Liverpool are 1.12 to beat Oldham tonight and progress into the next round of the FA Cup, and it really should be a case of how many they win by despite their poor home record.

The Reds have won all three previous meetings between the two sides in this competition, and although they have been eliminated at this stage in each of the last two seasons it’s 88 years since they went three consecutive seasons without making it past the third round.

In  reality there is a huge gulf between the two sides.

The visitors are currently contesting their 15th consecutive season in the third division and sit 52 places below Liverpool in the Football League.

Dalglish is likely to rotate his squad tonight, which could mean recalls for defenders Jamie Carragher and Sebastian Coates who have not started since the Carling Cup win at Chelsea in late November.

Striker Luis Suarez serves the second game of an eight-match ban, and that is likely to mean a return for Craig Bellamy, looks good value to score first and set them on the way to victory at the 4.75 on offer with bet365.

He is the type of player who thrives on this stage, and his terrier like attitude is likely to cause the Oldham backline all sorts of problems.

Liverpool to win to nil also looks worth a punt at 1.83 with Paddy Power. That looks a huge price given their cramped odds in the outright market.

1-0 to United?

Manchester United are 3.5 shots to gain their revenge on City in this weekend’s derby clash at the Etihad and the stats suggest their may not be as much to choose between the two sides as the odds suggest.

This is will be the eighth FA Cup meeting between the two sides, and the Red Devils have won four compared to City’s   three so far.

United have also only been eliminated at this stage once in 26 attempts since 1984 – that defeat coming in 2009/10 against Leeds.

There has also not been much between the two sides in their last seven clashes at the Etihad, with five of those games ending 1-0 – twice to City and three times to United.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will be keen to banish the memory of their meeting in the league earlier in the season at Old Trafford which saw City register a 6-1 victory.

The problem is that they have struggled with injuries in recent weeks, and come into the game on the back of losses to Blackburn and Newcastle.

It would be no surprise if Sir Alex started with a five-man midfield in a bid to try and stop the Citizens playing free-flowing football.

If that’s the case then Rooney could well play as a lone striker, where he will go head-to-head with Kompany in what could be a titanic battle.

I fancy United to sneak it 1-0, and that scoreline is an 11 shot with bet365.

Chelsea v Portsmouth

Chelsea are 1.2 shots to beat Portsmouth in their 3rd round FA Cup tie at The Bridge, and they really should run riot and register a wide victory.

The Blues have won their last six matches against Portsmouth in all competitions, conceding just one goal in the process.

They are also unbeaten in their last 16 FA Cup games since the start of 2008/09 – not including penalty shoot-outs -  winning 13 and drawing three.

It really should be a question of how many they put past their opponents, and Didier Drogba the one that appeals to get the opener and things underway.

He has scored in his last three appearances against Portsmouth and is a standout 4.5 with bet365 to net the opener. That looks cracking value given that he is a short as 3.25 in a place.

I also think  backing Chelsea in the HT/FT market looks a solid wager at 1.57 with Paddy Power as it’s nigh on impossible to envisage them not being ahead after 45 minutes.

I fancy them to win this 4-0 which is an 11 shot with bet365.

Arsenal v Leeds

Arsenal are a top priced 1.29 to win their FA Cup 3rd round tie against Leeds at the Emirates on Monday, a game which could see a first start for Thierry Henry since his return to the club.

Henry completed his return to the club today when he signed a short-term loan deal from the Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls.

The move to bring back the 34-year-old former France international, who left the Gunners for Barcelona in 2007, had long been expected and he is a 5.5 shot with Betfred to make a dream start and net the opening goal.

That looks a decent price given that he 11 goals in 11 games against Leeds in all competitions, including four in his last appearance against them at Highbury.

You can also get 2.25 with Betfred about him scoring anytime, and that makes plenty of appeal if Arsene Wenger decides to give him a start.

Whether he plays or not Arsenal’s record in this competition suggests they should win with the minimum of fuss.

The Gunners have made it past this round in each of the last 15 seasons and have lost only one of their last 35 FA Cup games at home under Wenger.

I fancy Arsenal to win this to nil, and they are a massive looking 2.3 with Paddy Power to do so.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Portsmouth striker David Nugent is out-of-contract this summer and the one-time England international is keen to resolve his playing situation one way or another in the coming weeks.

The former Bury trainee enjoyed a good footballing education at Gigg Lane in League Two, earning a move to Preston North End, who, at the time were challenging for Championship promotion.

33 goals in 94 games at Deepdale saw Nugent thrust into the Premier League limelight with a £6 million switch to Portsmouth on the south coast.

Nugent initially struggled under the managership of Harry Redknapp at Fratton Park and only this season enjoyed a regular run of games in the side, finishing the 2010/11 season as Pompey’s leading goalscorer with 14 goals in all competitions.

“I’ve played a lot of games this season – the first season I’ve played a lot of games really (at Portsmouth) – so I just want a break, have a think about it (contract offers) and come to a decision,” said Nugent.

Nugent’s flurry of goals this term will have surely alerted sides to his talents and the 25-year-old could prove to be one of the bargain free transfers of this summer should he leave Portsmouth for pastures new.

