Craig Bellamy could be heading for Celtic BBC Sport understands after Roberto Mancini told him he could go.
The Welshman has been frozen out at the Etihad Stadium and spent last season at hometown club Cardiff but failed to lead them to promotion.
He doesn’t figure in Mancini’s plans for the coming season with the Italian telling him he can leave.
He told BBC Sport: “If Celtic want Craig… he can go. Craig is a good striker and he can play at Celtic, because they’re an important team.”
Neil Lennon is interested in bringing Bellamy back to Scotland after he enjoyed a superb spell with the club at the back end of the 2004/05 season winning the Scottish Cup in the process.
The Celtic boss is hopeful that he can bring Bellamy in before the transfer window closes and admits the two clubs have been in contact.
“There have been conversations between both clubs.” He told BBC Sport
“I didn’t speak with City, but the two clubs have been working on that in the background,”
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“Hopefully there will be more to report at the end of the week.”
The 32-year-old has one year remaining on his current deal at Eastlands and would be prepared to see that out North of the border provided they match his wage demands.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish may be concerned with the transfer deadline day in a week’s time, but there’s a much more important one for Liverpool fans. This one shuts at midnight tonight, meaning there’s only a couple of hours left for you to get your entry in.
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Aston Villa had Shay Given to thank after they held on to their unbeaten start to the season drawing 1-1 with Newcastle who are also yet to taste defeat.
The Villa keeper was on top form to frustrate his former employers denying Steven Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye during the course of the game.
He was beaten though by Leon Best in the second half with his Republic of Ireland teammate bringing the game level after Gabriel Agbonlahor broke the deadlock for Alex McLeish’s side with his third of the season.
Both managers will be content with a point which preserves their unbeaten starts although Magpies boss Alan Pardew will be cursing his teams luck and Given’s impeccable goalkeeping.
He will have been unhappy with his sides defending as Agbonlahor opening the scorn after 15 minutes. The 24-year-old reacted quickest in the area sweeping the ball past Tim Krul from 10 yards after Barry Bannan’s cross had hit Toon captain Fabricio Coloccini.
Villa moved into the ascendency after that with Bannan sending a scorching 25-yard effort just wide before Darren Bent squandered a glorious opportunity side footing Stiliyan Petrov’s low cross wide from eight-yards when it looked easier to score.
The visitors should have equalised just before the break with Taylor’s low shot saved smartly by Given and Ba’s clipped shot sailing over the bar from 15 yards.
It didn’t take them long to find the net though with Best beating Given at the second time of asking. His initial downward header from Cheick Tiote’s cross was saved by the Vila keeper with the ball dropping kindly to the forward who reacted sharply to tap it home.
Chances came and went for both sides with Bent seeing his lobbed effort hacked away by Taylor whilst Cabaye’s crisp volley was brilliantly tipped wide by Given.
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The goals are flying in around the Football League today and it took no fewer than 10 minutes for the six Goaldash numbers to come flying in.
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Are you in the money? Have you won a Million? Check the Goaldash numbers below:
It wasn’t a surprise that Craig Bellamy left Manchester City on transfer deadline day, but it was something of a shock that the Welshman re-joined one of his old clubs, Liverpool.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has taken something of a gamble on the 32-year-old, but if it comes off then he’ll be a real asset for the Anfield club.
One thing that has followed Bellamy throughout his career is his tendency to talk a lot on the pitch and some things never change.
Here’s Bellamy on his second Liverpool debut having what can’t be described as a quiet word with Mark Clattenburg, but what’s he saying?
Leave your suggestions below…
This week you can win a copy of Joe Fagan – Reluctant Champion!
Drawing for the first time on Joe Fagan’s own diaries, as well as a raft of new interviews with players, colleagues and contemporaries, this biography celebrates the record of one of football’s least celebrated greats, and reveals the truth about Liverpool’s golden age.
Such is the esteem in which Fagan is still held by fans, colleagues and players, the interviewees for this book read like a ‘who’s who’ of Liverpool’s golden age, including Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush and Jan Molby – to name but a few.
For the FootballFanCast.com Caption Competition Terms and Conditions click here
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Last week’s winner: Domhuaille – click here to see all entries
With ten clubs in the Premier League under foreign ownership we in England tend to review them as a mixed blessing. They have made the league more competitive and thus better, they have brought in big names from other leagues, they have helped promote our league abroad, and, for some fans, have propelled their clubs to heights that they may not have previously thought possible.
But as the dust settles on another price inflating summer and we get down to the season at hand are there more issues that arise as a result of foreign owners? Certainly there have been some radical and unwanted opinions being thrown around recently such as the call for an end to promotion and relegation.
A ridiculous statement that undermines everything the sport stands for. Without the competitive edge sport could not, and would not be the same. Without competition there would be no passion and without the ability for lower league clubs to rise those teams would be condemned to life of mediocrity and subservience to the unattainable heights of the league above.
