Tuesday's B*ll*x

[Chinners]

Given faces losing his European spot to Hart
The Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given says he has been working harder than ever since losing his place to Joe Hart and is ready if the manager calls
Shay Given was last night contemplating having to cede his Europa League place to Joe Hart, but remains no less positive towards the Englishman who, despite his indifferent form, has left him without a look-in at Manchester City.
Given who, having started only four games – three in Europe and one in the League Cup – is only 50/50 to get the nod from Roberto Mancini as City resume their European campaign at Aris Thessaloniki of Greece. That seems hard on Given, with the concentration levels of the goalkeeper 11 years his junior being questioned by Mancini and his England counterpart Fabio Capello. But Given said he was prepared to help Hart. "Well possibly [yes]," said Given. "He is a young guy and young in goalkeeping terms as well. You know, he doesn't pick the team, it's the manager who does. So you would like to think you would help him in any way. He'll learn. You know, I made mistakes in my career. You learn from making mistakes, and you become a stronger and better goalkeeper. Joe will be the same."
If Mancini does select Given for his first start since City signed off their group stage campaign at Juventus on 16 December, the 34-year-old will be conscious that his lack of competitive action presents an extra level of difficulty for himself. "I don't think worry is the word you're looking for, [but] it's not ideal," he said. "But you've got to play with the hand you've been dealt. That's the situation I'm in and there's nothing I can do to change that. I'm not a young keeper but I've played a good few games in my career and I'd like to think I can call on that experience to get me through a difficult period, obviously."
Mancini may field a fairly strong side, as Aris look to maintain a 40-year, 24-match unbeaten home run in Uefa club competition. Their side presents only one familiar character to City – Nery Castillo, the Mexican known as el Diablo who stumped up half the £3m loan fee to join Sven Goran Eriksson at Eastlands from Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2007/8 season.
Mancini, whose side will take on the winners of Besiktas and Dynamo Kiev if they progress, has taken Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli to Greece's second city and Michael Johnson – who has been out of first-team football since a training ground injury 14 months ago. Balotelli and Johnson are unlikely to feature. James Milner misses the first leg game with a hamstring injury sustained in Saturday's Manchester derby and Nigel de Jong's ankle prolongs his absence.
"I've been working and training harder than normal ... because I don't have to save myself for games, I suppose. I like to think I'll be a little bit stronger and better in [match] situations," Given concluded.
Manchester City (possible, 4-2-3-1): Hart; Richards, K Touré, Boateng, Zabaleta; Barry, Vieira; Wright-Phillips, Y Touré, Jo; Dzeko.

I even lost to Roo on Xbox
JOLEON LESCOTT has revealed how he tried to get immediate revenge on Wayne Rooney after his wonder goal won the Manchester derby - and failed.
Just hours after the Old Trafford clash, the England pals went head-to-head again - at FIFA 2011 on the Xbox.
And while there was no repeat of Roo's spectacular overhead kick from United's 2-1 win, the striker did the double over the City defender.
Lescott will hope he can finally get the defeat out of his system when Roberto Mancini's side return to action against Greek club Aris here tonight.
The ex-Everton man, 28, said: "I just smiled at Wayne after the game but spoke to him later that evening through the Xbox.
"I just said 'That was a great goal' - you have to take your hat off to a goal like that. Wayne is a smashing player.
"I played FIFA with him. I'm all right but he's better.
"And, although he beat me, I'm almost there now - I think I can almost take him!"
Lescott believes City must take heart from their derby display as they now switch their focus to two cup competitions.
He added: "There are a lot of positives we can take from the game but, obviously, we are not going to look back at the result in that way. Although we're disappointed, in a sense our targets have remained the same. We're still in third place and want to finish in the top four."
Aris have not lost at home in 24 European ties over 40 years so will be no pushovers in this last-32 clash.
Lescott almost did not make the trip at all as he forgot his passport and had to send someone to pick it up for him.
It disrupted the travel plans and he said: "I thought it was in my bag from the England game in Denmark last week but it wasn't!
"Luckily, someone went back to my house to collect it for me."
He added: "A friend of mine, Jordan Stewart, plays in Greece and is doing quite well out there. He has told me Aris are a good side.
"We know about their home record in Europe. They're sixth in the league so we can't take them lightly."
Mancini has brought only 16 fit players, with Mario Balotelli and Michael Johnson making up the party but unlikely to feature.
The Italian boss has opened the door for Shaun Wright-Phillips to save his City career just weeks after he handed in a transfer request.
January moves to Fulham and Bolton fell through but he made an impressive cameo against United.
Mancini said: "Shaun will be an option. I spoke to him when he wanted to leave. He showed against United what he is capable of."

ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC: I WANT TROPHIES NOT MANCHESTER CITY’S MEGA-BUCKS
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC last night revealed he snubbed Manchester City to join AC Milan because he wants silverware and not just a fat wage packet.
The Swedish striker had the chance to join City last summer but claimed money was not his main motivation.
Ibrahimovic, the Serie A leaders’ top scorer with 17, said: “I had a couple of talks with City and they had a fantastic project going on but I’m not one of those players who plays for money.
“For me it’s important to see what kind of future there is and what kind of possibilities there are. For me, the project of City is not for now.”
Ibrahimovic believes City will have to wait at least two more years before their cash injection starts paying off in trophies.
He added: “I think in a couple of years City will come top but Milan are at the top now and I want to be playing at the top when I’m 29 rather than 32.
“City have made some good investments and are playing well.
“But it was not about money. If you are a great player, there is money everywhere.”

WAG OF THE DAY - Thanks Joey


TRANSFER BOLLOX
Tottenham and Liverpool could be set for a bidding war for Simon Kjaer in the summer after Wolfsburg revealed they are willing to sell the highly rated Danish centre-back. talkSPORT

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wants to bring Roma midfielder Daniele de Rossi to Old Trafford in the summer. caughtoffside.com

Blackburn have persuaded Arsenal and Chelsea target Phil Jones to sign a new five-year deal. Daily Mirror

Celtic chairman John Reid admitted the club will sell their best players if the timing is right. (Daily Record)

Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has been ruled out of Wednesday Champions League trip to Arsenal after failing to recover from a tendinitis problem in his left knee. the Sun

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will play midfielder Samir Nasri from the start against Barca after he successfully came through a fitness test on the hamstring strain he suffered in January's FA Cup victory over Huddersfield. Daily Mail

Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has been pencilled in to make his debut against Manchester United an Anfield on 6 March after returning to training following a thigh injury. Daily Mirror

Tottenham will not stand in manager Harry Redknapp's way if he is asked to take over from Fabio Capello as England boss following Euro 2012. Daily Mail

Dimitar Berbatov is poised to be given a new three-year contract at Manchester United worth £175,000 per week. Daily Mirror

Former England boss Steve McClaren says he is open to offers from anywhere after being sacked as Wolfsburg manager. Metro

West Ham are looking for a new co-owner to help them capitalise on their move to the Olympic Stadium. David Gold and David Sullivan paid just over £60m to buy a 62% interest in January 2010. Now they want an investor to buy the 35% still held by Icelandic bank Straumur for around £40m. the Sun

[ashton287]

Started reading the bullshit ibra article, but happily my eyes drifted down and i just looked at the wag for a bit.

Apart from the pornstar one this is the best wag yet.

[Blue in the face]

Started reading the bullshit ibra article, but happily my eyes drifted down and i just looked at the wag for a bit.

Apart from the pornstar one this is the best wag yet.

Absolutely correct. I dont know why the wag is not at the top of the page so we dont have to glance through b*ll*x before we get there.

Have two b*ll*xs, one for wags and one for the other stuff, so those who dont want to look at the wag can avoid her.

[Crossie]

IS that Joey Bartons piece of fluff?

[Chinners]

