Blackburn Rovers boss, Sam Allardyce, says his side are ready to pull away from the bottom half of the table over their next few games.

With the Premier League season now reaching the business end, many clubs try and mount a strong late challenge to turn their fortunes around and Blackburn are no different.

The good point they earned over two time Premier League champions, Chelsea, at the weekend has given one and all a boost at the club. The boss says they are now ready for some difficult games in the near future.

He said: “They are the biggest three games in the last eight that we have got left (Birmingham, Burnley and Portsmouth). I don’t think Arsenal and Manchester United at home are the big ones, I think these are the big ones for us.”

“We want to continue our own form against Birmingham (on Wednesday), who have been a fantastically consistent side this season and done exceptionally well, but our home form is good, in our last five we have won four and drawn one, so if we play anything like that we would hope that would bring us another victory at home.”

“We hope then that is the catalyst for us to turn the away results around. We have got two of the bottom three clubs one after the other away from home – Burnley, our local rivals, and then Portsmouth.”

“If we are going to turn it around and make it the great season we hoped for, these next three games will tell us whether we are or we aren’t. We have certainly performed well away from home, even in the last two away games, but we have fallen foul of individual mistakes defensively.”

“We have also fallen foul of the fact that we have failed to score goals when good chances have appeared. That has been one of the reasons why we have been so poor away from home in terms of results this season.”

Rovers have become one of the most frustrating teams to watch in the Premier League because they are capable of very good results on any given day against a team weaker or stronger than themselves.

The problem for the side is that they have not been able to find the consistency that Allardyce wants, which will help them as they go into the final few vital games of the current season.

If Blackburn can win the games the manager has highlighted then they will canter away from any sniff of the relegation places. They are fortunate to be in a much better position currently than they have been in recent seasons.

However, all of the sides the club now play will be trying just as hard to win those vital few points. This can form much trickier games, which will be more difficult to win.

Allardyce knows this and he will get his team ready accordingly.

It appears the taxman in the United Kingdom is quickly losing sympathy for Portsmouth after the club have accepted a nine point penalty.

The penalty condemns the club to virtually certain relegation from the Premier League and means they will have their work cut out to stem the flow of current problems from developing.

Pompey reacted angrily to the penalty imposed by the Football Association but it appears that all who are not connected to the club have no respect for a team who have clearly spent money they never had.

Andrew Andronikou, current administrator, said: “Portsmouth are an example of how not to conduct business in the world of football. If you overspend and don’t budget accordingly, you cannot rely on money from the owner or the proprietor coming in to bridge the gap. In that, it’s no different to any other business.”

“At the moment Mr Storrie is assisting us on an ad hoc basis. I felt in the very short term it would help us if we had him around to assist us in certain aspects of the business but this is very much in the short term. He was a senior officer of the company and the company has failed so it goes without saying that, yes, he must bear a large part of the responsibility.”

“I’m trying to understand how his [Lloyd’s] group has manifested itself. It seems to have changed form in the last two weeks, which is a great illustration of the problems we are going to have.”

“I’m not saying they are not credible, but there is a long way to go to find the appropriate people. My goal is to get the club shipshape, minimise its loss-making and exit the administration so we don’t incur penalties in the Championship next season, where it looks as though we will be.”

The fear for the club is that relegation would have a knock on effect across all areas of the club. Whoever does come in as the new owner will have to strip the club of all valuable assets.

That means selling all players that would be valuable in a competitive league like the Championship. Pompey could quickly find themselves way down in League One or League Two within the next couple of years.

However, the business side of the club has been badly run as the admin boss points out. Therefore, for a number of neutrals looking in, they will say that Pompey get everything they deserve when it comes to punishment and penalties.

Credit must go to the fans of the club who have stuck through think and thin. To the manager who has said he will not jump ship and to Storrie who has brought the club as far as he possibly can do before he has been ousted from his key position.

The club have some work to do to keep their heads above the water line but it is clear the people outside are losing patience.