It has not been announced as to who exactly has called for these changes but personally I can only see it being Blackburn or Sunderland’s owners. Blackburn have been floundering since before they were taken over and are continuing to do so. The owners of both clubs have invested a lot in their teams with little on field success and both have a lot to lose should their early season form pick up.
Always a defendant of anything British, Harry Redknapp has waded into the argument as he told The Telegraph:
“You can’t have to many foreign owners coming in here wanting to change our game. That is where we are at. Eventually they will take the games to where they want to play them. If you have owners from China, India, Russia, America they will take their teams there to play.”
Redknapp goes on to mention how we only need to look at the NFL to see the result of American ownership citing problems such as cheerleaders that could taint the British game.
I must say: I agree with Harry, and it’s not often that I do. But I’m not sure it’s quite as dire a situation as the Spurs manager would have us believe. I personally don’t believe that any English sport could ever convert to anything even close to NFL. The game over there seems to be just part of a show that includes all kinds of other distractions and entertainment. With respect to the American public, I just don’t believe that the British people that go to football games need or want their game to be jazzed up in any way. I know I don’t, and neither does Harry.
The cheerleader type entertainment is something that American’s incorporate in to everything. It’s not like we couldn’t have thought of that without American owners so why now when they own our clubs would we suddenly include distractions like that. The fact that things like cheerleading have been around for ages and the fact that we have never bothered to adopt such habits is surely demonstrative of public opinion on the matter and others like it.
There have obviously been more worrying issues at hand such as the decision of owners like the Venky’s owners of Blackburn to take their team, during the season, to play in India. It is a point that Redknapp raises but I’m glad to say there aren’t many managers as stupid as Blackburn’s that would be willing to force their team to travel to India in the middle of a season when they should be resting and preparing for their next league game, particularly when they are struggling as Blackburn are. I know that it was initially supposed to be earlier, before the season had started, but frankly it was a pitiful attempt at marketing and just over 6,000 fans watched the game – hardly worth the 12,000 mile round trip really was it?
No, I don’t believe that this will catch on, not during the season anyway, and even if the teams travel far away for promotional pre season tours then this is nothing new, and is beneficial to the clubs if anything.
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Lastly on the issue of banning relegation I think Harry is making a point but rather than it being a genuine plea not to instil such reforms I think he is having a dig at arrogant foreign owners. Surely nobody really believes that such a change could come into play. The rules state that just fourteen of the Premier League clubs need to approve plans such as that but the FA can still veto such actions even if by some nightmarish miracle there were fourteen owners ignorant and arrogant enough to believe that it was a good idea to change the way English football should be run.
Yes, we should be aware that foreign ownership can be a danger to our game. But it can also bring plenty of benefits if the FA and the Premier League stick up for English football. Few may really trust the FA, an organisation riddled with incompetence, but it could well be the last bastion of English football soon if the remaining English clubs fall into foreign hands.
Arsene Wenger has praised Robin van Persie after the striker bagged a hat-trick in the 5-3 win over Chelsea on Saturday, claiming the attacker was ‘on fire’.
The Netherlands international is the top scorer in the Premier League currently, hitting the net ten times in as many games, and he grabbed a treble in the London derby at the weekend.
The French coach was visibly relieved after seeing his main man score the fourth and fifth goals in the win, and has heaped the praise on his match-winner.
“He is, of course, on fire,” Wenger told The Guardian.
“He takes advantage with class of the fact we attack a lot, that we create chances. The intelligence of his movement around the box and the accuracy of his finishing is exceptional.”
The Gunners started the season slowly, but Wenger has explained the change in fortune, and hopes his side can continue to progress.
“What has changed is we got half of the team in on 31 August,” he continued.
“We had to rebuild complete unity in the way we want to play football. Every win makes you stronger. Now the players get used to the way we want to play so we get stronger.
“We have still some ground to make up in the league, and the teams in front of us do not drop many points. The quality we have shown should make us more confident.
“We showed great spirit because when you are 2-1 down just before half-time … we came out straight away with a complete desire to go forward. We looked dangerous for the whole game and I hope the team continues to focus on getting stronger and stronger,” he concluded.
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Arsenal have their European campaign to concentrate on this week, and they can put one foot in the knockout rounds of the Champions League with a home win against Marseille on Tuesday.
The race for Carlos Tevez’s signature is hotting up with the three Italian giants all vying for his signature, according to The Mirror. Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus are all enthusiastic suitors of the Argentine but Man City are determined to have the last laugh against their troubled striker.
With the asking price set so high there are few teams who could afford Tevez and all of the Italian teams would prefer an initial loan deal. However Mancini is refusing to allow that to happen and insists not only that a cash deal is the only viable option but also that they will not lower the €50 asking price they set on him in the summer.
Mancini told Italian TV: “Tevez is strong regardless of what has happened, and great players have a price that is rather high.”
The striker is still AWOL in Argentina at the moment and due to the fractious relationship between Tevez and his employers they will not be forced to compromise just to suit the Argentine. Despite all three Italian clubs declaring their interest in the forward it is thought that all of them are yet to make contact with regards to buying the player.
