FootballThoughts.co.uk

The revolutionary website that allows anyone to own part of a football club has move closer to completing the takeover of Blue Square Premier Side Ebbsfleet United.

Will Brooks, the creator of the website, managed to get more then 18,000 members in November to contribute the annual ₤35 to provide a 700,000 takeover kitty. The deal put forward by MyFootballClub of ₤635,000 for the Kent club was accepted and now the voting process has finished with 95% of the members backing the deal.

The website now has over 27,000 members who will each have their say in the running of the football club including team selection and transfers.

Ebbsfleet boss Liam Daish will now become head coach with the first proposed internet team selection to take place in March. Highlights and analysis will be provided to help guide the members to which players they are picking.

Will it be total democracy or total panic? It’s refreshing to see at least.

MyFootballClub.co.uk

Chelsea get their man but its cost them £15 million of the queens finest.

It will come as no great shock to anyone that follows football that Anelka has moved away from the Reebok stadium, it was always a question of when and who rather then if. Avram Grant will have no doubt be eyeing up the fact that Anelka is still legible to play in this years Champions League and that may have swayed him to add the extra £3million onto their original bid of 12.

Anelka has signed a three and half year contract with Chelsea and time will tell if Diouf and others will follow him out of the door - as Bolton boss Gary Megson looks to rebuild his squad.

And now for a rather long and ‘impressive’ list of Anelka’s ex clubs:

Paris Saint-Germain
Arsenal
Real Madrid
Paris Saint-Germain
Liverpool (loan)
Manchester City
Fenerbahçe
Bolton Wanderers
Chelsea

Juande Ramos has shocked the Tottenham faithful by dropping a proverbial bombshell right in the middle of the pitch; the caretakers are said to be furious.

With rumours afoot regarding the Bulgarian Berbatov, it came as a huge surprise that Ramos would come out and declare Defoe as an unneeded asset. Rumours have been flying round regarding Defoe for numerous seasons, but surely this will help put these in to motion?
During an interview Defoe was quizzed on the topic, he responded rather defensively.

“Erm…err..yeah…He…erm…told me I was no longer…erm…needed but..erm…” **

It was at this point he was cut short, so his full story wasn’t revealed.
Information which was later brought forward, stated that the star striker was told he could leave if he wanted; however, he has responded stating that he’s staying and doesn’t want to go.
With Middlesbrough looking to off-load Stuart Disappoin…Downing as part of a swap deal and Villa, Portsmouth and Man City also upping the chase, Defoe’s future is certainately a rocky one.
The matter is also being exacerbated by Defoe’s contract, which is ticking down and in danger of becoming very Sol Campbell. Letting Defoe go on a Bosman would be the last thing Ramos would need.

Will the £12m-rated striker last the season? Would anyone in their right mind be willing to pay £12m for a striker who plays every other cup game? By 2009 will Spurs have any strikers left?

11 defenders by 2010? Let’s wait and see.

** Not actually said by defoe

Despite my previous article on Sam only having a matter of time I didn’t quite envisage him being sacked so soon. Allardyce was in charge of 24 games and leaves the club in 11th position in the Premier League. So who will be the next manager of Newcastle United?

Only one person sticks out for me - Gareth Southgate. No but seriously I can’t see anyone other then that man Alan Shearer getting the job, despite Harry Redknapp being the favourite with some bookies.

So who do you think will be the next Newcastle manager? Who do you want it to be? Do you even care?

Time will tell

James

So who do you think has been the biggest managerial flop so far this season?

Quite a list of potetional winners:

Billy Davies
Chris Hutchings
Gareth Southgate
Lawrie Sanchez
Martin Jol
Sammy Lee
Sam Allardyce

First of all we can dismiss Martin Jol and Billy Davies without much discussion - both are good managers and in my opinion were ridiculously sacked. It’s quite bizarre to think that if Billy Davies would have lost the playoff final, he would probably still be in charge of Derby.

Lawrie Sanchez’s investment in championship players could be seen as a somewhat virtuoso prediction of how he would perform. Well, at least he was planning for the future.

Next is the curse of the assistant managers, both Sammy Lee and Chris Hutchings were the assistant managers at their clubs. How many times has this been tried? And how many times has it failed? And how many times could the majority of the clued up public predicted it would fail? However, they were both only given short periods of time in charge so a little harsh on them.

By now you may have noticed that the only managers not to have been sacked or leave by ‘mutual consent’ are Southgate and Allardyce. So why have I included both of them? Gareth Southgate first and he’s successfully taken an exciting Middlesbrough team and has been steadily reducing the skill level and attacking flair. Viduka and Yakubu out, Aliadiere and Mido in. Hmm? Good job Middlesbrough have that rare ability to beat one of the big top 4 just as he comes under pressure, that and his ‘intimate’ relation with the owners and chairman stop him from searching the championship for a job.

Last but not least is big Sam Allardyce. Like many, I thought Sam did a great job at Bolton, however he has simply tried to enforce his Bolton System on a Newcastle side that is crying out to keep the ball on the deck. It’s only a matter of time for Sam - who’s bitten off more then he can chew.

Winner: Gareth Southgate

Reason: After selling Downing and Woodgate to fund the arrival of an unknown Brazillian midfielder Middlesbrough plummet down the divisions never to be seen again.. maybe

James

Being a united fan, I was laughing when Liverpool took the plunge to sign Spanish ‘wonderkid’ Fernando Torres. I was absolutely convinced that he would be a flop and get nowhere near scoring 20 premier league goals.

To be fair to the lad he has bagged more goals then i expected but he is what I would describe as a ‘Match of the day wonder’. This basically means if you just watch MOTD all you see is Torres scoring the occasional wondergoal but if you watch a full Liverpool game the amount of chances - easy ones at that - he squanders is quite incredible. More incredible still, is that no one picks up on this at all.

Anyway getting to the point of this rant, I have a tenner bet (and my pride) with a mate that Torres will not score 20 league goals. Torres has netted 10 times and the season has just gone over the half way mark, so it looks like this one could go down to the wire.

Torres League Goals: 10
Missed Opportunities: 38524
Remaining Games: 18

Verdict: Close - but Matt will regret taking me up on the bet