Debunking The Misleaders – “Muslims Vow To Kill Sacha Baron Cohen”

 

Chelsea’s move for Villas-Boas seems the result of panic at Stamford Bridge

Villas-Boas has achieved success in a short space of time at Porto

Roman Abromovich moved quickly on the last day of the Premier League 2010/11 season to axe his coach Carlo Ancelotti within minutes after the final whistle. His search for a replacement has fluctuated up and down but it appears that search is over as he looks to appoint a 33-year-old as his new manager.

Andre Villas-Boas, who guided Porto to a treble (Portuguese league and domestic cup double and the Europa League) last season is the youthful coach who is being seen by the Stamford Bridge club to re-energise a squad that is showing serious signs of degradation.

But the manner in which Chelsea’s search for a new coach has developed omits an underlying feeling that the potential acquisition of Villas-Boas is a panic move having been rebuffed in their hunt for others.

Porto state that the compensation clause in Villas-Boas’ contract – £12m – has yet to be reached by any club and the fact that Chelsea are happy to pay such a huge amount for a manager who has yet to achieve success for a sustained period of time, suggests that panic mode has set in at Stamford Bridge.

We are now nearing towards the end of June with the first team squad firmly enjoying their summer break. Chelsea, in quite unusual scenes, are standing on the sidelines watching the transfer market unfold in front of them without having done any purchasing.

The first team squad usually meet up in July to begin the hectic and commercially driven pre-season, and Chelsea have realised that they have no time to waste to get a new man in, who can then analyse the squad and recommend reinforcements. And also to allow those players out of favour, to leave the club.

If Villas-Boas was highly regarded by Chelsea bosses and they were supremely confident he was the man to take them forward, why not go for him from the very start? Rather than engaging in the quiet flirting with Dutchman Guus Hiddink and other coaches?

The only concern is that if and when the new manager is installed (it could be by the end of this week when an announcement is made), will it give him the time he needs to chop and change the squad and try to gel it together during the pre-season stage?

If and when Villas-Boas is installed, it will allow the club to continue on their managerial structure with reports emanating that Hiddink will return to the club as a director of football.

Villas-Boas was touted as the first name to be on Abramovich’s list post-Ancelotti but the Portuguese quickly maintained that he wanted to stay at Porto and the club itself confirmed that it wasn’t going to let their highly-rated coach leave after a hugely successful season.

Attentions then turned to Turkey’s national coach Hiddink, who, on the request of Abramovich, became Chelsea’s coach in 2009 temporarily after the sacking of Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.

It seemed a perfect fit and quotes attributed to Hiddink suggested that with a little bit of temptation, he could forego one of his strongest principles (seeing out his contracts) and ask to leave his post to become Chelsea’s manager and thus save Abramovich again.

But the complex contractual negotiations with the Turkish FA have meant Chelsea’s hierarchy have had to re-think their plan and hence have decided to stump the money needed to get Villas-Boas from Porto.

The whole chain of events in replacing Ancelotti only confirms that Abramovich didn’t have anyone specific in mind to replace the out-going Italian and in a congested managerial market, he has struggled to find a person who ticks the boxes of his very short footballing list: to win the Champions League.

That is one thing that Villas-Boas has yet to achieve, further from that, he is yet to coach in the Champions League and would have done so for the first time with Porto next season. But it now seems he’ll be doing so with new employers and bigger expectations on his shoulders.

The impending appointment of Villas-Boas is a move away from Abramovich’s “get the man whose won the Champions League” mindset and suggests that he could give Villas-Boas the time he needs to bring continued success. But more importantly, to give the owner, his trophy of the Champions League in the Chelsea trophy cabinet.

Inaccurate and misleading reporting by British press on Katya Koren

After being alerted to the horrendous reporting by the Daily Mail on the Muslim Public Affairs Committee Forum through this blog: http://hotterthanapileofcurry.wordpress.com, I decided to take a brief look at the reportage of other press outlets and see if they had taken a different approach to the story or whether it was the same.

LINKS: First DM article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392454/Muslim-girl-Katya-Koren-19-st…

Second DM article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393154/Katya-Koren-Was-Muslim-beauty…

Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/8548022/Muslim-teena…

Daily Mirror – http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/05/31/teenager-stoned-to-death-…

Daily Express – http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/250012/Stoned-to-death-for-entering-beaut…

Daily Star – http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/193735

Managers in the Premier League begin the summer refurbishment of their squads in what could be the busiest transfer window yet

Jones, 19, is widely regarded as a future England defender after capturing the attention of 5 clubs with his performances in a depleted Blackburn side

Managers all over the country will be embarking on a major clear out of their changing room personnel, getting rid of the dead wood and bringing in newer, fresher replacements. After the record breaking January transfer window, the summer market could be the busiest ever.