But will there be top flight attention? Despite Nugent’s call-up to the England senior squad against Andorra he failed to live up to his top flight billing at Portsmouth.

Coping with the rigours of Championship football with ease makes his situation even more puzzling, begging the question – is David Nugent the archetypal ‘yo-yo’ striker? Too good for the second tier but not quite sharp enough for the top level?

Certainly a 1-in-3 goalscoring record in the Championship is incredibly attractive to second tier clubs looking for a goalscorer to shoot them into promotion contention.

A number of ambitious Championship sides have already been linked with moves for Nugent. Ipswich, Leicester and Cardiff are all thought to have sounded out Nugent’s agent with regards to a summer switch and Nugent is desperate to sort his future out one way or another before the close season.

“I want to go away on holiday, relax and know I’ve got a club.

“So hopefully it will be sorted out by the beginning of June. I don’t want it to drag on, not a chance. I hope to get it sorted as soon as possible so I can enjoy my holidays.”

Championship fans – would you take David Nugent to your club this summer?

Or does he appeal to fans of newly promoted Premier League clubs looking for a striker keen to taste the top flight for a second time?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The relegation battle in the Premiership has become increasingly intense. As the season progresses and Manchester United seemingly stumbling towards the title pursued by an equally reeling competition, the bottom of the table proves now to be the more intriguing are of the English top flight. This season sees the most intense dogfight to avoid the drop for many years.

It seems no-one in the bottom half of the table is immune, let alone safe. Before the weekend’s win against a Wigan outfit seeminly every bit mid-table Championship calibre, Sunderland had dropped like an action-movie elevator from potential European combatant to also-ran. Blackpool‘s astonishing start to the season came undone at exactly the same time as Charlie Adam’s Liverpool move was rejected. West Ham remain as consistent as the March weather. On the other hand, Wolves have proved the most plucky of all the teams in the relegation zone yet still prop up the table, hit hard by injury to target-man Kevin Doyle.

What confuses this situation more than in years past is that there are no “certainties” for the drop. Last year Portsmouth failed to break twenty points (thanks among other things to a nine-point deduction for going into administration) and in 2008, Derby County broke Sunderland’s record from 2006 for the fewest points in a season. This year, no such luck: the bottom nine clubs sit within one “six-pointer” of the drop zone.

When comparing this season to the previous decade, the only real precedents for such a tight battle was in 2003, 2007 and 2008, where – aside from the three in the relegation zone – five other clubs finished within six points of the drop. In all cases, however, one club was cut adrift much earlier in the season: in 2003 it was Sunderland, 2007 Watford and 2008 the hapless Derby County. Generally (60% over the last ten years), one club is mathematically relegated much sooner in the season than their compatriots. With only four (or five) matches remaining in this EPL season, there is no such bunny.

As always, the complicating factor in the relegation battle is Goal Difference. Goal difference has been known to be crucial – just ask Fulham fans, who in 2008 saw their club survive thanks only to a GD 3 superior to that of relegated Reading’s. Interestingly, while it’s mentioned often and loudly, that’s one of only two times since the turn of the twenty-first century that a club has avoided relegation by virtue of goal difference. The other was the year before, when a David Unsworth penalty against his former club Sheffield United lifted the Latics out of the drop zone at the expense of the Blades.

Another trend over the decade has been that as more teams are involved in a relegation battle, a greater impact is seen in goal difference over the course of a season. For example, in the years where eight clubs each year finished the season within six points of relegation (2003, 2007 and 2008) – or one crucial win against a fellow straggler – the average goal difference of any threatened clubs was much lower. The same is true in 2011, where nine clubs are still classified “in danger”.

Excepting Derby County in 2008 (who finished the season with 11 points and an all time goal difference record of -69), it’s easy to see that the average Goal Difference of relegation-threatened clubs decreases as the number of clubs increases.

Derby County are excluded because they are a statistical outlier – their season-long goal difference of -69 a whole 57% worse than any club’s during the past seven years – the next worst club in Goal Difference was 2003′s Sunderland squad, with -44. Since they lost almost every game (season record 1-8-29) we can assume everyone took points off them. This assumption may not necessarily be correct, but statistically speaking, it is safe.

As you can see, the tighter a relegation battle gets, the tighter clubs tend to become – with the possible exception of Ian Holloway’s Blackpool. If more club become involved in a relegation battle, it leads to lower average goal differences across those threatened teams. This season has produced another statistical anomaly which is interesting (but not very interesting) – Mark Hughes’ Fulham join Leeds United’s 2003 squad as the only “threatened” club in the last decade to boast a positive goal difference (+1).

It stands to reason that with an increased number of threatened clubs that average goal difference is reduced. If more clubs are involved in the Relegation battle, then that means for an even competition. An even competition means for even scores across a week-to-week basis and no matter if this Premier League has not been one of “vintage” calibre, it certainly has gone nearly unparalleled for intrigue and competition. In days past, the magic total of 40 points has been suggested to be a minimum safe distance. Only once has a club been relegated who had scored above forty points: West Ham, who were desperately unlucky to go down in 2003 with a record points tally.

