All posts by h716a5.icu

Sheffield United have been linked with a move for Jonson Clarke-Harris recently and he could prove to be Slavisa Jokanovic’s next Aleksandar Mitrovic at Bramall Lane.

According to Yorkshire Live, Sheffield United are keen on signing the Peterborough United man this summer after his superb campaign in League One this season, which helped the Posh earn promotion back to the Championship.

The former Bristol Rovers man, who joined Darren Ferguson’s side in the summer as a replacement for the outgoing Ivan Toney, would score 31 goals in 45 League One appearances, winning the Golden Boot and the Player of the Season award.

Therefore, it is no surprise to see him attracting interest ahead of the summer transfer window, especially after former Peterborough United chairman Barry Fry hinted that the London Road Stadium outfit may be forced to cash in on him.

If he were to join, then he could prove to be a real focal point in Jokanovic’s side next season in the mould of Mitrovic, who featured as a target man under his Serbian compatriot at Fulham.

During his time in charge at Craven Cottage, Mitrovic would make 33 appearances and contribute an impressive 17 goals, which helped them earn promotion to the top-flight through the playoffs.

With Ollie McBurnie looking likely to leave this summer, Sheffield United will arguably need a new target man to fill the void and play a role similar to Mitrovic at Fulham, and Clarke-Harris could be the ideal man.

His 4.9 aerials won per game would rank him second at Sheffield United this season behind only McBurnie, whilst his 2.9 shots per game in League One is comfortably more than any other Blades player.

Under Jokanovic in the 2017/18 season, Mitrovic would average 4.1 aerial duels won per game and 4.1 shots per game, which certainly suggests that the Serbian manager can have a lot of success with an effective target man who is also deadly in front of goal.

Therefore, Sheffield United should definitely consider bringing in the “brilliant” Clarke-Harris this summer, as he could be the natural goalscorer that the Blades are missing and could help kickstart the Jokanovic regime.

And, in other news… Clarke-Harris and Cairney start, Brewster axed: How SUFC’S XI could look under Jokanovic – opinion

Shane Warne says he won’t go to Pakistan if Australia’s cricket tour later this year goes ahead.

Paul Mulvey14-May-2002Shane Warne says he won’t go to Pakistan if Australia’s cricket tour later this year goes ahead.Warne put safety and family ahead of cricket following the suicide bombing outside the New Zealand team’s hotel in Karachi last week which killed 14 people.The New Zealanders immediately abandoned their tour and Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland said the situation would be carefully monitored.Whatever decision the ACB made, however, Australia’s greatest bowler said he would not be going.”If it was on in Pakistan I don’t think I would be going,” the leg spinner said today.”For obvious reasons. There’s a war going on there, there was a bombing with New Zealand.”If it was tomorrow and we were going, I wouldn’t be going, no way.”I don’t think anyone would hold it against people if they decided not to go to Pakistan.”It’s a big decision especially when you’ve got kids involved.”I’ve got three kids and there’s a lot more at stake when you’ve got family. It’s a pretty hostile place at the moment.”Warne is currently in very hospitable Monte Carlo with captain Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath representing the Australian team nominated forWorld Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards.All had reservations about the Pakistan tour which starts in August.They were all confident in leaving the matter to the ACB which Warne said had made the right decisions in the past in cancelling the recent tour of Zimbabwe and forfeiting a 1996 World Cup match in Sri Lanka.While Warne has made up his own mind, McGrath has already been told by his wife he won’t be going.”At the end of the day, we play cricket and we love what we do but to put your life on the line for a sport, is not what it’s all about,” McGrath said.Waugh said it was a weighty dilemma and he had faith in the ACB, but said no-one should be forced to go if they felt at risk.”It’s pretty hard to give in to terrorism,” he said.”You look at it from both sides. One side you go for the good of cricket and not giving into terrorism and on the other side is that it may be dangerous and you’re putting yourself at risk.”We want to go out there and play cricket but if you’re in danger, you’ve got to consider what the options are.”They’ve got to send players over there who want to go. If the players don’t want to go, there’s not much point in sending a team.”Alternative venues including Sharjah, Morocco and Bangladesh have been suggested for the three Test series.Pakistan has become a security flashpoint since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.The Karachi bombing, which was immediately linked to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, was the third attack involving foreigners in the country in six weeks.The wife and daughter of an American diplomat were killed in a grenade attack in Islamabad in March while an American journalist was kidnapped and murdered.Pakistan Cricket Board director Munawwar Rana said it would take a lot of effort to convince the ICC and other cricket boards to play in Pakistan.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has praised the Glasgow Rangers board for their season ticket policy ahead of next season.

