All posts by h716a5.icu

Craig Hope has now revealed a new potential appointment at Newcastle United after the takeover was announced on Thursday evening.

The Lowdown: Takeover done

The St. James’ Park faithful have now officially announced the takeover of the North East club by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium on their official website.

It means that Mike Ashley has now finally left, as a new board comes in with a new direction which will hopefully align more with where the fans expect the club to go.

The Latest: McParland considered

As per Hope, former scout and academy chief at Liverpool, Frank McParland, is now among a number of names being considered for a role within the new set-up at the Toon.

The Daily Mail journalist also confirmed that McParland ‘was on Tyneside last night’ as NUFC fans gathered in their masses to celebrate in front of St. James’ Park.

The Verdict: No brainer

With a new direction for the club mapped out, Newcastle should look no further than hiring McParland, either in a recruiting role or as a director.

He is a vastly experienced specialist in recruitment, and has worked previously with Watford, Brentford, Burnley and Rangers, as well as Liverpool (i).

McParland worked as a director of football at both Brentford and Watford, and he spent six years as sporting director at Burnley (i), showing that he is more than capable of fulfilling any kind of major role that the new owners wish.

Nonetheless, his experience and versatility should make him one of the top candidates.

In other news, find out what big arbitration update has emerged here!

Bangladesh have named fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza as captain for the forthcoming tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe

Cricinfo staff23-Jun-2009Bangladesh have named fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza as captain for the forthcoming tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to relieve Mohammad Ashraful of his captaincy duties to allow him to focus on his batting. Shakib Al Hasan, the world’s No.1 allrounder in ODIs, has been named the vice-captain.”The board wants to sincerely thank Mohammad Ashraful for his contribution as skipper,” Mohammed Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s Media & Communications Committee Chairman, said. “The decision to replace him was taken with the intention of relieving the load on Ashraful so that he can play his natural game.”We all know his quality and what he is capable of as a batsman and we are confident that without the burden of captaincy his batting would flourish and he would contribute more to the team.”Bangladesh faced plenty of flak on returning home from the ICC World Twenty20 in England where they failed to qualify for the Super Eights. The under-fire Ashraful had insisted he had no plans of quitting the captaincy.Ashraful took over the captaincy from Habibul Bashar in June 2007 at the age of 22, but his journey was far from smooth. In 38 ODIs under his leadership, Bangladesh managed to win only eight games, with a majority of those against the minnows. The significant victories were against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The team also failed to win a Test under him, losing 12 out of 13. He also under-performed as a batsman in both forms, averaging 22.58 in Tests and 25.60 in ODIs.Perhaps his most noteworthy contribution as captain was leading his team to the group stages of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. Despite that, Bangladesh won only two out of 11 games.Mortaza has been Bangladesh’s strike bowler over the last few years and has turned in match-winning performances in ODIs. His four-wicket haul all but knocked India out of the World Cup in 2007 and he returned similar figures in the team’s only victory against New Zealand, in Mirpur last year.The tour of West Indies begins on July 3 with a three-day match against West Indies A. The team will play two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20.

Former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer believes that Tanguy Ndombele is only in the Tottenham Hotspur team because of how much he cost.

Ndombele remains Spurs’ most expensive signing, as the club paid over £53m to bring him in from French club Lyon when Mauricio Pochettino was manager.

Ndombele has somewhat struggled since then, though, and has yet to really enjoy a truly productive season in the top-flight.

The midfielder has made a total of 79 appearances for the club but his minutes have sometimes been restricted, even when he has started.

Last season, under Jose Mourinho, Ndombele made 28 starts in the Premier League but completed the 90 minutes just six times.

Palmer does not think he is in the team because he is blowing away new manager Nuno Espirito Santo, but because he is an expensive signing who needs to play regularly due to the investment in him.

He told Football FanCast: “I don’t know whether he’s impressing Nuno. The simple fact is they paid an awful lot of money for him and he needs to be playing football.

“If he’s not playing football, you’re not going to be able to get him out, you’re just going to lose out on the investment you’ve made in him. And if you’ve signed him and you think he’s going to be a good player, you’ve got to play him, it’s as simple as it is.”

