Thursday's B*ll*x

[Chinners]

Superman waits
Stephen Ireland is putting his move to Aston Villa on hold - and keeping the door open for a late swoop by Tottenham.
Manchester City’s out-of-favour midfielder can be part of the deal that will see Villa’s England star James Milner head for City at the end of his protracted transfer chase.
Ireland will not figure in Mancini’s squad this season and is free to talk to Villa. He is due to meet them today, but is reluctant to commit - and was even wary of joining them while Martin O’Neill was in charge.
Spurs have expressed an interest in Ireland and their chase has increased with top target Scott Parker’s decision to stay with West Ham on a new deal.
City value Ireland at £8million and Spurs could pay that sum - and his wages - as Redknapp looks for some extra class in his midfield area.
Ireland knows his City days are over. Mirror Sport revealed that Mancini told him his fate during their tour of the United States and ‘general manager’ Brian Marwood has confirmed it.
The midfield schemer delayed talks with Villa last weekend after being tipped off that things were not well in the O’Neill camp. However he planned to give it a few days to let Spurs decide.
Spurs are already trying to do a deal with Ireland’s City team-mate Craig Bellamy who is willing to join them on loan. However that deal is proving hard to sort out.
However City would have no objections to Spurs buying Ireland and getting him off their hands as he would be worthless come the end of the window when he will be out of their squad.

Sunderland sign Nedum Onuoha from Manchester City in loan deal
Sunderland have signed Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha on a season-long loan, the Black Cats have confirmed.
Having secured the return of John Mensah from Lyon for a second loan spell after he impressed last season, manager Steve Bruce has snared another of his targets in former England Under-21 captain Onuoha.
Making his move: Onuoha has joined Sunderland on loan
The 23-year-old came through the ranks at Eastlands and made his first-team debut for City at the age of 17 but he has found his first-team opportunities increasingly limited over the last couple of seasons.

Mancini is not playing Bellamy in the squad that face Timisoara
MANCHESTER City have dropped their strongest hint yet that Craig Bellamy is set to leave by omitting both him and Stephen Ireland for next Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against Timisoara.
And the club appear to have left room for new signings, likely to be Mario Balotelli and James Milner, by naming a squad of 23.
Bellamy, above, has said he does not expect to be in Roberto Mancini’s 25-man Premier League squad, while Ireland is set to be part of the deal that will see Milner move from Aston Villa despite Martin O’Neill’s resignation throwing a cloud over the transfer. Kolo Toure believes that in Balotelli, City will be signing another character in the mould of Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane.
City and Ivory Coast captain Toure played against Inter Milan striker Balotelli, who turns 20 today, when he made his senior Italy debut at West Ham on Tuesday.
Toure said: “He is well-suited for English football. He’s very strong physically, technically very good, he’s fast. He’s one for the Premier League.
“His attitude is very good. He reminds me of Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira, the type of guys who are mentally strong.”

West Ham boss Avram Grant is looking to snap up Manchester City's Brazilian striker Jo, 23, should he lose the services of English hitman Carlton Cole. caughtoffide.com

PLEASE DO NOT BE BOLLOX .... BOLLOX
New Fulham boss Mark Hughes wants Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz to spearhead his attack. The 28-year-old player fears he could miss out on Roberto Mancini's 25-man squad and would be keen to link up with the manager who originally brought him to England from Bayern Munich three years ago. Daily Mail

WAG OF THE DAY
http://www.webwombat.com.au/lifestyle/f ... rikova.htm

TRANSFER BOLLOX
Liverpool will have to cough up £20m for Carlton Cole. West Ham are willing to sell but they want a top price as they would have little time before the new season kicks off to sign a replacement striker. the Sun

Chelsea have beaten off Manchester United to land highly rated Burkina Faso prospect Bertrand Traore. The midfielder, who is only 14, shone at the Under-17 World Cup last year - where he became the youngest player to appear in the finals. the Sun

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is considering making a £14m offer for two Aston Villa players, with England defender Stephen Warnock, 28, and Bulgaria midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, 31, his targets. caughtoffside.com

