Football News And Views

Thaksin Shinawatra has today been accused by a human rights group of not being fit to run Manchester City because of his wrong doings in the past. I doubt many Manchester City fans really care too much about their new owners past as he has brought his great wealth to the club and he is also the main reason that the vacant managers job has been taken up by Sven. Sven has not taken long to already spend a lot of the money that Thaksin Shinawatra has made available to the club to make the squad much stronger for next season and not one Manchester City fan will care what Shinawatra get’s up to if his money gets results on the pitch.

So what exactly is Mr. Shinawatra being accused of? Well the main allegations are:

- Presided over extrajudicial killings during the notorious “war on drugs”. HRW says 2,500 people were killed during one three-month period at the start of 2003.

- Told the Thai military to employ any means to suppress an insurgency in the south of Thailand.

- Suppressed the Thai media.

Well these are quite strong claims to make in my opinion. They are basically making him out to be an evil dictator. I obviously cannot really express any opinion on this as I do not follow politics in Thailand but I do not see why these really have much to do with running a football club. I very much doubt the Thai Military will be employed to turn over a 1-0 deficit in the 70th minute.

No matter what you think about football clubs becoming playthings by anyone with a lot of cash and little sense you cannot argue that the clubs do benefit from the ownership even if it is just in the short term. We are yet to see what effect ownerships like this one will have in the long run when the owners become bored and move on. Maybe we will see what effect it will have if Thaksin Shinawatra was somehow forced out of the club due to these allegations (which isn’t going to happen it’s just a what if).

The transfer market has seen an invasion of the best strikers from The Championship. Players such as David Nugent from Preston, Robert Earnshaw from Norwich, Michael Chopra from Cardiff and David Healy from Leeds are all aiming to find the net this season for their clubs, Portsmouth, Derby County, Sunderland and Fulham respectively. But which one of these will score the most goals? Earnshaw and Chopra have some Premiership experience behind them but never really took the league by storm but last season they found the net almost with ease in The Championship. It is a big step up but the players are more than ready for the challenge. Healy has plenty of International experience so he is used to playing tougher opponents and Nugent has an England cap and goal to his name. It will be tough to call who out of these will get the most goals.  Lets look at each player.

David Nugent

By far one of the best strikers Preston have had for a long time. Made it into the England team and got a goal to his name too even though it wasn’t much of a goal it was good for his confidence. He will be wanting to get back into the England team and at Portsmouth he has a great team behind him who can  provide him with more than enough chances.

Robert Earnshaw

When Dean Ashton left Norwich Earnshaw was the man brought into replace him. He scored 19 goals last season despite missing half of it with injury. He is a very short player so I can’t see him getting many headed goals but his finishing has been top drawer. Derby may struggle this season and are bookies favorites  to go down but if he can bring his Championship form into the Premeirship there may be some surprises.

Michael Chopra 

Was a flop at Newcastle and didn’t really manage to do much at Premiership level. he came alive in the Championship but I feel he is no more than Championship quality. Keane has built a good squad at Sunderland. The pressure will be on Chopra to show the rest of the Premiership why he is worth £5m.I can’t see him bagging 15+ goals this season but if he score some important ones it wont matter.

David Healy 

Was a great success at Leeds and has been fantastic for Northern Island at International level. Sanchez knows this man better than most people and he will bring the best from him. Fulham could well be a surprise package this year and if they do spring some surprises then you can put good money on Healy being the man coming up with the goods.

Arsenal have been linked with Diarra who plays central midfield for Chelsea. As an Arsenal fan this has baffled me. Yes I believe he is a good player with a lot of potential but he is a centre mid. If you were to count Hleb and Rosicky as centre midfield players then Arsenal already have 9 with , Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Gilberto, Denilson, Randall and Flamini already on the books. Alright so Hleb and Rosicky have been moved to be wingers but they are not excelling there. Hleb was a different player against Inter Milan yesterday when he played more centrally and he has been terrible on the right wing. I think the right wing role is pretty much sorted. Denilson can play there and Theo Walcott is showing potential to be a great right winger, as to is Eboue who since the arrival of Sagna, has been moved to the right wing. Eboue has always been good going forward and has delivered from sublime crosses but his defending is questionable. This is a good move by Wenger in my opinion.

This just leaves the left wing place. Eduardo and Van Persie can both play there but they are naturally strikers. Rosicky can play there but he is not a great winger and Clichy can play there but he is needed at left back. Reyes is leaving to top up his suntan so the left wing position needs filling. Drenthe, Modric and Quaresma have been mentioned and either one of them would be a great addition to the squad, even though they may be a bit pricey the money is there for Wenger to use. Gibbs has also shown against Inter that he is ready to step up and you never know he could be challenging for a place on the left wing. Either way Arsenal need someone on the left.

If no one does come I also think a new formation could make good use of the situation. I would like to see Arsenal adapt to the formation Chelsea use. I’d like to keep the breath taking football Arsenal use but imagine  Cesc, Gilberto and Diaby in the middle with Van Persie up top with Eduardo and Walcott as support. This would work well as Arsenal tend to play down the middle more. Rosicky and Hleb would play better in the left and right supporting roles to Van Perise instead of on the wing. If there were injuries the squad would cope with Adebayor and Bendtner available up front with plenty of choices in the middle and in defence too. I cannot see Arsenal changing to adapt this way so let’s hope a left winger will be brought in to the team before too long.

This whole thing about who owns Tevez seems ridiculous to me. Players should not be allowed to be privately owned by people or companies. Only the clubs should own their players. After all they are the ones who are paying the wages. I was really disappointed when Tevez and Mascherano went to West Ham on the last day of the transfer window last season but with all this nonsense surrounding who owns them and the fine West Ham suffered because of it, I can see why my team , Arsenal, who were linked with them both, did not get them.

It has emerged today that this who ’saga’ will be sorted out within the next two days. It seems certain that Manchester Utd will be parting with £30m but who it goes to is anybodies guess. To be honest I don’t really care and I reckon anyone other than West Ham fans do but even they know that they have money to burn even if they never see a penny of it. I just hope it is all sorted even though I wouldn’t like to see Tevez at Manchester Utd due to his great ability. Tevez and Rooney could be the best pairing at Utd since Yorke and Cole and they would be a sure bet to retain the title, especially if Tevez shows the form he had last April and May.