Jimbo

TRANSFER RUMOURS Arsenal will bid £10m to sign former striker Nicolas Anelka from Bolton to replace Thierry Henry. (Various) Tottenham are on the verge of signing Charlton's Darren Bent for a club record £16m. (Various) Birmingham will capture Scottish striker Garry O'Connor after he meets with manager Steve Bruce later this week. (The People) Blackburn have rejected Coventry's approach for unsettled striker Francis Jeffers. (The People) Portsmouth are winning the race to sign Preston striker David Nugent after offering him £10,000 more a week than have Sunderland. (The People) And Pompey boss Harry Redknapp is also set to sign full-back Martin Cranie from Southampton. (The People) But Redknapp faces competition from Premier league rivals Bolton for the signature of Atletico Bilbao striker Ismael Urzaiz. (The People) Everton will swoop for Fulham's Papa Bouba Diop. (The People) Manchester United have accepted a £6m bid from Middlesbrough for striker Alan Smith. (The People) However, Boro face competition from Portsmouth, who are lining up a £3.5m bid for Smith. (Sunday Mirror) Derby boss Billy Davis is chasing Sheffield United defender Claude Davis and is ready to pay £3.5m. (The People) Aston Villa are set to cool their interest in West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker as the clubs are 'poles apart' in their valuation. (The People) Portsmouth striker Andy Cole is wanted by Nottingham Forest. (The People) Manchester City defender Micah Richards has pledged his future to the club despite interest from Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. (The People) Liverpool have rejected the chance to re-sign Michael Owen, who was offered by Newcastle in exchange for John Arne Riise and Craig Bellamy. (Various) Middlesbrough will move for Barcelona's Argentine international forward Javier Saviola. (The People) Sevilla are seeking £8m for Freddie Kanoute, who is wanted by a trio of Premier League clubs. (The People) And Portsmouth are ready hijack Newcastle's move for Kanoute by bidding £8.4m for him. (News of the world) Manchester United will again bid for Atletico Madrid's £27m-rated striker Fernando Torres. (Sunday Mirror) But they face competition from Liverpool, who are ready to pay £25m for the Spain international. (News of the World) Fulham and Blackburn are battling it out to sign Espanyol defender Juan Velasco. (Sunday Mirror) Arsenal are interested in 22-year-old Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani. (Sunday Mirror) Sunderland want to sign Liverpool keeper Scott Carson, possibly on a season-long loan deal. (Various) Reading are battling to keep striker Leroy Lita, with Sunderland and Portsmouth ready to pay £5m for his services. (Sunday Mirror) West Ham are ready to spend £11m to sign Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. (News of the World) Meanwhile, West Ham striker Marlon Harewood is wanted by Birmingham, Fulham, Portsmouth and Aston Villa. (News of the World) Aston Villa midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba is wanted by Benfica. (News of the World) Chelsea are lining up an £18m bid for 17-year-old Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato. (News of the World) Bolton striker Henrik Pedersen is wanted by Preston, who are resigned to losing forward David Nugent. (News of the World) Newcastle and Celtic are competing to sign Holland under-21 striker Maceo Rigters. (News of the World) Manchester City striker Georgios Samaras is wanted by his former club Heerenveen, but only at a cut-price £2m. (News of the World) OTHER GOSSIP Manchester City's Bernardo Corradi is desperate to leave the club and return to Italy's Serie A. (Sunday Mirror) Bolton winger Ricardo Vaz Te will ask boss Sammy Lee to be allowed to leave the club. (Sunday Mirror) Arsenal will offer manager Arsene Wenger a new three-year contract in the next few days. (The People) But departing striker Thierry Henry insists Wenger will not sign a new deal. (News of the World) And both Real Madrid and Barcelona want to lure Wenger away from the Emirates Stadium. (Sunday Express) Manchester City will turn to Celtic boss Gordon Strachan if they fail to lure Sven-Goran Eriksson to the Eastlands hot-seat. (Sunday Mirror) John Toshack could quit as Wales boss to take up the role of sporting director at real Sociedad. (Various) Back to top AND FINALLY Charlton are set to close down their entire women's set-up - the second biggest in the country - following the relegation of the men's team from the Premier League, in a cost-cutting exercise. Back to top

