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They have also invited Simon Donnelly and Phil O’Donnell (both released by Sheffield Wednesday) to join them for pre-season training although they have made it clear there is no promise of a contract.
Now they have been linked with a move for Liverpool’s Stephen Warnock. He was another loan player who did particularly well against us last season in our show boating performance at Bradford.
There haven’t been many other signings during the last week but John Hills finally put pen to paper on his contract at Gillingham whilst Robert Wolleaston (Chelsea) and Gareth Edds (Swindon) have both agreed moves to Bradford City.
And Watford fans found out this week that there new striker is old boy Bruce Dyer from Barnsley. They should read Clarets Mad, we revealed this move weeks ago (that sounds very Sunday tabloid). The 28 year-old Dyer started his career at Vicarage Road in the early 90s before moving on in big money transfers to Crystal Palace and then Barnsley.
There’s been plenty of speculation though and it came as no surprise to hear that Preston were being linked with Lee Briscoe. More than likely they will be looking at all our released players and all our targets, that’s how it works at Deepdale.
Not as though they can spend too much, this week they have made two members of staff, Secretary Eddie Harrison and Assistant Manager Kelham O’Hanlon, redundant. It’s a wonderful show of loyalty to O’Hanlon who just over a year ago turned down an offer from the Haunted One David Moyes and stayed at Deepdale. Now he finds himself out of work.
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They had the nerve to blame ITV Digital, not bad for a club that raked in over £8 million in a few short months during 2002.
Another coach on the way out is Sheffield United’s Kevin Blackwell after a week of arguments. Sheffield United wanted £200,000 in compensation whilst Leeds wanted to pay nothing but did offer a friendly game. Leeds got their way, the Sheffield club get nothing but the clubs will meet in a friendly.
Blades Independent Supporters Association spokesman Andy Nicolson was less than impressed. He was able to work out what the Blades board couldn’t and that is the fans will now have to pay the compensation via the turnstiles at the friendly.
At Stoke they have appointed a new number two with Lindsay Parsons joining up with Tony Pulis for the fourth time. There has been restructuring at the Britannia Stadium to allow Pulis to put his own team together.
Stoke are not one of the better off clubs and it was refreshing to hear their Chief Executive Jonathan Fuller speak out this week against clubs such as Leicester and Ipswich. He stressed that Stoke would be backing any proposals for sanctions against clubs in administration.
Meanwhile Ipswich go on regardless and with the debts wiped out they have this week been able to offer lucrative three-year deals to retain the services of Matt Richards and Darren Bent.
They still haven’t been able to sell Matt Holland though. He turned down big deals last summer, including a £4.5 million move to Villa, and now Portsmouth have said no to his demands. Charlton are the latest to agree a deal with Sheep Dip and they will now have talks with the player.
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There’s been some terrible news for West Ham fans this week on the back of Glenn Roeder’s planned return to work. With the realisation that some players will have to be sold they were shocked to hear that Thomas Repka had pledged his future to the club.
Tore Andre Flo has done likewise at Sunderland although, in a reversal of the usual pattern, it does seem that the club would prefer him to move on to get him off the wage bill. Sunderland have this week been linked with a whole host of players including Shaun Goater, David Connolly and Colin Healy and only today are believed to be chasing our target Michael Stewart on a loan deal.
Any new signings there will apparently find the best supporters in England. They have been officially recognised as such, and the most passionate, in a Premier League official research report.
With Glen still at Turf Moor Reading showed their hand this week and made a £500,000 offer for Bristol City’s Scott Murray. This was turned down but it is looking increasingly likely that Murray will be a Royal before the start of next season.
By that time our former loan striker David Johnson could be Irish. He qualifies to play for Northern Ireland and manager Sammy McIlroy is trying to persuade him to grab his chance at an international career. That should put an end to Phil Gray’s hopes of an international return.
It’s Gold, Silver and Bronze next season at Rotherham United’s Millmoor ground. All of their matches have been put into one of the three categories and that will determine the prices they will charge. We are right in the middle in the silver category.
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And finally to my three favourite stories of the week starting with Luton’s bid to buy the Milton Keynes Franchise. It is wonderful to hear that a club in as big a mess as Luton are could be considered a viable proposition for buying the franchised outfit. Just a pity they didn’t know the rules when they claimed they were looking for back door entry to Division One.
The way things are going at Luton they will be looking for a quick back door exit very soon whilst we can only hope that there is no rescue on the table for the stricken franchise.
The kit debate at Gillingham rumbles on with Chairman Paul Scally finally agreeing to let the fans decide for next season. They can opt for a blue and black hooped kit rather than the even more radical white shirt by voting.
But this is voting with a difference and Scally has done an Andrew Watson here. To cast your vote you need to pre-order one of the shirts by the end of this week. Either way Scally wins with extra shirt sales.
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It all looked as though it might go wrong though with only Aberdeen in the frame a week ago, along with the hosts. But we can now reveal that the line up is complete and what an international line up it is with the four competing clubs representing four different countries.
Those taking part are Aberdeen (Scotland), Bradford City (England), Coleraine (Northern Ireland) and Swansea City (Wales). Bradford could surely have never hoped for such an international flavour for their celebrations and with just about everything else going wrong this is great news for them.
It’s got to better than the Isle of Man.
See you next week Around One.