Portsmouth manager, Avram Grant, has said that he will not walk away from the club even if they get relegated.

Pompey have had one of the worst seasons in the club’s history and many had said that Grant would not be blamed for walking away from the situation and getting another managerial job.

However, he has surprised many by saying that he has no intention of going any where else and he will do what it takes to keep the club afloat in high class football for as long as is possible.

He said: “I thought about leaving in January but I saw the supporters and said, ‘No I can’t do it’. I stayed, I’m fighting for the club and do not have any intention to give up. This club has become very important to me.”

“I’d ask the new owner for some stability and I’m waiting for the day this club gets some stability.”

Grant is also having to deal with the pressure of constantly changing his team on an almost weekly basis. This is due to a combination of injuries and players who have said they want a move away from the club as soon as possible.

Pompey have suffered many bad results over recent weeks but all Grant wants is for the club and players to stick together. He refuses to single anyone out for blame as he has virtually accepted the inevitable will now happen.

He added: “Jamie is a good goalkeeper. I will not speak about mistakes because it is part of the game. We started the game okay, we played how we wanted to play and then came the first goal and we lost our shape and they scored a second and third goal in seven minutes and the game was finished.”

“We made mistakes after that and we were punished for it.”

There are two things that Grant and Pompey will be itching for at the moment. The first is for a new owner to come in and take over the running of the club with the best possible intentions.

The other is that the end of the season arrives quickly so a process of damage limitation can take place. There are many players who will want out quickly and the club will need to work out who they can hang onto.

The new owner is the most important thing. It has to be sorted out quickly before the club lose an awful lot of value and potential. The worst thing that could happen after administration is that the club does not get taken on by someone else and gets stripped down to the bones and all but dissolved.

Pompey owe it to the fans to keep fighting and keep going and Grant has made it clear that he is not about to jump ship. He is a brave man for trying to keep his head above water when many would have gone below the line a long time ago.

Premier League club, Hull City, have confirmed that Phil Brown has been relieved of all duties as the club’s manager.

Brown was struggling to keep Hull in a competitive position in the Premier League table and it seems the time has come for the side to move on in a last bid attempt to try and prevent relegation.

Brown had managed the club for a long period of time and had seen the club survive in the Premier League when many people expected them to go down last time around.

A statement read: “Hull City AFC confirms that Phil Brown has been relieved of his managerial duties at the club and has been placed on gardening leave with immediate effect. Brian Horton and Steve Parkin will take charge of first-team duties until further notice.”

“We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Phil for the major success achieved during a period of four seasons in charge at the club and wish him every success for the future.”

“Promotion to the Premier League in 2008 and retention of our status on the last day of the 2009 season are unique events in the history of Hull City AFC and both were achieved under Phil’s stewardship during a period which will never be forgotten by all connected with the club.”

“However, retention of Premier League status is paramount and the board believes that a change in managerial direction is the correct option at this time. The club will complete supporters up-to-date in respect of any managerial appointment but, in the meantime, Brian Horton and Steve Parkin will prepare the team for our important game at Portsmouth next Saturday.”

Hull are a club that has a very big fan base and is unfortunate to be struggling in the Premier League. However, this is just the way of the world as many newly promoted clubs often see off relegation and then get relegated in the very next season. Just ask Reading.

The search for a permanent manager has already started and it may be some time before a new appointment is made. This is because the club want to get the next decision right and they may have already accepted the fact that relegation is a certainty.

This means a new boss may be better served if he comes in after the current season and looks to build Hull back up as a club. A number of players could leave as they have previously said that Brown is the only reason they were there in the first place.

The club just need to sit back for a little bit and then move onto the next manager who should be able to guide them in the right direction. Once they have done this they can come back at the Premier League in a much stronger and exciting fashion, which will impress and deceive many.

The Football Association is set to hold onto fees, which will keep Portsmouth from going a long way to paying off their creditors.