Fuck

New Toon chief to boot out Shepherd By Paul Mccarthy NEWCASTLE owner Mike Ashley will tomorrow sack the entire board and begin a new era at St James' Park. The billionaire businessman, who took control of the club by buying the stakes owned by the families of Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall, will make a clean sweep and bring in his own team to run the show. That means the end of the road for the current Newcastle United PLC board of directors of Freddy Shepherd, Bruce Shepherd, Douglas Hall, Tim Revill and Allison Antonopoulos, plus company secretary Russell Cushing. The dramatic move will mark the end of an era that began in 1991, when Freddy Shepherd joined the Newcastle United board with John and Douglas Hall after a four-year takeover wrangle with Gordon McKeag. Hall and Shepherd set about building a Newcastle dynasty and in 1997 they floated the club on the Stock Exchange with a value of £193million. Sir John Hall quit but was named life-president of Newcastle United with Shepherd the chairman. Toon fans endured a stormy time during which the club has had seven permanent managers - Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Ruud Gullit, Sir Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder and now Sam Allardyce. The closest they came to success was in 1996 when Keegan's flamboyant team surrendered a 12-point lead to hand the Premiership title to Manchester United. The Shepherd reign has seen some sensational signings, including the formidable strike force of Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand - but also some shockers, including Jean-Alain Boumsong, Albert Luque and Marcelino. Sports tycoon Ashley made his first move to control the club on May 23, when he bought the Halls' stake of 41.6 per cent for £55m and then launched a £133.1m formal takeover bid at 100p per share - a 14 per cent rise on the price at closing on the London Stock Exchange the day before. Chairman Shepherd, who was in hospital at the time of the bid suffering from a punctured lung, said that he planned to fight the takeover and would not allow Ashley to get his hands on his 28.6 per cent. But on June 7, after Ashley increased his share offer to 101p, Freddy Shepherd and Shepherd Offshore Services Ltd. agreed to sell their stake in Newcastle United for more than £37.5m. It was announced at the time that Shepherd - who urged other shareholders to sell to Ashley - would remain as chairman. But he will bow out having gone from a minor shareholder in the club to earning nearly £50m from salary, dividends and the sale of shares. Confirmation came on June 15 that Ashley and St. James' Holdings Ltd - the company he set up specifically to purchase shares in the club - had acquired slightly more than 77 per cent of United. This meant that Ashley could delist the company from the Stock Exchange and make it a private company again. Once Ashley reaches 90 per cent ownership, under Stock Market rules the remaining 10 per cent of shares will have to be sold to him and he will achieve his ultimate aim of total ownership. 10 TURBULENT YEARS AT NEWCASTLE ..the managers KENNY DALGLISH - Jan1997 to Aug 1998 RUUD GULLIT - Aug 1998 to Aug 1999 SIR BOBBY ROBSON - Sept 1999 to Aug 2004 GRAEME SOUNESS - Sept 2004 to Feb 2006 GLENN ROEDER - Feb 2006 to May 2007 SAM ALLARDYCE - May 2007 to present ..the best buys GARY SPEED - £5.5m from Everton NOLBERTO SOLANO - £1.5m from Aston Villa JAMES MILNER - £3.6m from Leeds OBAFEMI MARTINS - £10m from Inter Milan JONATHAN WOODGATE - £9m from Leeds ..the worst buys JEAN-ALAIN BOUMSONG - £8m from Rangers ALBERT LUQUE - £9.5m from Deportivo La Coruna HUGO VIANA - £8.5m from Sporting Lisbon TITUS BRAMBLE - £5m from Ipswich MARCELINO - £5m from Real Mallorca

Happy Birthday

didn't see the fight but a great result by Hatton, a true great, and a British boxing legend. Ricky Hatton showed America what all the fuss is about with a stunning fourth-round knockout of Jose Luis Castillo at the Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas. Hatton had failed to show his best form during points victories against Luis Collazo and Juan Urango in his last two outings - also both in Las Vegas - and needed to produce something special to win over his growing band of Stateside sceptics. He delivered in some style, dominating Castillo throughout a contest that ended abruptly after two minutes and 16 seconds of the fourth when a crushing body shot left the Mexican crumpled on the canvas and unable to beat referee Joe Cortez's count. Castillo, a former WBC lightweight champion, was willing to stand and trade with Hatton, a tactic that showed his undoubted bravery, but was a recipe for defeat against his quicker, stronger opponent. The opening exchanges were frenetic, Castillo briefly put his glove down - it was ruled a slip by Cortez - and Hatton soon followed up by landing squarely with two right uppercuts. A clean left hand in the closing moments of the opening round cemented the Mancunian fighter's early dominance and he continued in the same vein during the second. It was not until the third round that Castillo briefly rallied by landing his first heavy shots, although it was again Hatton who finished the round stronger by dominating some furious exchanges. And, after Castillo was docked a point for landing with a low left hook in the fourth, Hatton seized the moment with a left hook of his own that - after a slightly delayed reaction while brain caught up with body - sent a grimacing Castillo to the canvas to end the fight. The manner of victory is a huge boost to Hatton's hopes of setting up a fight with the man widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jnr.