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Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has apologised for his conduct that saw him banned for eight matches, and has promised not to use racially abusive language again in the future.
The Uruguay international was given a hefty suspension following being found guilty by the FA of insulting Manchester United defender Patrice Evra because of his race.
The South American attacker has not apologised directly to Evra, but has regrets over his actions.
“I admitted to the commission that I said a word in Spanish once and only once,” he is reported to have said in The Daily Mail.
“I told the panel members that I will not use it again on a football pitch in England.
“I never, ever used this word in a derogatory way and if it offends anyone then I want to apologise for that,” he stated.
Meanwhile, PFA chief Gordon Taylor has stated that Suarez’s punishment is fair.
“We have got probably the most multi-cultural game in the world so it’s important to set the right example.
“We don’t want him (Evra) feeling a victim. We want our black players to feel comfortable that racism can be dealt with in football terms, as well as the law of the land.
“Some issues are bigger than a player, the club or the game and racism is one of those. We have to learn from it and there should be no misunderstanding or ambiguity in the future.
“You don’t want such issues to divide clubs or society. We’re all in a football family but we’re all under the law of the land.
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“Once a penalty has been paid and carried out we move on in a positive manner to make sure the penalty acts as a deterrent. The educational process continues,” he concluded.
It never rains but it pours for Luis Suarez as the Uruguayan picked up a further one match suspension, following his gesture towards the Fulham fans a few weeks back. The Liverpool striker could face a nine game ban in total, should the Reds decide against lodging an appeal for his recent FA charge.
Elsewhere in the news Mertesaker targets the top four; QPR on recruitment drive, while Villas-Boas linked with the Hulk.
News
Artemov confirms interest in Tottenham ace
Kenny Dalglish stands by his man
Mertesacker remains confident despite setback
Larsson wants Manchester City scalp
QPR on recruitment drive
Further woe for Luis Suarez
Northern Ireland appoint O’Neill
Bale set to remain at White Hart Lane
Newcastle rule out transfer deal
Andre Villas-Boas linked with Brazilian swoop
[divider]
Transfer Talk
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Liverpool look to bolster Uruguayan contingent with bid for Porto’s Fucile – Daily Mail
Ancelotti’s PSG transfer blitz could solve Tevez saga – Mirror
Harry’s the New boy in Toon – Sun
Arsenal and Chelsea poised to pounce for unsettled Barca youngster Cuenca – Daily Mail
This time last year Andy Carroll was two weeks away from leaving Newcastle United for £35million in a move that infuriated the Toon supporters as there was no time for the then, new Magpies boss Alan Pardew to replace him. Owner Mike Ashley has not been on the best of terms with his fellow Newcastle supporters over the past few years and this was another decision that raised plenty of questions.
However, this season Alan Pardew has formed a fantastic side that has performed well above expectations with summer signing Demba Ba the stand out player as one of the leading scorers in the division. Unfortunately it seems the media and fellow Premier League clubs have heard of a buy-out clause in the deadly Ba’s contract at St James Park that could see him leave for less than £8million should a bid come in. The likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have been heavily linked with a move for the Senegalese international who will be missing for around six weeks due to international duty.
Ba joined Newcastle after leaving West Ham in the summer after a similar clause in his contract that allowed him to leave for nothing if the East London club were relegated, which of course they were. It seems Ba and his injury problems combine to ensure his agent and the player needs to have assurances in contracts that allow him a get-out clause.
With a lack of quality up front apart from Ba however; with Leon Best and Shola Ameobi, generally unreliable for regular goals, Pardew and Ashley have made a statement of intent with the signing of fellow Senegalese international Papiss Cisse from Freiburg in Germany, in a deal that could reach £10million. The 26-year-old striker has been prolific so far throughout his career and could add even more goals to an improving Toon side.
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This shrewd business from Pardew seems to be a ploy to not just improve the team but also to keep hold of Ba. The former West Ham striker has expressed his delight at the signing.
“I think even when he sleeps, he thinks about the back of the net. Welcome to Papisto” Ba wrote on his Twitter page while in Africa.
The new signing will no doubt keep Ba interested in staying in the North East and if the two hit it off at the African Cup of Nations in the next month then that could give Ba the confidence to commit himself to the club. A genius piece of work once again by Pardew could set up a great future for Newcastle who have a definite chance of reaching the Europa League places this season and are also still in the FA Cup. Ba is set to begin contract negotiations with Newcastle when he returns in February.
The new signing, profoundly named, Papiss Demba Rodney Cisse will return at the same time as Ba from the mid-season tournament and is full of praise for his strike-partner and compatriot.
“Demba has had a brilliant season and it can only get better,” Cisse told the Daily Mirror before he flew to join Ba and his team mates for the pending African Cup of Nations.
“It is going to be a great honour to play with him. He is a simply fantastic player and I think we are going to make a formidable partnership. This is a partnership we hope will get the fans excited, I am certainly looking forward to it starting.”
Could Ba and Cisse become the best strike-partnership in the Premier League? Let me know on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
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