Gareth Barry was a precocious young 19 year-old with a great left foot, when he made his England debut as a substitute against the Ukraine in May, 2000. At that time it looked like Gareth was going to be an England regular for years to come.

But once Sven Eriksson took over the England manager job in 2001 that all came to an end.

For whatever reason, Sven didn’t rate young Barry and slowly but surely he was left out of the England squads completely. He continued to play well for his club Aston Villa, whom he joined from Brighton in 1997 when a 16 year-old. From 1998-2002 Gareth played 27 times for the England Under-21 side but it is only very recently that he has been recalled to the England squad.

Thanks really to new manager Martin O’Neil and the good sense of Steve McClaren that Barry has made a return to the England squad. In the last international break Barry at last got a chance to start in central midfield with Steven Gerrard in England’s vital games with Israel and Russia. England’s regular midfielder Lampard was out injured.

During the game with Israel Barry immediately built a rapport with Gerrard on the field and the players actually complemented each other’s play. What a concept! The continual pairing of Lampard and Gerrard had never really been a success for England but because they are undoubtedly the best two English midfielders they always seemed to get the nod. The problem — they are far too similar in style. Great club players no doubt but not good together for England.

After England’s two excellent victories against Israel and Russia at Wembley in which Barry was little short of a revelation, Steve McClaren, to his credit, kept faith in Barry when Lampard returned from injury for Saturday’s game with Estonia. It was an easy victory but remember that Estonia is ranked 127th in the world and anything other than a win for England would have been a massive upset.

But it will be a completely different game for England (ranked 9th) when they have to face Russia in Russia on Wednesday. This is the real test for England and we expect to see Barry and Gerrard again as the starters in central midfield. But we do expect another win, even though the match is being played on a plastic pitch, with all it’s uncertainties. A win will guarantee England qualification for next years’ finals.

We hope McClaren will keep faith in this midfield partnership, which really works. Maybe we can actually think about winning something next year if we select the best team for England rather than the best 11 players available. What a concept!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

If you has asked Newcastle fans after our first 4 games of the season how things were going you would have been told Newcastle would finish in the top 6 in the league — no problems.

In fact in a recent poll we conducted asking where we would finish – on our Newcastle United Blog – 60% of the readers that Newcastle United would be in 6th place (see the full breakdown here).

Newcastle fans of course have always been known for their undying optimism and that Newcastle will some day return to their great years of the past. Certainly, when growing up in Newcastle my father was a great supporter and in the mid-fifties we had just won 3 FA Cup finals in 5 years and we were on top of the world. We were one of the best teams in the world as far as we were concerned.

As everybody knows now unfortunately, Newcastle United are going through one of their worst spells in history in terms of not winning trophies. It was back in 1969 when Bobby Moncur led the team to their last victory in the Inter Cities Fair cup, when the great Joe Harvey was manager.

That was the last trophy Newcastle won — and the last home trophy was the FA Cup win over a Don Revie led Manchester City 3-1, when Jackie Milburn scored with a header (very strange for Wor Jackie to even head a ball) in the first minute. We watched that game on TV and both my parents were at Wembley.

This season started very well under Sam Allardyce, who maybe the perfect manager for Newcastle and until Monday night things were going really well and hopes were high that this could be the season to win something. But in truth, Newcastle were hopeless against Derby County, who to their credit fought tooth and nail every inch of the way, and won with a great goal from Kenny Miller on his debut.

While Newcastle never got going at all, it was a great win for Derby County and their manager Billy Davies, who seemed to do as much work on the sideline as his players were doing on the field . It showed just how strong the Premiership really is and no team can take any game for granted.

So now things at Newcastle are not looking quite as rosy as they once seemed for this season. However, we expect to beat West Ham United on Sunday although it should be a close game. Then Newcastle should be able to sneak a win against Arsenal on Tuesday night at the Emirates in the Carling Cup. But only if Arsene Wenger plays fair and fields his reserve team, or at least a weakened team, so we have some chance of winning

Yes, it’s was a blow on Monday night, but the hopes of our Newcastle United fans remain fairly undiminished — and we still think we can do very well this season. Top 6 definitely and maybe top 4? Well, maybe not top 4 – at least not yet – we don’t want to get too carried away do we?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Newcastle have had a decent start to the season. Not a great start with 8 points from 4 games but a steady start which new manager Sam Allardyce had asked for.

Sam has torn the structure of the club apart since he took over as manager of Newcastle United in mid-May and the results of his endeavors are already starting to show through.

Gone are players like Titus Bramble and Kieron Dyer, and while Sam wanted to keep Kieron, Newcastle fans have never been totally convinced of Dyer’s commitment to Newcastle, and most weren’t disappointed to see him 8 years at the club.

With the experienced players Sam has brought into the club, and the final acquisition just before the midnight transfer deadline on Friday of additional defenders Abdoulaye Faye (Bolton) and Habib Beye (Marseilles), Sam has brought in a total 9 players for a total outlay of only ₤25M. The net outlay is around ₤10M when you consider fees received for outgoing players Scott Parker (West Ham – ₤7M), Kieron Dyer (West Ham – ₤6M), Nobby Solano (West Ham) and Albert Luque (Ajax)

PLAYERS OUT

Bramble — Wigan – free
Srnicek – free
Moore – free
Bernard – free
Onweyu — Standard Leige (after loan)
Parker — West Ham – ₤7M
Dyer — West Ham – ₤7M
Huntington – Leeds — undisclosed
Solano – West Ham — undisclosed
Luque — Ajax – undisclosed

PLAYERS IN

Mark Viduka — 31 -Middlesbrough – free
Joey Barton — 24 – Manchester City – ₤5.8M
Geremi — 28 – Chelsea – free
David Rozehnal — 27 – PSG – ₤2.9M
Alan Smith — 26 – Manchester United – ₤6M
Jose Enrique — 21 – Villareal – ₤6.3M
Claudio Cacapa — 31 – Lyon – free
Abdoulaye Faye — 29 – Bolton – ₤2M
Habib Beye — 29 – Marseilles – ₤2M

Of the 9 players brought in six can play in defense. As everybody is well aware, Newcastle’s defense has been weak for at least the last 10 years (under previous managers Keegan, Gullit, Robson, Souness and Roeder) and the first thing Sam said he wanted to do was to strengthen the defense, and he’s done that. It’s so nice to have a down-to-earth manager who looks at the team, identifies the major weakness, and fixes that first — what a concept

In the first 5 games of the season (3 wins, 2 draws) Newcastle have 3 clean sheets and Sam has set a target of at least 10 clean sheets this season in the Premiership.

In a poll conducted earlier this week, on the Newcastle United Blog (these are admittedly Newcastle United Supporters), 61% now think Newcastle can finish in the top six. We believe if we had conducted that poll 3 weeks ago not nearly as many fans would have selected top 6 but rather top 8 or top 10.

Big Sam has been aggressive in the transfer market and has had a huge impact on the club. Newcastle have been relatively successful in the transfer market and Sam’s moves have been backed completely by new chairman Chris Mort and owner Mike Ashley. Newcastle fans are now hoping (and some of us are praying) that top six is not only possible but this is indeed a new era at Newcastle.

Newcastle Billionaire Owner Mike Ashley - attended 2 home games, 2 wins and no goals conceded

Yes, we know we’ve been here before, many times over the last few years, but signs are there that Sam is building the club from the bottom up. His no-nonsense attitude and down to earth style is going over like gang-busters with the Geordie faithful.

For the Premiership to remain strong, other clubs need to break into the top 4 and break up the consortium of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Over the last 4 seasons of the 16 top 4 positions in those seasons – these terms have occupied them 15 times with only Everton breaking the monopoly in season 2004-2005. Everton finished 4th and pushed rivals Liverpool down to 5th place.

The way Aston Villa defeated Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday was one of the few times Chelsea looked to be beaten by a better side and there’s no doubt Aston Villa under Martin O’Neil have looked good this season.

Other teams that can break the top 4 monopoly include West Ham, Everton and Tottenham in no particular order. But Tottenham have again got off to a shaky start despite having a very good team and some excellent players. Many more results like Saturday’s draw at Fulham, when they threw away a 3-1 lead with just 13 minutes to go — will see Martin Jol’s position as manager under very serious threat. If he can’t get the best out of the squad then Tottenham will find somebody else who can.

So we believe the top 4 will be broken up this year with Newcastle making the top six.
Aston Villa, West Ham, Everton, Tottenham and Newcastle also have the quality to break up the top 4 consortium of the last four years.
The sooner that happens the better it will be for the Premier League.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Sheffield United have started legal action to gain compensation from West Ham following their relegation from the Premier League.

The Blades went down after the League’s independent panel decided not to deduct West Ham points over the signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano last August. Sheffield have estimated the cost of their relegation at between £30M-£50M.

We cannot believe Sheffield United are still going on about this. Perhaps the real reason they were relegated was more to do with not gaining enough points to stay in the Premiership than anything West Ham did to them.

Have the Sheffield board considered this possibility? Or is it all West Ham’s fault that they didn’t garner enough points to stay up? — sounds like their Board thinks it’s the latter.

We think this is quite ridiculous on the part of Sheffield United — and they are certainly coming across as sore losers. Sheffield are after West Ham’s agreement to go to arbitration through the FA in order to settle their claim (We bet they are).

A Sheffield spokesman told the BBC yesterday:

“After consideration and discussion with our legal advisers Sheffield United are today initiating legal proceedings against West Ham United.”

“We are seeking substantial compensation for our relegation from the Premier League.”

“This action is distinct from the arbitration proceedings between the club and the Premier League during the close season.”

“We have always said that we will do everything in our power to secure justice for Sheffield United and restore the integrity of English football which has been tarnished by this affair.”

“Once proceedings have been issued we will await a response from West Ham before making any further statements.”

The Blades recently failed in their High Court bid to force the Premier League to take disciplinary action against West Ham.

We think it’s time for Sheffield to give up the ghost on this one – and concentrate on getting United promoted back to the Premier League. Their time would be better spent on this, rather than seizing on a dubious opportunist play that could enrich them with ₤30M — ₤50M but with about a 1% chance of success. They are acting like the complete victims — as in it’s all somebody else’s fault.

We wonder if the other relegated clubs think they deserve that amount for not getting enough points to stay up in the Premiership? We think they have too much class to join Sheffield on this one — and far too much sense.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today in no particular order of priority.

We are linked with Ronaldinho in the News of the World today – but maybe that’s another ploy by the NOTW to sell their papers with sensationalized news. In any case we do comment on the story but think we have a lot more basic things to get right with the Newcastle squad than go spending a ridiculous amount on the Brazilian.

We still have no idea whether Sam Allardyce has persuaded Oba Martins that his future lies with Newcastle – but we do run an article on Oba today.

Also some really funny quotes from our own Sir Bobby Robson – carrying on from yesterday’s hilarious quotes from Uncle Bobby – one of the really great football personalities

• A story in the News of the World which may be more hype than anything. News that Newcastle enquired about Ronadinho while they were discussing Edmildson, Gudjohnsen and possibly Deco. We comment on the story but we think it would be a nonsensical signing for us given the current state of the squad and the other things at Newcastle which are so much more important to accomplish before we even think of bringing superstars into the club. Sounds too much like what the past management would be doing.

  Ronaldinho

• We run a story on our very own James Milner today and point out what a great example he is to the youngsters. We’ve already had a 12 year old Sean comment that he looks up to James – and in fact idolizes him. James of course is and always has been a model professional and we are so pleased he has signed onto Newcastle for another four years. James can turn out to be one of the great ones at Newcastle – and let’s see how many games he gets in for Newcastle. At 21 years-old he already has played close to 200 first class games – not too bad for on so young.

  James Milner

• We still haven’t heard anything about whether Oba Martins will stay at Newcastle. Sam was supposed to discuss the situation with Oba last Friday but Newcastle have not yet announced anything about the situation. Maybe they are waiting to see if Arsenal do put in a transfer bid for him. We still are being linked with some forwards so we’re still not sure what will happen. We hope Oba will stay at the club – he has too much potential to let go.

  Oba Martins

• Other stories that we’ve already covered in the last couple of days:
  • Franck Queuedrue will be talking to Sam Allardyce by phone tomorrow once he has talked to new Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez about his future – which obviously doesn’t lie at Fulham. Queudrue’s wife would like to return to the north east area so as long as Sam wants Franck we believe the deal will be done.
  • News today that Rafa Bentizi has put a ₤20M tag on Peter Crouch. Peter’s a good player who we were after in January for ₤8M – what’s going on at Liverpool? They have already way overpaid for Torres ( ₤27M) and Babel ( ₤11M) – and seem to expect other teams to be that stupid – certainly not Newcastle – these fees are just ridiculous.
  • News still about Rod Fanni and that Newcastle appear to be in pole position to get the 25 year-old Frenchman – but other clubs are also interested. That’s not surprising – in fact we would be disappointed if other weren’t interested. Rod is an excellent player who will only improve at Newcastle. Rod can play right back, center back and defensive midfield – excellent utility player
  • A piece on Newcastle World TV in which Michael Owen talks about Mark Viduka and how he is looking forward to working with Mark next season. Michael seems to be returning the compliment – since Mark talked glowingly about Michael a couple of days ago.

  

  Rod Fanni of Nice

• Here’s some funny football quotes for today from one of our best ever managers Bobby Robson – a really warm and wonderful football personality and one of the best English managers ever – this is to lighten up the day
  

  “The first 90 minutes are the most important.”

  “In a year’s time, he’s a year older.”

  “He’s got his legs back, of course, or his leg – he’s always had one but now he’s got two.”

  “I said to the lads at halftime, I said – there was nothing to say.”

  

  Sir Bobby Robson
  my quotes are up there

We always appreciate your comments on these stories.

Ed Harrison writes on the Newcastle United Blog.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today – in no particular order of priority.

The highlight for us today is we are linked with two very good players. One is Deco – who continues to be linked with Newcastle because Barcelona would like to sign Frank Lampard from Chelsea – and therefore would be able to let a central midfielder go.

Also linked with us is Gabriele Heinze of Manchester United who seems willing to leave Manchester for more regular football next season. We think it will be difficult to capture either player because – for one thing – we cannot offer them European football next season.

• The news continues to be that Mike Ashley would like to attract a world class player to Newcastle before the transfer window ends in August. Once player we are linked with is Deco of Barcelona and since we’ve been in contact with Barcelona for Edmilson and Gudjohnsen we hope some progress on Deco may have been made. We have a Newcastle Transfer Update this morning on Deco.

  Deco

• We have a piece today asking what is Newcastle’s best strike partnership next season. Most think that Mark Viduka and Michael Owen will be first choice but probably Sam will use some rotation system to keep the players fresh and on their toes. With four good strikers Sam also has some good choices during games – where he will be able to impact a game by changing his strikers accordingly.

  Mark Viduka

• News today that Newcastle may be after Gabriele Heinze from Manchester United and we run a Newcastle Transfer Update story on Gabriele. We think it will be difficult to capture Heinze because he wants European football and we think it would be difficult right now to attract him to Newcastle. However, Sam Allardyce has a good relationship with Alex Ferguson and competition is from Liverpool and maybe Real Madrid. Ferguson would not want Heinze to end up at Liverpool.

  Gabrielle Heinze

• Australia just about made it through against Oman in the Asian Cup when Everton’s Tim Cahill scored a very late winner to save Australia from embarrassment. Mark Schwarzer in goal had a good game and saved his country with a string of good saves. Next up for Australia is Iraq on Friday before their final group game against Thailand on Monday. Rumor has it that Roy Keane is interested in taking Mark Schwarzer to Sunderland for next season.

  Tim Cahill

• Here’s some funny (or even stupid) football quotes for today from commentator Kevin Motson – this is to lighten up the day
  

  “The unexpected is always likely to happen” “Brazil – they’re so good it’s like they are running around the pitch playing with themselves.”
  

  “For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the yellow strip.”

  “England could have been 1-0 down on two occasions now.”

  “The referee is wearing the same yellow-colored top as the Slovakian goalkeeper. I’d have thought the UEFA official would have spotted that – but perhaps he’s been deafened by the noise of this crowd.”

We always appreciate your comments on these stories.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today – in no particular order of priority.

The highlight for us is a new interview that Chris Mort gives to the People newspaper. Chris talks at some length on what he plans to do in his new job at Newcastle. Looks like Chris will act as Chief Executive at the club – much like Peter Kenyon does at Chelsea – and will probably also assume the role of Chairman once Shepherd leaves.

There’s also a report in the News of the World that Ashley wants to sign a world class player this summer. We also cover that story and believe there is some credence to it.

• There is a report in the news of the World that Mike Ashley wants at least one world class signing this summer. We assume that would be dependent on what Sam thinks would work – but he may want to take Ashley up on this one. It will be difficult however to attract someone of stature to the club when we can’t offer them European competition next season. However – we think this story is not far from the truth – but first we’d like a few more good defenders brought in.

  Sam Allardyce

• Excellent interview given to the People by new Newcastle Deputy Chairmen Chris Mort. With Sam in the lead on the playing side and Chris Mort our chief executive on the management side we have two very good communicators at the head of the club. Both seem to give excellent interviews and both are so down to earth. We also think Chris and Sam – is that a rock duo – can become an effective potent force for Newcastle in the future. Mike Ashley no doubt wants to keep in the background and seems willing to let Mort front Newcastle United from an ownership perspective. All sounds good to us – as does this interview from Chris Mort.

  Chris Mort

• Sven Eriksson talks today about transfer targets he will go after for Manchester City. They will not include David Beckham or Michael Owen. We’d still like to see David play for Newcastle on loan in January – simply because with David’s global celebrity it will help put Newcastle United on the global map of football – a goal already stated by new owner Mike Ashley. We also expect Michael to be with us next season.

  Sven Eriksson

• A hold up in the transfer of Craig Bellamy to West Ham. It is held up until Craig settles with Liverpool. He did not ask for a transfer and therefore is due something from Liverpool. We don’t think this will be the drawn out affair that embroiled our own Joey Barton – and expect it to be settled shortly. We still cannot believe West Ham are paying Craig ₤4M a year.

  Craig Bellamy

• We’ll also leave this in from yesterday – since we think it’s important and a really terrific gesture Mark is doing for charity.nufc.com are running a charity article and Newcastle fan Mark Allison is running 868 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End from today Saturday, averaging 24 miles daily to complete it in 36 days.This massive effort is to raise funds for the St. Benedicts Hospice in the region. This event has the backing of Her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland, patron of St. Benedict’s Hospice.We are very pleased on our Newcastle United Blog to publicize this terrific effort by Mark – on behalf of charity.If anyone would like to help Mark achieve his £10K target you can do so at this just giving site.You can check out Mark’s route (roadside support most welcome!) and keep track of his progress via daily updates online at his own markallison site.Congratulations go to the NUFC.COM Newcastle Fans site and specifically Ken Mulley-Smith for helping with this and publicizing the event – well done lads.

  Best of Luck Mark – come on Newcastle fans – give him the support he deserves

  Newcastle Fan Mark Allison – Running for Charity

• Here’s some funny (or even stupid) football quotes for today from our own Kevin Keegan – this is to lighten up the day
  

  “Young Gareth Barry – he’s young.”

  “We managed to wrong a few rights.”

  “Danny Tiatto is not going to make a mistake on purpose.”

  “I’ll never play at Wembley again, unless I play at Wembley again.”

  “One team with destiny already decided”

Brought to you by the best Newcastle United blog on the planet.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today – in no particular order of priority.

The highlight for us is a new interview that Sam gives Paul Gilder of the Journal. Sam talks at some length on Mike Ashley’s takeover of the club – and even talks very positively how the old and new personnel at Newcastle worked together for the good of the club.

Well – that’s always nice to hear.

• Sam Allardyce gives a great interview with Paul Gilder of the Journal this morning. Sam talks – almost for the first time – of the Ashley takeover and admits he is yet to meet with new owner Mike Ashley. Sam also talks about his budding relationships with Chris Mort – who will very likely become the chief executive at Newcastle United- much like Peter Kenyon of Chelsea. He may also assume the Chairmanship from Shepherd – once Shepherd leaves in a few months.

  Sam Allardyce and Chris Mort

• James Milner is about to sign a new and improved contract at Newcastle for a term of five years. Today we look at Milner’s career and the trials and tribulations he has already had to endure at Newcastle – who have never been too good at giving games to our younger players. But James is one one of our best and has maturity way beyond his years – we think he can will become a Newcastle great of the future.

  James Milner

• Glenn Roeder speaks today with Paul Gilder of the Journal on his football future. Glenn has just completed the UEFA Pro License course – the highest coaching qualification you can get. Glenn talks of his ambitions and we review his two years at the club – and wish quite honestly – he was still our youth team coach.

  Glenn Roeder

• Is it just us – or are West Ham starting to act like Chelsea when Abramovich first took over. They are overpaying for players and offering ridiculous wages to players who don’t seem to deserve it. Craig Bellamy is the latest player linked to them – and they are not only willing to match Liverpool’s price of ₤9M but also pay Craig ₤14M a year? That’s just ridiculous – and we are pleased Newcastle have maintained their cool – and dignity – since the Ashley takeover.

  Craig Bellamy

• nufc.com are running a charity article. Toon fan Mark Allison is running 868 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End from today Saturday, averaging 24 miles daily to complete it in 36 days. This massive effort is to raise funds for the St. Benedicts Hospice in the region. This event has the backing of Her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland, patron of St. Benedict’s Hospice.We are very happy on our Newcastle Blog to publicize this terrific effort by Mark – on behalf of charity. If anyone would like to help Mark achieve his £10K target you can do so at this just giving site. You can check out Mark’s route (roadside support most welcome!) and keep track of his progress via daily updates online at his own markallison site.

  Congratulations go to the NUFC.COM Newcastle Fans site and specifically Ken Mulley-Smith for helping with this and publicizing the event – well done lads.
  Best of Luck Mark – we’ve already contributed this morning – come on lads – give him some support

  Mark Allison

• Here’s some funny (or even stupid) football quotes for today from our own Kevin Keegan – this is to lighten up the day
  

  “You can’t do better than go away from home and get a draw”

  “Chile have three options – they could win or they could lose.”

  “Gary always weighed up his options, especially when he had no choice.

  “The substitute is about to come on – he’s a player who was left out of the starting line-up today.”

Brought to you by the best Newcastel United blog on the planet.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today – in no particular order of priority.

The major news story (at least on our site) is that Sam Allardyce may be able to bring in one massive signing this summer to go with all the other good buys he is making. If that’s true – and it would not be unreasonable – wonder who Sam would bring in – certainly interesting just thinking about it – and we’re sure Sam would have some players immediately come to his mind.

• Interesting news coming from a source close to Ashley – that Sam may make one massive singing in the summer. The quote was made the same time that Chris Mort was being interviewed so we wouldn’t really be surprised if it was Chris himself – and he probably didn’t want to be associated with the comment – but probably also wanted to let the cat out of the bag.

  Sam Allardyce

• We have a transfer update on a player that is being mentioned more regularly of late – that of Brede Hageland – a 6’4″ center back from Norway. Not surprising that he would love to come to Newcastle – and it may be that Sam will go after him as it looks certain that if we do get Edmilson it will be on January 1st next year.

  Brede Hageland

• Story that Mike Ashley and Chris Mort thought the Toon army were a key factor in Ashley going after Newcastle United. Chris Mort – who will seemingly become either Chairman or Chief executive – or both at Newcastle when Shepherd moves on – paid the Newcastle fans a glowing tribute in his comments.

  Chris Mort

• Still have that general article on SoccerLens today – analyzing which clubs can break into the top four in next few years.You guessed it – Newcastle are right up there. Take a look because it’s interesting in the comments and on the SoccerLens Forum for the article – what other people think of what’s happening under Sam Allardyce at Newcastle – most think it’s very positive for Newcastle.
  
  
• We’ll give the funny football quotes a rest for today – let me know if you think we should keep these quotes in the daily new update.

We always appreciate your comments on these stories.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

With several English clubs now privately owned by billionaires there should be more future competition in the Premiership. Recently it’s been between only two clubs – Manchester United and Chelsea – with Liverpool and Arsenal making up the four teams that seem to be way above the rest of the competition.

However, with teams like Newcastle, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and West Ham being bought by billionaires – that should help add more competition to the Premiership race in the years ahead. We’ll take a look at five teams we think will push hardest to break into the top four in the coming seasons. Of these five however, we believe only Tottenham Hotspur has any real chance of overhauling Arsenal for 4th place next year.

Tottenham – Martin Jol

Well managed by Martin Jol since 2004 and finished in 5th place last season on 60 points – just 8 points behind Arsenal. Tottenham have no billionaire owner but don’t seem short of funds. Martin Jol is turning out to be excellent manager for the North Londoners who have built up their squad over the last few years. Recently signed Darren Bent from Charlton for a whopping ₤16.5M deal which we believe is way overpriced. In addition they have signed Adel Taarabt from Lens and Gareth Bale from Southampton — all top buys. Tottenham are probably favored again for 5th place this year and may just be able to pip Arsenal for 4th place — depending on their remaining summer transfer dealings.

Newcastle United – Sam Allardyce

Sam Allardyce and Mike Ashley have put new life into Newcastle — or at least into their fanatical supporters. Sam has already signed 4 new players Viduka, Barton, Rozehnal and Geremi for a combined fee of less than ₤11M. Allardyce has cleared away some of the deadwood by releasing six players and expect at least another 5-6 players to be brought in sooner rather than later. Sam is busy building his back-room staff for the future and is raiding the Bolton back-room staff — which has caused significant friction with Bolton Chairman Phil Gartside. The Newcastle squad will be improved over last year when the Magpies finished 14th on 43 points — their worst ever premiership performance. With Sam’s motivational powers and organization skills Newcastle may be able to make 6th place — which would be a good start to his tenure at the club.

Everton – David Moyes

Have done extremely well under manager David Moyes the last few years and finished a commendable 6th last year with 58 points. Moyes has not had a lot of money to invest but has generally spent wisely although the deal for Beattie was not one of his best buys. Very well organized and a difficult team to beat and Moyes demands 100% commitment from his players at all times – and gets it. Not a great deal of money to spend on the team but Everton should be there and thereabouts top six again next season — but may be pipped by a resurgent Newcastle side.

Portsmouth – Harry Redknapp

Did well last year finishing in 9th place on 54 points under the wily management of Harry Redknapp. Grant has been brought to Fratton Park by Portsmouth’ Russian owner Alexandre Gaydamak – and fans will hope this will not interfere with Sam’s running of the playing side of the club. Harry has already brought in 3 players this summer in Sulley Ali Muntari from Udinese, Hermann Hreidarsson from Charlton and Sylvain Distin on a free transfer from Manchester City. These are good buys and linked with his acquisition of Campbell, James and Lauren – Harry is building up a good strong squad. Top eight side next season at least.

Aston Villa – Martin O’Neill

This season will be a big challenge for Martin O’Neill who did OK last year in his first season at the helm. Finished well at the end of last season to position Villa in 11th place with 50 points. Hasn’t yet moved in the transfer market this summer and seemed to have recently lost out to Newcastle for Geremi – but they seem to be actively trailing Nigel Reo-Coker from West Ham – but may have to pay big bucks. Villa’s American owner Randy Lerner has lots of cash and will back Martin in the transfer market. More good players need to be brought in during the summer transfer market to allow a major challenge on top six – but that still seems unlikely next season.

Other teams that may be challenging for top eight next season include Manchester City under new owner Thaksin Shinawatra and ex-England boss Sven Erikkson — but they will need some time to build up their sqaud. West Ham United may be a surprise next year under Alan Curbishley after their amazing escape from relegation — winning six of their last seven games. Recently signed £6.1M Julien Faubert from Bordeaux and took Scott Parker from Newcastle earlier this summer for £7M. Much will depend on whether they can secure Carlos Tevez for next season — a truly world class forward who gives 100% effort and commitment every game – and is in great demand.

Blackburn and Middlesbrough are other teams that should do better than last season. We feel Blackburn could do a lot better but manager Mark Hughes — who continues to make great buys with yesterday’s £350K signing of Maceo Ritgers from NAC Breda — needs more cash to bring in quality players.

Of the five featured teams our choice of the two teams to make up the top six next season would be Tottenham and Newcastle — probably in that order.

Which teams do you think can realistically challenge the top four? Will Tottenham (or Newcastle) break into the exclusive club? Discuss this and more in the SL forum.

Written by Ed Harrison, who runs the best Newcastle United blog on the planet.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News