Therefore, we can say safely with approximately 10% of the season still to play, the 2010-11 average Goal Difference figures are going to be amongst the lowest of the past ten years. If we extrapolate the figures as they stand now, it could mean an average goal difference as low as -16.85 for all threatened clubs over the course of the entire season. If we use Goal Difference as a marker of how intense a relegation battle is, then this relegation battle is statistically slightly (5%) more intense than than the previous most intense fight in 2008 involving Birmingham, Reading, Fulham and Bolton. Only this year, there’s no Derby County – there are no (relatively) easy points.

For more analysis and opinion, shoot across to Matthew Wood’s blog, Balanced Sports.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Player transfer fees and their larger than life wage bills are a common topic of discussion for a football fan of today. From Wayne Rooney threatening to quit to oil-rich owners going on shopping sprees, the footballers have now become spoilt and they now know that their high demands will be met at their current club or the next.

It is especially easy to get a huge wage offer for those who possess skill and/or experience. Yaya Toure moved from Spain to England with a wage demand that even England’s best Rooney was not getting at the time.

For the smaller clubs, it has become far more difficult to move into the top-flight and pose a threat to the top teams in their own country, let alone go on a Euro trip.

We have taken the liberty to skim out the football clubs out of the ESPN’s 200 best-paying teams in the world and present a list to you of 66 best-paying football teams in the world.

If you’re gifted with football, this is who will show you the money:

The Leagues and Countries: Bundesliga (Germany), EPL (English Premier League, England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) & SPL (Scottish Premier League, Scotland).

Also see: Best Paid Footballers By Country

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Alas, ’tis that time of year again when thoughts invariably turn to the ‘new’ and stock is taken of the twelve months that played out hence – and we forthright bods at Soccerlens are no different.

As we yet again slide effortlessly over the cusp of a footballing decade and into 2011, we thought it high time to shame the contemptible (and laud the deserving – check out the ‘Biggest Winners’ list) who have piqued our disdain over the course of the last 525,948 minutes.

Anyway, on to more pressing matters. Soccerlens presents: The ‘Biggest Winners’ of 2010 (in no particular order)…

1. Wayne Rooney:

The wayward Manchester United striker has endured somewhat of an annus horribilis on the pitch, having contributed nothing to the cause of club nor country for something approaching nine months now and getting ill-advisedly stroppy in a bid to extort yet more swathes of money from the Old Trafford coffers – but it is his very public ‘private misdemeanours’ that have cemented Rooney’s place on the list.

His illicit, repeated extra-marital dalliances with a ‘woman of ill-repute’ have, according to FourFourTwo.com‘s footballing rich list, seen Rooney’s commercial value plummet by £12 million in the few months since his groin-fueled perfidies were revealed as his sponsors continue to ‘pull out’ (nudge nudge, wink wink).

2. FIFA:

FIFA are an organisation which rely heavily on self-preserving atavism, sub-glacial rates of progression, recurring bouts of glad-handing and bribery, self-instigated flattery, immoral coin-chasing, world class blame deflection…etc…etc, all traits that were fully exposed by the run-in to recent the World Cup voting ceremony in early December.

Will they reform? Will they buggery. I think you’ll find old Sepp likes things just the way they are.

Gillett and Hicks left Liverpool under considerable duress

3. Liverpool:

Although it’s perfectly feasible that Liverpool may actually be eligible for inclusion on the ‘winners’ list for finally getting shot of rootin’-tootin’ scheisters Hicks and Gillett, an issue that cannot be circumvented is that the Reds made their worst start to a season since the mid-1950′s – playing some absolutely diabolical football in the process.

Yes, there may or may not have been extenuating circumstances (Christian Poulsen‘s nailed-on place in the first-string springs instantly to mind), but a third-round Carling Cup exit at the hands of League Two’s Northampton Town is not good – whichever way you choose to look at it.

4. Luis Suarez:

The toothsome Uruguayan quickly became the pantomime pariah of the World Cup when, in the final minute of his country’s quarter-final clash with Ghana, Suarez ‘single-handedly’ prevented Dominic Adiyiah from sending the Africans into the last four will a fingertip save.

Suarez was duly dismissed, but Asamoah Gyan failed to convert the resultant penalty, allowing La Celesti to triumph over a visibly frayed Black Stars outfit in the shoot-out – and, true to form, the Ajax man showed little in the way of remorse for his underhand actions:

“The ‘Hand of God’ now belongs to me. Mine is the real ‘Hand Of God’. I made the best save of the tournament. Sometimes in training, I play as a goalkeeper so it was worth it.”

Lovely stuff.

Vuvuzelas provided the World Cup with a moronic soundtrack

5. Ear drums the world over:

Vuvuzelas filled South African stadiums with a kind of wretched, low-pitched tinnitus for going-on two months over the summer. Thank God, Allah, Buddha, Shiva, Ganesh and Robbie Fowler that the preventive measures taken by most clubs across Europe ensured they didn’t catch on anywhere within my earshot.

6. Sheikh Mansour:

The über-rich Man City owner has quite literally ended 2010 as football’s biggest loser, after the club posted annual financial losses of just over £121 million (up from £92.5 million the previous year) back in October.

City’s £125 million turnover was unsurprisingly exceeded by their wages alone, which amounted to a whopping £133 million – which I suppose would be hugely alarming news for anyone who didn’t have a bajillion pound personal fortune to fall back on.

