All posts by h716a5.icu

Loads of Everton fans have been slamming Paolo Di Canio as he made some remarks to Il Mattino (via The Gwladys Street)  that suggest that Carlo Ancelotti is overrated.

As per the former Sunderland boss, he claims that the Merseyside club are Ancelotti’s level despite the sheer number of big European giants that the 61-year old has managed at before.

Di Canio also claimed that Ancelotti only took advantage of the mechanisms left by former Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri at Napoli and failed with the Italian team in his second season.

Indeed, Ancelotti was sacked by Napoli earlier on in this campaign as they had not won in nine games in all competitions until a 4-0 home win versus Genk in the UEFA Champions League and left them in seventh place in the Serie A table (via BBC).

However, it is fair to say that the now manager at Goodison Park has had a very successful career in management with the likes of AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid, winning the Champions League three times and having a Premier League and FA Cup under his belt as examples (per Transfermarkt).

Given also that the Toffees have not won a senior men’s major trophy since 1995, and are still able to attract Ancelotti with the kind of CV that he has, these EFC supporters slammed the remarks from Di Canio on Twitter:

Evertonians, are you lucky to have Ancelotti as manager? Comment below!

Indeed, the Magpies may soon become one of the richest clubs in the world, and as far-fetched as it may seem, they’ve already been linked to Cristiano Ronaldo by Spanish outlet Don Balon.

However, if the takeover falls through they will be stuck as a mid-table side, and that means the glamour and quality of the likes of Ronaldo won’t be at St James’ Park, and they’ll have to look at some cheaper options.

One man they could look towards is Jacob Murphy, the winger has been out on loan at Sheffield Wednesday this term, and after hitting his eighth league goal of the season fans debated whether or not he has a future at the club.

Despite scoring more league goals than any Magpies player has managed this term, many fans believe that it’s time to cash in on the winger, and it’s hard to argue that they don’t have a point.

The 25-year-old has managed just one goal in 34 Premier League games, and while he seems to be handy at Championship level, he doesn’t seem to have what it takes to play at the top level.

However, others believe that he deserves another chance.

Now, these fans aren’t claiming that he should be the first name on the team sheet anytime soon, but they think he has something to offer as a squad player or off the bench.

To be fair, it seems as though Murphy has improved this season, putting up his best goal tally since 2016/17 in a struggling Sheffield Wednesday side.

It appears as if West Ham are going to have to pay up for one of their key transfer targets this summer after recent reports suggested that a recent bid wasn’t enough.

What’s the word?

According to Marca, River Plate rejected the Hammers’ €7m (£6.4) advances for right-back Gabriel Montiel last month and now the in-demand international is wanted by Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04.

It’s claimed that the 23-year-old has a release clause of around €20m (£18m) and that River only holds 80% of the player with the remaining 20% being claimed by Montiel’s family and representatives.

The Irons have long been mooted with interest in the 5 foot 9 defender having also approached him during the January transfer window.

Zabaleta replacement

Montiel has recently broken into the Argentina squad after a solid season at River, where he has averaged two tackles, 1.3 clearances, 1.2 interceptions, 1.1 key passes and 0.9 dribbles per game this season – via WhoScored.

David Moyes could well be in need of a new right-back following the departures of veteran Pablo Zabaleta and emerging starlet Jeremy Ngakia meanwhile there are question marks over the fitness of Ryan Fredericks long-term and the Premier League suitability of youngster Ben Johnson.

Manuel Lanzini has even advocated to sign him, claiming he “would fit in well” and that “the coach [Moyes] likes him.”

With their top-flight safety now confirmed, GSB must sanction a swoop for Montiel if they are going to have a chance of progression next season.

The Argentine is a far greater threat going forward than Fredericks, who averages a measly 0.4 dribbles and 0.6 crosses per game – and that’s when he’s actually fit to feature.

AND in other news, GSB can’t afford to sell Moyes’ resurgent £45m STAR this summer…

Key information about Energy Check County Ground

The Energy Check County Ground was built in 1890 and now houses League Two’s Swindon Town. The ground is located near the centre of the town and has been the club’s home since 1896.

