Posts tagged feature

The European Championships in Austria and Switzerland are, inevitabley, turning into what is essentially an over inflated auction for club managers with access to generous funds. But for many teams this is irrelevant, for Coca-Cola Championship Teams the Summer transfer window is not so much a couple of months of juicy rumours, but a constant struggle to hold onto your assets; Fans are in constant fear of waking up and discovering that their star man has been sold to West Ham for nothing more than a bag of crisps and a Lucozade, whilst being in panic injuced hysterics that their club has been linked with Julian Gray in the morning papers. Here, we present you a guide to the 10 players who will be attracting the most attention this Summer, and why their supporters are sweating like Mike McShane in a steamroom…

GK: Wayne Hennessey (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

The 21 Year old Welsh International, raised in Beaumaris, Anglesey, has had a short whilst event filled career. He began life in football as a trainee at Manchester City but was released in 2003, when he was picked up by Wolverhampton Wanderers. He drifted in and out of the club during various loan spells, most memorably in the 2006/07 season when he set a Football League record of nine successive clean sheets and wins with Stockport County. But, the youngester’s career really set off in the 07/08 season, in which the now settled Wolves’ number 1 had a fantastic campaign; he made all 46 League appearences for the Midlands club, found himself as the new Welsh number 1 and made it into the 2008 Championship PFA Team of the Season. With such a fantastic season behind him, he is sure to be one of the hottest goalkeepers in the market; a new deal until 2012 will no doubt bring up his price, and it is no secret that Wolves want him at the club come August 9th.

DF - Kaspars Gorkss (Blackpool)

Normaly when people think of Latvia they think of Marian Parhars (then subsequently a stretcher), but soon it is likely that Kaspars Gorkss is the name that will first spring to mind. The talented defender joined the seaside club in 2007, immediately being put into the first team and helping himself to 50 appearances and 6 goals. His stock is rising, unnoticed to many, but one club who has noticed is QPR; many’s tip for the Title, the London club are plagued with money, more than they can spend; and it seems manager Iain Dowie wants the Big Man. QPR confirmed that they had made a bid on the 12th of June, however Blackpool issued a brief statement on the 17th June stating that they had reported QPR to the FA and the Football League for what they claimed was an illegal approach for Gorkss. This, could drag out..

DF – Bradley Orr (Bristol City)

Orr joined City in 2004 on a free transfer from Premiership Club Newcastle United. 4 years later, since scoring on his debut against Yeovil Town, Orr has made 151 appearances for the West Country Club, scoring 9 goals. He was instrumental in the club’s 2008 League run which saw them remarkably reach the Play-Off Final in their first year in the 2nd tier of League Football. Bristol City will know their chances of finding such a great full-back on a free transfer again are remote, and will be hoping Premiership teams, and bigger Championship outfits feel he does not fit in their plans. It is a waiting game, and with the risk of the ever so present ’second season syndrome’ hanging it’s head over Gary Johnson’s side, they will be praying he doesn’t want to leave personaly.

DF – Danny Shittu (Watford)

Shittu is one of those players who you feel has been around forever, whether it’s his rememberable name, or his overpowering height, the big defender makes an inprint on your memory, and this season as he has with former club QPR, he has impressed with every passing game. A key asset to his game is goals, he has scored 8 times in just over 60 games for his current club, and for a defender this is great feat, especially in the lower leagues where the defenders at set pieces take no prisoners. He has always been seen as a prospect, and seems to be slowly moving up the ladder; Watford fans in some quarters have accepted that he will be leaving (due to the pessimistic nature of a modern day Watford fan), and clubs that have been linked with the 27 year old Nigerian International include West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City. A fee of around £3 Million has been touted, and as the summer soldiers on, expect activity on this front.

MF – Joe Ledley (Cardiff City)

Ledley joined his hometown club Cardiff City at the age of nine and made his way through the youth ranks at the club, one of many homegrown players at the Welsh capital outfit, Ledley is a permanent fixture at the heart of the Midfield where he creates goals, scores them, gets stuck in and generally runs the game. His maturity is beyond his years (21) and no Welsh International squad is complete without him; the Central Midfielder is regarded as one of the hottest lower league prospects, if not the lower league prospect. Now with Peter Risdale, the Cardiff Chairman, admitting that the best players have to be sold to keep wages payable (see Ramsey to Arsenal), it looks likely that Ledley will leave Cardiff City, most likely for the Premiership. It is a matter of when, not if.

MF – Brian Howard (Barnsley)

See, here is the thing with Brian Howard, he has been Mr. Barnsley in my eyes since I stumbled across him a couple of years ago, he seems to put in 100% and has obvious talent on the ball; but I can’t help but wonder how he would fair at a bigger club. How would he do out of his comfort zone as the big fish in a small pond? Has his fantastic FA Cup season been a one off? These questions need answers, and the 25 year old, scorer of the famous last minute winner at Anfield, needs to prove to me that he has what it takes. I’ll reserve judgement.