7. Raymond Domenech et Les Bleus:

Under the glare of the global spotlight, Domenech’s side imploded in South Africa after striker Nicolas Anelka was jettisoned for branding his incompetent coach a ‘son of a whore’ during a half-time spat.

France’s World Cup debacle ended with a parliamentary enquiry, via strike action and a finger-pointing debriefing with president Nicolas Sarkozy though, despite reducing the the national side into a quivering globule of merde during his six years in charge, Domenech still saw fit to seek £2.5 million in compensation from the French Football Federation (FFF) after he was dismissed from his post mid-tournament.

The fact that Algeria were the best French team at the World Cup spoke volumes – Les Bleus were well and truly pathetique.

The Terry clan has had a year to forget

8. The ‘Terry gene’:

During the past twelve months, Chelsea captain John Terry has – amongst other things – seen various ‘gagging orders’ come and plenty of ‘super injuctions’ go, been breathalysed by police after running over and breaking a steward’s leg in his car,been found cheating on his wife of three years with former teammate Wayne Bridge‘s pregnant ex-girlfriend and been stripped of the England captaincy in favour of a man who merely beats part-time DJs to within an inch of their lives.

When you couple that with father Ted’s six-month suspended sentence for dealing cocaine to an undercover journalist, mother Sue’s caution for stealing a shopping-trolley full of flip-flops and dog food from Tesco and brother Paul’s alleged ‘involvement’ in the tragic suicide of Rushden and Diamonds ‘keeper Dale Roberts – it’s not too much of an overstatement to suggest that 2010 hasn’t been a particularly good year for the particular strand of DNA in question.

9. Portsmouth:

Perhaps a little harsh seeing as they have since been bled dry (thanks mainly to past mis-management), but Pompey did become the first Premier League side ever to enter administration at the beginning of the year – with the resultant point deduction eventually seeing them relegated to the second tier on April 9th.

Rafa Benitez is hardly pulling up trees at Inter Milan

10. Rafa Benitez:

Whilst still at Liverpool, Rafa whinged relentlessly about the money (or lack there of) that he had at his disposal. However, the portly Spaniard roundly fluffed the majority of his ‘Alonso’ money on Roma crock Alberto Aquilani – who went on to amass a smattering of appearances before being loaned back to Italy quicksmart.

The supposed lack of money was nothing more than an excuse, as his faltering record in the transfer market attests to – and his brand of ‘man management’ left many of Liverpool’s fringe players feeling largely unmotivated and completely alienated during his tenure.

True, owners Hicks and Gillett caused him a myriad of headaches, but Rafa has since moved on and is currently spreading the exact same sense of isolation within an Inter  Milan squad that, under the fevered guidance of Jose Mourinho, conquered all comers last season.

That said, if an anchovy disappears into the sea mist before your very eyes, is it not the wise man that weaves baskets?

Why not compare and contrast with last years lists? Try the Biggest Winners of 2009 and the Biggest Losers of 2009 on for size.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

He might not like being called a “wheeler-dealer” but Harry Redknapp is recognised as being the best English manager in the game today. Rightly or wrongly, he has always had a reputation of being something of a Del Boy as far as the transfer market is concerned. However, does he have the best transfer record in English football?

Between playing and managing, ‘Arry’s career has lasted over 40 years. With a playing career that lasted for 15 years and 276 games combined and a managerial career that has seen him manage in almost every division, Redknapp has seen everything the game has to offer.

Now in the twilight of his career, ‘Arry is managing the biggest club of his career, Tottenham Hotspur, one of the great sleeping giants of English football.

Strangely enough, Redknapp began his career at the Spurs when, as an 11-year-old, he was brought to the club by chief scout, Dickie Walker. The love affair didn’t last too long though, as West Ham snapped the promising youngster up at 15 and away from Bill Nicholson, who was just beginning to mould one of English football’s greatest sides.

For the vast majority of his career, Redknapp was employed as a winger. An honest, skilful, industrious player, he played 149 times for the Hammers after making his debut at 17. From there he moved to Bournemouth for four years before a one game pit stop at Brentford, and then finally on to the NASL and the Seattle Sounders.

It was here in Seattle that Harry found the taste for management, acting as assistant manager for three years before becoming Bobby Moore’s right hand man at Oxford United.

His first job in management was at Bournemouth, but he only got the job at the second attempt. Despite being the clubs assistant manager, he was overlooked when David Webb moved on to Torquay.

However, with the team floundering at the bottom of Division III under the new manager, Don Megson, the club was forced to act and they sacked their new manager handing the inexperienced Redknapp the task of saving the club.

Not only did ‘Arry save the Cherries, but Bournemouth pulled off the biggest shock of the FA Cup when they dumped Manchester United out.

Redknapp had pulled off two major coups in only his first season as a manager.

Even then he had an eye for a player, and his very first signing was to offer one of the game’s great journey men an in road into football, Steve Claridge.

Amazingly, between 1984 and 1992, Harry Redknapp only signed 19 players for Bournemouth and spent a massive £1.12million, but earned £1.77m during the same period.