Its current capacity stands at 15,728 and it has a pitch that measures 101m by 64m. The surface is covered with grass and it has no running track surrounding it nor undersoil heating installed.

The record attendance at Energy Check County Ground was set on 15 January 1972 when 32,000 people watched Swindon Town take on Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.

A history of Energy Check County Ground

The development of a new stadium that would eventually host Swindon Town was started when Thomas Arkell donated £300 to finance the erection of a brand new stand on a ground that was known as Wiltshire County Ground back then. Even though the stadium was built in 1890, it wasn’t until two years later that it would be open and not until 1896 that Swindon Town would actually fully settle there and call it home.

Interestingly enough, from 1893 until 1896, they were playing their football at a cricket pitch, which was also named County Ground, same as the football ground, sharing it with Swindon Cricket Club. Still, upon finally moving to Energy Check County Ground, as the stadium is called now due to sponsorship reasons, improvements and redevelopment soon followed.

In 1932, they constructed a covered stand on the Shrivenham Road side but that would subsequently get replaced by a new one acquired from Aldershot Military Tattoo in 1960. During the events of the second World War, the ground was also used to house prisoners of war in tents that were placed across the pitch. The club was, of course, compensated for that.

In 1951, they added floodlights and in 1963, the famous Pier Luigi Nervi, an architect responsible for designing stadia in Florence and Rome, was hired to design a new stand that would replace the North stand. However, relegation and financial issues meant the plan was never really carried out.

Following the Hillsborough disaster, the Energy Check County Ground was converted into an all-seater with extra seats added to the existing stands and the erection of the brand new one, to be named the Intel Stand, then the Nationwide Stand, and finally, the Don Rogers Stand.

Interestingly, in 1963, the club also built a Rolex clock at the rear of the Stratton Bank stand, and that is indeed the only Rolex clock to be found at any football ground on the planet. The stadium is also owned by the Swindon Borough Council, and the club pay them rent.

There were some initiatives to refurbish the ground following the arrival of new owners in 2008 and they are still in the process of fully planning out the future of the stadium. At the moment, they are doing little improvements until a new stadium becomes a reality.

New plans were once again outlined in 2011 with further expansions in place but the club’s relegation also meant most of the bigger projects had to be put on hold.

Tickets to watch Swindon Town at Energy Check County Ground

All tickets to watch Swindon Town play at Energy Check County Ground can be found and purchased on the club’s official website. The price varies between £19 and £22 for adults, depending on the stand chosen.

The club also offers season tickets and bundles that can get you discounts to watch their home clashes.

Related links

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/ – Official website of Swindon Town

There has been plenty of change from a commercial point of view for Glasgow Rangers over the past few months.

The main change has been that the Gers have replaced Hummel with Castore as their new kit manufacturer. So far, the success of the new £25m partnership has been mixed – whilst the new home shirt sold out on pre-sale in just 36 hours, there have been complaints that the kits arrived late or were damaged when they eventually did make it to their destination.

The Gers have also rid themselves of Sports Direct and Mike Ashley, which led to a total revamp of the club’s store at Ibrox. However, that also appears to have been a bit of a failure in the eyes of some of the supporters. It seems a portion of the fanbase are far from happy with the new facility, complaining that there are not enough products available for the fans to purchase – this comes after a couple of photos of the the store were shared online.

They took to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

Let us know what you think below!

Celtic appear to be closing in on another summer signing but it could spell the end for one mainstay at Parkhead…

What’s the word?

According to Record Sport, the Scottish champions are on the verge of agreeing on a deal to sign Brighton centre-back Shane Duffy on a one-year loan.

It’s claimed that Celtic will pay £2m to sign the 28-year-old for the season and will also pay the majority of his £40k-per-week wages.

The Hoops have beaten off West Ham and West Brom with the Seagulls man expected to be in Glasgow on Tuesday to iron out the final details.

Life after Ajer?

