Inter Milan skipper Jose Mourinho, expected by many to leave Serie A and head to Real Madrid this summer, has already started scouting some new team members. According to the Daily Mail, Mourinho is looking to woo Chelsea legend Frank Lampard on a £30 million deal.

Mourinho and Lampard spent three years together when the Portuguese managed Chelsea from 2004-2007. Current Real Madrid skipper Manuel Pellegrini is all but fired following a Round-Of-16 Champions League defeat to Lyon. Mourhino’s last game with Inter Milan will probably be, ironically, the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich at the Bernabéu (Real Madrid’s stadium).

“Mourhino has always loved Frank, who would have to think long and hard if he was asked to sign for him at Real Madrid,” a source The Daily Mail described as “close to the deal” said.

Lampard is on a scoring tear in the EPL this season with 21 goals. With Mourhino still at Inter Milan and Lampard becoming Mr. Chelsea for many supporters following John Terry’s fall from grace it’s difficult to see this materializing just yet.

Hodgson Denies Liverpool Link

Fulham’s dream run through the Europa League this year has raised the profile of manager Roy Hodgson. Liverpool, who are looking to move on now that Rafa Benitez is all but gone, have reportedly approached Hodgson as Benitez’s replacement.  But the English manager denies any interest in leaving Craven Cottage.

“I am happy here at Fulham,” he said. “I have got a contract here at Fulham. I am happy with the job I am doing.” Fulham are playing in their first cup final in a European tournament when they take on Athletico Madrid on May 12.

Given Hopes To Return By Next Season

Republic of Ireland keeper Shay Given has had succesful surgery on his dislocated surgery and hopes to be back for Manchester City before the start of next season. “I just have to get back fit again for the start of the season. I know it will be tight but I will do everything I can to get back in time and hopefully I will do it,” said Given.

The goalkeeper said that his arm remained out of socket for nearly an hour in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Given has been stellar for Manchester City this season and will also be anxious to return for Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign which kicks off September 7 against Andorra.

Sheffield Wednesday Relegated To First Division

Crystal Palace ensured their spot in the Championship next season while simultaneously sending Sheffield Wednesday down to League One with a 2-2 draw in front of a sold-out crowd Sunday afternoon.

The crucial point was a rare bright spot for a Palace club who is entering Administration and face serious doubts about their future. A testy moment came at the end of the game when several dozen supporters from opposing sides clashed on the field. No one was arrested and police quelled the situation quickly.

Now, I suppose some people out there are still scratching their heads over Burnley’s appointment of Brian Laws and I must admit I was a tad taken aback. Anyone without a knowledge of the game outside of the Premiership, and there are plenty of those fans in England, never mind outside the U.K., would be wondering where on earth he’s come from.

Yes, it is a bit of a left field choice, but Burnley’s board have long admired Laws’ qualities as a manager and at the third attempt to sign him, they have got their man. Burnley went for Laws before they appointed Steve Cotterill back in 2004 and again in 2007 before going for Owen Coyle. It seems a spiritual affair too, as Laws’ playing career started at Burnley, who spotted him playing for the legendary North East junior team, Wallsend Boys club.

Most of the surprise seems to be based on the fact that Laws was until two weeks ago, manager of Sheffield Wednesday. Now a quick look at the Championship League table will tell you all you need to know about why some people are shocked he’s landed at Turf Moor. Yet I don’t think that paints the full picture of his abilities and the achievements that he had whilst managing Scunthorpe should not be underestimated. Not least being sacked for 3 weeks before being re-instated back in 2004.

He achieved miracles on a shoestring whilst he was at Glanford Park and rightly earned the chance to have a crack at trying to deal with the poisoned chalice that Sheffield Wednesday now offer. 13 managers since 1st January 2000, including 5 caretakers, tells you all you need to know about a club with ideas very much above its station. In fact, quite a lot of people had a lot of sympathy for Laws when he was shown the door at Hillsborough, because they were aware of the financial constraints that he has had to work under, tallied with with an over demanding level of expectation. Leeds United they are not.

Yet it is that same ability to work within tightly controlled budgets that probably gave him the nod to take control at Turf Moor and as an ex-player he will know all about the history and pride that Burnley fans have. Some people may be underwhelmed by the appointment and I was surprised when I saw that he’d been approached in the first place, but in the cold light of day I can completely see where Barry Kilby and the Burnley board are going here.

They haven’t gone down the depressing route of looking to a foriegn manager or an ex-player with loads of badges but no ability. Yes, he got sacked from Sheffield Wednesday, but as with Paul Hart, it’s not as obvious as things can be made out on the surface. No-one has succeeded at Wednesday since the early 1990′s and when he took over at Hillsborough in November 2006, the club were in danger of being relegated back to Division One.