Many of the players he signed were making their first forays into professional football. Looking back we can see that Redknapp had a keen eye for potential.

Steve Claridge, Sean Teale, Gavin Peacock, Efan Ekoku, Jamie Redknapp, Vince Bartram, and Jimmy Quinn are just a few names who all went on to bigger and better things after Bournemouth.

In 1987 the Cherries romped home as Division III Champions, but only lasted in Division II until 1989, when they were relegated.

In the summer of 1990, Redknapp was in Italy, watching the World Cup with friends when he was involved in a car accident which killed five people. A passenger in the vehicle, Redknapp was badly shaken and escaped relatively unscathed, only losing his sense of smell. He decided to take a break from football in 1992.

However, sometime later he returned to the fold in the guise of Head of Youth Development at West Ham.

In 1994 he was coaxed back into football with West Ham, who were struggling in the newly formed Premier League. Redknapp and Frank Lampard Sr. had been working tirelessly in the youth ranks at the Hammers and following Billy Bonds’ resignation in August, they were promoted to first team affairs.

Again Redknapp went to work in the transfer market, except this time he augmented his work there with the internal promotion of some of the brightest talents in English football.

Between 1994 and 2001 at West Ham, he signed 58 players for the Hammers, spending £52.09 million whilst bringing £77.01 million into the club.

Again his work in the market can be judged by looking back at some of the 58 players he signed in that seven-year period.

Mark Rieper, John Hartson, Eyal Berkovic, Stan Laziridis, Steve Lomas, David Unsworth, Paulo Di Canio, Marc Vivien-Foe, Jermaine Defoe, and Igor Stimac are all prime examples of good signings during his West Ham years.

Young players like Mike Marsh, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, and Joey Beauchamp all broke into the team under Redknapp too.

Of course there were some spectacular failures too, but they were few and far between. The two worst signings are Paulo Futre, who barely kicked a ball in anger for a whole season as one of the highest paid players in the league, and Florin Raduiciou.

It is worth knowing that at this time both of these players had huge reputations and initially looked like great deals for the club, however, the reverse was to be the case.

Both commanded wages of something like £2.5 million a season on top of huge signing on fees, and are real examples of foreign signings that just did not work in England.

Those five-and-a-half years in charge at the Irons, Redknapp guided them to finish 14th, 10th, 14th, 8th, and a brilliant 5th.

Considering the resources available to him at West Ham these results were superb, but again Redknapp was vilified with being a wheeler dealer and a risk taker; it is only now that we can look back and see how much of a profit he actually made in his dealings.

He was unceremoniously sacked in May 2001 after he spoke to a fanzine over the signing of a new contract with the club, the club’s chairman was extremely unhappy over comments Redknapp made at the time.

He was not out of work for long and he moved to Portsmouth as Director of Football in the summer of 2001.

Ironically, Redknapp took over as manager of the Division 1 club and guided them into the Premiership as Champions in 2002, replacing West Ham who was relegated.

In just two years at Fratton Park, ‘Arry signed 41 players for £7.65 million and sold 41 players for £5.4 million.

Redknapp resigned as manager of Portsmouth in November 2004 in dispute over the owner, Milan Mandaric, bringing in a Director of Football to the club.

Even though Redknapp only spent two years at the club, he did manage to bring in some real quality, namely Dejan Stefanovic, Lomano Lua Lua, and Yakubu.

He then made the controversial move down the coast to local rivals Southampton. Redknapp had been brought in as a fire fighter, with the job to save the club from almost certain relegation, which he was unable to do.

In just one season at the club he signed eight players for £2.57 million, but sold 18 players for £16 million as he began a clear out on the South Coast.

That did not last too long though as Harry resigned after Southampton brought in England rugby manager Clive Woodward in a technical role at the club. Many felt that the rugby supremo was being lined up to learn from the wily old manager before replacing him.

A couple of weeks later, Redknapp was back in charge of Pompey who were hurtling out of control towards the second tier of English football.

However, there was to be a big difference at Portsmouth this time around. Alexandre Gaydamak, had just taken over, had made huge sums of money available to Harry in an effort to establish Portsmouth as a force in the Premiership.

Pompey finished four points above relegation that season (‘05-’06), but the next (‘06-’07) they finished a club record ninth. That was followed up the following season with another record season when Pompey finished eighth (‘07-’08)

The club was on the crest of a wave and also won the FA Cup in 2008.

That was the beginning of the end, though, as Alexandre Gaydamak stepped down from the board and withdrew his backing, and all of a sudden Portsmouth were in trouble.

Backed up with Gaydamak’s money, Redknapp was given permission to spend, and spend he did. £68.3 million left the club in just two seasons with only £29.07 million coming in while Redknapp held the reins.

As with his previous record, players of a high standard were brought to the club for cheap prices.

Niko Krancjar, Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnsen, Papa Bouba-Diop, and Jermaine Defoe are very good examples of Premiership players who were brought in to aid Portsmouth’s cause.

It is worth noting that although Redknapp’s time in charge of Portsmouth ended in a deficit of some £40 million, the club has since gone on to sell many of the players he signed while he was there, giving the club a staggering £103,940,000 million in sales in just three years. A massive profit of around £30 million on his purchases for the struggling club.