This comes amidst the uncertain future of Kristoffer Ajer after his representatives reportedly asked the club for a valuation on the Norwegian ahead of a potential move away from Celtic Park before the transfer window drawing to a close in October.

He’s been linked with a stunning move to Serie A giants AC Milan in recent months.

Duffy would seem like the ideal replacement – standing at 6 foot 4 inches in height, the Irishman has been capped over 33 times and has featured in 96 Premier League matches over the course of his career.

Graham Potter claims the veteran has “been fantastic for me and he has been great in the group” and that’s not the first time having described him as “first class” earlier in the campaign despite a lack of regular game time.

The 28-year-old, valued at £8.55m, is an old-school no-nonsense type who has averaged 8.1 clearances per game over the course of his career as per WhoScored.

Ajer alongside Christoper Jullien kept a clean sheet against Well at the weekend but adding Duffy to the equation will certainly give Lennon a nice headache in terms of team selection.

AND in other news, Celtic fans laud Bhoys ace’s display against Motherwell…

What a transfer window Everton are having. Carlo Ancelotti is still working hard to make the Toffees real contenders for the upcoming 2020/21 Premier League season and so far, it has to be said the squad is looking quite sharp.

But the best thing about it is the fact that they are not done with their transfer business just yet. After sealing a couple of deals that will immediately improve the team, Ancelotti will turn his gaze towards the future a little bit.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, Everton are set to battle Leicester City for the signature of St Etienne’s young prodigy, Wesley Fofana.

At the moment, however, the Foxes seems to be in pole position to land the ace and are willing to offer around £20m to acquire his services. The 19-year-old is seemingly open to leaving and the prospect of playing in the English top-flight could be tempting and perhaps enough to convince him.

Defensive reinforcements are still on both teams’ minds but Ancelotti will have to roll up his sleeves if he is to beat Leicester in the race. Fofana was excellent last season and is looking to continue this outstanding run of form into the new campaign.

Is that going to be in the Premier League or in France? We’ll simply have to wait and see.

Verdict

Needless to say, landing Fofana on top of all those transfers would be like a cherry on top for Everton’s summer transfer window. Of course, nothing is set in stone just yet and the youngster is, at this moment in time, closer to the King Power Stadium.

But seeing how he’s managed to seal so many deals already, betting against Ancelotti this summer is simply ill-advised. Let’s see if he can work his magic once again and land the coveted youngster.

Brighton youngster Jayson Molumby could be in line for a Premier League debut against Manchester United on Saturday, with Graham Potter seemingly dropping a potential selection hint about the midfielder.

The 21-year-old was not involved in last night’s Carabao Cup win over Preston but, when addressing the matter of his omission after the game, Potter said it was “just precautionary for the weekend – we decided to leave him tonight” (as per The Argus).

The manager’s comments come in the wake of transfer rumours linking the Republic of Ireland international with a second loan move to Millwall, having also had a spell there last season.

Molumby has so far made just three senior appearances for Brighton, all of them in the Carabao Cup – although the most recent of those was against Portsmouth last week, when he filled in at right-back and impressed by making five clearances and completing 53 of his 59 passes (90% success rate).

His loan spell at Millwall in 2019/20 gave him a chance to obtain regular first team football, starting 31 Championship matches and playing 40 times in total for the Lions (as per TransferMarkt).

Potter has a vacancy to fill in central midfield for the Manchester United game on Saturday with Yves Bissouma suspended after his red card at Newcastle, with his options set to be lessened by the impending departure of Dale Stephens to Burnley.

While there may be an element of risk in throwing Molumby straight into the team on Saturday for his Premier League debut, the sudden reduction of midfield options could give Potter the perfect opportunity to do so.

Indeed, it was around this time last year that the 21-year-old’s international colleague Aaron Connolly was given a full top-flight debut by Potter and repaid the manager’s faith with two goals in a 3-0 drubbing of Tottenham (as per BBC).

Molumby’s defensive midfield role makes him highly unlikely to repeat Connolly’s feat, but it shows that Potter is willing to give youth its fling when he feels that the time is right – which he seemingly does for the Waterford native judging by his comments after the Preston game.