MF – Ben Watson (Crystal Palace)

22 Year old Watson is Crystal Palace, he has never been at another club and has made 153 appearances (13 goals) for his Hometown team. The former England Under 21 International is one of the hardest workers in the League, he makes goal after goal, and chips in himself. With other Palace talents like Victor Moses being linked with moves away, Neil Warnock will be desperate to keep him; but it seems that he is one of the most coveted players in the Championship. Once again QPR and their millions have made their intentions known, and several reported bids have been made; all rejected. But it could end up too much for owner Jordan to pass up, with finances not being as free as they could be at the London club. We could see some big tugs of war this summer; this could be one of them, Palace will be praying that if they have to sell, other clubs will come in, and a bidding war will begin.

MF – Peter Halmosi (Plymouth Argyle)

As with most Plymouth players, 28 Year old Halmosi came out of nowhere. Fans were skeptical when the midfielder arrived from a club which Yoda would struggle to pronounce, 58 games later Argyle fans are kissing his feet and asking him to cure the ill. The Hungarian Interntional is the heart of every attack, and has scored 12 goals in his short spell at the club. He is inevitably attracted all sorts of interest, with just about every top Championship club, along with some top flight outfits, being linked with his name. Due to the remarkably tight finances of the South West club, a fee of about £4 Million is the relatively small touted asking price; it seems a good offer may be too good to turn down.

FW – Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

The second Wolves player on our list is what can only be described as, the AK47 of Goalmachines. When it comes to goals, the ex-Man Utd trainee, knows exactly what to do. When at Plymouth Argyle, the Cambridge born striker managed just under a goal every 3 games; leading Wolves to make a risky £1.5 Million swoop for the player in January 2008. For such a large move, mid-season, into a club with high pressures, the 22 year old would have been forgiven for not having an immediate impact. He had no intention of this, starting like a house on fire, the ex-Royal Antwerp loanee, scored 12 goals in 20 games, including the goal of the season, in one of the games of the year at Charlton Athletic. Unfortunatley Wolves failed to make the Play-Offs, and the Premiership may have to wait to see his talents, for atleast a year. Wolves must be a good tip for the title, and with players like Ebanks-Blake, Kightly and Hennessey if they don’t, they could be wiped clean of their assets next year. But there is no doubt that Premiership clubs will be looking at the most proven goalscorer in the League.

FW – James Beattie (Sheffield United)

Could the last place in our 10 really go to anyone else? This man is the definition of a ‘Big Fish in a small pond’. The £4 Million star signed for United when they were Relegated in 2007 much to the country’s disbelief; Beattie is a proven top flight player, most noteably with Southampton, and scores goals for fun at this level. He was always going to be one of the stories of the summer, it is only a matter of time before we see his name in the Paper; whether it be to another top Championship club, or to a Premeirship side. One thing is for sure he is the Yorkshire team’s star, and it will take a big offer to dislodge him; Kevin Blackwell (manager) will be licking his lips.

Happy Bidding…

..Of course we cannot forget those who have been relegated from the Premiership, fans of Derby (not so much), Birmingham and Reading will all be scared stiff of the issues surrounding their star players. at St Andrews James McFadden has today been linked with a move to SPL giants Celtic, Player of the Year Sebastian Larsson has managed to slip under the radar in Austria and Switzerland, Fabrice Muamba has already departed to Bolton Wanderers and Olivier Kapo’s name will not leave the news. Reading are having the same problems, with Glen Little already joining Portsmouth, ‘love him or hate him’ Stephen Hunt will almost certainly be linked again with the Irish revolution at Sunderland, Goalscorer Dave Kitson, Captain Nicky Shorey and James Harper are names we associate with the top flight, and could be back their come August. Even Derby will be concerned about Wonderkid Giles Barnes. It will be a stressful couple of months.

But who will The Championship clubs be looking to buy? The bigger clubs such as QPR and Birmingham will be looking at the players mentioned and Lower League players such as Jermaine Beckford at Leeds United. The Big Premeirship clubs will see their reserves raided of talent on loan, such as Frazier Campbell at newly departed Hull City. And of course we can expect some no name success stories (we’re looking in your direction Plymouth).

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Enjoy the summer.

Jack.

Barnsley completed their second and third signing of the pre-season today after revealing midfielders Mounir El Haimour & Hugo Roberto Colace had completed transfers to Oakwell.

Reds manager Simon Davey spoke of the excitement of capturing Hugo – “This is a massive coup for our Club. Hugo is a tremendous talent and has a very good pedigree after playing for the Argentinean national team right through to U21 level.

“He is technically an outstanding footballer and we cannot wait to start work with him here. We are delighted to have brought him in and sure that he will have a big part to play for us next season”.