Aston Villa are preparing to bring Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to Villa Park as part of a triangle of moves, with Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer joining Arsenal and Villa's Brad Friedel moving to Craven Cottage. Daily Mirror

Tottenham are looking to offload striker Peter Crouch. The England player was offered to West Ham as part of an unsuccessful proposed swap deal for Scott Parker but Liverpool and Everton could be interested. Daily Mirror

Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp has been to watch France striker Loic Remy and Nice's £13m-rated man is now the Tottenham manager's number one target. Daily Mirror

Everton sent scouts to watch Remy make his France debut against Norway on Wednesday but the Merseyside club were not alone, with Aston Villa, Sunderland and Chelsea and Spurs all represented in the stands. Daily Mail

Manchester United are interested in signing £9m-rated Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, 17, from Anderlecht. caughtoffide.com

Germany coach Joachim Loew has urged his World Cup star Mesut Ozil to reject Manchester United in favour of Spanish giants Barcelona. "You have to remember that playing for Barcelona is very special for a footballer," said Loew. Daily Star

OTHER BOLLOX
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is so eager to take over the vacant managerial role at Aston Villa that he is willing to lower his high salary demands. Daily Mirror

Aston Villa may give caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald an extended spell in charge to buy themselves some time to find a successor to Martin O'Neill. Villa have been inundated with applications since O'Neill quit but are determined not to be rushed into a decision and are now prepared to let MacDonald remain in the post for a couple of weeks, possibly even longer.the Guardian

Sunderland manager and former Manchester United captain Steve Bruce had to borrow a Leeds tie to be allowed into the VIP area at Elland Road on Tuesday to watch his son, Alex, make his debut for the club. Derby boss Nigel Clough was refused entry last weekend because he was wearing a tracksuit. Daily Mail

FINAL BOLLOX
Divy Spice might be not picked anymore for England but don't say it too loudly as I think nobody has noticed yet ...

[kinkylola]

if lukaku is 9m I would absolutely snap their hands off for that deal ... if we let one of the brightest young talents in the world go to the rags for peanuts I will be upset. move Jo and RSC off and bring in balotelli and lukaku ... supplemented with our own young players, that is a fine attack with real quality and promise.

and fuck off twitchy for ireland and bellers. How we would ever even think of selling those assets to our closest direct rival ... who beat us out for the CL spot last year by 3 points. They would not make spurs weaker, so it has to be a no-brainer to not sell them anything. for 8m? HUGE BOLLOX

[daveh1962]

Spurs are already trying to do a deal with Ireland’s City team-mate Craig Bellamy who is willing to join them on loan. However that deal is proving hard to sort out.
However City would have no objections to Spurs buying Ireland and getting him off their hands as he would be worthless come the end of the window when he will be out of their squad.

What a load of bollox he will hardly be worthless just not available

[kinkylola]

if lukaku is 9m I would absolutely snap their hands off for that deal ... if we let one of the brightest young talents in the world go to the rags for peanuts I will be upset. move Jo and RSC off and bring in balotelli and lukaku ... supplemented with our own young players, that is a fine attack with real quality and promise.

and fuck off twitchy for ireland and bellers. How we would ever even think of selling those assets to our closest direct rival ... who beat us out for the CL spot last year by 3 points. They would not make spurs weaker, so it has to be a no-brainer to not sell them anything. for 8m? HUGE BOLLOX

Never even heard of Lukaku? He cant be that good.

you never heard of him? even after your comprehensive scouting trip 'round europe?

shit ... i must have been wrong then

[Ted Hughes]

if lukaku is 9m I would absolutely snap their hands off for that deal ... if we let one of the brightest young talents in the world go to the rags for peanuts I will be upset. move Jo and RSC off and bring in balotelli and lukaku ... supplemented with our own young players, that is a fine attack with real quality and promise.

and fuck off twitchy for ireland and bellers. How we would ever even think of selling those assets to our closest direct rival ... who beat us out for the CL spot last year by 3 points. They would not make spurs weaker, so it has to be a no-brainer to not sell them anything. for 8m? HUGE BOLLOX

Never even heard of Lukaku? He cant be that good.

you never heard of him? even after your comprehensive scouting trip 'round europe?

shit ... i must have been wrong then

I thought Chelsea were in the driving seat to sign him?

