Four years ago when Australia visited the West Indies, Corey Collymore took on the Aussies and looked to be the genuine article.Four years on the world champions are on their way back to the region and Collymore is still waiting for his second West Indies Test cap.The tall, accurate seam bowler has struggled with injury, but this has not fazed him. His aim for now is to do well for Barbados in the upcoming Carib Beer International Challenge matches and take it from there. The Bajans meet Trinidad and Tobago in tomorrow’s semifinal at Kensington Oval."I’m focused on doing well for Barbados and helping my country to win the tournament," Collymore said in a rare interview after yesterday’s training session at Queen’s Park."I just want to put in my best performances and leave it up to the selectors. I know what it is like at the top [in West Indies team] and my aim is to stay there, but I’ll just take it step by step."Since recovering from a near career-ending back injury three years ago, the 25-year-old Collymore has been selected only for One-Day Internationals by the West Indies selectors.He was a member of the ill-starred West Indies side at the recent World Cup in South Africa, but did not bowl in his only match against Bangladesh at Benoni.He has chalked up 32 One-Dayers and this has left him branded as a "One-Day player" and not suited to the longer version of the game."I rate myself as a cricketer in the true sense of the word, not a One-Day cricketer," he said. "I have taken over 60 wickets in about 16 matches for Barbados in four-day cricket so that speaks for itself."In his career he has managed 90 wickets in 28 first-class matches since his debut five years ago. His best figures are six for 109 against Guyana at Kensington Oval."I have fully overcome my back injuries, but this has caused me to be more chest-on and as a result I have lost a bit of my pace. I still move the ball around and I feel good about the way I’m bowling right now."I need to put in a bit more work to get everything in the right place and by Friday I’ll be ready."
Canada’s cricketers have done the nation proud. Junior and senior players have qualified from their respective tournaments. The senior team qualified for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa but faces a battle to adequately prepare to compete against the best in the world. The U-19 team similarly won the tournament in Bermuda and will lead the Americas into the World Cup in New Zealand in January 2002.The irony in these successes however, is that Canada does not have the finances to adequately prepare our cricketers for international competition. Canada has now been forced to turn down two invitations from the West Indies Cricket Board. We have been forced to withdraw from both the West Indies U-19 competition and from the 2001 Red Stripe competition in Jamaica, because of crippling costs in preparation for, and in staging the International Cricket Council Trophy competition in June and July 2001 in Metro Toronto.Hosting of the ICC Trophy 2001 was predicated on the staging of the five Sahara Cup games and extra support from India, Pakistan and IMG/TWI. Cancellation of the planned two years’ events and the inability to replace these games have had horrific implications for Canadian junior and senior cricket development programmes. Failure to attract any sponsorship, private, public or personal has not improved our chances or choices.Canada on December 16, 2000 indicated that ” CANADA CANNOT HOST THE ICCT 2001 WITHOUT Financial ASSISTANCE..” and also that “Canada shall be forced …. to formally withdraw from any plans to host ICCT 2001 within a matter of days.” (A repeat is very unlikely.)Canada is in worse shape now. We have requested assistance from several sources and we shall need your assistance to get Canadian cricket to the World Cups in 2002, 2003, … 2007, for starters. How can you help? Get involved. Call your Federal and Provincial Parliamentary representatives for renewed support.Your donations to the Canadian Cricket Association are federally tax-deductible. We need your help now! Sponsor a player or a team. Volunteers are vitally needed in fundraising and in other activities.Canada, Namibia, Holland and Kenya NEED extra support for training, coaching and player support from their ICC Associate and Full Member countries if they are to be competitive and to provide a marketable on-field product! We must not and cannot field a devalued product. $250,000 per Associate cannot cover minimum costs: in fact several times that amount is essential even for nominal preparation or for success!Scotland was forced to go to the 1999 World Cup without a sponsor! Canada competed in the ICCT 2001 without a sponsor and without adequate financing. Scotland at least could drive to the World Cup in1999.Canada and the others cannot drive to South Africa and to New Zealand, however. We face tough unavoidable choices. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” Let’s go Canada! World Cups’ Funds need your active support.
Goa chased down the highest total of their Ranji Trophy league matchagainst Kerala at Panaji to win the game by eight wickets on thefourth day.Chasing 213 for victory, Goa’s opening bats put on 113 runs for thefirst wicket before Sudin Kamat fell, having made 71 off 143 balls.When Kiran Powar also fell, for the addition of just one run, acollapse looked in the offing.Tanveer Jabbar and opener Vivekanand Kolambkar, however, played wellto see their side through to victory without any more losses.Kolambkar remained unbeaten on 74 off 209 balls, striking 11 fours anda six. Jabbar made 57 off 80 balls, with eight fours and a six. Goapick up eight points by virtue of this outright win.
Both Wayne Rooney and Tom Cleverley will miss England’s international friendly against Holland through injury.