The Lowdown: Gers sell more than 44,000 season tickets

Earlier in May, the Gers confirmed they had sold more than 44,000 season tickets ahead of the 2021/22 campaign (rangers.co.uk), just weeks after they had revealed they would be freezing season ticket prices for the upcoming term (Glasgow Live).

The board said that the number of people to purchase the tickets was “beyond belief” considering that the Gers were unable to welcome a single fan to Ibrox during the 2020/21 season.

The Latest: Maguire praises board

Speaking to Football Insider, Maguire praised the Gers board for the number of season tickets they made available. He said:

“They would make more money by selling fewer season tickets.

“But what Rangers have done is reward the loyalty and passion of the fanbase by making as many season tickets as possible available.

“But if you compare them with, say, Liverpool, they have only 27,000 season tickets.

“I try to identify how much money a club is making per fan, per season and Liverpool are around £1500 to £1600 mark whereas Rangers make substantially less than that.

“If you have a huge fanbase as Rangers have, they could restrict season tickets to half the capacity of the ground and charge individual ticket prices for individual matches.

“So you’ve got to admire the board in a way because this is not the most lucrative approach.

“The advantage that it does bring is you get the money from season tickets a little bit early, so there are some benefits from a cash flow point of view.

“But from an overall perspective, they would actually be better off selling fewer season tickets.”

The Verdict: Treat fans well

As Maguire explains, the Gers could have made a lot more income with fewer season tickets. The price per match for such tickets will be a lot lower than selling seats individually for every single match, and with the demand for a spot, they could probably have driven up the price quite high.

The cheapest season ticket for the Gers is £372 (statista.com), meaning the 55-time Scottish champions have brought in a minimum £16.4m. That is still a considerable amount of money and should go a long way for the club, especially as they could be competing in the Champions League group stages next autumn. They have shown that they can still keep the books healthy while respecting the fans along the way.

In other news, Rangers lose out to Mike Ashley again.

A number of Liverpool fans are excited about the prospect of Leeds United winger Raphinha heading to Anfield in what is effectively a swap deal with Harry Wilson.

Jurgen Klopp is sure to be eyeing up potential signings this summer as he looks to take his Reds squad up another level. Liverpool need to be back in a position where they are challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title, with a few additions likely to be required for that to happen.

One player who has been linked with a move to Merseyside is Raphinha, with the Brazilian one of Leeds’ star performers throughout the 2020/21 campaign – WhoScored ranked him as their best player in the recently-concluded season, during which he scored six goals for the Whites and set up another nine.

According to Futbol de Inglaterra [via Watch LFC on Twitter], Leeds are in negotiations for the signing of Wilson, who could be used as part of a deal which sees Raphinha going the other way. The Welsh winger has fallen out of favour under Klopp, spending numerous spells out on loan and making just two senior competitive appearances for Liverpool, so he looks highly likely to move on this summer.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/the-latest-liverpool-transfer-news-4/” title=”The latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Liverpool fans talk up Wilson-Raphinha swap deal

These Liverpool supporters took to Twitter to provide their thoughts on the proposed swap deal between Wilson and Raphinha.

