McCartney and Elliott make PFA teams

Sunderland’s George McCartney and Hull’s Stuart Eliiott have named in the PFA Teams of the Season for the Championship and League One respectively. Both teams have recently been promoted. Elliott has scored 28 goals for Hull so far this season.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland will play a friendly with Estonia on Saturday 14th March 2006. A while a way yet then.
And, happily, Lawrie is finally getting frustrated at Andy Smith not being able to score on a jotter:
“Time is running out” the boss said
“If he’s not playing then he cannot expect to be in the squad.”
“I keep preaching to the players how important it is to be playing regularly at club level.
“If they aren’t playing then they cannot expect to be picked.
“It’s time Andy proved he can play at the higher level. He has not scored a competitive goal since moving to Preston from Glentoran. And he hasn’t been featuring frequently in the first team squad.
“He did exceptionally well for me in the games against Norway and Estonia but he cannot live on those for ever.
“The lad has had operations on both knees but has fully recovered so it’s now down to him.
“I’ve been wondering whether he took a step too far when he signed for Preston. I thought it might have been better had he joined MK Dons.
“However he made the decision so now it’s up to him to prove he is capable of making it at the higher level.
“He has been playing bits and parts but he has reached the point where playing regularly is essential.”

Hughes inspires Palace to vital victory

Michael Hughes has been told by Lawrie Sanchez that the boss doesn’t plan on giving him anymore starts for Northern Ireland. Lawrie however may want to think again considering the right winger’s end of season form. Today Hughes again performed brilliantly as he captained his side to a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Selhurst Park – a vital 3 points which moved them out of the relegation zone in the English Premiership. Nigel Worthington’s Norwich beat Charlton 1-0 to keep them level on points with Dowie’s men, but A Wee Spot is firmly supporting Iain and Michael!

Tony Capaldi was the only NI player of note on target across the water today. He came on as a 64th minute substitute for Plymouth against Coventry and scored their equaliser 5 minutes into stoppage time, volleying home on his favoured left foot.
James Quinn nearly scored for Sheffield Wednesday but was denied by a fine save. Steve Davis was also denied his second Villa goal in two games with a fine save by the Bolton keeper who’s name I’m not going to attempt to spell after a great run by the Cullybackey midfielder.

A reason to go to Cullybackey
Warren Feeney got a League One winners medal as his new club won their league in place of Stuart Elliott’s Hull, who lost 3-0 today to Walsall. Feeney came on as a 33rd minute substitute as Luton beat Wrexham 2-1.

Luton players celebrate the title
And at this stage I’d just like to welcome Ken Ham to the blogging scene!

Hibees Special

Speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News, Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez has revealed that Dean Sheil’s exploits in the Green and White of Hibs haven’t gone unnoticed. The ex-Arsenal man has been involved in all but 2 of Hibs’ 40 games this season – and the two he missed were when he was rested by boss Tony Mowbray.

First of all, Sanchez was quick to pay tribute to AWS:
“I get up-dated statistics every week on every player who qualifies for Northern Ireland whether they are playing in England, Scotland or, in some cases, abroad.”
Then he got on with things:
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see just how well Dean has been doing, he’s had a great first season for Hibs. Usually in a first season a young player will come in and out of the team over the months but it’s surprising to see Dean starting virtually every game.
“He’s obviously been doing fantastically well for his club and it was tremendous to see he had scored another goal in the Edinburgh derby.”
“If you are playing first-team football in the SPL then you most definitely come into the equation where Northern Ireland is concerned. I haven’t seen Dean play for Hibs yet but if he continues to play so well than I’ll have to put that right very early next season. And that’s the challenge for Dean, he’s enjoyed a highly successful first season for Hibs – now he has to prove he can continue to do it.
“If he does then he’ll very much come into my plans. He obviously had a great grounding at Arsenal but it’s very difficult for good players to get a game at clubs such as those, far less young lads trying to make the breakthrough.
“Sometimes youngsters need to make the break and prove they can play first-team football and so far Dean has certainly done that.”
Sanchez isn’t ignoring young Sammy Morrow either, although the former Stute and Ipswich man has been hampered this season by niggling injuries:
“They are both very much within our development structure but there are experienced players in front of them doing well and they can’t expect in their first full season to become full international players.
“In particular Andy Kirk has done fantastically well and David Healy has scored lots of goals.
“However, we are well aware of the lads at Hibs and, as I have, said we are keeping an eye on how well they are doing in Scotland.”