Rooney has a throat infection, whilst Cleverley is still not back playing after a long-standing ankle injury.
Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the pair’s absence, and the Scottish coach hopes to have the duo back for Manchester United’s game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane next weekend.
“They’ll be out,” he told Sky Sports after his side’s Premier League win at Norwich on Saturday.
“Wayne has still not recovered from his throat infection, so hopefully we’ll get him ready for next Sunday, when we have a big game at White Hart Lane,” he concluded.
The Telegraph also indicate that Gareth Barry is a worry for Stuart Pearce, as the Manchester City midfielder is still suffering from a back spasm that he picked up against Porto in the Europa League.
Darren Bent is also ruled out as the Aston Villa man has an ankle knock; Danny Welbeck may well be in line for a start duo to the injuries.
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Liverpool forward Dani Pacheco spent the last part of this season on loan at Norwich City and although he didn’t start as many games as he would like he was very much part of things. It is then fairly inevitable to wonder what will happen to Pacheco next season. Clearly at the moment he will go back to Liverpool, work hard over the summer and try and get into the Liverpool first-team.
But if he isn’t likely to get an opportunity at Anfield then he could do a lot worse than spending at least one more season at Carrow Road. Last time Norwich were a Premiership side they recruited David Bentley on a season-long loan and he was an integral part of the Norwich first-team. It’s a shame his career has taken a nose dive since. However, his time at Norwich benefitted both Arsenal and Norwich and was an important step that allowed Arsenal to sell the player to Blackburn.
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That same season Norwich invested around £3m in Dean Ashton and had a role in developing him into a top Premier League and England player that persuaded West Ham to part with over £7m to buy him. It is a real shame that injuries ended the career of a player that could have been one of England’s best old fashioned centre forwards. Another England player Scott Parker also once had a spell on loan at Norwich.
Pacheco on loan at Norwich next season would appear to benefit everyone. Norwich can get a top quality striker at a low price and Liverpool can get some much needed Premier League experience into the player. Kenny Dalglish will also know that Norwich like to play football in the right way and with a style that will benefit the young Spaniard. Therefore, the only slight concern can be on how often Pacheco will play. But even if you assume he won’t be an automatic starter it will still be hugely beneficial for him to start games every now and again, make an impact from the bench on a regular basis and simply be involved in the first-team squad. Certainly this has to be better than only playing the odd reserve game – which may be the case at Liverpool.
Join the conversation on Twitter and tell me where Pacheco should play his football next season
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In his Sun column today, Harry Redknapp has stated that “Manager’s don’t have any power” and that “all the power in football these days lies with the top players”. But in the current football world, is this a situation that can ever been altered, and if so, is it something modern football clubs would want to change?
Although the Wayne Rooney saga has seemingly abated, with the 24 year-old signing a new 5 year deal with Manchester United, this does not mean the debate surrounding ‘player power’ will subside.
Many have pointed to the Bosman and Webster rulings by FIFA as enhancing ‘player power’, but these rulings are more a consequence of modern football rather than a cause of increased individual power within the game. It is perhaps too early to examine the ramifications of the Webster ruling, having only come into effect in 2006, but the Bosman ruling has mainly concerned lesser players, like its namesake, Jean-Marc Bosman, and has prevented clubs exploiting these individuals, with only a handful of high-profile Bosman transfers in its 15 year existence.
It is perhaps in the genesis of the Webster ruling however, that we can begin to ascertain not only the modern origins of ‘player power’, but also the relationship modern football players have with their respective clubs.
Ever since the Bosman ruling of 1995, the European Commission had been closely following FIFA’s transfer policy, lobbying the world footballing body to bring their transfer system, specifically, but not exclusively, their guidelines on the freedom of movement of players, into line with other industries. It is here, in the terminology of ‘other industries’ that we can gauge some players’ seemingly unapologetic self-importance.
This essentially meant that the EC saw football as an industry, the football clubs as businesses and the players as employees, and although the supporters still attached the highest level of emotion to the game, this is precisely the perception modern football clubs wanted to present to the world; that football was a business.
The corporate circuses that are modern football competitions, clubs and even stadia can be presented in stark contrast to the footballing landscape 20 years ago. But in the creation of the Premier League, England set the precedent for football to become the financial colossus that it is today, threatening to destroy itself with its own enormity. Now I am not saying the creation of the Premier League has been detrimental to the standard of football or the quality of the game, but with vast media revenues and endorsements up to their eyeballs, the modern footballer is a commodity to a football club without even mentioning success or silverware. So is it any wonder that some players are treating their clubs with such disrespect and disloyalty?
Players like Wayne Rooney are of a post-formation of Premier League and post-Bosman era, they are also post the, what Harry Redknapp calls, “I’m going to stick Joe Bloggs in the reserves and let him rot” era. All they have known is football as a global financial industry, and football clubs as businesses, they were signed as fiscal commodities, and they treat their clubs as employers. If the clubs are not fulfilling their respective end of the bargain, the players up sticks and leave, as in any other industry, and the managers fall somewhere in the middle of this debacle, trying to balance, juggle and please everyone, all of the time.