“Why this deal makes sense for all parties”

Credit: @Bearded_Kop

“I hope this goes through”

Credit: @Terminal_Ad

“Let hope it’s a direct swap”

Credit: @Deepstweets86

“Now this would be top transfer business if we can pull this off btw”

Credit: @TypicalFirmino

“Please”

Credit: @ffion_james_

“£25M + Wilson that sounds like a fair deal”

Credit: @FplFlynn

In other news, some Liverpool fans have been reacting to an announcement regarding a huge Reds player. Find out who it is here.

Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Darryl Foster said he was left feeling dismayedand disappointed after his treatment by the Board of Control for Cricket inSri Lanka (BCCSL) on Monday

CricInfo17-Jun-2002Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Darryl Foster said he was left feeling dismayedand disappointed after his treatment by the Board of Control for Cricket inSri Lanka (BCCSL) on Monday.Foster, a biomechanical expert from the University of Western Australia,resigned on Saturday after the BCCSL refused a request to help offsetemergency travel costs.Foster also voiced his disappointment that the news of his resignation wasleaked to the media during the course of a crucial Test match, distractingthe attention of the players.Foster had to return to Australia just before the Lord’s Test following alife threatening illness to his grandson. The serious nature of the illnessforced Foster to buy an extra airline ticket, circumventing a time consumingstopover in Colombo.Contrary to a BCCSL media release, which states that Foster "requested theBCCSL to meet the cost of upgrading him to Business Class," Foster claimsthat: "I was not expecting them to pay for the upgrade. I asked them tooffset the cost of my upgrade against my unused business class, or consideroffsetting it against any future coaching trips to Sri Lanka."Their decision not to assist him – despite a history of honourary assistanceto the BCCSL, including two biomechanical analyses of Muttiah Muralitharan’saction in 1995 and 1999 that helped save the off-spinners career – forcedhim to resign: "They said no, so I could only believe that I was not goingto be required for any further bowling work. Therefore I didn’t believe thatI had any other alternative than to sever my links with the board andresign.""I was profoundly disappointed. To have it announced in Colombo during thecourse of a Test match was distracting – the players and management teamhave more important things to worry about than leaks from the board inColombo. And making it look that I was resigning because of a financialdisagreement was misleading."Foster first starting working for the BCCSL in 1995 when he helped clearMuralitharan’s action with the International Cricket Council (ICC). Sincethen he has been involved in the BCCSL’s Fast Bowling Unit. Most recently,he helped Dilhara Fernando remodel his action after sustaining a stressfracture in his back. During this tour he had to take unpaid holiday leaveto heed the BCCSL’s request for assistance.Although currently upset, as are members of the team, he stopped short ofruling out any further association with Sri Lankan cricket: "I would hopethere could some rapprochement with the board. If I have got the wrongmessage from the board, then I will certainly talk to them about futurecoaching assistance.".

Sri Lanka have beaten England by 23 runs to salvage a measure of pride in the NatWest triangular series