The last campaign of the Premier League proved to be one of the tightest ones ever, with the battle for success and failure at both ends of the table proving riveting. The title race was decided with a game to go, whilst the relegations of Blackpool and Birmingham were confirmed on a sunshine strewn final day.

Battling for the riches of the Champions League saw three teams (Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City) go head to head in a triple threat clash which saw the quality of City comfortably make Europe’s elite table.

Overall, the competitiveness of the Premier League became more compressed with smaller teams getting points from the big ones and even the mid-table positions became hotly contested.

Whilst many players enjoy their summer holidays, they can sit by the pool in the knowledge that their club will be making some moves in the transfer window.

The previous summer transfer windows have seen sporadic deals with one major signing overshadowing the rest. This summer’s transfer window could be one of the busiest – but not the most expensive.

Already so far, Sunderland’s Jordan Henderson and Blackburn Rovers’ Phil Jones are both undergoing medicals at Liverpool and Manchester United respectively, with a combined fee reported to be in the region of £37m.

It is safe to say that these two deals involving young, highly talented but raw players will spark this summer’s wheeling and dealing within English clubs.

The top four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City are all expected to spend to cover players retiring, individuals who need to be moved on, players that need to be brought in to add experience to the squad and marquee signings to make their name known competing in the Champions League.

But drift further down and you can expect transfer activity from Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham, who after failing to grab fourth place for a second successive year, have already signed keeper Brad Friedel and are actively chasing a continuous goal scoring machine after a season in which their strikers failed to produce the goods on a regular basis.

Liverpool have already signalled their intentions to refurbish a squad which needs much more quality and could herald a new era under their iconic former player and current manager, Kenny Dalglish. The conclusion of Henderson’s transfer is an indication that youth will be the theme for their business and maybe a realisation that it is all about value for money and future investment.

Next year will mark 10 years at the helm for Everton manager David Moyes, who will look back at his tenure with pride that firstly he has lasted at the club whilst other managerial friends have been given their marching orders. He’ll look back with a tinge of disappointment that he hasn’t been able to push Everton even forward with the backing of a deep transfer kitty. It will be another summer of low key deals which he will hope will bring some unknown gems that he can mould into future stars, that can cure Everton’s syndrome of failure to produce at the start of the campaign.

Two teams under new management – Fulham and Aston Villa – will have to find their feet into the club first before divulging into the market and buy players. Luckily, Dutchman Martin Jol has coached in the league before and understands the types of players who succeed at this level. With a host of managers ruling themselves out or been ruled out by the owner, Aston Villa need a quick appointment to handle the loss of Friedel and the impending departure of inspirational winger Ashley Young.

Sunderland and Newcastle are two teams from the North East who have been involved in some of the major transfers since the start of the year. Both managers (Steve Bruce and Alan Pardew) will be hoping to spend the incoming financial rewards from selling – albeit reluctantly – the players who’ve helped stabilise their position in the table. The Mackems have already started to spend the money from Henderson by enquiring about three fringe players from Manchester United. Pardew, having rued the sale of striker Andy Carroll hastily in January, will hope to receive the funds and utilise it effectively.

To be able to survive consistently in the upper half of the lower table requires a lot of tactical nous and consistency. Stoke boss Tony Pulis and Bolton manager Owen Coyle will look to build on their achievements last season by reinforcing their squads. The challenge will be is how their replace their successful on-loan players such as Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge, who returned to north London recently after a fruitful spell at the Reebok stadium.

To those who finished the season breathing a huge sigh of relief after surviving relegation, the likes of Blackburn, Wolves, West Brom and Wigan will look to ensure a relaxed end to next season. All managers besides Rovers’ Steve Kean have the experience to identify players who can come in and do a reliable job. Kean, with the backing of the Venky group will require assistance on bringing in his targets and not the ones who the owners aspire for.

The newly promoted clubs of Norwich, QPR and Swansea face a tough challenge to improve the squad that won them promotion but also bringing in Premier League players who can help them survive. It could be the ultimate challenge for Paul Lambert, Neil Warnock and Brendan Rodgers to use their managerial skills to guide their teams to gaining points for survival rather than relying on their purchases to save them.

All the summer activity will only heighten expectation for next season, nudging up excitement when the season nears and new players are ready to don their new strips for the clubs.

I predict that it will be a busy transfer window as every club will do business. However, unless Manchester City decide to gatecrash a relatively busy window with a blockbuster signing, it won’t be the most expensive. Clubs have learned that the best players to be found are those with a cheap price tag around their necks, rather than forking out huge sums for a player who may end up suffering under the weight of the price on his shoulders.

All of this activity could result in managers contributing to one of the more exciting and closest Premier League seasons.