LIUNCHTIME BOLLOX

Manchester City To Be Biggest Club Commercially Within Five Years
Manchester City, are in the habit of doing things differently. Not just now but throughout the club's history.
Alex Ferguson has famously called them the "noisy neighbours" something he seems to be regretting now.
Ferguson is the personification of the old guard that cannot keep up with the way things are developing at City, holding on in vain hope that City will go away.
On-field of course City are in the spotlight due to the massive investment in the playing squad. Because of that they are getting closer to the important Champions League qualification. Once that is met it will no doubt trigger even more investment in the playing side of things.
But away from the playing side Manchester City are quietly going about the business of changing how a football club will make money and meet the Financial Fair Play Regulations.
Although there are no public plans in place for us all to get excited about there are enough tidbits of info for me to pull together a picture for you.
It may seem extraordinary to those unaware of City's vision that the money pumped into the club to date stands at over £600m.
The initial club purchase and player recruitment makes up most of that of course but there has also been £eight m on the Platt Lane training centre - the original home of City' academy and a community hub
City sign agreement to develop 200+ acres of land £10m plus on Carrington, the first team training base
£five m on a new office development at the City of Manchester Stadium (COMS)
£five m new ticket office and club shop
£seven m on website and social media developments
Other smaller scale investments have been made but as impressive these outlays are it will soon be considered chicken feed.
Next door to COMS is a site originally intended as the home of the UK's first "Super Casino". Government intervention meant that those plans were shelved and it just so happens that shortly after that decision was made City were bought by Sheikh Mansour.
Diagonally across the road from the Casino site is another plot of land, originally of about 70 acres which City have bought and are adding more land purchases to.
On the other side of COMS are further areas where City have bought land for development.
Further away from COMS still are car parks and rough land that are now earmarked for development.
In total it has been suggested that City will head a £one billion investment in a leisure destination and a training complex second to none i world sports.
The National Indoor BMX Centre already being built near COMS. What is certain is that City are to develop the training complex across the road which will be a feature accommodation for players, including youth players from the EDS (Elite Development Squad).
There is also to be a sports science college with tie-ins to the University of Manchester.
A new glittering "leisure destination" aims to draw in six m visitors a year with the intention of grabbing families for a weekend or even a week. They will take in a couple of games, watch the training sessions and stay in the hotels provided on-site.
Other sports will also be provided for and branded under the MCFC name.
Rugby, athletics and basketball are all mooted to be under the City "brand" in the future. Similar to the Barcelona model.
The leisure destination is likely to offer something of quality and be family oriented but there are also plans for "match day" experiences for the single man. In the future if you want a pint and a bite to eat the pub will be second choice to the City experience.
And then there is the development of COMS itself which is expected to be at least 65,000 capacity at a minimum in three years.
Increases in capacity may take the headlines but the high value corporate clients will have the very best of everything, and be expected to pay for it.
City's choice of chef - Marco Pierre White Prior to any of these developments City had increased their commercial revenues considerably and are now have the 11th highest turnover in the world.
By the end of the planned developments it would not be a surprise to see City at the head of that list.
With a new kit deal, stadium naming rights, increased capacity and a lot more corporate hospitality in place City could realistically look at a further £120m revenue per year.
Add in the suggested £50m per season Champions League monies and already City would be in the top five of the world's biggest clubs in T/O terms.
But it is the massive returns from the 365/24/7 leisure destination that could mean City are found even further up that list.
If City do invest £one billion then it is a reasonable expectation for a 20 percent revenue ROI will follow.
And of course none of this takes into consideration the international opportunities that City are nurturing.
As Africa, India and China grow so will football club's revenues but City are particularly well placed to take advantage of these opportunities as they have cash rich owners.
But the real money will be in North America, a mature market in disposable income terms but one yet to be fully tapped into.
1 = Casino Site, 2 = Training Centre. Further land has now been bought And so City are now partnered with ESPN (part of the Disney family) and have plans for some US academies where there will be year long opportunities to market the club to a massive soccer playing demographic.
A further partnership with the MLS will see City merchandise in every franchise outlet across North America.
Similar investments in College Soccer could follow further embedding the City 'brand' in the US conscience.
So once City are the Premier League club (and more importantly brand) of choice in the US then the close ties that City have with Nike (City's CEO Garry Cook was in charge of Brand Jordan) it can be not too long before sports stores across the US have City merchandise available.
With all of this noisy neighbour behaviour there are some estimates suggesting that City could be the first football club (business) with a turnover in excess of £one billion.
I for one wouldn't put it past them.

Levante set to pay £1million for Man City flop
Levante are ready to pay £1million to buy on-loan Manchester City strike Felipe Caicedo - but might have to sell him within a year to ease debts.
The Ecuador international has made just ten Premier League appearances for City since his £5.2m move from FC Basle in 2008.
The striker has been on loan at La Liga side Levante since the summer and has caught the eye with nine goals in just 12 starts.
It has been reported in Spain that Levante are now set to pay City the pre-arranged fee of £1m for the striker, and then tie him down to a long-term contract containing a £10m release clause.
But the Spanish side are not likely to keep him on a long-term basis, as they might be forced to sell to ease the club's mounting debts.
Although they do not expect to receive the full £10m, Levante hope to sell Caicedo for around six times more than they pay for him - and allocate just £500,000 for a replacement, with the rest going on debts.

Van der Vaart denies rumours
Italian sources have in recent weeks suggested that Rafael Van der Vaart, the Dutch Tottenham playmaker, has been closely followed by Manchester City – primarily by Roberto Mancini.
But the 28 year old has stepped forward and prefers to stay focused on the commitment this evening against Milan:
“It’s always a great pleasure to be likened to a club as important as the City, have a fantastic project, it would be the best. But I’m not one to only think only about money.
“I’m happy if people appreciate me as a person as well as a footballer. I try to be open and available to everyone, because my parents taught me to be so. I try to behave like a normal person.
I’m at home watching football on TV, sometimes I play tennis, go out like everyone else. I do not really like going to the party: I am a footballer, not a star. Madrid is a fantastic place, a club among the strongest in the world. But sometimes you need to know to choose, and then there the environment is complicated.
We were so many, I Wesley, Robben, not have the space you thought . If for me in London began a second life? ‘a fresh start. This season the league is more varied, there are only Real and Barca, here you are fighting harder to win points. The Spurs are a team that plays a good football and has many great players.
If we play together a few years we can become a great team. The competition with Milan? ‘a very open game, but we have beaten Inter and also we know we can beat AC Milan. And then the return in house gives us a great advantage. I think everyone should fear coming to play at White Hart Lane.

