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Now a lot of you may have been surprised by the move of Samuel Eto’o to Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala at the start of the season, especially with him being linked to some of the best teams in Europe.

Having said that, when you have played for some of the biggest teams in Europe and you reach the pivotal age of 30, as soon as a club comes to you with a three-year-deal worth 20 million Euros per season you don’t really take time to think twice.

Straight out of Kadji Sports Academy in Cameroon, Samuel Eto’o found himself plying his trade in Spain with Real Madrid’s B team. Unable able to break into the first team in 1997 he secured loan moves to various other La Liga clubs and eventually parted company with Real Madrid and joined Mallorca on a permanent deal in the year 2000.

The Cameroon striker was their all time leading scorer with 54 goals, later rewarding him with a move to Barcelona in 2004, where Eto’o accumulated 130 goals in 200 appearances for the Catalonians winning a Champions League trophy with Barcelona, making him one their top ten greatest goal scorers of all time.

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As we all know, his time at Barcelona lasted until 2009 which saw the prolific striker move to Italy with Inter Milan where he managed 53 goals in 103 appearances while also bagging another Champions League trophy with the Italian Giants.

Now, I’m not one to pass judgement on players who do their job well, but surely the sheer dominance of of Samuel Eto’o leading the frontline of any superior team in Europe would have been an excellent prospect. The Former Barcelona player was linked with moves to Arsenal, AC Milan, Manchester City and Manchester United.

The Cameroon international would have been no stranger to the Premier League or even the Bundesliga; two leagues in which he evidently didn’t play in. His stats show that he has an over 50% goalscoring ratio, no matter where he goes.

Eto’o at any top European club would have been a huge asset to many potential buyers, for the very fact of the matter is he guarantees you goals. Although the price range would have been off-putting for some clubs, especially with his age to consider, it would have been a risk worth taking due to his experience and footballing ability on the pitch. You don’t win three Champions Leagues for nothing.

The only issue I would have with him in the Premier League at this stage is maybe his ego; he’s always been known to fall out with players and staff, but in some cases that can be used as a positive if handled correctly. Samuel has always been known for his controversy; it was only last year that the Cameroon Football Federation handed him a 15 match ban for his role in the national teams strike.

So far, for Anzhi, the 30 year old has bagged eight goals in 12 appearances, so it’s quite hard to say he is not worth what he’s being paid, ok, maybe just a bit much but you understand where I’m coming from. Will there still be time for him to perform at the highest level after his contract is up? I doubt it; Anzhi looks to be the last straw for Samuel in a very successful career.

In his defence you’re going to get a little bit of arrogance with every good player, and it can pay off once a player is delivering the goods at the highest level, and that’s what he continues to do.

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So although I am disappointed to not see him in the Premier League especially, I do understand his reasoning behind resisting the chance.

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Manchester City have celebrated their drought-breaking FA Cup win with an open-top bus parade through the streets of Manchester on Monday.The Sky Blues defeated Stoke City 1-0 in the final at Wembley earlier this month, securing the club’s first major trophy in 35 years and sparking scenes of wild celebration in the city.

An estimated 10,000 people lined the streets in support of the players and manager Roberto Mancini, who also led the club to their maiden Champions League berth with a third-place finish in the English Premier League this term.

Mancini was taken aback by the level of support at the parade.

“I’m enjoying it for our supporters. I’m surprised because I didn’t think there would be as many people as this,” he said.

Belgian defender Vincent Kompany predicted big things to come for the club, telling fans the challenge now was to close the gap on cross-town rivals and league champions Manchester United.

“I’m really proud – it is a big achievement you know,” Kompany said.

“It is not just about winning the FA Cup and getting further, it’s especially about the fact that it hasn’t happened for 35 years at this club.”

“It’s definitely a sign of intent for what we want to achieve at this club so I’m very happy about it. I hope this is the first of many.”

Assistant manager Brian Kidd, who made more than 200 appearances for United in his days as a striker, said the club are ready to juggle the Premier League with life in Europe’s top-tier competition.

“Well it’s like everything, I think we will have to prioritise again,” Kidd said.

“For me the Premier League is our bread and butter. I always feel our aim is to do well in the Premier League.”

“With the players that we have got we will have to prioritise, the Champions League, the Premier League, the (FA) Cup and the Carling Cup.”