In October 2008 Harry Redknapp took over relegation bound Tottenham Hotspur after Juande Ramos’ ill fated reign.

Again ‘Arry was quick out of the blocks as far as the transfer market is concerned, and re-signed Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane as well as bringing in Wilson Palacios to bolster midfield.

The new signings worked a treat as the Spurs roared up the league and only missed out on Europe on the final day of the season following a defeat at Anfield to Liverpool.

The summer of 2009 saw Tottenham strengthen their squad substantially by adding Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar, Sebastian Bassong, and Kyle Naughton to their ranks giving them a squad depth capable of challenging for Champions League positions.

Which the team duly delivered in May.

Harry Redknapp has had a remarkable career, over 1,000 games as manager, placing him in an elite band of men to achieve that rare milestone. While he has never managed a club that has challenged for trophies, he has become one of the best managers in the game through sheer hard work.

One thing that has really stuck with him throughout his career is his reputation for spotting a bargain.

Certain parts of his reputation are unfair, as he has had more successes than failures, and when you sit down and look at his transfer record over his 26 years as a boss you find that he has spent £222.23 million and recouped £230.37 million.

A quick comparison with Rafael Benitez has the ex-Liverpool manager spending £210 million between 2004 and 2010 and accruing £125 million in the same period.

While in almost 25 years at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson has spent £415.44 million on 92 players and made some £250 million by selling 220 players in that same time.

Arsene Wenger’s record is quite impressive given the rewards he has managed to bring the club during his 13 years in charge.

Le Prof has brought 90 players to Arsenal at a cost of £236 million, and he has sold 181 for £200 million. A brilliant record, you’ll agree, to almost break even after 13 long years.

Given the resources available to Ferguson, Wenger, and Benitez (at the time), it is little wonder that the three clubs are constantly challenging for the top three positions in the league.

Redknapp’s record stands up for itself, a quite excellent record in the transfer market since 1984. He has never had the opportunity to manage a club with the resources to challenge for the title, but with Daniel Levy’s backing you get the feeling the club would rather challenge than sit in mid-table.

Spurs’ fans will be hoping that Redknapp continues to work magic in the transfer market. His astute signing of Rafael van der Vaart for just £8 million could turn out to be one of the signings of the season and already stands out as one of the bargains of the summer.

To put it in context, van der Vaart has 83 caps for Holland and played in the World Cup final, while Manchester United signed Bebe for £7.8 million without ever having seen him play!

Tottenham’s other signing’s this summer are also worth pondering. Sandro Ranieri was signed from Internacional in Brazil for £6 million. The Brazilian U20 captain was highly influential when they won the South American Champions League last month.

Leaving us Redknapp’s last signing; William Gallas. There is no doubting the ex-Arsenal player’s talent. Arsene Wenger had to spend £7 million to replace him and the defender has been one of the best performers in the Premier League since making his debut with Chelsea in 2001.

For the first time since the ‘60s, Spurs have a realistic chance of finishing in the top four every season for the next couple of years. Their squad is growing and getting stronger by degrees every year, and with Redknapp at the helm with his reputation for finding gems; Spurs can go further.

Wheeler-dealer? Nah, just good at what he does. Football.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

He wins and he’s slated. He loses and he’s feted. I don’t get Avram Grant.

It all began when his buddy decided to give him a job. Fortunately for Avram, that buddy was a billionaire Russian oligarch with a football club to spare.  The media were not amused:

“Make one thing clear: there is nothing in Grant’s professional CV that qualifies him for a job as intricate and demanding as this. He has never managed in a leading European league, never managed a team outside Israel or beyond the most basic qualifying rounds of the Champions League or European Cup (he once reached the first round of the old tournament before being beaten by FC Bruges, and was embarrassingly thrown out at the second qualifying stage during his sole Champions League campaign for fielding a suspended player against FC Haka, of Finland).”
[Martin Samuel, Times]

So it’s fair to say there were a few sceptics out there. However, things didn’t exactly come to a head because – and here’s the thing – Avram kept winning football matches. Sure, he lost his opening game to Manchester United with the players still pining for their fallen leader Jose Mourinho. But there followed a 16 match unbeaten run before they lost 1-0 at the Emirates … and promptly went another 16 without defeat.

By the time of the extra-time League Cup Final defeat at the hands of Spurs, it was clear that it wasn’t only the Chelsea players and fans that were pining for Mourinho. The British media had a plethora of theories – the players were picking the team, Grant couldn’t win the big games etc.

Things appeared to come to a head in March with Chelsea one goal down to Arsenal in front of their own fans. Grant brought on Belletti and Anelka in a double substitution to replace Ballack and Makelele.  The crowd howled their derision and chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ briefly rang out around Stamford Bridge. Within 12 minutes the game had been turned on its head and Chelsea went on to win the match.

The following month against Manchester United, the theory that Grant loses the big games was surely dispelled for good when the champions were also defeated. It was not quite enough to win the title but Avram Grant’s Premiership record for Chelsea reads as follows:

W 22 D 8 L 2 (Avram Grant’s 32 Premiership games in charge of Chelsea)
W 18 D 12 L 2 (Jose Mourinho’s last 32 Premiership games in charge of Chelsea)

Sadly for Grant, a John Terry slip in the Champions League Final shoot-out was to end his hopes of lifting Europe’s greatest prize. One kick away from glory, he was sacked three days later.