"David Silva is exactly the player United need"
Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson believes Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson would absolutely love to have Manchester City midfielder David Silva in his team, suggesting the diminutive Spaniard is exactly the kind of player the current Premier League leaders are crying out for.
The Match of the Day pundit believes this Manchester United side is more workmanlike than their vaunted predecessors and suggests Silva’s unique ability, which is on a par with Arsenal duo Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri according to Lawrenson, would provide the spark that Ferguson’s side has on occasions been lacking.
Although Manchester United remain at the summit of the Premier League, the common consensus is that this is not a vintage Red Devils side, and Lawrenson believes Ferguson may already be planning for the future by looking to sign a Silva-type player to provide his functional outfit with “the X-factor” they have been lacking.
Speaking prior to the Manchester derby on Saturday, Lawrenson told the Daily Mirror: “David Silva is exactly the player Manchester United need.
He continued: “Silva is a beautiful player, a world-class talent who has the X-factor Sir Alex Ferguson has been missing.
“Silva is right up there on a par with Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri as the Premier League’s best and most creative players.
“Carlos Tevez scores City’s goals and works his socks off but is not their most creative player – that is definitely Silva.
“He plays between the lines, comes forward from deep, picks a pass and creates chances for his team-mates.
“Silva has the ability and creativity that United lack in their midfield.
“Michael Carrick, Anderson and Darron Gibson are good players but don’t have the same vision or invention. You get that from playing in a great Spain team, winning the World Cup and European Championship.
“Silva came with a big price-tag, he is physically slight and it took him a while to settle into the Premier League.
“But suddenly he has really grasped it and become City’s most influential player.
“And I bet Fergie is looking at him and thinking: ‘Wow, I wish I had him in my team.’”
He continued: “United are a terrific team and you cannot question them too much because, before losing at Wolves, they were on a fantastic unbeaten run.
“But they are workmanlike. It’s not a classic Fergie team. Make no mistake about it, he sets up his teams in spectacular fashion.
“The great United teams have been fabulous to watch. ­Unmissable, the best in Europe.
“But this United team is lacking a spark. They are missing the sort of player, like Silva, to give them that X-factor, something different and special.
“If you look at Wayne Rooney and Nani, they have great ability. Dimitar Berbatov, too. But, this season, all of the components haven’t come together enough.
“They’ve destroyed teams on occasion - Blackburn springs to mind.
“But, by their own amazing standards, United have not hit the heights or done the spectacular.
“That is a great shame because we are used to United putting on a great show and entertaining us.
“Maybe they will catch light towards the end of the season.
“But you can bet that Ferguson, being a manager who loves flair and skill, will be thinking of next season already and how to produce that spark.”

Man arrested after Crawley fan mocks Munich air crash
A man has been arrested following a complaint that Crawley Town's FA Cup song featured a supporter mocking the victims of the Munich air crash.
The non-league side and musician Mike Dobie recorded a version of The Specials' A Message To You Rudy as A Message To You Rooney.
A Manchester United fan complained that the video, posted on YouTube, featured a supporter making aircraft gestures.
The 1958 Munich air crash left 23 people dead, including eight players.
Manchester United were returning from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade when their plane crashed on a runway in Munich.
Crawley Town will face United in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Sussex Police said a man was arrested on suspicion of causing harassment, alarm or distress and bailed until 25 February.
A spokeswoman added: "A 19-year-old man was last night arrested by police in Crawley following complaints about the content of a music video produced to support Crawley Town Football Club in its FA Cup run.
"The man from Crawley was arrested under the Public Order Act on suspicion of causing harassment, alarm or distress and has been bailed until 25 February pending further inquiries.
"As part of his bail conditions the man is not allowed to travel to Manchester for the Crawley Town Football Club match against Manchester United on Saturday."
Seven players were killed in the crash and one died in hospital 15 days later Crawley Town are believed to have given the fan a lifetime ban from the club.
Wilf McGuinness, who was a United player at the time of the disaster, said: "They just don't know what it means actually, when people shout bad things about that especially they don't realise.
"It doesn't hurt now because we think they're just stupid."
A re-edited version of the song, featuring the lyrics "Rooney, a message to you Rooney, we're going to Wembley", has been put on the club's website.

The Original video that has caused such a stir ....
[youtube]F3pI_MrjAZ0[/youtube]

[Mase]

You can get arrested for making an airplane gesture now?? Good job Henrik Larsson has retired.