Temperamental striker Mario Balotelli was absent from the parade, having been given permission by Mancini to return to his native Italy for personal reasons.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is keeping his fingers crossed that the injury picked up by Darren Bent while on England duty proves not to be too serious.

Bent will miss Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro with an abductor muscle injury.

The in-form striker was set to partner Wayne Rooney up front in a rare England start and had admitted to being "gutted" and "angry" at his untimely injury setback.

Bent had impressed Fabio Capello after scoring seven goals in nine club appearances this season.

His availability is now a concern for Black Cats boss Bruce ahead of Saturday's Premier League encounter with Blackburn Rovers.

"Benty's had a scan and England have confirmed he won't play any part tonight," Bruce told his club's official website.

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"We're hoping it's not too serious but Darren's still with England at the moment so we won't put any time-scales until our own medical team have had a chance to assess the injury."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Martin O’Neill has saluted Sunderland goalscorer Frazier Campbell, after the striker bagged the equaliser against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday.

A Barry Robson goal had given The Championship side the lead in the local derby at The Stadium of Light, but Campbell popped up in the second half to force a replay.

O’Neill praised his returning attacker, and is glad to have him fit and available for selection after serious knee injuries.

“I am really, really delighted for him, and I think everybody is around here – it’s hard not to be with the injuries he has sustained,” the trainer told Sky Sports.

“He took it brilliantly as well – it may well have been his first or second touch.”

The Bantams looked to have equalised just before half time when Craig Gardner found the Middlesbrough net only for the goal to be disallowed; the Northern Irish manager feels hard done by.

“I have been told it was given for offside, and it wasn’t offside.

“The referee is adamant that’s what the linesman gave it for. There is supposedly a suggestion of handball beforehand, which I don’t think he saw.

“I said to the referee at half-time, ‘Was it handball or offside?’, and he said, ‘I never mentioned handball’, so if it was given for offside, it should have stood,” he ranted.

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The replay at The Riverside Stadium is set to be played on Tuesday 7th February, with the winner hosting Arsenal in the next stage.

By Gareth McKnight

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Vegalta Sendai climbed to the top of the J-League with a 1-0 win at home to Avispa Fukuoka on Tuesday, with Kashiwa Reysol losing the lead.Japan international Shingo Akamine struck the winning goal for hosts Vegalta in the 78th minute at Sendai Stadium.

The win lifts them into first place on the table at the expense of Kashiwa, who went down 2-1 away to Montedio Yamagata.

Hideaki Kitajima had levelled for Kashiwa after defender Hidenori Ishii put the hosts ahead, but striker Yu Hasegawa’s effort seven minutes from time secured all three points for Yamagata.

Defeat leaves Kashiwa second, one point behind Sendai.

Yokohama F. Marinos are two points off the pace in third following a 2-0 win away to Urawa Reds, with forward Kazuma Watanabe and defensive midfielder Shohei Ogura on target for the visitors.

In other matches, Brazilian Bruno Lopes scored the only goal as Albirex Niigata saw off the visit of Vissel Kobe 1-0, while Kawasaki Frontale beat Jubilo Iwata by the same score-line thanks to a last-minute strike from Yu Kobayashi.

Ventforet Kofu needed an equaliser from Yoshiro Abe to draw 1-1 at home to Omiya Ardija, who led early in the match through Keigo Higashi.

Finally, David Mujiri’s 70th-minute goal saw Sanfrecce Hiroshima win 1-0 away to Shimizu S-Pulse.

Former Spurs boy Rohan Ricketts’ shares some of his ‘off the pitch’ memories…

The banter was hilarious. Robbie Keane and Jamie Redknapp great people to be around. They would love to wind each other up by secretly sending prank texts from the other one’s phone. Robbie would text Louise Redknapp pretending to be Jamie and then Jamie would get revenge by texting the Ireland manager from Robbie’s phone.

Of course there’s also all the usual stuff you have to put up with like someone cutting up your brand new Armani suit and putting sh*t in your shoes. But sometimes the wind-ups aren’t always so obvious.

When I was at Barnsley, Andy Johnson had a phobia of cotton wool so we put loads in his jeans. When he came back after training he put his hands in his pockets and started freaking out and having a bit of a seizure. He got so mad that he threatened to bring in a dead rat because he lived in a farm house and had some big ones kicking about.