This came after signing former Tranmere man Iain Hume in a deal for £1.2m.

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We have made recent changes to our Discussion boards after completing a main site with a new look. We have made the site smaller by losing boards we felt weren’t needed no longer. Aswell as adding club badges to any of our members name’s who have over 50 posts.

An Example.

If you have not already got a FREE account on our message boards you can join in the latest transfer talk with over 5,000 other Football fans with plenty of discussion, Who will sign for who? Your Predicitions for next season? Is Barry really worth £20m?

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The European Championships in Austria and Switzerland are, inevitabley, turning into what is essentially an over inflated auction for club managers with access to generous funds. But for many teams this is irrelevant, for Coca-Cola Championship Teams the Summer transfer window is not so much a couple of months of juicy rumours, but a constant struggle to hold onto your assets; Fans are in constant fear of waking up and discovering that their star man has been sold to West Ham for nothing more than a bag of crisps and a Lucozade, whilst being in panic injuced hysterics that their club has been linked with Julian Gray in the morning papers. Here, we present you a guide to the 10 players who will be attracting the most attention this Summer, and why their supporters are sweating like Mike McShane in a steamroom…

GK: Wayne Hennessey (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

The 21 Year old Welsh International, raised in Beaumaris, Anglesey, has had a short whilst event filled career. He began life in football as a trainee at Manchester City but was released in 2003, when he was picked up by Wolverhampton Wanderers. He drifted in and out of the club during various loan spells, most memorably in the 2006/07 season when he set a Football League record of nine successive clean sheets and wins with Stockport County. But, the youngester’s career really set off in the 07/08 season, in which the now settled Wolves’ number 1 had a fantastic campaign; he made all 46 League appearences for the Midlands club, found himself as the new Welsh number 1 and made it into the 2008 Championship PFA Team of the Season. With such a fantastic season behind him, he is sure to be one of the hottest goalkeepers in the market; a new deal until 2012 will no doubt bring up his price, and it is no secret that Wolves want him at the club come August 9th.

DF - Kaspars Gorkss (Blackpool)

Normaly when people think of Latvia they think of Marian Parhars (then subsequently a stretcher), but soon it is likely that Kaspars Gorkss is the name that will first spring to mind. The talented defender joined the seaside club in 2007, immediately being put into the first team and helping himself to 50 appearances and 6 goals. His stock is rising, unnoticed to many, but one club who has noticed is QPR; many’s tip for the Title, the London club are plagued with money, more than they can spend; and it seems manager Iain Dowie wants the Big Man. QPR confirmed that they had made a bid on the 12th of June, however Blackpool issued a brief statement on the 17th June stating that they had reported QPR to the FA and the Football League for what they claimed was an illegal approach for Gorkss. This, could drag out..

DF – Bradley Orr (Bristol City)

Orr joined City in 2004 on a free transfer from Premiership Club Newcastle United. 4 years later, since scoring on his debut against Yeovil Town, Orr has made 151 appearances for the West Country Club, scoring 9 goals. He was instrumental in the club’s 2008 League run which saw them remarkably reach the Play-Off Final in their first year in the 2nd tier of League Football. Bristol City will know their chances of finding such a great full-back on a free transfer again are remote, and will be hoping Premiership teams, and bigger Championship outfits feel he does not fit in their plans. It is a waiting game, and with the risk of the ever so present ’second season syndrome’ hanging it’s head over Gary Johnson’s side, they will be praying he doesn’t want to leave personaly.

DF – Danny Shittu (Watford)

Shittu is one of those players who you feel has been around forever, whether it’s his rememberable name, or his overpowering height, the big defender makes an inprint on your memory, and this season as he has with former club QPR, he has impressed with every passing game. A key asset to his game is goals, he has scored 8 times in just over 60 games for his current club, and for a defender this is great feat, especially in the lower leagues where the defenders at set pieces take no prisoners. He has always been seen as a prospect, and seems to be slowly moving up the ladder; Watford fans in some quarters have accepted that he will be leaving (due to the pessimistic nature of a modern day Watford fan), and clubs that have been linked with the 27 year old Nigerian International include West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City. A fee of around £3 Million has been touted, and as the summer soldiers on, expect activity on this front.

MF – Joe Ledley (Cardiff City)

Ledley joined his hometown club Cardiff City at the age of nine and made his way through the youth ranks at the club, one of many homegrown players at the Welsh capital outfit, Ledley is a permanent fixture at the heart of the Midfield where he creates goals, scores them, gets stuck in and generally runs the game. His maturity is beyond his years (21) and no Welsh International squad is complete without him; the Central Midfielder is regarded as one of the hottest lower league prospects, if not the lower league prospect. Now with Peter Risdale, the Cardiff Chairman, admitting that the best players have to be sold to keep wages payable (see Ramsey to Arsenal), it looks likely that Ledley will leave Cardiff City, most likely for the Premiership. It is a matter of when, not if.