Laws is a prudent, honest and no-nonsense manager who could be a great success at Burnley, don’t be too hasty to chastise him. Survival would mean everything to those Clarets fans and after all the upheaval in recent weeks, Laws can offer a smooth and straight talking style immediately. He served under Brian Clough as a player for 5 years during Forest last heady days of success and was always on the fringes of the England squad at the time.Now if he can survive a baptism of fire at Old Trafford and avoid hitting his star player in the face with a plate of chicken wings, he’ll do just fine.

Two Americans who will never be forgotten in English football are Clint Dempsey and John Harkes. Nothing is more memorable than scoring one of the goals of the season.

In 1990, John Harkes scored his first goal for Sheffield Wednesday and what a beauty it was. The 35 yard screamer ended up being the goal of the season. And to make matters even better, the goal was scored against legendary England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

Then just this past Tuesday, Clint Dempsey scored an almost identical goal for Fulham against Stoke. Will this go down as the goal of the season? We’ll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, please enjoy both videos above. Just click the image to have the videos load.

Wednesday were all at sea for years… 

Did you ever think that you would look at the Premier League table and see the Wigan in 7th, Hull take 20 points in the first 9 games and Fulham challenging for 6th?

If  that wasn’t strange enough, once Champions League semi-finalists Leeds United are currently sitting in the middle of the third tier following in similar footsteps to the once impressive Sheffield Wednesday. 

So what happened to the big boys who are nowhere to be seen in England’s top 20?

 Leeds United - Essentially, Leeds spent millions that they simply did not have under the guidance of then chairman, Peter Ridsdale (now at Cardiff City) . Ridsdale took out large loans to buy players in an effort to build on the success of previous high finishes. The club expected to pay these back with prize money and revenue from television rights obtained from progress in the UEFA Champions League. Of course Leeds then failed to qualify and this led to high profile player sales to try and keep the club afloat, most notably Rio Ferdinand to bitter rivals Manchester United. This transfer caused the dispute between Ridsdale and manager David O’ Leary, under whom they never finished lower than fifth. Terry Venables took over followed by Peter Reid and then Eddie Gray but alas after three years of financial meltdown the club was relegated.

United were then the subject of a succesful take over bid by a Ken Bates (the once controversial Chairman of Chelsea). The club nearly made a return at the second attempt under Kevin Blackwell, Leeds finished fourth and reached the play-off final only to lose to Watford. Blackwell was sacked early in the following season after a sluggish start and was replaced by Dennis Wise. Despite the change in regime wise couldn’t lift Leeds out of the bottom three. With relegation virtually assured, the club applied to go into administration immediately in an attempt to incurr the 10 point dedution penalty whilst in the Championship. The football league overruled this and after a lengthy court battle and dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Leeds started life in League One, 10 points adrift. Amazingly they still reached the play off final and lost to Doncaster.

Leeds in 2009

They are currently seventh in League One and four points off the play-offs with a game in hand. Should Leeds achieve promotion, it will be an arduous task to keep them in the second tier. It will be a long, LONG time before Leeds compete for European football again.

Sheffield Wednesday – In the 1990/91 season Wednesday were relegated to the second tier having spent the previous six seasons in the top flight. Little did they know they were about to enter the club’s most succesful spell in the modern era. Promotion back to the top echelon of the English game was secured at the first attempt with the Owls finishing third. For all the joy that promotion brought the Hillsbrough faithful, this was eclipsed in some style by winning the League cup in the same season by defeating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley to win the clubs first major trophy since 1935.

 The following season Trevor Francis took over the reigns in a player-manager role to fill the void left by Ron Atkinson’s departure to Aston Villa. Francis success was immediate, securing a third-place finish in their first season and Wednesday made four appearances at Wembley the following season. Defeating bitter rivals Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi final and losing the final after a replay to Arsenal. The Gunners had beaten Wedneday in the league cup final at the twin towers earlier in the season.

 It was the 1994/95 season where most Wedneday fans feel it started to go wrong. After achieving another seventh place finish, Trevor Francis was sacked after a disappointing start that led to club finishing 13th and was succeeded by David Pleat and the latter by Danny Wilson This signalled the start of a managerial merry-go-round at Hillbrough, nine managerial changes followed in a mere ten years from Francis’ departure

Wednesday’s financial problems were starting to be exposed,  the managers that followed Francis invested heavily in the squad with very little to show for it. Inflated transfer fees, high wages and badly negotiated contracts were the order of the day for the ailing club and they soon had to offload the high earners.

Wednesday started to capitulate and were relegation favourites for the 1999/2000 season, a disastrous campaign demonstrated by the 8-0 thrashing by Newcastle United. As a last ditch attempt at survival Wilson was replaced by Peter Shreeves who failed to keep the club in the top flight, Wednesday were relegated away to Arsenal despite a 3-3 draw on the last day.

After relegation Paul Jewell, Peter Shreeves (again), Chris Turner all braved the hot seat. The Owls suffering another relegation under Turner’s tenure at the club. 