Shane Watson was limited to walking around the ground during Monday’s session at New Road

Peter English at New Road29-Jun-2009Australia’s top six will have few fears entering Wednesday’s tour game in Worcester after Shane Watson was limited to walking around the ground during Monday’s session at New Road. The allrounder Watson is the squad’s spare batsman and is recovering from a minor thigh injury that ruled him out of the opening warm-up in Hove last week and will sideline him again for the final fixture before the Ashes.For Watson to be considered for the first Test in Cardiff next week he must also offer the side some overs to help its balance, but this is highly unlikely after he was restricted to laps of the oval with the physiotherapist Alex Kountouris. While his fitness is improving to the point where he could bat this week, the Australians should allow their first-choice run-makers more fine-tuning during the four-day affair with the England Lions.”Shane hasn’t trained this week but he is doing all the right things,” the vice-captain Michael Clarke said. “Hopefully he will be available for selection come the first Test. But I don’t know how long he is out of training. He has had a lot of treatment for five or six days and things are certainly getting better for him.”Watson’s injury is most timely for Marcus North, the No. 6 who entered the Test team in South Africa, where he played two matches. North scratched for 1 and 11 against Sussex and was the only touring batsman to miss out on a satisfying stay during the game, although he is becoming increasingly valuable as a spin option, especially with the offspinner Nathan Hauritz’s struggles. Hauritz, the only specialist slow bowler in the squad, gave up 1 for 158 in 38 overs at Hove and will crave some success this week to remain in contention for Cardiff.The Australians were joined at training on Monday by Mark Webber, the Formula 1 driver more suited to life in faster lanes than those offered in Worcester, a scenic stopover in the west of England. Webber had become famous in Australia for his consistency in not finishing races, but this year he has benefitted from a series of high-tech rule changes and sits fourth in the drivers’ standings.He went to school with the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin in Queanbeyan, a country town near Canberra, now lives in Buckinghamshire and watches the results of the cricketers during his travels. Webber spoke to the players who, while impressed with his three second-place finishes in 2009, will want to do much better against England over the next two months.

Shane Warne has called for the end of one-day cricket, saying that the 50-over format has “passed its sell-by date”

Cricinfo staff17-Aug-2009Shane Warne has called for the end of one-day cricket, saying that the 50-over format has “passed its sell-by date”. He is of the opinion that teams should play only Test and Twenty20 cricket with a World Twenty20 being held every two years.”This is a big call, but cricket evolves and the 50-over game has passed its sell-by date,” Warne wrote in his column for the . “It’s amazing to think that after the Ashes series, England and Australia play seven one-day games, which take about a month. Sorry, but that’s just greed on the part of administrators.”By eliminating one-day matches, Warne wrote, international players would be able to play more domestic cricket, thereby improving its quality, and also have more time with their families. “Under my plan a tour would last roughly five weeks: three Tests with a warm-up game and five Twenty20s in a ten-day period. The Ashes would stay as a five-match series.”Warne also advocated a world Test championship with two divisions and one team getting promoted and demoted from each every two years, as well as a separate window for the IPL. “I wonder if people in England realise how big the Indian Premier League is,” Warne, who is captain of the Rajasthan Royals, wrote. “I’ve read that it is the fourth biggest sporting event in the world in terms of value, estimated at around $1 billion. England are having to move away from early-May Tests because they are struggling to find opponents during a clash of dates with IPL. A gap of a month or six weeks fixed in the calendar would ease all potential problems and keep the players happy.”Warne also criticised the present standard of umpiring in international cricket, saying it was “as low as I’ve known it in 20 years”. “Yes, it is a difficult job and technology exposes any mistakes, but some of the performances in the Ashes series so far have been pretty ordinary,” he wrote. “Players will accept that the odd bad decision gets through now and again. At the moment, there are just too many.” He also felt that the remuneration umpires currently receive should be revised upwards to “reflect the importance of the job”.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard will be hoping for another happy weekend as the Gers take on Hearts in the Premiership on Saturday.

The Jam Tarts travel to Ibrox this weekend as they aim to overtake Rangers at the summit after nine matches, as they currently sit one point behind the Glasgow giants.

A win for the Gers, though, would see them move four points clear at the top and in a comfortable position heading into the next few weeks.