Anyhow, we'll have to realise that we can't sign all the best prospects in the world & build a side to win the league at the same time. Some players will go elsewhere, we can't have them all. We'll have to make do with Balotelli for now..

[BlueMoonAwoken]

I hope sven gets the job id love to see him back in the premier league.

[john@staustell]

I hope sven gets the job id love to see him back in the premier league.

I heard he was a lifelong Villa fan.

I too would love to see him back in the PL - at a rival club!

[BlueMoonAwoken]

I hope sven gets the job id love to see him back in the premier league.

I heard he was a lifelong Villa fan.

I too would love to see him back in the PL - at a rival club!

Dont mean i think he will do any good though :P are villa really a rival club these days anyway? i thought it was the rags, chelsea and arsenal.

[john@staustell]

I hope sven gets the job id love to see him back in the premier league.

I heard he was a lifelong Villa fan.

I too would love to see him back in the PL - at a rival club!

Dont mean i think he will do any good though :P are villa really a rival club these days anyway? i thought it was the rags, chelsea and arsenal.

Fully agree mate, I just meant 'rival' as in another Premier club.

[sweenyuk]

I hope sven gets the job id love to see him back in the premier league.

I heard he was a lifelong Villa fan.

I too would love to see him back in the PL - at a rival club!

Dont mean i think he will do any good though :P are villa really a rival club these days anyway? i thought it was the rags, chelsea and arsenal.

They are the kind of team who could take points off us, so I would class them as a rival, even though I don't expect them to be anywhere near top 6 finish

[craigmcfc]

Wagalicious

[Esky]

if lukaku is 9m I would absolutely snap their hands off for that deal ... if we let one of the brightest young talents in the world go to the rags for peanuts I will be upset. move Jo and RSC off and bring in balotelli and lukaku ... supplemented with our own young players, that is a fine attack with real quality and promise.

and fuck off twitchy for ireland and bellers. How we would ever even think of selling those assets to our closest direct rival ... who beat us out for the CL spot last year by 3 points. They would not make spurs weaker, so it has to be a no-brainer to not sell them anything. for 8m? HUGE BOLLOX

Never even heard of Lukaku? He cant be that good.

During his breakthrough season *aged 16* he was the top scorer in the Belgian League. Mightn't sound like much, but that includes teams like Standard Liege who did a number on Everton last season.

He's something like 190cm and 90kg+, has been heavily linked with Chelsea and scored for fun in the Europa too (I watched him against Bilbao and he was amazing all around). Vinny K (both are Belgian) also said he's a gift from God, or something along those lines.

Even if he's stays at Anderlecht for a few seasons I'd be sealing first option now. He's a Chelsea supporter through and through though.

[irblinx]

Someone wants shooting if we sell Bellend and/or Stevie to Spurs, why the he'll would we want to strengthen our rivals?

[Feed The Goat]

Someone wants shooting if we sell Bellend and/or Stevie to Spurs, why the he'll would we want to strengthen our rivals?

I'm not worried who we sell them to. The powers that be recon they are not good enough for man city so selling to another club to me doesn't seem like strengthening them. It's like if you wanna be champions buying the players at Chelsea who don't quite cut it isn't gonna do that for you. We wanna be top 4 last year we finished 5th with both those players involved we have strengthened this summer so now they aren't classed as good enough.

[irblinx]

Someone wants shooting if we sell Bellend and/or Stevie to Spurs, why the he'll would we want to strengthen our rivals?

I'm not worried who we sell them to. The powers that be recon they are not good enough for man city so selling to another club to me doesn't seem like strengthening them. It's like if you wanna be champions buying the players at Chelsea who don't quite cut it isn't gonna do that for you. We wanna be top 4 last year we finished 5th with both those players involved we have strengthened this summer so now they aren't classed as good enough.

That's a very shortsighted view, what has their position in the City pecking order got to do with whether they will strengthen another team? If we sent whichever one of Hart or Given doesnt become no.1 to Arsenal are you saying that wouldn't strengthen them?