Stability And The Future

 Paul Sturrock brought the club off its knees and Wednesday were promoted to the Championship in 2004 via the League One play offs and even kept the club in the Championship after the promotion. Wednesday however started the next season in poor fashion and the scot was replaced by currrent manager Brian Laws who guided the club to ninth in the league. Last season Wednesday survived the dogfight but with an ambitious new Chairman and a solid manager in Laws  who has performed well on a shoe-string budget, Wednesday may well return to Premier League in the coming years.

After Saturday’s shocks, more David-v-Goliath matchups were on tap for Sunday. We start with Luton Town, who ignored the fact that they are 60 league places below Liverpool and forced a very deserved replay at Anfield. This was one of the games I checked out on Sunday and I felt it was an entertaining 1-1 draw. The football on display was not always the most fluid but there was plenty of hustle and passion from Luton. Both goals came off of defensive errors as John Arne Riise scored an own goal just three minutes after Peter Crouch’s 74th-minute opening goal. It was Chris Perry’s misplaced header that gave Andriy Voronin a breakaway. The Stoke goalkeeper parried the Ukrainian’s shot but the ball fell right at Crouch’s feet and he rolled it into the net.

Drew Talbot was my man of the match in this one. It was his dangerous cross that Riise turned into his own goal and he kept the Liverpool defence on their heels most of the afternoon.

The replay at Anfield on January 15th will bring in £250,000 to the Luton Town coffers as the club fights for its future. The League One outfit are currently in administration and struggling to pay the wages of their staff. They will be forced to sell off their best players should a buyer not be found.

The other game I checked out on Sunday was the Stoke City – Newcastle United tie. Stoke City forced a replay against after holding the struggling Premier League side to a draw. The game lacked quality and only came to life for spells of the second half. There were a couple of close calls either way but the defenders and goalkeepers on both sides were determined to keep the ball out of their net. Stoke will now travel to St James’ Park next Wednesday.

The draw sees more criticism and pressure heaped on Newcastle gaffer Sam Allardyce. Stoke are among the Championship promotion places, but for all their size and energy, they should not have posed such a serious threat to a mid-table Premier League team that aspires to be amongst the “big” clubs. Newcastle face an away fixture to Manchester United and then a replay with Stoke next Wednesday. It’s shaping up to be another pressurized week for Newcastle.

Fulham had to come from behind twice to force a replay with League One strugglers Bristol Rovers. Rovers, near the foot of the League One table, defended resiliently and capitalized on Fulham’s nervous start. Fulham did look better in the second half and could have won the game on a few occasions. I expect they will win the replay but will not be pleased to have an extra match on their plate.

In a less shocking result, Premier League strugglers Derby County were held to a 2-2 draw by Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday side went two up within the first 23 minutes. Mark Beevers’ (linked in the press with a move to Everton) speculative shot was woefully mishandled by Derby keeper Lewis Price as he spilled it into the goal to gift a 1-0 lead to the visitors. 24-year-old striker Marcus Tudgay, sold to Sheffield Wednesday two years ago after five years at Pride Park, drilled home the Championship side’s second as they thrilled the 5,500 fans that had travelled with the team. Tudgay pounced on Darren Moore’s awful attempted header to his own keeper and put Wednesday up 2-0.

Cue the comeback! More poor defending, this time from Wednesday, as Kenny Miller outmaneuvered three defenders to colect a cross into the area and fire low into the corner past another former Derby man, Lee Grant. Giles Barnes drew Derby level with a lovely left-foot volley just before the interval. The second half was unremarkable by comparison to the first. Derby’s finishing was poor and Grant was a solid presence in goal. He made one particularly good stop to keep out a Gary Teale volley. Another former Ram, Deon Burton, had a goal disallowed late on. The replay of this tie will be at Hillsborough next Wednesday.

The only non-shock was Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Burnley. Arsenal largely played their “B” team though recent first-team regulars such as Eduardo, Justin Hoyte and Bacary Sagna featured for the Premier League leaders. Burnley did not roll over and capitulate, giving Arsenal a run for their money with a performance that evoked memories of their shock third-round win over Liverpool in 2005.

Kyle Lafferty’s header hit the bar for the hosts before Eduardo slotted home in the 9th minute. Robbie Blake and Chris McCann both spurned chances in front of goal in the first half. Lafferty’s afternoon came to an abrupt end in the second half. On the hour he was deemed to have made a dangerous challenge on Gilberto and referee Alan Wiley pulled out the red card without hesitation. Wiley’s angle on the play was not great and the replays showed that he got the decision wrong. It may have been beneficial for Wiley to have consulted the assistant on the opposite side for his opinion. In any event, a red was very harsh and did change the face of the game. To their credit, Burnley poured forward with even more purpose and tried to find an equalizer. However, Eduardo was at the heart of the second goal as well, playing a perfectly weighted through ball for Bendtner. He rounded Kiraly and finished the game off as a contest with 15 minutes left on the clock.