a detached retina (that one was bailed until the summer by the way).

The same Joey Barton who did this to Dickson Etuhu in the Tyne/Wear derby.

The same Joey Barton who, at the start of December declared the Newcastle fans “vicious”, and questioned their support.

So to those footballers who feel they need more protection from “dangerous” supporters, I have an idea. Just employ Barton as a bodyguard. I’ve got a feeling he’s going to have a fair amount of spare time on his hands in the not-too distant future.

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas. It’s the one time of year when people are nice to you for no apparent reason, you get to spend time with your family and people you love, and there’s loads of great football and films on the telly.

Personally I recommend:

Christmas Eve – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (ITV1, 16:15), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (BBC1 20:30).

Christmas Day – The Santa Clause 2 (ITV1 11:20), The Queen’s Speech (BBC1 15:00), Finding Nemo (BBC1 15:10), Shrek 2 (BBC1 16:40), Soccer AM Christmas Special (Sky Sports 1, 19:00), Soccer Special (Sky Sports 1, 21:30).

Boxing Day – West Ham V Reading (Sky Sports 1 12:30), Monsters Inc (BBC1 17:35), Portsmouth V Arsenal (Sky Sports 1 19:30).

I very much doubt I’ll get to watch much/any of that little lot, but stranger things have happened.

Merry Christmas everyone.

The A-Z of Norwich City in 2007

I’m pretty new to this blogging lark but if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that at this time of year you can’t go anywhere without stumbling across a list of one thing or another.

At about the same as this realisation I was reading Football 365’s A-Z of Football in 2007, and not wanting to miss a good band-wagon when I see it was inspired to write a Norwich City version:

A is for Anti-Climax: The feeling shared by many (including myself) when Glenn Roeder was unveiled as Peter Grant’s replacement before realising that, actually, he looks really rather good.

B is for the Barclay: Along with the Snakepit the source of 90% of the noise within Carrow Road.

C is for Carrow Road: The home of the Canaries (obviously).

D is for Dion: I know there is something not quite right when your best player is 38 years old, but persuading him to stay on for the current campaign was one of the few positives you could take from Peter Grant’s reign.

E is for Excitement: Painful? Embarrassing? Humiliating? Perhaps, but surely nobody could call 2007 dull?

F is for Fotheringham: I love seeing players showing passion for the cause and few have demonstrated a greater desire to do well for Norwich City Football Club in the last few months than the new skipper.

G is for Grant: Let’s just leave that there shall we? He’s gone now…

Neville’s Next

The debate on player safety continues. In the news this morning it’s Phil Neville’s turn to share his fears:

“It has been building up for the last 10 years and it is fine shouting abuse at you, but they are now shouting abuse about your family and when it gets to that level then enough is enough.”

Presumably you are referring to your brother the shy and retiring Gary Neville (incidentally the owner of the most magnificent facial hair in football) Philip? Or perhaps your Dad, the ingeniously named Neville Neville.

Come on – there is a serious debate to be had here, but sometimes jokes just write themselves.

To be fair though it is actually a pretty interesting interview. You can listen to it here.

Happy Birthday To Me

It’s my birthday today.

And that only means one thing. I get to watch football on the TV without the usual “isn’t there anything decent on?” questions emanating from Mrs Guru.

We’ve got Arsenal versus Tottenham at 12:45, Wolves versus Leicester at 17:20, and seeing as Norwich are playing Wolves next Saturday I might even do myself a little bit of scouting in preparation.

Sandwiched in-between these two games I shall be finishing off my Christmas shopping, which obviously entails a trip into town on the last Saturday before Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?

So, on behalf of the world, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Guru happy birthday to me.

Whatever Happened to Buckets of Balls?

I have a job where I am lucky enough to be able to work from home from time to time. Today is one such occasion, which enabled me to watch the draw for the next round of the Champions Leage.

As a seasoned football fan who loves the excitement that only a good draw can bring (is there a better day than FA Cup Third Round draw day?), I was quite looking forward to it. Silly boy.

All I can say is if you are ever in the same position do yourself a favour – just find out via the net later on like everybody else does. By the time the draw actually took place I could hardly remember what it was for. It was painful.

If the draw itself wasn’t exciting enough (and in amongst the tedium there are some great games methinks) thank goodness for Sky Sports and their reporters just dying to put words in club officials mouths:

Reporter: “So, random chap from Celtic, it’s bring it on for Barcelona then eh?”

Celtic chap: “erm, yes we look forward to playing them”.

Reporter: “You heard it folks, Celtic say bring it on to Barca – should be a cracker”.

Genius. Who needs Trevor Brooking?

Leave The Boys Alone, Bless Them.

PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor has called for greater security to ensure players are protected from crowd abuse.

Sol Campbell also believes things are out of hand:

“We can all take the booing or light banter, but when it gets to the realms of verbal abuse it’s a bridge too far”.

He also questioned whether this sort of abuse is an infringement of a player’s human rights.

While you cannot condone some of the ridiculous abuse handed out to players on occasion (in my opinion the Ashley Cole/Arsenal situation went too far at the weekend), supporters pay a lot of money to watch these “superstars” who earn more in a week than they will in a year. If they think a certain player is a bit of a prat they have every right to say so.

On the day Manchester United defender Jonny Evans is arrested on rape allegations, and following incidents including Joey Barton putting a cigar out in a team-mate’s eye and allegations of racially motivated assault in recent years (to name but two), I wonder who needs this protection more – footballers from the public or the public from footballers.

If you’re interested you can listen to Sol Campbell’s interview with the BBC here.

Let’s Not Lose Sight of the Bigger Picture

In his first press conference this afternoon Capello said “From the first day I spoke with Sir Trevor Brooking, I have always asked for an English coach to be integrated into the set-up”.

“It is something I have done wherever I have been – it is vital have someone from that environment who understands English football and the language”.

Good news for those people terrified at the prospect of an all-Italian management team, but I think we have a much more serious problem.

The Premier League is widely regarded (in England at least) as being the best league in the world, but no English manager has ever won the title, only 8 of the 20 teams have an English manager, at the time of writing only two clubs in the top 10 have an English manager – and none in the top 6.Six years ago the FA employed their first ever foreign coach. Look at the English managers available then, and look now. Can you see much of a difference? No, me neither.

It is about time English football got over itself and realised that while yes, we may host the richest league on earth, as a nation we are not as good as we think we are.

Until we produce managers and coaches good enough to work at the very highest level we will continue to struggle, which is exactly why this cannot not be allowed to happen.