In order to give Rangers the best possible chance of winning this weekend, Gerrard must get his starting XI selection spot-on. This means he could have some big decisions to make, one of which is regarding who starts between the sticks…

Allan McGregor started the 2-1 win over Hibernian, but the £13k-per-week dud has endured a difficult season in the league. He has a save percentage of just 50% in the Premiership for Rangers, which is the joint-lowest in the division.

Gabriel Agbonlahor recently claimed that such ropey form is to be expected at the age of 39 and that he will still be able to produce quality displays.

He told Football Insider: “At McGregor’s age, you’re going to get those moments when you’re in and out of the team.

“He’s been a great servant to the game, a great servant to Rangers. So, I’m sure that he’ll play his fair share of games for Rangers and they’ll still get some good performances out of him.”

Whilst McGregor may still be able to perform well at times, as Abgonlahor has said, his form so far this season suggests that he is a liability to the team. Gerrard cannot afford to have an inconsistent goalkeeper between the sticks as it could affect the confidence of the defence and cause issues at the back in key matches.

Jon McLaughlin has kept two clean sheets in four appearances and has a save percentage of 71.4%. This suggests that he has been superior in goal for the Gers in comparison to McGregor this season, which is why Gerrard must axe the veteran shot-stopper to play the former Sunderland man.

Therefore, the 34-year-old should be handed the gloves for this important match as he has shown he is a more in-form ‘keeper. Gerrard must axe McGregor in order to play McLaughlin as the 39-year-old has been a liability and Rangers need to maintain their place at the top of the table this weekend.

AND in other news, Wilson must avoid Rangers nightmare over “unique” beast compared to Yaya Toure…

