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Leeds United chairman Ken Bates further infuriated home fans, and stuck the knife a little further into the back of his former manager Simon Grayson with comments made on Wednesday to Yorkshire Radio.

In his weekly “state address” to the clubs official radio station, Bates spoke about the termination of Finnish International Mika Vayraynen’s contact earlier in the week:

“ Vay-ry-en… I can never get his name right; I don’t know why we signed him” he told Ben Fry.  “Nice guy but a complete waste of money. Made two starts and cost us half a million quid in fees and salary. I just don’t know why he was signed. And I’m sorry for him but even more sorry for us.”

Although not a direct criticism of the man who signed him, the comments are another in a string of thinly veiled attacks on the players signed by Simon Grayson. In recent weeks the chairman has taken every opportunity to slate the previous management team, be it the training methods, the quality of the signings or the number of loan players at the club. Bates has commented that the squad is too large and that quality has been sacrificed for the sake of quantity.

What is most galling for the Leeds supporters to stomach is the inference that money has been wasted on players. The overall spend on transfers by United this season, has been a paltry £800K on Danny Pugh and Andy Lonergen.

Compare that to the £4M raised by the sales of Kasper Schmeichel, Max Gradel and Jonny Howson and it’s a difficult case to argue that there has been a spending spree. The fact that the three players sold were the brightest prospects at the club, one could even say that there has been a loss of focus on the playing side.

The fans see money being wasted in other areas that have no bearing on the ultimate aim of the club – to win football matches. £5M spent on refurbishing the newest stand in the ground, to provide plush corporate entertainment is the most notable expenditure at Elland Road this season. When that is added to less headline making loans to the Pavilion (the clubs conference and entertainment facility) and the clubs Media company, then one can understand the fans frustrations.

In such a tightly contested division as the Championship, the investment of even a portion of that money could possibly have seen Leeds force their way into the play-off picture. As it is they languish 28 points behind newly promoted Reading, a team they were just three points behind when Simon Grayson was sacked.

Now the team are languishing in mid-table, with the only people wasting money being the loyal fans that are paying for tickets to see the team go through the motions.

There is plenty of talk emanating from the club that signings are imminent, to enable Neil Warnock to have his squad in place early to prepare for a promotion push next season. The big questions on the lips of Leeds fans are not only who the signings may be, but if we are going to be spending money. As has been proven, new players do not necessarily bring success. They have to be quality, and to get those players the chairman is going to have to part with some cash. Promotion will require him “wasting” more than the half a million pounds squandered on Mika Vayraynen.

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Nottingham Forest have appointed former England boss Steve McClaren as their new manager, just a day after sacking Billy Davies.McClaren returns to coach in his native England for the first time since leaving the England post in December 2007, having since managed Dutch club FC Twente and Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg.

The 50-year-old former Manchester United assistant tasted success at Twente by leading them to the Eredivisie title in 2009/10, but lasted just 21 games at Wolfsburg before he was sacked in February.

McClaren had been linked with the vacant Aston Villa post until owner Randy Lerner decided against his appointment, having been warned about a supporter backlash.

Forest – who made the semi-finals of the Championship playoffs and fell to eventual winners Swansea City – had no such qualms, according to chief executive Mark Arthur.

“The club moved quickly to secure his services as it is rare for a manager and coach of his undoubted calibre to be available,” Arthur said.

“Steve has a proven track record of coaching and managing at club level, having played a key role in helping Manchester United secure the Champions League trophy, three Premier League titles and an FA Cup; guided Middlesbrough to the League Cup and also to the final of the UEFA Cup and led FC Twente to their first ever Dutch title.”

“We are delighted to have him on board at The City Ground.”

Despite leading Forest into the playoffs, Davies was sacked on Sunday. It is believed frequent run-ins with the club board – with Forest’s transfer policy reportedly one sticking point – led to the former Derby County manager’s dismissal.