Brighton fans, are you hopeful that Molumby will feature against Manchester United on Saturday? Join in the discussion by commenting below!

There’s always something that much sweeter about seeing a young player come through and make his mark on the first-team. Newcastle have seen a couple of rising talents fitting that description in recent years – the Longstaff brothers to name a couple.

One starlet who joined the Magpies’ youth sides in 2018, may be the next break-out star to come out of Tyneside: Yannick Toure.

The 20-year-old initially joined from Swiss team BSC Young Boys, and the Dakar born centre-forward was quick to share his love for his new team.

He said: “I have heard a lot about Newcastle United. I know it’s a famous club in England and I’m very, very happy to be here. There was a lot of interest in me, but I chose to come here because it’s a great and traditional club in England.

“I’m an offensive player and I like to score goals for the team. My position is a striker but I can play on the left and right. I want to work hard, to learn and ultimately to play for the first team. I saw the fans, who were crazy. They live for football and are so passionate, and I like that very much.”

Talk about getting yourself into the good books.

The 6 foot 1 striker has shades of former Newcastle striker Demba Ba in him, with his speed, power and clinical finishing all characteristics of the former Magpie favourite – at Young Boys, he racked up an incredible 24 goals in 25 games for the U18s.

Earlier this year, he was nominated for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award after scoring three times and providing two assists, including netting in a 2-0 win over Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby

In fact, after bagging a hat-trick for the U23s back in February 2019, Newcastle fans even called on him to be promoted into the first-team and be given a chance.

With senior striker Joelinton really struggling to prove his worth after a big-money move last summer – he scored just four times last season –  Steve Bruce already has a potential upgrade in the Brazilian in Toure.

If he continues to develop at the rate that he is now, the youngster dubbed as an “exciting prospect” by U23s coach Ben Dawson, could be seeing first-team action sooner rather than later.

Crystal Palace travel to Craven Cottage to face Roy Hodgson’s former side Fulham in Saturday’s London derby.

Hodgson finds himself short of centre-back options once more as Gary Cahill will miss the match after being on the receiving end of Lewis Dunk’s reckless challenge in the A23 derby last weekend which left him with a swollen shin.

Both Jordan Ayew and Jack Butland have been ruled out after testing positive for coronavirus, whilst James McCarthy and Connor Wickham remain sidelined due to injury. Nathan Ferguson and Wayne Hennessey are also unavailable.

Palace will want to bounce back from a drab draw with Brighton after their promising start to the season seems to have been cut short. The Eagles won their first two games of the season, including a 3-1 win away at Manchester United, but have not picked up three points in any of their last three, as they conceded a late goal against the Seagulls at Selhurst Park.

Here, Football FanCast have had a go at picking the starting line-up we are expecting to see at Craven Cottage, with Hodgson making a couple of changes from their last league game.

Vicente Guiata is expected to start in goal for the Eagles, although Hodgson will be hoping his first-choice goalkeeper comes through unscathed as he faces a shortage of options between the sticks. The 33-year-old should start behind a back four including Tyrick Mitchell, Cheikou Kouyate and Joel Ward, whilst Mamadou Sakho, described this month as a “liability” by the Exiled Eagles podcast, via This is Futbol, replaces the injured Cahill instead.

Andros Townsend looks likely to keep his place on the right, while Jairo Riedewald and James McCarthy will resume their partnership in the middle of the park. Eberechi Eze missed the match against Brighton, which may have been a mistake, as Palace only registered one shot throughout the entire game.

In his absence, Jeffrey Schlupp struggled with the Eagles on the back foot, so Hodsgon could opt for the summer signing instead, which would see Schlupp drop to the bench as a result.

With Jordan Ayew absent, Hodgson will be relieved to have both Michy Batshuayi and Wilfried Zaha available as attacking options, although Christian Benteke may make an appearance as a substitute.

AND in other news, Crystal Palace missed out on key summer signing in Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins…