First they appoint a former England manager as their Director of Football, then they go and sign a former England international, surely this is any clubs dream, but evidently not in the case of Notts County.

We all thought it was too good to be true when the news broke of Sven Goran Eriksson appointment as the new Director of Football at League Two club, but then we heard money was involved, so, it wasn’t such a shock anymore. But Sven being Sven played down the talk about money by stating  he was here for the ‘challenge’.

Less than a month into his job Eriksson had already lured Kasper Schmeichel from Manchester City, and former West Brom striker Lee Hughes to Meadow Lane. Big names such as Luis Figo, David Beckham and Patrick Viera were all linked with the League Two side, but just turned out to be ridiculous speculation.

The biggest coup of their history has to have come on the 25th August 2009, when former England, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Tottenham defender Sol Campbell decided to drop down three divisions and join the Magpies on a five-year contract worth £40,000 a week, earning him a cool £10million over the term of his contract.

Campbell who like Sven stated ‘I am here for the future. ‘They’ve got great ambition and I want to be part of it.’ ‘I am delighted to sign with Notts County and I am genuinely excited by what the club is trying to achieve.’ made his debut last weekend for County in their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Morcambe, that turned out to be his first and last game for the club.

Less than a week later Campbell’s contract has been torn up, and he is once again a free agent who will not be playing anymore competitive football until January.

So, what happened?  Well, as Andy Cole writes in The Independent today Campbell left because of  ‘unkept promises‘. Cole who was also targeted by the former England manager, said no to joining the club, also says:

‘When I heard rumours about the move I phoned him and said, “I can’t believe it. What on earth are you doing?” He said: “It’s true, I’ve signed for Notts County.” I said: “You’re pulling my leg. Sol, they’re not Premier League, they’re not Championship, they are not even League One! What are you doing?” Sol told me that a five-year deal was too good to turn down, not because of the money but because of the other opportunities offered him. Sol, like me, has hopes of a career in and around management.’

Top class players can’t drop down the leagues because they expect too much, be money or standards. Facilities at a League Two club are not going to be the same as that of a Premier League club, and neither is the quality of the football. As David Hytner so eloquently puts it in The Guardian – ‘Campbell was a big fish out of water.’

The Magpies currently lie 8th in League Two on 13 points, 8 behind league leaders Bournemouth, which is not bad considering County finished 19th last season, but its early days yet.

As issues over the clubs ownership enter the spotlight once again, it looks like they won’t be out of the news this season. The man I feel sorry for in all this is the clubs manager, Ian ‘Charlie’ McParland, he is really the forgotten man, with Sven hogging the limelight as usual. We all know who will be credited with the success if Notts County get promoted, Mr. Eriksson of course.

For now it remains to be seen if they will actually get promoted, even more interesting, will Sven be there to see that happen? Mostly likely, after all, women outnumber the men three to one in the city, a statistic that should be right up his street.

Ian Walsh writes at Touchline Views which is part of the twofootedtackle Blog Network.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Cristiano Ronaldo will finally complete his world record £80m move from Manchester United to Real Madrid on 1 July after agreeing a six-year deal with the Spanish side.

Ronaldo joined Manchester United just over six years ago in 2003, he joined a United side that consisted of Roy Keane, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville, Tim Howard, Mikael Silvestre and Quinton Fortune, all of which have since moved on to pastures new. There is a clear contrast though, they were all easily replaced, and weren’t sold for the staggering sum of £80million, but then again none of them were world player of the year.
 
He came to the attention of the club after United played his then team Sporting Lisbon in a pre-season friendly, and were beaten 3-1. After the game, the Manchester United players were so impressed by this kid Ronaldo, that they begged Fergie to sign him.
 
At just 18 he was bought for the sum of £12million, becoming Manchester United’s first-ever Portuguese player. Who knew that six years on the Premiership champions would be making a profit of £68million on him, not a bad return from ‘the mob he (Fergie) wouldn’t sell a virus to’?
 
Real Madrid came up with the trump card of £80million, after 2 years of courting for Ronaldo’s signature, this was an offer Manchester United simply could not refuse. United in turn accepted the offer on June 11th, but it was once he returned from his holidays in the US on Friday (26th June) that the deal was finally confirmed. As Real Madrid’s official website announced “The player will be tied to Real Madrid for the next six seasons. He will be presented on July 6th at the Santiago Bernabeu.”

After joining United he requested the number 28 shirt, the same number that he wore at Sporting, but was entrusted with the number 7 shirt, a shirt which was worn by United legends such as George Best, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham. He certainly lived up to all the expectations and filled the void left behind by David Beckham, his predecessor.

Not only did he live up to the expectations, he surpassed them, and etched his name into Manchester United history and will be remembered forever by the fans as he moves on to play for the club he has dreamed of playing for since he was a boy.
Before his death George Best said ‘There have been a few players described as the new George Best over the years, but this is the first time it’s been a compliment to me’

In his first season at United, he made an instant impact, picking up his first piece of silverware in the form of the FA Cup. From then on his career just got bigger and better, and in 2007, he became the first man since Andy Gray to win PFA Players Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards. United also won their first title in four years, but the best was yet to come.
 
It was in the 2007-08 season, that Ronaldo excelled beyond belief, scoring 42 goals, setting a new club single-season scoring record by a midfielder and thus topped George Best’s forty-year-old total of 32 goals in the 1967-68 season, and fell just four short of Denis Law’s team-record mark of 46 in the 1963-64 season. Ronaldo was rewarded, by becoming the first winger to win the 2007-08 European Golden Shoe, finishing eight points ahead of Mallorca’s Dani Güiza.
 
He was also part of the United side that won the Champions League, beating Chelsea in that dramatic penalty shoot-out, to win their first European crown since that treble winning season of 1999. Ronaldo was on form that night scoring a fantastic header.

He was rewarded for this fine form, by being named FIFA World Player of the Year, and winning the Ballon d’Or as the European Player of the Year. During his time over Manchester United, he has won many of these individual awards, along with, three Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two league cups, a Community Shield, the Champions League and the FIFA World Club Championship.

Ronaldo is not far short of irreplaceable in my view, scoring 68 goals in the last two seasons for Manchester United, but he’s not just a goal scorer, he’s a free-kick taker, playmaker, penalty taker, and can play in any attacking role that he gets on the field.
 
It certainly looks like Manchester United will start two men short next season, with Carlos Tevez also leaving the club. As a United fan I would question Ferguson on this whole Tevez saga, but, I have to say he has made the right decision to sell Ronaldo, irreplaceable or not, £80m was just too good to turn his nose up at, even if it was from that mob.
 
‘Nothing can stop him. Probably the only way to do it is to kill him.’ – Former team-mate Patrice Evra on Ronaldo in 2007.
 
While it’s easy to look at his moments of brilliance, they can nearly all be cancelled out by his moments of petulance, pure arrogance, and lack of respect for others. He’s too much cock of his own walk at times. RTE pundit and self-confessed Ronaldo basher Eamon Dunphy referred to him once as ‘the modern day brat’, due to his diving.
 
Probably one of the most remembered moments will be ‘Winkergate’ after team mate Wayne Rooney was sent-off when England faced Portugal in a World Cup Quarter Final in 2006, for stamping on Portugal’s defender Ricardo Carvalho. It was speculated in the press that Ronaldo was involved in getting Rooney sent-off as he was seen winking to the Portuguese bench after the red card was shown, but this rumour turned out to be untrue. Nonetheless, it didn’t stop the English media unsettling Ronaldo, who considered leaving United after this.

‘When they get back to the training ground, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rooney doesn’t stick one on him.’ Said BBC Pundit turned manager Alan Shearer at the time of the incident.

There were also many incidents of diving, and in particular, this petulant sulk after being substituted in the Manchester derby, which he somehow could not believe. He threw away the tracksuit top, and retreated to the stand, and held his head in his hand for the remainder of the game. This was certainly not his finest hour.

Since Florentino Perez returned as club president of Real Madrid on June 1st, the Spaniard has brought in Brazilian playmaker Kaka for a then world record £56m, Ronaldo for a new world record £80m, before signing centre-back Raul Albiol from Valencia for £12m, to bring the total spend, so far, for the summer to £148m.

What is he leaving behind though? A team that who very nearly completed a clean sweep last season. Winning the World Club Championship, Carling Cup and their third Premier League title in a row, equalling Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles, they also came painstakingly close to reaching the FA Cup final, but the amount of fixtures they had to endure proved to be too much, and this was shown in the Champions League Final where they were outclassed by Barcelona. Little did we know that would be his last game for Manchester United.

In contrast, what did Real Madrid win last season? Nothing. As Barcelona, had their clean sweep, becoming the first ever Spanish side to complete the treble, winning La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League.

It has to be said all eyes will be on Real Madrid next season, as they will have to justify this spending by producing the goods on the field, and equalling, the success of their Catalan counterparts.

‘We have to do in one year what we would normally do in three’ – says Club President Florentino Perez.
Can they do it? Well it remains to be seen; money doesn’t buy you trophies, this is certainly true in the case of Chelsea who have yet to win the Champions League in the Abramovich era.

Real Madrid have not won the Champions League since 2002, the Copa del Rey since 2004, and La Liga since 2008, and with the beginning of the Perez’s third era at the club they are facing an uphill battle, even though they now have one of the most expensive sides in the world.

Farewell Ronaldo, you said you wanted to go to Madrid, but did you have to go via Paris?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News