As Chris Coleman recently noted, football bosses have to manage up, as well as down, referring to the fact in football management you have to think as much about your relationship with the board as you do with the players. This is nothing new, but reemphasises that many managers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to create a sense of loyalty around a club whilst proving themselves to be financially viable in their own role.
If we see the board-manager-player relationship in a warped hierarchy, with those on the ground and at the top having more power than the man in the middle, we can view how it is quite often the manager that is more expendable than anyone else. This isn’t necessarily the case with every manager and many, like Sir Alex Ferguson, have built a reputation for themselves at a club and are very often on an equal footing with both board and players, as has been shown in Sir Alex’s handling of the Wayne Rooney affair. But having seen Rooney throw his weight around, it is clear that even the likes of Ferguson can be shaken.
Top players will always be in command and control of their own futures, but with a new breed of financially conscious football players coming through, it won’t be long before more mediocre players are pulling a stunt like Rooney. As for whether this ‘player power’ situation can be altered or reversed; this is highly unlikely unless the self-sufficient financial snowball that is modern football crashes and burns. However, as for whether modern football clubs would want the situation changed, well, with the exception of clubs with less monetary or global clout, I can’t see why these businesses would want anything but what essentially equates to a footballing free market economy, where the trading of goods has as limited restraint on it as possible. While this is the case ‘player power’ will continue and grow, unchecked and unabated.
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It has been a thrilling year of Premier League football with landmark occasions and undoubted talent arriving on our shores. Goal-scoring has improved, defending hasn’t, but plenty of action packed matches and an improvement in how fans can watch the games means it has never been better to be a fan of English football.
Everyone will have their highlights on 2011, whether it be the possibility of Robin van Persie breaking records, Manchester United v Barcelona in the Champions League final, West Ham’s relegation or the fact that Fabio Capello is nearing the end of his England reign.
Certain players have disappointed and let down clubs but numerous players have excelled and gone from strength to strength, whether they have come through the ranks or become an unsung hero, here is a look at the top ten most improved players of 2011.
Click on Kyle Walker to the top 10
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Mirror Football is reporting that Newcastle is ready to join the hunt for Ipswich striker Connor Wickham, however they are likely to face competition for the 18 year old from arch-rivals Sunderland. Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is working through an extensive list of targets and Wickham is believed to be an option.
Wickham is the sort of raw talent that Pardew would hope to lure to Newcastle with the promise of more first-team football than he would likely get if he joined a team like Arsenal or Spurs. However, Steve Bruce is looking to substantial add to his striking options next season; Bruce is targeting as many as three new forwards and has described Wickham as the top young striker of his generation.
Wickham has been attracting plenty of interest from Premier League clubs and he has scored 8 league goals this season; Wickham has also represented England at U16, U17, U19 and U21 level. Wickham extended his contract in January until 2013 – but it is believed that there is a clause in the contract that would allow Wickham to move for a fee in the region of £15m, it is also believed that Tottenham have first refusal on the player. Wickham signed an extra one year extension in April committing him until 2014.
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New Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier is intent on making changes at Villa Park, but accepts that it will take time to implement his plans.
Houllier takes charge of Villa for the first time when they take on Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the Carling Cup on Wednesday evening, having signed a three-year deal as Martin O'Neill's successor.
The Frenchman told reporters:"In the short term I need to know the players more and they need to get used to the different types of training – more continental in terms of tactics and a variety of drills.
"It will take time to implement and be accepted. You come with philosophies and beliefs and need to convince the players to do them.
"Will we be playing in a different way? Obviously it won't be done overnight. You can't change habits in the middle of a competition, it has got to be gradual.
"The first mission is to get results, the second is to be entertaining. At the top level you need entertainment for TV and the fans. That will take some time.
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"But the players are eager to improve and everyone can progress provided the right environment and motivation is there.
"We have to improve in a few areas and the players know that."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
It only comes round twice a year and it’s always far more exciting than Christmas. Christians have Easter, children have birthdays, but for us football fans, the most important dates on our calendars are August 31 and January 31. Yes, it’s transfer deadline day. Prepare yourselves for a day of endless rumours of who goes where. Has Michael Owen been spotted in a Brighton supermarket? Did Fernando Torres really check into that Liverpool estate agent? And surely that wasn’t Lionel Messi in the dark sunglasses making his way through Leeds/Bradford Airport with a load of LUFC officials in tow.
Either way you put your work on hold, pop on Sky Sports News and settle down for the day. But not before you’ve enjoyed The Coin Toss’ Top 10 Deadline Day moves.
Click on Wayne Rooney to unveil the top 10
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Read more of my articles at The Coin Toss
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