Portsmouth have accumulated prize money from playing in the domestic cup competition and face a reunion with former boss, Harry Redknapp, in the semi finals.

They will not be getting the money because the FA does not see it as fair to Portsmouth’s rivals, when the club owes over £3 million in unpaid fees to other clubs for a number of players that have changed hands.

There does not seem to be a single bit of good news on the horizon for the south coast club and this will just add to the woe. After going into administration the club are now fighting off the possibility of being dissolved from all angles.

Club veteran, Hermann Hreidarsson, said: “It’s been negative vibes, doom and gloom all season. But when you go over the white line, you like to think you can focus only on playing football. We’ve done that in our last few games.”

“Getting to Wembley with everything that has been going on is a greater achievement than getting there two years ago. Possibly there’s the same vibe this time that we are going to win the Cup. When we were in the semi-finals last time, it was ours to lose. Now it’s ours to win.”

Things could change for Pompey very quickly if they can get their act together and remember that they are still in a highly rated domestic competition.

The club could become the first in history to have points deducted, be relegated and qualify for Europe all in the same year. However, the chance of this seems remote when you think about some of the quality still left in the FA Cup.

Pompey fans will probably be hoping that in a strange way the club does not qualify for European football next season. This is because it would put the club right into the spot light all over again.

This would come at a key time, when the club needs to be consolidating in a financial area. This will mean selling players during the summer if they still exist. This would leave the squad thin and the calibre of some European teams would be too strong for Pompey to over come.

They won the FA Cup in 2008 and it would be fantastic if the current playing side could pull together and give the loyal fans something to shout about as they have been suffering all season long.

Stranger things have happened in football and there would probably be a few Pompey fans with smiles on faces and sighs of disbelief at what a roller coaster ride there season has become.

Avram Grant still has his work cut out and the club remains in danger. However, it’s probably only this club that could keep emotions and expectations high at such a terrible stage.

Portsmouth have been told that they must find another £7 million before the end of this month or they will face liquidation.

This will mean that Portsmouth will cease to exist as a football club and the logistics of Premier League fixtures and results will plunge the league into chaos. It is the worst possible scenario, which the club’s fans were hoping to avoid.

Portsmouth went into administration last month after another new owner could not be found for the club. They now face a desperate fight over the next 30 days if they want to keep their heads above the water line.

Avram Grant, the club’s manager, has said he will not leave his post and he is determined to see the side and the club back to a position of strength and stability that will over look the current problems.

Danny Davis, an insolvency expert, said: “This shows that the Revenue are seriously annoyed and probably fear that they are being taken advantage of. If they are going to these lengths, they may feel that something is wrong in the process. The judge could uphold their claim and consider the administration invalid, dismiss it or potentially order the company to be wound up.”

Andronikou, the administrator of the club, added: “We are not unduly concerned by this. They [Revenue] are going through the process and the court hearing is the one that was moved from today.”

“They are taking the opportunity to look at [the administration procedure]. There is an element of brinkmanship. But we are just forgetting about it. We have the documents they have asked to see, so our lawyers are very relaxed about the whole thing and as far as we are concerned, it is business as usual.”

Portsmouth have begun their searches to try and find the money in time but for the neutral looking on, it is difficult to see where it may come from.

The club do not have the assets to be able to raise the money with the insurance of capital for the providers of that cash. There is nowhere for them to turn in this instance and it looks like a dead end if it’s one they try and pursue.

They also cannot sell any of their players as strict league regulations state that no transfers can take place outside of the transfer window period.

Pompey had been hoping that the league would grant them an exception so that they could sell off some of their most valuable players in order to raise the £7 million needed to stop the club from being dissolved.

Things just seem to go from worse to worse and you have to feel sorry for all of the die-hard Portsmouth fans around the country. These fans put their time and money into following their club and now they face the strong possibility that they will no longer have a club to follow.

Portsmouth have become the first Premier League side in history to go into administration.

The news broke this morning that the current owner, Balram Chainrai, had been unable to find another investor for the club and Pompey now face the certainty of relegation.