I remember one player at Spurs who had slept with this girl who was in the public eye and she wasn’t the best looking. When the boys, especially Robbie Keane, found out about it they never stopped hammering him about it. They even got her number from his phone and started calling her up.

You do get some guys who are goody two shoes – a bit more sensible than the rest. They get ripped to pieces every day with banter and if they’re not strong they end up wanting to leave the club. Sometimes it gets too much because players don’t stop. Players are like hunters who can smell their prey – if they sense weakness they’ll kill you.

At Spurs there was one player who used to get hammered because the others didn’t rate him. They’d banter about his bad touch and that he was ‘stealing a living’. They’d make out they were only joking but you know never a truer word said in jest. It got really bad one Christmas party and I don’t know if it affected him but he left Spurs pretty soon after.

I’ve met some players that are so crazy you do wonder where they’d be if they weren’t playing football. There was this one guy who kept me laughing the whole time. Once we went on tour and out of nowhere he ran across the hotel lobby and did a two footed tackle on a plant pot in and smashed it to pieces. He was only wearing his flip flops!

Then there was this other bloke was at Tottenham who was ruthless. We were on tour one time and he needed to go to the toilet but his roommate was in there so instead he shat on the floor . Then he put a £50 note on it and left the room. I used to ask him what he was going to do at the weekend and he’d always say something like: “Get drunk, get into a scrap and end up in a cell. Bob’s your uncle, I’ll be back in Monday morning.” He knew he was going to get arrested before he was even drunk!

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I’ve seen players fight each other in the dressing room. I remember after one game a really big name star was talking to younger player who called him a ‘****** ****’. The star just smacked the kid and busted his nose up for being too mouthy. In terms of physical size they were as big as each other but the big name player is a star and in his mind that made him King Kong…

Rohan’s full diaries are available at Sabotage Times

Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye has appealed the FA’s charge of violent conduct, relating to the game against Brighton at the weekend.

The France international was cited for kicking out at Brighton’s Adam El Abd in the 1-0 defeat for the Tyneside club.

An FA regulatory commission will now hear Cabaye’s appeal on Wednesday, before making a decision on the incident.

Magpies boss Alan Pardew is standing by his player, and feels that there was no malice in the incident on the part of the Newcastle man.

“I am absolutely livid about it, if I am honest, because firstly, when the incident happened, I didn’t see anything wrong with it,” the Toon trainer told Sky Sports.

“I have reviewed that about seven or eight times and seriously, he (Cabaye) is trying to stop the boy (El Abd) falling on him.

“He does make a gesture to push him away and in doing so, catches him just on the lip.

“If you find that that was a malicious attempt to do that then, my goodness, you have never played this game,” he stated.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Marauding wing-back Dani Alves said he wants Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola to extend his contract, which expires at the end of next season.The Brazilian Alves, whose attacking forays from the back have been a trademark of the hugely successful Barcelona side, said he could not envisage the 40-year-old Guardiola managing anywhere but at Camp Nou in the future.

“Everyone has their cycle and one day his will come to an end. We hope his cycle will last for a very long time because we can’t imagine Barca without Guardiola,” the Brazilian told El Mundo.

The former Sevilla star said Guardiola, who enjoyed a successful playing career with the Blaugrana in addition to stints with Brescia and AS Roma in Italy’s Serie A, garnered ominous respect from within the playing group.

“We follow him with our eyes shut. He is very intelligent, he always knows what he is doing,” Alves said.

“To not follow Guardiola would be foolish. Since we are not foolish we will follow him until he gets tired of us.”

For Sunderland, everything is in place. Looking around the league and seeing financial struggles, manager/chairman tensions, player revolts and alike amongst their opponents, the view from the Stadium of Light can be considered somewhat rose-tinted.

In Ellis Short they have financial stability and backing. In Niall Quinn, there is a chairman who genuinely cares for the club and has its interests above his own. And in Steve Bruce they have a good manager, who is savvy in the transfer market, has the Sir Alex Ferguson breeding and appears to have excellent man management skills.

It’s a big city, with a fan base to match and an impessive stadium. In the three years since they were last promoted to the Premier League they have averaged over 40,000 in attendances (only the big four – if they still exist – Newcastle and Man City have averaged more). In those seasons, they have finished 15th, 16th and 13th respectively, and now that Bruce has got a core of his own players, it surely time that a top half finish beckons. Anything less than equalling last season’s finish is unacceptable.