The Killers - All These Things That I’ve Done

Arsenal have spent plenty in the past, I think the funding of their new stadium has had a lot to do with their lack of ambition in the transfer market.

Jekyll. What a fucking crock of shit, Jimmy Nesbitt's accent is crap, almost as bad as Hugh Lawrie's in House.

Plenty of clubs looking at him at the moment, he's had a great competition.

I'm a maintenance Engineer.

No, the Alou Diarra that plays for Real Madrid is Mahamadou Diarra.

Rozehnal relishing Newcastle move David Rozehnal has spoken of his imminent move to Newcastle, with the Czech defender excited by the chance to play at the same club as 'the legendary Alan Shearer'. The Czech defender is expected to shun interest from Sevilla and sign a four-year deal at St James' Park on Monday when he jets into the North East for a medical. The Magpies have come to an agreement with Rozehnal's club Paris Saint Germain and the international defender admits he is excited at the prospect of donning the famous black and white stripes. "It seems that it is very close, so far I have not signed anything though," Rozehnal told Sport. "If nothing special happens, then I will most likely move to Newcastle. "Certainly [i am happy that Newcastle have won the race]. I take it as an appreciation of my work. "After the unsuccessful season with PSG I take it as a kind of award and I am glad that it is exactly this club. "Newcastle have a rich history, great facilities and the club has a great name. "My dream has always been to play in Spain, Nevertheless, when I was young I used to watch the Premier League as well. "Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle were all clubs I liked most. I remember the legendary Alan Shearer, Newcastle really are a huge club." Rozehnal's agent Pavel Zika has also explained that Magpies boss Sam Allardyce was central to the player's decision to move to Tyneside. "The interest of Newcastle has been on a long-term basis and very reputable," said Zika. "He [Allardyce] was already interested in David when he was coaching Bolton."

He's a member of the board, he'll be getting his letter too. Fuck

He's a member of the board, he'll be getting his letter too.

Shearer's Premiership record looking safe for a good few years now Henry has gone

Awesome news, just awesome.

McAlmont and Butler - Yes

Reading that, it seems to me Kenneth Shepherd is still under investigation

The Premier League has moved to play down concerns over Graeme Souness' role in transfers while Newcastle manager following the publication of Lord Stevens' findings. Stevens' final report claimed 'inconsistencies' in Souness' responses to those of Kenny Shepherd, son of chairman Freddy, regarding their roles in transfer negotiations. Souness fumed about his name being mentioned in the report, feeling his reputation had been unjustifiably damaged. The Premier League has now attempted to make clear that the matter does not involve Souness' role in transfers, but rather another issue which they refused to reveal. "The Premier League and Quest wish to clarify a sentence in the Key Findings document which was issued on June 15, 2007," a statement on the Premier League's website read. "The following sentence appears to have been misinterpreted by sections of the media: 'However, there remain inconsistencies in evidence provided by Graeme Souness (a former manager of the club) and Kenneth Shepherd (apparently acting in an undefined role but not as a club official) as to their respective roles in transfer negotiations.' "We wish to make it clear that inconsistencies did not exist within the evidence given by Graeme Souness to Quest concerning his role in transfers covered by the Inquiry during his time as manager of Newcastle United FC and neither the Premier League nor Quest have any concerns in this regard. "There were inconsistencies, however, between the evidence of Graeme Souness and that of other witnesses on another matter."

As opposed to the many "wow Shola Ameobi 30 league goals a season, contender for the european golden boot/ linked with £50m bid from Real Madrid", threads.

Although its only a few months but I guess the thought of paying out for 28 yearold is a bit different to justify paying out a similar sum for someone who's nearly 30.

1, 19 day holiday starts now 2, Just polished off a very nice bottle of Jacob's creek Shiraz from Morrisons £4.99 3, Yes I'm pissed. 4, Mrs is snoring on the sofa. 5, Watching Friday Night with Johnathan Woss.

How shit is that? Northern Rock ?

Well, a week late and after everyone else had already picked up on the story, but still. That's the point, he was the first 'bout time he came up with some fresh news then 'Ronnie' Rozenhal is one thing, but I need my trophy/hollywood signing - soon!!!1111 Jim tbh

"Reports of.............. are wide of the mark" Fill in the blanks etc.