Stephen Lamb07-Jul-2002Sri Lanka have beaten England by 23 runs to salvage a measure of pride in the NatWest triangular series. Chasing 230 to win at Old Trafford, England fell short when their last man, Darren Gough, was run out in the 48th over. On a slow wicket, the Sri Lankan spinners did well to defend what had initially appeared a moderate total, reached with the help of an excellent innings of 70 from the recalled Kumar Sangakkara, who deservedly won the Man-of-the-Match award.England began the chase well, with Marcus Trescothick making 27 off 23 balls with a characteristic mixture of full-blooded strokes. He was bowled playing across the line at Zoysa, but England’s 50 came up off 52 balls, and Hussain then raised the tempo by hitting Wickramasinghe for four and six in his first (and only) over. Sri Lanka made their second breakthrough when Zoysa, having switched to the Stretford End, bowled Knight as he played around a straight ball.The hundred came up with England still well up with the required rate, but the introduction of Chandana proved costly for Vaughan, who chipped his second ball straight back at him to be caught and bowled. Stewart was missed before he had scored by Sangakkara off Arnold, whom he then smote through extra cover. Hussain was run out, beaten by Atapattu’s throw to Sangakkara as the batsmen went for a quick single after Stewart had pushed Chandana into the covers.England suffered a further reversal when Stewart was out for just seven, chipping Samaraweera to Chandana at mid-wicket to leave England in some disarray at 118 for five. After Irani and Flintoff had played cautiously, to add 17, Jayasuriya made another important breakthrough, bowling Flintoff off stump. Irani, after hitting Jayasuriya through mid-wicket for England’s first boundary for 18 overs, was caught there next ball by Zoysa as he attempted to repeat the shot. By now the required rate was above six an over.Joined by Snape at 160 for seven, Collingwood relieved some of England’s tension with a swept boundary off Jayasuriya. But Collingwood’s dismissal, run out by Jayawardene at the bowler’s and as he slipped while attempting a single, made Sri Lanka firm favourites. Although Snape batted sensibly, he ran out of partners in the 48th over as first Tudor perished, caught by Atapattu sweeping at Jayasuriya, and then Gough was run out attempting a quick single to third man. Sri Lanka may not have won the war, but it was still a victory for them to savour.Sri Lanka won the toss this morning and made three team changes – Sangakkara, Silva and Zoysa coming in for Kaluwitharana, Gunawardene and Buddika. For England Snape replaced Ashley Giles, while James Kirtley’s injury meant a first one-day international cap for Alex Tudor. He began with a maiden, while in contrast Darren Gough’s second over included three wides and five leg byes.Jeremy Lloyds umpired the first four overs in the absence of David Orchard, who arrived late having been under the misapprehension that it was a day-night match. After a glaring misfield by Irani at mid-off that allowed Atapattu three runs, the 50 came up off 62 balls in the 11th over. Flintoff had Jayasuriya missed at second slip, a difficult, low chance to Trescothick’s left, but after taking four over mid-off, the Sri Lankan captain’s luck ran out as he shaped to play Tudor to leg, checked his shot and was caught by Hussain at cover.Sangakkara got under way with four through extra cover. Next ball he called Atapattu for a sharp single from a push to mid-wicket, where Collingwood swooped and broke the stumps with a direct hit, leaving Atapattu well short of his ground. Sangakkara was fortunate when an edge off Irani narrowly eluded the gloves of Stewart, and at the halfway stage Sri Lanka were 114 for two, with Sangakkara and Jayawardene both going well.Snape was forced to leave the field briefly for treatment after he injured a finger on his bowling hand, attempting to catch a fierce return drive from Sangakkara. Jayawardene, always a key wicket, was cruising at 42 when he was run out attempting a second run by a fine throw from Alex Tudor at long leg. Stewart was able to collect and throw the ball on to the stumps with the batsman just inches short of his ground.Wickets then fell at a clatter. Arnold perished hitting a much tamer return catch to Snape, and Sangakkara was a little unlucky to be given out lbw to a ball from Vaughan that pitched just outside his leg stump. However there was no doubt about Vaughan’s next three wickets. Silva was caught sweeping by Collingwood backward of square; Samaraweera was stumped off a leg-side wide by Stewart, and Vaas lasted just two balls before he was bowled around his legs.Vaughan had taken four wickets for seven runs in 15 balls, and would have hadfive if Trescothick, at long on, had been able to hold on to a lusty blow from Chandana, which slipped through his fingers before carrying across the rope.Zoysa was caught at long off driving at Gough, and when Chandana swung Flintoff into the safe hands of Giles at mid-wicket in the 50th over, the Sri Lanka innings was over with two balls to spare. As it turned out it was their first winning total of the series.

A major update has emerged on Manchester City centre-back Nathan Ake, regarding interest from one of the club’s Premier League rivals.