The Scotsman have also taken a look at Morrow and have an article on him here as he says how pleased he was for Shiels to get the winner in the recent Edinburgh derby:
“It was fairytale stuff, his first derby goal, at the Hibs end at Tynecastle – you couldn’t have written a better script.
“I’d actually been giving Dean a bit of stick as he’d only scored once since October but he deserved that one because of his work-rate and performances over the season.
“Far from being envious, I was just happy for him and delighted for the team and our fans. The atmosphere in the changing room was incredible, we could still hear the Hibs fans shouting and cheering half-an-hour after the final whistle.”

Hughes season over

Northern Ireland captain Aaran Hughes will miss the rest of the season and the friendly against Germany in June because he has to have a hernia operation this week. He said:
“I will have to speak to Lawrie Sanchez when I know exactly what is happening, but I can’t see me being fit for the Germany match.”
“By the time I am fully fit and ready to play again the season will be over and even if I was able to meet up with the squad I wouldn’t be anywhere near match fitness.”

Aberdeen chase Griffin

Griffin in action against Italy
“JIMMY Calderwood’s interest in signing Danny Griffin for Aberdeen highlights the quality of his memory as much as his eye for a player. Managers prefer the reassurance of seeing a prospective target in the flesh before committing to a deal, but opportunities for Calderwood to watch Griffin have been remote. The Northern Irishman has not played first- team football since January 3.
Calderwood is prepared to sign him anyway because he has vivid recollections of the qualities Griffin brought to St Johnstone and Dundee United before an ill-fated move to Stockport County 15 months ago. He has long been an admirer of the strong, forceful presence Griffin brings and the fact that every club which has signed him has gone on to make him captain.
“Danny is a lad I have always been impressed with. I think he is a talented player and he is a winner,” said Calderwood, who intends to use Griffin as a replacement for the departing Markus Heikkinen. Griffin’s preference is central defence but nearly all of his 29 inter national appearances have been as a midfielder and he is equally comfortable there.
“Anybody I speak with – Sammy McIlroy, Alex Smith – speaks very highly of him, says Calderwood. “Jimmy Nicholl knows him. At least he can understand Jimmy’s accent, which will be a first in the dressing room. He has had a few injuries in recent years. Otherwise he might have gone a lot higher.”
Joining Aberdeen will prevent Griffin going any lower. When Stockport lost at home to Brentford in a match watched by fewer than 4,500 supporters on April 2, they became the first club in England to be relegated this season. They will be playing in the no-man’s land of Coca-Cola League Two next season and it would suit all the parties if Griffin can be released from the remaining year of his contract – Stockport have to slash their wage bill – and return to Scotland. Aberdeen will not pay a transfer fee but are prepared to offer him at least a 12-month contract.
“Possibly I do need a fresh start,” said the 27-year-old, who still has a house in Perth. “It was the same when I left Dundee United in January last year. Ian McCall said then that a fresh start would probably do me the world of good, but that really hasn’t worked out as planned.
“If things worked out at Aberdeen, they are a massive club and could be in Europe so everything would be in front of me again. Aberdeen have done really, really well this year and they have good management in place. It would mean playing in the best league in Scotland and testing yourself again. Down here I have a year left and would be moving into the league below so you don’t know how that’s going to work out. If it does happen it would be nice to go back up the road. It’s the SPL in Scotland so if I go there it puts me back in the shop window for getting back into the international scene.”
Griffin emerged as a precocious teenager after leaving Belfast for St Johnstone more than a decade ago and made headlines in the summer of 1996 when he declined the chance to join Derby County in a £1 million transfer. The decision disappointed St Johnstone, who could have done with the money, but Griffin had the mat urity to realise he would probably be on the periphery at a club which had just been promoted to the Premiership. Instead he continued to impress at McDiarmid Park until joining Dundee United for £600,000 in 2000. The fee was partially paid by agent Barry Gold in an unusual deal which reflected Gold’s belief that Griffin’s transfer value would increase. Had it done so, Gold would have taken a significant slice of the sell-on fee. Instead, Griffin’s time at Tannadice was undermined by injuries and he fell out of favour when McCall arrived as manager at the start of 2003.
“Derby County was a long time ago and then Dundee United spent a lot of money on me. The first part of my Dundee United career didn’t really work out because I had an infection in my knee, and then I came back and played really well. Then Ian McCall came in and things didn’t work out.”
Stockport seemed like an escape route but he ran into further trouble, almost literally. The uncompromising physical presence he can provide are the qualities which appeal to Calderwood, but they have also contributed to a sequence of injury problems. “I think the injuries have been down to bad luck and also the way I play. Everyone in Scotland knows I’m the type of player that doesn’t shirk out of a tackle. I am always one of the first to go into a tackle rather than backing out, because I’ve always believed that if you back out of a tackle you could be hurt even more. It’s just my luck that at certain times I have ended up injured.”
He joined Stockport in January last year and had been made captain before his season imploded in March. “My Achilles snapped. It was right out of the blue, there had been no sign of it going and I wasn’t in any pain leading up to it. It just snapped. It was a killer. I had just played a couple of good games and then against Blackpool within 20 minutes I did my Achilles.”
He did not play again for six months, but still returned prem aturely. “I came back about a month-and-a-half too early from the Achilles injury. The club was going through a bad patch so they spoke to the med ical people and brought me back in. I played through from October to the start of January, playing every game, and then I got the next injury. It happened in training when one of the boys went into a tackle with me and I felt my knee. I got it checked and they thought it was a bit of scar tissue floating about in my knee, probably a legacy of an old injury.”
More surgery was required, but he has now been back in training for several weeks and intends to play a reserve match this week.
“I still think there is more to come in my career. It’s about getting a consistency of playing and getting back to the way I know I can play. Hopefully it’s not that far away. It’s been in one of the local papers down here that the deal had been done with Stockport and I could leave. That’s news to me, but hopefully we could get something sorted.”
Were he to secure his release from Stockport he could sign as an amateur and play for Aberdeen before the end of the season, although a close season move is more likely.
Griffin hasn’t had a phone call from Lawrie Sanchez since October and having not played for his country for 14 months he is beginning to suspect the Northern Irish manager has forgotten about him. Encouragingly for him, Calderwood’s memory is longer.”