A round-up from the latest action in the County Championship

Cricinfo staff20-Aug-2009Division OneMichael Lumb converted his overnight century into a double and Sean Ervine weighed in with a hundred of his own to lead Hampshire to a massive first-innings total against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Resuming on 345 for 3 on the second morning, Hampshire lost Tom Burrows – caught by Bilal Shafayat off Charlie Shreck – but little did the hosts know that their next breakthrough would be 208 runs away. Lumb built on his score of 103 and achieved a career best of 219 – his maiden double-hundred – while Ervine cracked 104 off only 128 balls. Lumb was eventually caught behind off Samit Patel and his dismissal resulted in a flurry of lower-order wickets. Patel trapped Dominic Cork and Imran Tahir lbw for ducks to complete his four-wicket haul before Hampshire declared on 654 for 8. Facing such a mammoth total, Nottinghamshire needed a sound start but their openers managed only 29 before Matthew Wood was caught by Andre Adams off David Griffiths for 10. More trouble was round the corner as Tahir trapped Mark Wagh and the nightwatchman Darren Pattinson lbw for ducks. It wasn’t over, though, for Cork found Scott Newman’s edge, leaving Nottinghamshire on 48 for 4, 606 runs in the deficit.Tom Lungley struck three vital blows, cutting through the Yorkshire top order, to give Lancashire the edge in the Roses match on a rain-curtailed day at Headingley. The start of play was delayed and there was another interruption after Lancashire had progressed to 231 for 7 from 226. Mark Chilton, who was on 72 overnight, reached his century after the resumption and then Adil Rashid got rid of Nos. 10 and 11 to complete his five-for and skittle Lancashire for 276. Kyle Hogg then gave Lancashire the perfect start by dismissing Jacques Rudolph with the first ball of the innings before Lungley got into his stride. He dismissed Anthony McGrath for 17, trapped Joe Sayers lbw for as many, and caught Andrew Gale off his own bowling. Oliver Newby had also chipped in by taking a caught and bowled off Jonathan Bairstow as Yorkshire ended the second day on 131 for 5.Click here for the report on the second day’s play between Somerset and Sussex at Taunton.Click here for John Ward’s report from Chester-le-Street.Division TwoThe wickets continued to tumble at Chesterfield with 15 falling on the second day between Derbyshire and Northamptonshire after 13 fell on the first. Tim Groenewald was Derbyshire’s hero, taking 6 for 61 to help dismiss Northamptonshire for 246 – they were 137 for 3 overnight – and earning a nine-run lead. Groenewald’s figures included a spell of 4 for 9 in 23 balls as he knifed through the lower-order when Northamptonshire were poised to take a lead at 224 for 5. He picked up the wicket of Andrew Hall, who had collected a run-a-ball 36, by inducing a loose drive to second slip to begin the slide. Derbyshire’s success with the ball was followed by a torrid time with the bat as Johann van der Wath had Wayne Madsen and Gary Park caught behind the wicket to leave them on 14 for 2. The situation did not improve and Derbyshire were 140 for 7 before Groenewald resisted with an unbeaten 45 and lifted the score to 212 for 8.As England’s top order disappointed in the deciding Ashes Test, the man who paid the price for a poor series continued his return to form as Ravi Bopara reached an unbeaten 83, to give Essex a solid reply against Surrey at Colchester, after Chris Schofield reached a maiden first-class hundred. The home side reached 221 for 3 with Bopara having so far put on 84 for the fourth wicket with captain Mark Pettini. John Maunders and Tom Westley opened with a stand of 77 before both fell in the space of two balls to Pedro Collins and Schofield. Matt Walker reached 22 before edging Stuart Meaker, who had earlier contributed a career-best 72. Schofield and Meaker took their seventh-wicket stand to 125, with Schofield finally crossing three figures after a previous career-high of 99. When he fell for 144, Meaker ensured Surrey bagged full batting points.AJ Harris took 5 for 26 as Gloucestershire were skittled for 138 Grace Road to give Leicestershire control, although the home side stumbled to 49 for 5 after not enforcing the follow-on. James Taylor was batting at both ends of the day, reaching an unbeaten 83 in the first innings, and not out on 9 second time around with the lead on 279. Harris’ spell left the visitors in trouble on 26 for 3 during an incisive opening where he bowled Kadeer Ali and Alex Gidman either side of trapping Hamish Marshall leg before. The spinners also played their part as Claude Henderson removed James Franklin for 12 and Jigar Naik bowled Chris Taylor for the top score of 50. The lower order offered very little as Harris completed his haul by removing Stephen Adshead and Ian Saxelby in three balls. After batting again, Leicestershire lost both openers to Steve Kirby – Paul Nixon failing to score from 31 balls – and Marshall’s part-time spin picked up two more before the close of an action-packed day.1st dayThe Middlesex spinners shared four wickets and Steven Finn impressed with three as they took charge on the opening day against Glamorgan at Swansea. Shaun Udal, back in the side after dropping himself for the last Championship match, claimed the important wicket of Herschelle Gibbs and also collected Mike Powell. Gareth Berg made the first breakthrough when he removed Will Bragg (28) before Udal snared Gibbs when a paddle sweep found backward short leg. Powell and Gareth Rees (40) steadied the innings with a stand of 64 but they followed each other back in quick succession. Rees was Finn’s first wicket, and the fast bowler followed up removing Jim Allenby and Mark Wallace – caught at third slip and gully respectively. Murali Kartik then strengthened Middlesex’s grip and ended Jamie Dalrymple’s innings moments before rain forced the players off although the total edged over 200 during a brief resumption.

West Ham will be looking to extend their 100% record in the Europa League when they welcome Genk to the London Stadium this evening.

David Moyes’ men have won both their Group H matches by a two-goal margin, keeping a clean sheet in both, and they head into kickoff on the back of an impressively resolute victory over Everton last Sunday.

But with Tottenham Hotspur in town this weekend, the Scotsman could be pondering some changes to his starting XI, but what sort of lineup could we see in east London tonight?

Here’s what Football FanCast are predicting…

There could be as many as six changes from the side that won at Goodison Park five days ago.

The first of which is likely to come between the sticks as 6 foot 5 giant Alphonse Areola, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, returns to hand veteran goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski a rest.

Hammers full-back duo Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson remain from Sunday but Moyes opts for a different central defensive partnership, with £13.5m-rated “monster” Issa Diop and the vastly-experienced Craig Dawson coming in as they did against Rapid Wien.

They replace Angelo Ogbonna and summer signing Kurt Zouma, whilst Vladimir Coufal is expected to be out through injury.

Another new addition does make the starting XI, however.

Moyes has already confirmed that Nikola Vlasic will be involved, so he could feature on the wing, with Manuel Lanzini and Said Benrahma joining him in attacking midfield.