The first stop in establishing Arsenal’s Ultimate XI? Establishing Arsenal’s greatest goalkeeper. Nowadays Arsenal fans have to contend with the consistently calamitous Fabianski and Almunia, but things weren’t always this way. Whilst two or three names may jump immediately to mind, it’s difficult to assess who deserves the number one slot over the others. Below is a gallery of my shortlist of the 5 players I consider to be the Greatest Arsenal goalkeepers yet. If you disagree or agree with my choices, feel free to let me know. We’ll start with the player I consider to be the 5th greatest Arsenal goalkeeper of all time.

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Click on image below to view the contenders between the sticks:

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If you’re interested and want to hear more feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Wolves manager Terry Connor has stated that the side’s critics should wait to the end of the season before judging the Molineux outfit.

The Midlands team dismissed Mick McCarthy after a poor run of form, installing assistant Connor for the remainder of the campaign.

With Wolves still in bottom place, four points adrift of safety, Connor has asked critics to delay their slating.

“You will have to ask the football club whether it was the right decision to get rid of Mick,” he told Sky Sports.

“That was the decision. They’ve asked me to take the job to the end of the season.

“What’s happened in the past has happened. What we are looking forward to now is eight more games and wanting to survive in the Premier League.

“Was it the right thing to do? It’s hindsight. You are looking back at something which actually hasn’t finished yet.

“We will look over the whole season, review it, and if you’ve made mistakes, learn from them, and hope you don’t make those mistakes.

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“It hasn’t finished yet. Who knows if it was the right or wrong thing to do. But the club made the decision and we all have to move on from there,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Porto manager Andre Villas-Boas does not want the credit should his side make him the youngest coach to win a major European title.Villas-Boas, 33, can create history if Porto wins the all-Portuguese Europa League final against Sporting Braga on Wednesday, which they are strongly favoured to do.

Porto went undefeated on their way to the Liga Sagres title, and can claim a treble if they triumph in the Europa League and the Taca de Portugal final against Vitoria Setubal on Sunday. But speaking on Tuesday, the highly rated manager said the club’s exploits are not about him.

“People focus a lot on the work of the manager and I don’t see it that way,” Villas-Boas said.

“I don’t see myself as a one-man show. Football isn’t won by one person but by collective competence. It is the quality of the players and the structure of the club.”

“I just want to make my players give their most. I give them room to express themselves because that’s how they develop. I promote their talent and let them make their own decisions. There are no dictators.”

“We don’t see the game as a tactical game. If you are a dictator of choices, players won’t be able to explore their possibilities to the full. You have to be able to free them.”

Villas-Boas is a former assistant to Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, but said the reason he left his role under his countryman at Inter Milan – after also working with him at Porto and Chelsea – was to further his own managerial ambition.

Villas-Boas joined Liga Sagres side Academica and guided them free of relegation trouble, before his appointment as Jesualdo Ferreira’s replacement at Porto in June 2010.

”The position I had with him was a position he needed some help on. I understood my role from the beginning and tried to fulfil it with maximum professionalism,” Villas-Boas said.

“When I left him, he took on another person who I hope gives him the same level. Regarding why I left Inter, it was because I wanted the extra edge to fulfil my ambitions as a professional coach, so I took the risk to find my own job at Academica.”

After the success of our last Football League competition here at FootballFanCast.com we have teamed up with npower again to give away yet more Football League tickets. We are giving away a pair of tickets to lucky home team supporters to the following matches that are taking place on Saturday 30th October:

Cardiff City v. Norwich City Ipswich Town v. Millwall Reading v. Doncaster Rovers Charlton Athletic v. Sheffield Wednesday Dagenham & Redbridge v. Hartlepool United Leyton Orient v. Rochdale Notts. County v. Southampton Tranmere Rovers v. Milton Keynes Dons Northampton Town v. Gillingham Shrewsbury Town v. Barnet Torquay United v. Morecambe Wycombe Wanderers v. Lincoln City

*

All you have to do is answer the following question:

Which club were the Football League Champions last season?

A) West Bromwich Albion

B) Blackpool

C) Newcastle United

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Email your answer along with the game you would like to watch to [email protected].

The competition closes on Tuesday 26th October so make sure you get your answers in now!

Manchester United are well known and celebrated as the most famous team in all of

English Premier League football betting but what has not been so celebrated has been the other local EPL team, Manchester City, who are leading the EPL standings with a 2 point advantage over Manchester United.

Manchester City rather than Manchester United have been the most dominant team in English Premier League football action this season with a perfect record of 12-0 at home and a +44 goal differential based in large part on a defence that had allowed just 19 goals in 24 games. That goals allowed mark was the best in the EPL but Manchester City was also the highest scoring team in the league with 63 goals.

Sergio Aguero has been the scoring machine for Manchester City as he had a team best 15 goals to go along with 5 assists. Edin Dzeko has also been a valuable asset with 11 goals and 4 assists. Joe Hart has been the stingy heartless goalkeeper with a 0.83 goals against average and 9 shutouts. Aguero hails from Argentina and at age 23 had become one of the world’s deadliest and most feared strikers. This is his first season in the Premier League after playing for Atletico Madrid in La Liga.

Manchester City are coming off a strong 3-0 win over Fulham at home that followed a surprising 0-1 loss to Everton. Perhaps the loss at Everton should not have been a surprise as Manchester City had just 1 win in their previous 13 visits to Everton. Aguero got Manchester City back on track though against Fulham as he had a goal and an assist.

Manchester United have been in good form as of late with 3 wins and a draw in their last 4 games to stay within striking distance of Manchester City. Wayne Rooney, who is often in the news for the wrong reasons, was atop the team stats with 13 goals in Premier League action. Manchester United are coming off a thrilling 3-3 draw with Chelsea as Rooney had 2 goals in the effort. Chelsea outshot Manchester United 20-16 in that contest.

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Speaking of contenders, Chelsea was in 4th place behind Tottenham with a record of 12 wins, 7 draws, and 5 losses while Tottenham had 15 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses.

The quality of play and amount of good teams has made the EPL season an excellent one with the two Manchester teams battling for the top spot.

A Europa League final between rivals Porto and Benfica beckons should they hang on to respective first-leg leads over Villarreal and Braga.The Portuguese heavyweights have already met five times this season, but could be set for yet another encounter on the continental stage.

Porto already have one foot in the final at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on May 18, having thumped Villarreal 5-1 in the first leg of their semi-final tie at the Estadio do Dragao last Thursday.

Porto’s treble of league, domestic and continental trophies looked in danger at half-time after Cani’s strike Villarreal, but four second-half goals from in-demand striker Falcao and a headed effort from Colombia team-mate Fredy Guarin turned the tie on its head and in their side’s favour.

Guided by highly rated 33-year-old manager Andres Villas Boas, Porto’s attacking troika of Falcao, Brazilian Hulk and Portugal winger Silvestre Varela troubled Villarreal’s defense with their pace and movement.

Villarreal, however, do possess the talents to arrest the deficit. Former Manchester United forward Guiseppe Rossi rivals Falcao for interest in his signature, while Brazilian strike partner Nilmar can prove a headache for any defender on his day.

But the La Liga outfit will need to score at least four goals to win the tie, all the while keeping Porto’s front line – which troubled Villarreal so much just seven days earlier – starved of opportunities.

Porto sealed their Liga Sagres title on April 3 courtesy of a 2-1 win at last season’s winners Benfica.

Perhaps with one eye already on avenging that defeat, Benfica hold a 2-1 lead going into the second leg of their own semi-final tie with another Portuguese club in Sporting Braga.

Braga have home advantage this time around but have lost all three encounters against the Lisbon side this season, including a 2-1 loss at home on March 3.

Braga defeated some big names long their way to the Europa League semi-final, including five-time European Cup winners Liverpool and Ukraine heavyweights Dynamo Kiev.