http://www.sundayherald.com/49159

Davis gets his first senior goal

Steven Davis scored his first senior goal for Aston Villa this afternoon, completing a remarkable comeback for his side after they had trailed 2-0 to Southampton. With 72 minutes of the match played and the tie delicately poised at 2-2, Davis brought the ball forward from the midfield before spraying a lovely pass out to the wing. Davis continued his run into the penalty area and when the ball came back in he touched it through Niemi’s legs. Serve Southampton right for totally ignoring Young Baird for the last two seasons.
The biggest match in the English Premiership today was undoubtedly Iain Dowie’s Crystal Palace v. Nigel Worthless’s Norwich City. Palace took the lead early on and had two stonewall penalties turned down in the first half (“If that first one wasn’t a penalty I’m a Dutchman” – Dowie). Norwich got it back to 1-1 and that was the score at half time. The away side came out after the break and scored two goals in eight minutes to make it 3-1 but Palace captain Michael Hughes dragged his side back into the game with a lovely header, his second Premiership goal of the season (and pushed his own teammates out of the way when they tried to celebrate with him in his urgency to get an equaliser!). Andy Johnson then won and scored a penalty to make it 3-3 a send Selhurst Park wild. It was a game that neither side could afford to lose, but Palace nearly won it late on with Robert Green pulling off a tremendous save to stop an overhead kick by the player with the best nickname in the world: “One size” Fitz Hall.
Elsewhere, Stuart Elliott’s Hull were promoted for the second successive season and will be playing in the Coca Cola Championship next season after a 0-0 draw today. The let some other eejit take a penalty in the last minute, but of course he missed.

Shiels on derby goal

Dean Shiels on his midweek winner for Hibs in their 2-1 victory over Hearts:
“To score my first derby goal, the winner at the Hibs end at Tynecastle was simply unbelievable.
“It was a great feeling, I’ve never felt anything like it before. I scored twice against Brazil which was phenomenal but this was right up there with that.”

In other news: The Belfast Telegraph are speculating that Sunderland will be leading the chase for Steve Jones if Crewe decide to cash in on him in the summer (he has a year left on his contract).
Michael Ingham may be denied an extended run in the Sunderland first team because of injury. Ingham, who was denied a Norn Iron debut in the Caribbean because of a finger injury is 3rd choice at Sunderland but number 1 Mart Poom is out for the season and number 2 Thomas Mhyre came off at half time on Saturday. Ingham came on – only his second ever appearance for the Black Cats since his ‘99 move from Cliftonville (he has however been on loan a whole rake of times). However he hurt his neck during the week, hasn’t trained since and things aren’t looking too promising.