What’s the talk?

According to The Sun, Manchester United are weighing up a potential swoop for City centre-back Nathan Ake this summer. United want to add a centre-back to their squad this summer and they are keeping a close eye on Ake’s situation at City.

However, he is not their only target in that position. United are also considering Real Madrid and France centre-back Raphael Varane and Villarreal and Spain’s Pau Torres alongside Ake.

Last month, former Premier League midfielder Dean Windass suggested that Ake will leave Manchester City this summer as he is not “good enough” for Pep Guardiola’s side. Windass said that he could move to City’s Premier League rivals Tottenham in search of more game time. He told Transfer Tavern:

“I don’t think he’ll stay at City because I don’t think he’s good enough to play for them in my opinion but also, I can’t see him going back to Bournemouth.

“He’s an athlete, he looks easy on the eye as he’s good on the ball, a threat from set-pieces and he’s quick. So I think that would be a good fit and the alarm bells would start ringing for him if he knew Tottenham wanted to sign him. That would be a massive, massive club for him to go to.”

TIME’S UP

Despite only joining City last summer, the time is already up for Ake at The Etihad. Txiki Begiristain must now ruthlessly axe him in the coming weeks/months even if it means selling him to one of their Premier League competitors in the form of Manchester United. It could end up being a masterclass from Txiki if he manages to cash in on Ake and send the underperforming Dutchman to United, as it could weaken their side and improve City’s of finishing above them again all in one deal.

Ake was dreadful for Manchester City in the Premier League. He averaged a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.57 in 10 appearances in the league, with the club keeping three clean sheets in the matches he featured in. This comes after he signed for City off the back of being relegated from the top-flight with Bournemouth –  who let in 65 goals that campaign, the second-most in the division.

The £92k-per-week flop, therefore, has shown that he is not good enough – as Windass has explained – to play for Manchester City. This could also mean that he might be a poor addition to United’s squad and that he is unlikely to bridge any gap between the two sides. Txiki should sanction Ake’s exit and bring in a higher-quality defender to replace him and send him to United to potentially weaken their side.

AND in other news, Forget Kane: Txiki must seal Man City swoop for “extraordinary” £352k-p/w goal machine…

Everton have been linked with a move for Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey [CalcioMercato, via Sport Witness].

The Lowdown: Everton prepare for the new season

Moving into 2021/22, the still manager-less Toffees will be hoping to attract high-pedigree signings, in order to build on their disappointing 10th placed Premier League finish last campaign [BBC].

Despite not venturing into the transfer market as of yet, the Merseyside outfit have been heavily linked with moves for the likes of Matheus Nunes and Denzel Dumfries respectively.

However, it now seems as if Everton have turned their attention to the familiar face of Ramsey, having seen the midfielder in Premier League action for years before his move to Turin.

The Latest: Ramsey on the radar; fellow Premier League clubs also keen

As it stands, the Toffees are said to have been monitoring the Welshman’s situation ‘in the past few weeks’ [Sport Witness].

Premier League rivals West Ham, Crystal Palace and his former club Arsenal have also been credited with an interest in his services [Sport Witness].

Though no real fee has been specified, the player is on the market and Juventus seem open to the idea of cutting him loose.

One stumbling block to any prospective negotiations may be his current contractual terms. Despite only having two years left on his Juventus contract, the Wales international is reported to earn a cool £187k-p/w.

The Verdict: Ramsey would be a top signing

Undoubtedly, Ramsey would represent an astute piece of business for the Goodison Park side. In 2020/21, the former Cardiff City youth delivered seven goal contributions in 30 appearances for the Turin-based side: two goals and five assists [Transfermarkt].

Once labelled as pure ‘quality’ by former manager Arsene Wenger [Sportsmole], he could breathe fresh impetus into what is an Everton side in need of some surgery ahead of pre-season.