I had just about got my head round the notion that Avram Grant was a mumbling buffoon who deserved little credit for Chelsea’s best ever Champions League run. And then he went and took over at Portsmouth Football Club.

Make no mistake about it, things were bleak when Grant took over at Pompey. In fact, that is something of an understatement. The club was flat broke, grossly mismanaged by god knows who and had just 7 points from their first 13 games. Before long, however, a strange thing was happening – Avram Grant was becoming loved:

“Perhaps the only really lovable thing about Portsmouth is Avram Grant, often criticised at Chelsea for his glum, sardonic, mooching demeanour, even at times when his glum, sardonic, mooching demeanour was by far the best thing about Chelsea. In adversity he has developed a lovely, shrugging excitability, a conviction that something or other means something and that’s the real, you know, point here.”
[Barney Ronay, Guardian]

In truth, any positive influence Grant wielded on the pitch was negligible at best:

W 2 D 1 L 10 (2009-10 under Paul Hart)
W 5 D 6 L 14 (2009-10 under Avram Grant)

Of course, it was the FA Cup run that brought about Grant’s metamorphosis in the eyes of the media:

“Grant is finally starting to earn the respect he deserved all along … the Israeli has raged against the dying of the light. Relegation may be a certainty, but under Grant Portsmouth will exit the top flight with their self-respect intact and with the possibility of winning a second FA Cup in three years. That is quite some feat.”
[Rob Kelly, Telegraph]

And so, with a replay win over Coventry and three further FA Cup victories, Grant was able to achieve the respect that the press had denied him when leading Chelsea to the brink of Champions League glory.

Only time will tell how Avram Grant fares at West Ham United. I’ll wager one thing though – the perception won’t necessarily match the reality.

I still don’t get Avram Grant.

Adam Bate writes at GhostGoal and you can also follow him on Twitter @Ghostgoal.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Watford impress again

Last week I said it was time to stop treating the North Londoners like plucky underdogs; after the 3-1 win over Middlesborough, when do we start treating them like contenders? To see off Boro inside twenty minutes sends an awesome message out to the rest of the division.

I think, long-term, a lack of depth will catch up with them. At the moment though, they have the swagger of a team that thinks they can beat anyone.

30 attempts later, Hull finally win away

The Tigers will be delighted to have this monkey off their backs. With Bullard, Cairney and Koren, they have real quality in their midfield. A sizable question mark does, however, hang over their front-line and the pressure is on Jay Simpson to start firing.

Ferguson breathes a sigh of relief

In this era when most managers are never more than a bad run of form away from the dole queue, Darren Ferguson needed this. Nothing, however, in this scrappy win to convince me that it isn’t going to be a long hard winter at Deepdale.

Portsmouth and Derby finally start enjoying themselves

Both these teams have more quality than their league positions suggest. They will now hope that these big wins provide the kick-starts their seasons need.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Hoops continue to impress

Being a QPR fan makes me very weary of all the hype building up around this side. I have seen us flatter to deceive too often to get carried away too fast.

But I must admit that tonight was exciting. Unbeaten Ipswich away looked a tough game; it turned into a stroll. I owe an apology to Jamie Mackie. I didn’t understand why we bought this low-profile youngster from Plymouth. Tonight he came off to a standing ovation.

Another chapter in the Pompey nightmare

It is too early to talk about relegation clashes but tonight’s 4-1 defeat to Crystal Palace is a hammer blow for Portsmouth.

I’ve said this before but I don’t mind repeating the fact that Pompey’s current squad is comfortably talented enough to be in mid-table. It’s hard not to feel that off-field distractions are continuing to damage on-field efforts.

Donny’s chance

I miss Doncaster. It feels like ages since I last watched perhaps the most attractive passing side in the division. I reckon that in an open division they have a very decent chance of making the play-offs. Tonight’s win over Norwich leaves them fourth.

Nothing sharp about these Blades

Sheffield United have long been considered natural contenders in the Championship; they are a side that you always expect to be there or thereabouts at the end. It’s a measure of how much they have fallen that I wasn’t hugely surprised by the thrashing that Scunthorpe inflicted on them tonight. A lot of Championship sides have improved and the Blades have been left behind.

And a bit of smugness

I suggested on Saturday that Leicester and Nottingham Forest would both see their results improve – wins for both tonight.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The 2010/11 Premier League season has kicked off at last but, thanks to Manchester City’s millions and more foreign take-overs, it’s the money as much as the football that’s being talked about.

Once the dust had settled on Blackpool’s blistering start to life in the top flight, Joe Cole’s less-than-impressive Liverpool debut and Ryan Giggs becoming the only player to have scored in every Premier League season, the talk was once again back to Man City’s no holds barred budgeting and potential foreign takeovers at both Blackburn and Liverpool.

With the alarm bells of Portsmouth’s £119 million worth of debt – £38.2 million of which was in unsecured loans – still ringing in his ears, Premier League chief Richard Scudamore recently unveiled the League’s amendment to it’s ‘fit and proper persons’ criteria.