Platini coming to Belfast

Martin O’Neill exhanging pennants with Platini in ‘82
From the IFA:
MICHEL PLATINI, former World and European Footballer of the Year, will make the final draw for the UEFA Under 19 Tournament at Belfast City Hall in June.
IFA President Jim Boyce, who is also chairman of the European Youth Committee, says: “It is a great honour for me, and everyone involved, to have a man of the stature of Michel Platini coming to Northern Ireland especially to make this draw. We are delighted to welcome him.”
The Frenchman, who is a member of the UEFA executive committee and announced his candidacy for President earlier this year, is a soccer legend. During his playing career as a creative midfielder he was named European Footballer of the Year three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985. And in 1985 he was also named World Footballer of the Year.
Platini was capped 72 times and is recognised as the greatest scorer in the history of the French national team with 41 goals. In 1987 he was appointed French national coach, remaining in the role for five years. He was co-organiser of the 1998 France World Cup.
Mr Boyce reveals: “I was in Paris last week meeting Jean Pierre Escalletes, who has just been nominated as the new President of the French Football Association. I have known him for many years as he is my vice-chairman on the European Youth Committee. I mentioned to him that I would love Michel Platini to do me the honour of making the draw for the Under 19 Tournament, so he arranged for the three of us to have dinner.
“I told Michel that the draw for the tournament was being televised live from Belfast City Hall and that we needed a big name for such a prestigious event. Michel has re-arranged his diary and is flying over to Northern Ireland by private areoplane to make the draw, and has confirmed this in writing to me.
“It is an enormous honour.”
At the Belfast City Hall draw on Friday 3rd June with Mr Platini will be joined by Mr Boyce, IFA Chief Executive Howard Wells and International Men’s Team manager Lawrie Sanchez.
THE UEFA Under 19 Tournament is being held in Northern Ireland from Monday 18th – Friday 29th July at five venues: Windsor Park and The Oval in Belfast, Mourneview Park in Lurgan, Ballymena Showgrounds and Newry Showgrounds.
The cream of European youth football will have the opportunity to show off their skills at the tournament and it is expected that managers and scouts from top clubs across the continent will use the opportunity to spot stars of the future.
The matches will provide superb family entertainment.
The Under 19 Tournament is sponsored by Meteor Electrical, Ballygowan, Pepsi, Daily Mirror, Mitsubishi, Ulsterbus Tours, Xperience, Schism and publicly funded by Northern Ireland Events Company, Belfast City Council, UK Sport, Sports Council for Northern Ireland and the IFA.

Healy – “I should be fine for the Germany game”

David Healy says he should be fit for Northern Ireland’s friendly with Germany at the start of June, despite his club manager Kevin Blackwell writing him off for the rest of the season after our leading goalscorer limped off during Leeds clash with Watford at the weekend. He said:
“I don’t like missing games and hopefully I will only miss one, maybe two for Leeds.
“International wise I should be fine for the Germany game. It is a big one for Northern Ireland and I’d hate to miss it.
“I had to miss the Azerbaijan match after I was suspended for the red card against Wales and I don’t want to miss anymore.”

Sanchez not impressed by Kirk

“LAWRIE SANCHEZ has warned dissident striker Andy Kirk: “We can get by without you.”
The Northern Ireland boss is not amused by stories suggesting Kirk is thinking of withdrawing his services.
The newly signed Northampton star was bitterly disappointed when he didn’t even make the bench for the World Cup qualifier in Poland.
He made it known he would be talking over his international future with his wife and family.
But Sanchez insists: “We’ll get by whatever Andy Kirk decides.
“I appreciate he was disappointed. So was Steve Jones. There is so little between some of our players that not everyone can be involved all the time.
“Andy featured against England at Old Trafford when others had to sit it out.
“I know only too well what it’s like to miss big international matches. It’s hard to take.”
“When I was playing regularly for Wimbledon in England’s top division I couldn’t even get into the squad.
“So I’ve been there. I know first hand how it feels.”
But Sanchez remains defiant and insists: “It’s down to me who plays and it’s down to the individual whether he makes himself available for selection.
“England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland each has 24 players in their squads which means even more are disappointed but you don’t hear anyone complain.
“Some players believe it’s their right to play rather than it being an honour.”
Crewe Alexandra’s Jones was equally disappointed at not even getting stripped but insisted: “It’s still a privilege to be part of things.”
Sanchez totally agrees with those sentiments and hopes all his players will feel like that adding: “That’s what I’m looking for in players. Others only pay lip service.”"

http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/sport/story.jsp?story=628002