Portsmouth have been a club in financial trouble for a long time and the hard work of many people trying to keep the club above water has proved fruitless. This news will no doubt dent the immediate future of the club greatly and they could well face successive relegations into the lower leagues.

Chainrai’s spokesperson said: “He hasn’t made a penny out of the club. He was asked in October to put in £17million as a loan, for six weeks, and he agreed to do that.”

“At the end of six weeks he expected his money to be returned and that didn’t happen. He gave them a bit of a grace period but the loan wasn’t repaid so in January he took over the shares of the club.”

“The club’s debt is too great. He (Chainrai) was also given false promises when he came in. He was told the club had certain debts but didn’t know that Premier League rules say football debts become a priority, that money owed on transfers must be paid first.”

“He asked the questions and was given answers and assurances that turned out not to be true. Having put £17million of his own money in unfortunately he found the club facing a winding-up order on Monday.”

“He had a choice of allowing the club to go into administration, for someone to go in and try to bring it back into a stronger financial position. He feels he’s a victim – the club have been overwhelmed by these debts and he is a reluctant owner.”

It is difficult to see what the next move for Portsmouth is. They will no doubt be stripped of all valuable assets, which will leave the club with a first team that would struggle to compete in a league like the Championship.

The other factor to consider is whether the club can still be run as a business. If it is decided that they cannot then the club could end up being dissolved, which would cause the Premier League a huge headache in deciding the best way to share out valuable points.

Portsmouth fans deserve some credit for sticking with their side through thick and thin. No doubt this news will have eradicated the recent memory of an FA Cup win over local rivals, Southampton.

All the fans ever asked for was transparency and they have finally got it in the worst possible form. The next move is vital and the fans will have to stay strong, even though they may feel like throwing in the towel.

The spokesman added: “He’s been left holding the baby but he wants to do what’s right… he feels this is the right solution. Buying a business with a huge debt around its neck is not an attractive proposition – but there are parties who say they are interested. Some of them may be interested if they are on a stronger financial footing.”

Harry Redknapp will face more questions from the police this week over transfer dealings he was involved in during his time at Portsmouth. The main focus of the latest enquiry is the deal that was done to take Peter Crouch from Aston Villa to Portsmouth.

The main fuss is being caused over an account that the chairman of Portsmouth, Milan Manderic, had set up outside the restrictions of tax within the United Kingdom. This meant that money used to pay for Crouch had not been taxed and leaves Redknapp with another dodgy transfer association to over come.

He said: “The club paid me 5 per cent [for Crouch]. I went back to Milan because I had signed a new contract that said 5 per cent but I said, ‘No, when I signed Crouch it was 10 per cent’, and Milan said, ‘OK, Harry, I accept that’.”

“Milan never had a bank account in England so he said, ‘The only way I can do it is from my American account and I will have to open an account for you in Monaco.’ I said, ‘I don’t want an account in Monaco, I just want it in England, I don’t want the money over there.’ I said [to Mandaric], ‘What about the tax?’ He said the tax had been paid in America. But just in case it wasn’t, when I transferred the money back, my accountants got straight on to the Revenue and told them the money was being transferred from Monaco. If there is a tax issue, they’re aware of it.”

Manderic has been reported as writing to the officials in charge of the inquest: “It’s got nothing to do with bonuses. Bonuses were paid from Portsmouth to their accounts in England. It was a certain investment for Harry in America and I helped him. It’s got nothing to do with the football club.”

Regardless of the way it is looked at, the point is that Redknapp has always had this sort of association when it comes to transfer dealings. He does not appear to have a clean slate and these rumours and investigations will only serve to hamper the good work he is trying to do at Tottenham.

The sooner the matter is done with the better and hopefully a bit of logic and common sense can be used to prevail over things that would drastically damage the career of any of the individuals invokved.

