General Football 23/24

[RichC]

Villa have suspended Lamberts assistants - bit odd!

Aston Villa suspend Lambert assistants Culverhouse & Karsa
Aston Villa have suspended assistant manager Ian Culverhouse and head of football operations Gary Karsa pending an internal investigation.

Gordon Cowans and Shay Given have been temporarily promoted to assist manager Paul Lambert and his coaching staff, the club has said.

Villa did not explain why Culverhouse and Karsa had been disciplined.

The duo joined the club after Lambert was appointed in June 2012, having worked with him at Norwich.

Villa are currently 14th in the Premier League table, four points above the relegation zone going into Saturday's home game against Southampton.

Cowans, 55, steps up from his role as development coach, while Given, 37, is the team's reserve goalkeeper and only returned from a loan spell with Middlesbrough at the end of February.

"I'm delighted to have Gordon and Shay to assist me in preparing the team for Saturday, which is what the whole group is focused on," said Lambert.

Given added: "As players, it's important that each and every one of us take responsibility right now and I'm delighted to play my part in helping the manager and the team go and try to win on Saturday."

[Shaggy]

Sascha Riether @saschariether
Me and my teammates are calling 2014/15 season ticket holders to thank them for renewing pic.twitter.com/OVyptrfMMS

[john316]

People renewed their Fulham season tickets?!

[Fivex]

They're probably asking them to renew rather than thanking them in the past tense.

[Yozza]

Paul Lambert lieutenants suspended by Villa to clear 'poisonous atmosphere'

• Villa take action pending internal investigation
• Gordon Cowans and Shay Given promoted in their place

Aston Villa's troubled end to the season has taken another damaging turn after the Midlands club suspended Ian Culverhouse, their assistant manager, and Gary Karsa, the head of football operations, pending an internal investigation.

Although the development raises fresh questions about Paul Lambert's future, the Villa manager's relationship with both men had broken beyond repair and the Scot was supportive of the club's decision to take action against them.

Furthermore Randy Lerner, Villa's owner, and Paul Faulkner, the club's chief executive, continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Lambert despite growing supporter unrest, another relegation battle and what, in effect, is an admission from the manager that the backroom staff he appointed in 2012 were part of the problem this season.

Exact details have yet to emerge of the official reason behind the suspensions but it is known that Culverhouse and Karsa, who had worked with Lambert for the past eight years, including spells at Norwich City, Wycombe Wanderers and Colchester, had upset staff and players with their approach, creating what has been described as "a poisonous atmosphere".

[Yozza]

Unbelievable....

Meet Andreas Christensen, the 18-year-old Chelsea defender on £20,000 a week who has never played for the first team... and won't do any time soon

At the Emirates on Thursday evening the highest-paid player in the history of the FA Youth Cup will play for Chelsea in the second leg of the semi-final against Arsenal.
Andreas Christensen, described as a ‘gazelle’ by pretty much anyone who has ever watched him play, turned 18 on April 10. He earns £20,000 a week and has not made a first team appearance.

Something, somewhere, is going wrong when youth team players are walking around with that kind of money.

He is an exceptional young player, a maturing centre half with plenty of ability on the ball. No-one disputes his potential.

The former Denmark Under 17 star, who came off the bench for Chelsea’s Under 21 team in their 4-2 victory at Aston Villa on Monday evening, makes time for himself drives into midfield positions in the way classic, ball-playing centre halves can. At his level, he is streets ahead of his contemporaries.

On £1million a year you would think that it is only a matter of time before Christensen, one of the youth team's most important players who was signed from Danish club Brondby a couple of years back, is a first team star in waiting.

If only it was that straightforward.

He was an unused substitute in Rafa Benitez’s final game in charge against Everton last season, but the standards are high at Chelsea.

When they signed Christensen in 2011, they were feeling pretty pleased with themselves after fending off interest from European football’s leading clubs.

Manchester United and Manchester City hovered, but walked away when the money came rolling in from Chelsea. Barcelona went the same way when they were also outbid.
Ask around the game and everyone will tell you that Christensen is perhaps the biggest talent in European football for his age.

And yet, at the age of 18, there are still no guarantees.

Take a look at another Chelsea academy graduate, striker Islam Feruz. Three years ago Chelsea wanted him so badly they paid Celtic some heavy duty compensation to bring him south of the border.

Patrick Bamford, scoring goals for fun at Derby (on £8,000 a week), is expected to travel with the first team when they play a series of friendlies in pre-season. He is one of 28 Chelsea players out on loan this year.

When top clubs - not just Chelsea, because there will be others who are just a culpable - are paying big sums of money to a youth team player it is time to re-assess.

There are people at Stamford Bridge who are not even sure that Christenen, who is already 6ft 1in, will make it as a first-team player.

The FA Youth Cup is often seen as a barometer by mainstream clubs in England and Chelsea have certainly established themselves as a powerful name in the competition.
When they won it in 2010, for the first time in 49 years, Chelsea were convinced that Jeffrey Bruma, Josh McEachran, Fabio Borini, Gael Kakuta and Patrick van Aanholt would soon be filling first team berths.

Bruma, originally signed from Feyenoord, is now back in Holland with PSV Eindhoven.
McEachran, who was loved by Carlo Ancelotti, is with Wigan on loan. Last August, he turned down a loan move to Malaga and nobody ever expects him to play for Chelsea again, even though he earns a staggering £38,000 a week.

Borini left for Roma in 2011 and is now back in England with Sunderland; Kakuta is on loan with Lazio; van Aanholt, the left back, is on loan with Vitesse Arnhem and it says everything about his first team chances that Chelsea are in the mix for Luke Shaw.
Nemanja Matic played against Aston Villa that night and has since returned to Chelsea after a loan spell with Vitesse and three years under contract with Benfica.

