TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Ferguson rails against sacking of Mark Hughes by Manchester City Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has condemned the manner of the dismissal of Mark Hughes. telegraph.co.uk |
Villa may make move for West Ham's Parker • Martin O'Neill looks to bolster his midfield• Nigel Reo-Coker and Steve Sidwell may move on Aston Villa are the latest club to show an interest in signing Scott Parker from West Ham United next month. Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have both been linked with Parker, who is valued at around ВЈ8m, but it has emerged that Villa are also considering competing for the 29-year-old's signature after monitoring his impressive performances in the centre of the West Ham midfield this season.Martin O'Neill identified the absence of an authentic holding player – the position where Parker has excelled at West Ham – among his favoured four-man midfield earlier this month. Stilian Petrov has been converted into a deep-lying midfielder with relative success but the Bulgarian is not naturally defensive-minded while Nigel Reo-Coker, who was replaced by Parker at West Ham, has struggled to make at impact at Villa during his two and a half years at the club.West Ham are extremely reluctant to allow Parker to leave Upton Park, with the former Charlton Athletic, Chelsea and Newcastle United player seen as crucial to their survival hopes, but the club's financial position could encourage Villa as well as Spurs to test their resolve. A deal would be more likely to happen with Villa if O'Neill were able to move on one of his fringe players, although Steve Sidwell and Reo-Coker may well remain with the club until the summer.Reo-Coker made a surprising return to the Villa side for Tuesday night's injury-time defeat to Liverpool but he has made only six Premier League starts this season, having lost his place following a training-ground row with O'Neill in September. The 25-year-old has attracted interest from Fulham but O'Neill would want to secure a replacement before sanctioning his departure and even then there is no guarantee the player would move. Sidwell's future is just as uncertain, with the midfielder a regular substitute and yet to recapture the form he showed for Reading before joining Chelsea.Luke Young has described Villa's defeat to Liverpool, which followed a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal 48 hours earlier, as a "massive setback", but urged his team-mates to erase the memory of the result and ensure there is no repeat of last season, when a promising campaign unravelled. "We want this to make us stronger," Young said. "This is a massive setback but we can learn from last season from what happened when we went on a bad run."Transfer windowAston VillaWest Ham UnitedMartin O'NeillPremier LeagueStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Global Soccer: Maradona's Task: Harmony From Chaos For Argentina to be successful at the World Cup, Diego Maradona must find a way to make sense of the abundant talent at his disposal. feeds.nytimes.com |
Clint Mathis returns to Galaxy after draft-day trade with Salt Lake Veteran midfielder Clint Mathis is returning to the Los Angeles Galaxy in a draft-day trade with Real Salt Lake. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Setanta USA to Shut Down on Feb. 28 NEW YORK (AP) -- Setanta will stop broadcasting in the United States and Caribbean on Feb. 28 and turn over many of its rights for soccer and rugby events to Fox, which launches its second all-soccer U.S. network the following day. feeds.nytimes.com |