The problem for Sunderland is that the club is amongst a number of clubs in a similar position; Birmingham, Fulham, Stoke and Blackburn can all lay claim to outdoing each other this season. Of those clubs listed however, Sunderland arguably have the greatest facilities and infrastructure to be in a position to push on.

Bruce has been busy this summer to strengthen the squad. Titus Bramble, Marcos Angeleri, Simone Mignolet, Ahmed Al Muhammadi (who has been a personal highlight thus far), Danny Welbeck and Nedum Onuoha have all arrived, not to mention the last day capture of Asamoah Gyan – big things will be expected. But the sales of Lorik Cana and Kenwyne Jones have surprised; both important players last season have moved on, the latter to a rival.

When a club comes up from the Championship, the only aim is survival. If that is achieved then the aim for next year is, nine times out of ten, survival. It is only after those two years of establishment and consolidation that a club really can start building. This is that time for Sunderland. After Roy Keane and Ricky Sbragia, Bruce appears as though he is in for the long haul. Having spent over £25m last summer, and invested again this time around (although the sale of Jones reaped a healthy £9m), Bruce can have no excuses about a lack of support or backing.

Improvement, even if it may be bit by bit, will always go down well with supporters; as long as you are heading in the direction you can be forgiven for how long it may take to get there. The Stadium of Light has become a difficult place for clubs to come to, and few relish it, if any at all. The away form however, is a more pressing concern. Only two wins on the road last term is a statistic that simply has to be improved upon. The only away game so far has been at West Brom, where for large parts of the game they were dominated: these are the fixtures where a club the size of Sunderland should at least be taking home a point.

Steve Bruce must deliver success; the grey area surrounds the constitution of what that success is. A top half finish (and dare I say a small cup run) would keep everyone associated with club in good spirits. From the outside, the Bruce/Short/Quinn axis really looks as though it works, and eventually expectations will rise. There is a solid foundation, and the rate of the build should now be on the up.

Get updates on my articles by following me on twitter.

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A welcome addition to the Premier League’s Wag arena – Click on image below to view gallery

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Newcastle United put a huge dent in Manchester United’s title challenge producing a stunning performance to win at St James’ Park for the first time in 2012.

Defeat against Blackburn on New Years Eve allowed rivals City to take advantage and move three points clear at the top making victory on Tyneside a necessity of they were to stay in touch. However they were brushed aside by a swashbuckling performance from Alan Pardew’s side who took the lead when Demba Ba hooked the ball past Anders Lindegaard just before half time. The Dane had not conceded in his five previous games but was picking the ball out of the net again following Yohan Cabaye’s stunning free kick just after the break before Phil Jones headed in an own goal to compound Sir Alex Ferguson’s misery. It was the first time Newcastle had beaten the Red Devil’s since 2001 when Sir Bobby Robson was in charge and there is no doubt he would have been proud of the current crop of players sporting black and white.

Just two wins in their last eight games had seen the home side drop out of the top four with local rivals Sunderland breathing down their necks after victories over Wigan and Manchester City. With Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jones and Wayne Rooney returned to the United side after missing the defeat against Rovers with the latter starved of service up front alongside Dimitar Berbatov. It was the Toon Army’s front two who impressed the most with Ba and Shola Ameobi causing havoc all night as the visitors struggled to cope with their physical presence. The former should have scored twice inside the opening quarter of an hour failing to make contact with Ryan Taylor’s low cross and shooting low at Lindegaard before Berbatov saw his head strike the foot of Tim Krul’s post. Newcastle continued to attack in numbers and broke the deadlock on 33 minutes with Ameobi flicking the ball onto Ba who held off Ferdinand to loop the ball first time into the net.

Two minutes after the break United found themselves two down with Cabaye scoring a contender for goal of the season striking a superb free kick over the wall and in off the cross bar from all of 30-yards. That seemed to wake the visitors up and they should have equalised with Nani putting in a series of dangerous crosses from the right but just couldn’t get the better of a stern Newcastle defence. The best chance fell to the Rooney who saw his shot from four-yards blocked by former Red Devil Danny Simpson who will have taken great pleasure in beating his former club. With the clock ticking down towards it’s conclusion the Magpies’ night got even better in stoppage time after Jones calamitously headed in Krul’s long punt upfield to make it 3-0 and provide a big boost to their European aspirations.

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