Of the 2012 team who beat Blackburn 4-1 in the final, none of them are ready for the first team just yet.

Nathaniel Chalobah, the Youth Cup final-winning captain, was on loan at Watford last season and was watched in the play-off final by Jose Mourinho. He is now on loan at Middlesbrough.

As things stand the five players who stand the best chance at Chelsea are Christensen, Bamford, Nathan Ake, plus midfielders Lewis Baker and John Swift. Next season they are likely to be sent out on loan.

John Terry, who continues to captain the club, signed a professional contract with Chelsea in 1998 and remains the last player to successfully come through the youth academy and establish himself as a first-team regular.

To get into the Chelsea team in Christensen’s preferred playing position, he must be better than Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic or David Luiz.

Even on £20,000 a week, it feels like a long way off.

[Sarb]

Scandalous

[PTP]

josh mceahran on £38k a week - and this young lad on £20k

it's ridiculous

maybe a wage cap needs creating by FIFA for age groups? they do not need that much ****ing money at that age - and it will stop top clubs stockpiling youngsters up and chewing them up and spitting them out in the hope one of them comes through.

do something like

first professional contract which i think is when you turn 17? something like anyone 17-20 can't sign for more than £2k a week,

it's a lot of money for someone that age

but it'll still keep them grounded

and it might actually aid with their development - firstly they'd be more committed to work harder to get a bigger contract at 21 and also because all of a sudden, say if you are 18 at Wigan, playing every week for the 1st team and Wigan can just about afford to pay £2k - then you are more likely to stay and get the games as what would be the attraction to go to chelsea and sit in the ressies/play youth games for 3 years for the same money?

surely when they weigh it up they'd think

right - i'm on a guarenteed £2k a week at Wigan for the next two/three years. If i go to chelsea i'll earn the same money, but - staying at wigan, i am playing every week, improving, showing what i can do - so when i am 21....there is more chance a big team will come in.....i could go chelsea, not feature for three years and then at 21. No one big wants me as they've never heard of me

then from 21 to 23 maybe increase it to £10k, then from 24 onwards it goes.



that way - the youngsters coming through, sign for clubs for footballing reasons rather than financial


that said it wouldn't work - they'd be abuses of the system. Eg Man City will prob just say to a 17 year old, right don't stay at Genoa on £2k a week....come to City, we'll give £2k a week, but we will give you a £1m mansion, a ferrari and free flights and an apartment in Dubai for you to use in the summer etc etc



something needs to be done though, some sort of structure needs putting in place - paying a kid £20k a week is just mental

[ChesterDave]

I'd imagine capping the salary to be illegal under EU law. More so if done on age. The only way round it is to implement a total salary cap for contracted players whether at the club or on loan and even if the loanee has his wages paid by the loaning club it still counts against the parent club

[Sarb]

Why not put a spending cap per window in terms of value of deals? No net spend stuff. Just a pure limit on value of deals you can do

[john316]

They spend all that money on the youth team and employ a manager who is about the least likely manager to EVER use them!

[Liverpel]

Anelka's move to Atletico Mineiro is off after he failed to arrive at the club.

Atletico gave him until Monday to arrive and sign the contract, but he's still in Kuwait on a religious trip, so they've told him to do one.

[RedReet]

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet...

PORT Vale skipper Doug Loft has spoken for the first time about the training ground incident which left him with horrific facial injuries.

The 27-year-old is understood to have sustained a broken nose, jaw and cheekbone during an alleged clash with Vale team-mate Daniel Jones, who has since been released by the club.

A picture revealing the extend of Loft’s injuries, which have sidelined him for the rest of the season, was published by a national newspaper yesterday.

Loft, who is out of contract in the summer, said: “I don’t know why it

“I’ve never had a problem (with Jones) and I’m pretty sure he’s never had a problem with me.”

Recalling the incident, which occurred on the Bycars training pitches on Thursday morning, Loft said it had been sparked by a sliding tackle.

Asked by Sky Sports whether he had heard from Jones since the incident, Loft confirmed he had received a brief text message.

He added: “I’ve got a broken cheekbone, broken nose and the top of my jaw is broken.

“They (the doctors) say after 14 days they can make a decision whether they are going to operate. If they did they say there could be other complications.

“At the moment I’m disappointed that I’m injured for the rest of the season.

“I’ve had a really good year, scoring a lot of goals and I know there was a lot of interest in me coming in the summer.

“A lot of people would have been watching me and I’m gutted I haven’t got the chance to show what I can do.”

Asked whether he would be taking legal action following the injury, Loft replied: “There’s a chance I could, but at the moment I just want to get me face right.

“I’ll go away and talk to my family about it and decide that in the future.”

Loft’s lawyer, Paul Dodds added: “Doug has been genuinely shocked by what has happened to him.

“The legal position has not been his priority. He is focussing on obtaining the best medical treatment for the injuries so he can get back playing.”

Vale announced on Monday that they had parted company with 27-year-old Jones following an investigation into last Thursday’s incident.

Vale boss Micky Adams said yesterday: “I don’t want to go into the details of the incident other than to say as a football club we were shocked by it.

“It is different to anything that I have seen before because of the extent of it, but training ground incidents happen unfortunately. There is a lot of emotion and these things can happen.

“I can’t really say too much more than that we are disappointed as a club that it has happened. But for legal reasons I can’t say too much.

“He (Loft) is out for the rest of the season it is disappointing because he has had an outstanding season. He is disappointed as well because he is out of contract in the summer.”

Asked whether Loft would be taking legal proceedings, Adams added: “That’s not down to me. We as a football club have taken our stance and we want to draw a line under it.”

[PTP]

Ouch

[Fivex]

****ing hell, nasty punch that.