Having previously won the Serie A title with the Old Lady [SI], he knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level and could bring that mentality with him to Merseyside.

Furthermore, he has played more key passes on average this season than anyone in the current Everton squad bar James Rodriguez and Lucas Digne [WhoScored].

Moving forward, the Toffees should look to pursue the 30-year-old as a priority heading into the new campaign, providing his wage demands aren’t astronomical.

In other news, Everton are interested in a Turkish international defender.

MELBOURNE – Having lived the boyhood dream in 35 Tests and 92 one-day internationals for Australia, Paul Reiffel may have found a way to extend his international cricketing career for decades to come

John Salvado10-Jul-2002MELBOURNE – Having lived the boyhood dream in 35 Tests and 92 one-day internationals for Australia, Paul Reiffel may have found a way to extend his international cricketing career for decades to come.Reiffel and Rod Tucker, a veteran of 103 first-class games for New South Wales and Tasmania, will umpire matches next season as part of an initiative to attract former players.They have been fast-tracked into the system by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and will spend 2002-03 mostly officiating in first-grade district matches.”The main thing was getting my head around being an umpire which is not something that you grow up really wanting to be, you want to play,” Reiffel said today.”… but once my playing days were finished I always thought that I wanted to stay involved with cricket and the umpiring avenue is good timing for me.”The 36-year-old Reiffel retired midway through last season as Victoria’s all-time leading wicket-taker.He then dipped his toe in the umpiring pool by officiating in a fourth grade match and found he enjoyed it.”I wasn’t going to start now if I didn’t see myself doing it in 25 years, I didn’t see it as a short term thing,” said Reiffel.”There’s a little carrot dangling there to get back to international cricket and to get out there in front of the crowds again and be involved in the atmosphere that I loved as player.”(But) the main thing is I’ve got to become a good umpire or I won’t go anywhere.”Daryl Harper is the only Australian on the International Cricket Council’s elite umpiring list.Below him the ACB has 26 contracted umpires, from the six men on the national panel down to Reiffel and Tucker on the project panel.The only other with first-class playing experience is Queenslander Bruce Oxenford, a wrist-spinner who played eight games for Queensland in the early ’90s.England is widely believed to produce the best cricket umpires and it is also the country which attracts the most former players such as Peter Willey and David Shepherd.India’s Srinivas Venkataraghavan is another former Test player who has successfully made the transition.”I think having first-class experience will help that relationship, I’ll certainly know what the players are going through,” said Reiffel.”Hopefully once I get experienced in umpiring I might be just one step ahead of the players because I know what’s about to happen.”Reiffel said his time as Victorian captain taught him when to step aside from his teammates and when to be one of the boys.And when it comes time to report a player for misconduct, Reiffel will have experience in that area as well.He was fined $200 after disputing the umpire’s decision to give Queensland captain Stuart Law the benefit of the doubt when it appeared he had been caught in the slips in the pivotal moment of the 2000-01 Pura Cup final.”It was a pressure-packed game and things happen,” Reiffel said today, before adding diplomatically, “the umpires are always right.”

Cricket officials have confirmed that Australia’s three-Test tour of Pakistan will now be played in Sri Lanka and Sharjah

Staff Reporter17-Aug-2002Cricket officials have confirmed that Australia’s three-Test tour of Pakistan will now be played in Sri Lanka and Sharjah.The first Test will be played at Colombo, after which the two teams willtravel to the desert city of Sharjah for the final two games.The date and exact venue of the Colombo venue will be confirmed shortly, butis expected to start soon after the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka thatfinishes on 29 Sept.Australian Cricket Board (ACB) had refused to tour Pakistan, claiming thatthe safety of their players could not be guaranteed.New Zealand were forced to abort a Test series last March after a bombexplosion outside their team hotel in Karachi killed 11 people.In February West Indies had also refused to tour Pakistan, forcing theirtwo-Test tour of Pakistan to be played at Sharjah.