They also defeated English Premier League outfit Arsenal before their exit at the group stage of the Champions League.

They possess a squad more effective than star-studded, with the graft of Leandro Salino and Vandinha in Braga’s engine room complemented by the vision of former Newcastle United midfielder Hugo Viana.

Up front, Braga have had to learn quickly to deal with the January transfer of striker Matheus to Ukraine Premier League outfit Dnipro.

Manager Domingos Paciencia opted to start Alan, Lima and Albert Meyong Ze his front third in the first leg, and Benfica would expect him to do the same on Thursday as Braga chase a result.

Benfica’s stars are far more glittering, from towering Paraguay forward Oscar Cardozo to creative Argentine quartet Nicolas Gaitan, Javier Saviola, Franco Jara and Pablo Aimar.

They will fancy their chances of progressing past Braga into another meeting with Porto, giving them a much-cherished chance to rain on their bitter rivals’ parade in Dublin.

Bolton Wanderers boss Owen Coyle is hoping to get the best out of Chung-Yong Lee by managing the workload of the South Korea international.

The 22-year-old forward made 44 appearances in his first season in the Premier League last term before heading off to South Africa for the World Cup finals.

He has played in all seven of the club's league games this season despite a prolonged summer rest and Coyle is keen to monitor the form of the FC Seoul winger.

"I think he has done very well for his first season and will continue to get better," Coyle told the Bolton News after picking up the north-west player of the year award on behalf of Lee, who was away on international duty.

"But we have got to be very careful with him because he has played virtually for two years without a break.

"I gave him three-and-a-half weeks/four weeks off after the World Cup but it wasn't much when you consider he played for two years solidly.

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"It's been a tough ask for him. But all credit. He is a young player who I believe is getting better and better."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.’

Everyone knows the above quote is from the mouth of the great Bill Shankly, one of the best managers to grace the game and someone with whom the self-styled Special One, Jose Mourinho draws a huge amount of comparisons to – and both of whom share a similar ‘win at all costs’ attitude to football.

On more than one occasion, both overstepped the line and went too far either during or after a game because of their intensity and desire to win – in fact, name me a top manager who hasn’t at one time or another lost control due to a game of football. Even players get in on the act; crying or getting overwrought on the field, or even getting a little bit emotional off it and showing exactly what winning does mean to them.

As  fans obviously we can understand this, as our hearts and emotions are tied so deeply to our teams that we get frustrated when we think they are making the wrong decision (think Arsenal fans with the Arshavin sub) and get emotional if a game goes the wrong way. More than one of you reading this will have been in tears at one point due to a failure in a massive competition and get elated and beyond words when a huge trophy is won – Liverpool fans in Istanbul for me take the plaudits here, yet just how much does football really matter and is it really ok to genuinely use the mantra of winning at all costs?

Of course this totally depends on how far you take the ‘at all costs part.’ If this means throwing everything including the kitchen sink at a game in order to get the goal and go all out to win – literally having nothing left at the end of the game, then of course this should be the case in every single game, not just cup finals or derby matches, but week in week out.

There is nothing a fan dislikes more than a player who cannot be bothered and is half hearted in his attempts to change a game. Likewise with a negative manager who would rather go for the draw or lose by a single goal than really go for it and risk conceding more.

However, should the ‘at all costs’ bit become more than that, then there is a problem. Even as an ardent supporter of Mourinho, I would struggle to defend his conduct at certain times, none more so than in El Clasico when poking Tito Vilanova in the eye – something that Mourinho may have done in the heat of the moment and in the desire to win, yet is still not acceptable.

A certain amount of mind games is a given, yet lines can be crossed and this is something that should not really be allowed to happen. Managers like Fergie who are renowned for their passion and will to win have often crossed the line, and at times fined accordingly.

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On occasion however, they can lose sight of the fact that football is at the end of the day just a game. A fantastic one don’t get me wrong, but just a game, and there are ways to win – and crossing the line is not necessarily one of them.

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