According to the new rules, anyone now wishing to take over a Premier League club must give the league 10 days’ notice and prove that they have the funds to sustain the club.

Other ‘tough’ new rules that clubs and their owners will have to adhere to are that they must now provide Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs with quarterly evidence that tax payments are up to date – and that they give permission for HMRC to give details on any non-payment directly to the league.

In addition the ‘fit and proper persons test’ has been extended so that anyone that has been barred from other sporting organisations or competitions will no longer be permitted to become director of a Premier League club.

So, in a nutshell, anyone wishing to take over a football club has to prove they’ve got the sufficient funds in place and get their tax returns in on time… which suggests that, up until now, it’s been easier to take over a top flight football club than it has been to get the bank to agree to an overdraft!

But what if the man-in-the-street were to run his personal finances like that of a Premier League club?

There are several examples you could follow, but beware, at least one of them will leave you in hot water with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and may even leave you as a guest of Her Majesty’s Prison Service!

Portsmouth

Okay, so Pompey are no longer a Premier League club but it was their rapid demise that opened this whole can of worms so they can be used for illustrative purposes on this occasion.

The story of Portsmouth truly is a jaw-dropping one once you get into the scale of their debt – all £119 million of it!

It goes from the truly astonishing – £38.2 million of unsecured loans, £5 million of which are owed to Sulaiman al-Fahim who only owned the club for 90 days! – to the utterly absurd – £40 to Pukka Pies and 20p to Qatar Airways!

So if you were to model your personal fiscal policy on the Portsmouth model, then you would simply take out any loan (be it a secured or unsecured loan), credit card, overdraft or re-mortgage that you could get your hands on.

And then you’d probably ask your best mate to lend you a tenner as well!

Obviously, you’d have absolutely no way of paying any of this back and, in addition to dodging your creditors, you’d also file all (unopened) correspondence from HM Revenue & Customs in your recycling bin!

Manchester United/Liverpool

It was just three years ago that the bunting was hung out at Anfield as George Gillet and Tom Hicks took control of Liverpool Football Club… but after several broken promises over stadium and team rebuilding, not to mention the reported £472.5million of debt secured against the club, the only things fans want to see hung out at Anfield these days are the owners!

And it’s a similar story down the East Lancs road as the Glazer family, owners of Manchester United, are reportedly £1.1billion in debt, with £700 million of that directly linked to the Old Trafford club!

So, having been scared off by the threat of imprisonment under the Portsmouth model, how would you go about running your day-to-day finances like Engalnd’s most successful football clubs?

It’s pretty simple really, you buy up as much property as you possibly can and just keep re-mortgaging and taking out as many secured loans as you possibly can.

Then, in your rapidly elevated financial position, buy up a few small businesses and load all the debt onto them… with a little luck and even less judgement you may just walk away from the whole thing completely bankrupt… financially and socially!

Everton

On the face of it, Everton appear to be doing quite nicely. Run by a steady-handed chairman and an astute manager, they’ve gone from perennial relegation-fodder to regular Champions League hopefuls.

In Goodison Park, they own a ground with one of the largest capacities in the League and whilst they never go on crazy spending sprees, they aren’t averse to splashing the cash and, up until last summer, were regularly breaking their own transfer records on big money transfers.

But, dig a little deeper and things aren’t quite so rosy.

The club is desperate to move to a bigger ground, the wage budget has increased by a whopping 63 per cent since 2006 and the club are paying £4million a year in interest on their reported £37.9million pounds of debt.

If the previous two models are not for you then you may find the Everton model a little more straightforward.

You’ll have a reasonably well paid job and probably have a nice house but this won’t be enough so you’ll go out and buy some expensive items on credit cards, knowing full well that it’ll take you an age to pay them back.

Then, as the credit card bills increase, you’ll pay them off with unsecured consolidation loans and keep a little back for one last blow out.

Note: repeat ad infinitum to end up at the Portsmouth model!

Wolverhampton Wanderers/Birmingham/Stoke

There must be something in the water around the midlands as Wolves, Birmingham and Stoke are as close as you can get to being a debt-free Premier League club

Under Steve Morgan’s stewardship and thanks in no small part to Sir Jack Hayward writing off the £50million the club owed him, Wolves only debt comes in the from of the £13 million interest-free loan from the current owner.

Birmingham are in similarly rude health, as they owe a £12million interest-free loan to their parent company.

Stoke have the lowest level of debt in the League, at just £2.3 million but do rely heavily on Peter Coates as their main benefactor.

To follow either of these models you must simply live within your means and not go into debt to fund frivolous spending sprees or expensive impulse buys.

But, judging by all three clubs’ heavy reliance on the generosity of their benefactors, it’s probably helpful if you have a rich relative you can sponge off from time to time!

Manchester City

Now the richest club in the world thanks to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi who converted the £305million that the club owed him into equity, thereby writing off the debt in one fell swoop!

City have broken the bank for players since the Sheikh took over and have already spent over £100 million this summer with another reported £26million set to go on Aston Villa’s James Milner!

There’s only one way to follow the Manchester City model and it can be summed up in just four words:

Saturday. Night. Six. Numbers.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News