MF – Brian Howard (Barnsley)

See, here is the thing with Brian Howard, he has been Mr. Barnsley in my eyes since I stumbled across him a couple of years ago, he seems to put in 100% and has obvious talent on the ball; but I can’t help but wonder how he would fair at a bigger club. How would he do out of his comfort zone as the big fish in a small pond? Has his fantastic FA Cup season been a one off? These questions need answers, and the 25 year old, scorer of the famous last minute winner at Anfield, needs to prove to me that he has what it takes. I’ll reserve judgement.

MF – Ben Watson (Crystal Palace)

22 Year old Watson is Crystal Palace, he has never been at another club and has made 153 appearances (13 goals) for his Hometown team. The former England Under 21 International is one of the hardest workers in the League, he makes goal after goal, and chips in himself. With other Palace talents like Victor Moses being linked with moves away, Neil Warnock will be desperate to keep him; but it seems that he is one of the most coveted players in the Championship. Once again QPR and their millions have made their intentions known, and several reported bids have been made; all rejected. But it could end up too much for owner Jordan to pass up, with finances not being as free as they could be at the London club. We could see some big tugs of war this summer; this could be one of them, Palace will be praying that if they have to sell, other clubs will come in, and a bidding war will begin.

MF – Peter Halmosi (Plymouth Argyle)

As with most Plymouth players, 28 Year old Halmosi came out of nowhere. Fans were skeptical when the midfielder arrived from a club which Yoda would struggle to pronounce, 58 games later Argyle fans are kissing his feet and asking him to cure the ill. The Hungarian Interntional is the heart of every attack, and has scored 12 goals in his short spell at the club. He is inevitably attracted all sorts of interest, with just about every top Championship club, along with some top flight outfits, being linked with his name. Due to the remarkably tight finances of the South West club, a fee of about £4 Million is the relatively small touted asking price; it seems a good offer may be too good to turn down.

FW – Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

The second Wolves player on our list is what can only be described as, the AK47 of Goalmachines. When it comes to goals, the ex-Man Utd trainee, knows exactly what to do. When at Plymouth Argyle, the Cambridge born striker managed just under a goal every 3 games; leading Wolves to make a risky £1.5 Million swoop for the player in January 2008. For such a large move, mid-season, into a club with high pressures, the 22 year old would have been forgiven for not having an immediate impact. He had no intention of this, starting like a house on fire, the ex-Royal Antwerp loanee, scored 12 goals in 20 games, including the goal of the season, in one of the games of the year at Charlton Athletic. Unfortunatley Wolves failed to make the Play-Offs, and the Premiership may have to wait to see his talents, for atleast a year. Wolves must be a good tip for the title, and with players like Ebanks-Blake, Kightly and Hennessey if they don’t, they could be wiped clean of their assets next year. But there is no doubt that Premiership clubs will be looking at the most proven goalscorer in the League.

FW – James Beattie (Sheffield United)

Could the last place in our 10 really go to anyone else? This man is the definition of a ‘Big Fish in a small pond’. The £4 Million star signed for United when they were Relegated in 2007 much to the country’s disbelief; Beattie is a proven top flight player, most noteably with Southampton, and scores goals for fun at this level. He was always going to be one of the stories of the summer, it is only a matter of time before we see his name in the Paper; whether it be to another top Championship club, or to a Premeirship side. One thing is for sure he is the Yorkshire team’s star, and it will take a big offer to dislodge him; Kevin Blackwell (manager) will be licking his lips.

Happy Bidding…

..Of course we cannot forget those who have been relegated from the Premiership, fans of Derby (not so much), Birmingham and Reading will all be scared stiff of the issues surrounding their star players. at St Andrews James McFadden has today been linked with a move to SPL giants Celtic, Player of the Year Sebastian Larsson has managed to slip under the radar in Austria and Switzerland, Fabrice Muamba has already departed to Bolton Wanderers and Olivier Kapo’s name will not leave the news. Reading are having the same problems, with Glen Little already joining Portsmouth, ‘love him or hate him’ Stephen Hunt will almost certainly be linked again with the Irish revolution at Sunderland, Goalscorer Dave Kitson, Captain Nicky Shorey and James Harper are names we associate with the top flight, and could be back their come August. Even Derby will be concerned about Wonderkid Giles Barnes. It will be a stressful couple of months.

But who will The Championship clubs be looking to buy? The bigger clubs such as QPR and Birmingham will be looking at the players mentioned and Lower League players such as Jermaine Beckford at Leeds United. The Big Premeirship clubs will see their reserves raided of talent on loan, such as Frazier Campbell at newly departed Hull City. And of course we can expect some no name success stories (we’re looking in your direction Plymouth).

Enjoy the summer.

Jack.