They’ll be the trio sat in front of industrious England international Declan Rice and club captain Mark Noble, who comes into the side to replace Tomas Soucek, who is rested.

The Czech star is available for selection but he could do with some time off the pitch, as could Michail Antonio, who may settle for a place on the bench with Jarrod Bowen leading the line in his absence.

A big call but one that could be necessary, considering Spurs at the weekend and then a trip to defending champions Manchester City.

AND in other news, Signed for £36m, sold for £0: West Ham had a disaster over 28 y/o who “strolled about”…

Australia were the last team to enter the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals but they got there after surviving a scare against Pakistan that had Ricky Ponting chewing his fingernails on the dressing-room balcony

Cricinfo staff30-Sep-2009Australia were the last team to enter the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals but they got there after surviving a scare against Pakistan that had Ricky Ponting chewing his fingernails on the dressing-room balcony. Chasing Pakistan’s total of 205, Australia were cruising at 140 for 2. However, they lost six wickets for 47 runs and Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz ended up scrambling a last-ball bye to scrape a two-wicket victory in Centurion.”I was chewing my fingers nails up there for the last little bit,” Ponting said after the game. “That ended up being closer than I thought was possible. We snuck across the line.”The result left Australia on top of Group A with five points, compared to Pakistan’s four, which means they’ll face England, the second-placed team in Group B, in the first semi-final in Centurion on Friday. Australia came to South Africa having won a bilateral one-day series 6-1 in England but despite that success Ponting was wary of a resurgent England team.”We’ve just come from a really good series against them over there, but it’s different conditions here to what we confronted over there and they’ve been playing some pretty good cricket of late,” Ponting said. “We need to get back to the drawing board a little bit and talk about what went wrong in the last part with our batting this afternoon and make sure we don’t do that again on Friday.”As the ball got older it reversed a bit at the end and spun a bit for the spinners too so we were pretty lucky we restricted them to that total. I thought the bowlers in the second half of the innings particularly, did a good job.”Pakistan will face Group B leaders New Zealand in the other semi-final in Johannesburg on Saturday. They will be gunning for their second ICC title this year after winning the World Twenty20 in England in June. “I’m always happy whether you play England, Australia or any team in semi-finals or final it doesn’t matter,” Younis Khan said. “If you play good cricket then you are the winner.”

Sheffield Wednesday’s latest League One outing saw them secure a third consecutive draw with a 1-1 result against Lincoln City at the weekend.

Owls midfielder Dennis Adeniran put the home side ahead ten minutes into the second half before the Imps grabbed an equaliser through Lewis Montsma in the 80th minute.

On the chalkboard

Looking ahead to Wednesday’s weekend clash against Cheltenham Town where Darren Moore will undoubtedly be hoping to secure a win this time out, one player that was not in the starting XI to face Lincoln that we think should be for their next encounter is 27-year-old striker Callum Paterson.

The 27-year-old replaced Lee Gregory in the second half of the match at the weekend and managed to have one shot at goal, completed seven of his nine passes and won one aerial duel, ultimately earning him an overall match rating of 6.6/10 according to SofaScore.

Wednesday signed Paterson back in September 2020 from Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee. Since then, the striker, who is currently valued at £1.62m according to Transfermarkt has made 57 appearances for the Yorkshire club, scoring 11 goals and providing five assists along the way, proving himself to be a fairly decent signing for the Owls based on his attacking output.

So far this season, Paterson, who has been described as “phenomenal” by Robbie Neilson, has managed to score two goals and provide one assist in 11 League One appearances showing he has what it takes to pop up at the right time and place for the Owls, leading us to believe he could bully Cheltenham’s defenders if given the chance to.

Looking ahead to the match at the weekend, in terms of who Paterson could replace in the team if Moore thinks his side would have a better chance of picking up all three points with him in, we feel that it could be a good time for Gregory to come out of the side for a while considering he had a poor game against Lincoln where he failed to even register one shot at goal in 62 minutes.

Whether Moore decides to stick Paterson back in the team at the weekend or not, we feel that Wednesday will need to get a win under their belts soon so they can stay in the running for a promotion place by the end of the campaign or else they could be facing another season in League One.

In other news: Get rid: SWFC liability who lost the ball every 1.6 touches badly let Moore down today – opinion