Portsmouth right back, Glen Johnson, seems to be on his way, but not to the club that everyone had first thought. Liverpool have had a bid of £18.5 million accepted for the England defender and he will become the first summer signing of Rafael Benitez as he looks to push for the Premier League title next season.

Both Manchester City and Chelsea had been heavily linked with Johnson and both were expected to make big offers within the next few days. However, fair play to Liverpool for not resting on their laurels and seizing the initiative to make sure that they got their man.





It is a sensible signing for both parties concerned. Liverpool have now filled what was a problem position for them; Jamie Carragher was never going to be able to play the right back position next season as he is not young or fit enough. Johnson gets the benefit of playing in a talented team with a gifted manager and Pompey get a lot of money out of the deal. Liverpool are likely to raise the funds from selling other fringe players in the squad but this is the clearest sign that Benitez is in the right frame of mind and thinking well ahead of the next campaign. A large part of the Liverpool budget went on new contracts for important players so the manager had to be precise and go for positions where his squad were clearly lacking.

He has also gone for a player that still has a lot to learn and someone who is very young. Johnson arrives at his second massive club having plied his trade and developed himself down on the south coast. His performances didn’t go unnoticed by England manager, Fabio Capello, or Benitez who has now decided to buy the first choice England right back.







It could also see an end to the rare occasions when Steven Gerrard is forced to play out on the right wing in a Liverpool shirt. Johnson is similar to Ashley Cole of Chelsea in the respect that he likes to get forward as well as being able to track back and fill in other positions for players who are still out of place. It will probably come as a nice surprise to Liverpool fans. Johnson is a very underrated player and a lot of this is due to the fact that he was not able to make it when he played at Chelsea. However, he has improved massively since then and Liverpool must be credited for creeping in and getting their man before anyone else could blink.

The technicalities of the deal will probably be taken care of during the week but the move now looks a full on certainty. Unless Chelsea or Manchester City poach in with an absolutely stupid offer then Johnson will be playing at Anfield at the start of next season and he can rest safe in the knowledge that it is a terrific move and the right one for him.

Former England manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, may be appearing back in the Premier League soon after rumours started circulating that he is after one of the top jobs in England. Sven formed his reputation in Italy before taking on the role of England head coach, he guided the national team to numerous quarterfinals before joining Manchester City.

Since he was sacked as the national coach of Mexico, Sven has been in somewhat of a hiatus and it appears that it may soon be time for this to end. Sven is one of the few managers in the game that prefers to sit back and let his tactics unfold as opposed to standing and screaming on the sidelines.

He was often criticised for this but he has always been well noted for doing his homework and being able to buy in the right calibre players for the position he is in. Portsmouth could emerge as the frontrunners to get his signature, after the recent take over down on the south coast.

Eriksson’s agent said: “He doesn’t like talking about a club when a manager is in place and neither do I. Without specifying Portsmouth of course, he would be interested in a Premier League club with ambition.”

That is quite a big hint and quite an obvious attempt to cover up something that may have already started to unfold. Pompey eventually managed to comfortably fend off relegation this season but it is quite obvious they have a number of weaknesses in key areas. The pumping in of finances and a new manager could well take them to the same level that Aston Villa or Everton are currently playing at.

Sven may also feel that he still has a point to prove in English football. Having left the national side amidst some controversy surrounding tapping up by Chelsea and then leaving the Manchester City position as the blue half of Manchester was getting beaten silly, may have left Sven with the feeling that he has a point to prove.

He is not a bad manager at all and retains one of the best results records in charge of an England side. When you look at all of the teams England lost to during his tenure then they are always sides that went on to win a tournament or had a manager that went on to manage a huge club.

It would be a breath of fresh air as well to see a manager come back to English football who is clearly very modest and carries around with him no signs of an ego that can always peg back the process of whatever that person is involved in.

If Pompey manage to get him then it may well work differently to how he deployed his tactics at Manchester City. Many people will forget that he actually raised City to a level where they interested big financial backers and if Sven manages Pompey this will already be in place, meaning that what he could achieve is huge.