Aberdeen sign Griffin till the end of the season

After having his contract with Stockport terminated by mutual consent, Danny Griffin has signed a 5 month deal with SPL outfit Aberdeen.

Griffin had a trial with the Dons in the summer, but they were worried about his fitness. Boss Jimmy Calderwood however insists that this deal isn’t a gamble and hopes extending the contract when those months are up will be a mere formality:
I fully expect him to come through these first five months with no problems. And, if that is the case, we will be able to have more talks in the summer and, hopefully, offer him a new deal.”
“I have never doubted Danny’s ability as a footballer, but we had a look at him in the summer and our medical staff had strong doubts over his fitness. Because of that, we made the decision not to sign him, but I told Danny that we would keep tabs on him and continue to monitor his progress at Stockport. After being told he could leave the club, he arrived up here to train last week and took part in some very hard sessions”
Griffin: “It was encouraging to know that Jimmy Calderwood had been keeping tabs on me. While it’s no secret I’ve had my problems with injuries in the past, they are now behind me. I’m just looking forward to enjoying my football again and doing enough to show the manager that I’m deserving of a longer deal.”
Aberdeen currently lie in 8th place in the SPL.

Lafferty secures professional contract at Burnley

Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty has signed a 2 and a half year deal with Burnley. The striker, who has been at Burnley for 18 months, has made 5 sub appearances. He said:

“I am a regular in the reserves but think I have a good chance of getting a start in the firsts,” said Lafferty, from Kesh in County Fermanagh. “If one of the main two strikers gets injured I could go straight in.”
“Things have been going well. It is good experience just training and travelling with the first team squad and being out on the pitch with them. “I have worked hard and want to reward the club’s faith with a few goals and hopefully help them on their way to the Premiership.”
Northern Ireland defender Michael Duff is a regular for the Championship side.

Baird starts Burley’s first game in charge!

Chris Baird made only his 3rd league start for Southampton – and his first in almost exactly 2 years – away to Watford today, a club he was once on loan at. Baird played the whole of George Burley’s first match in charge of Southampton in his usual right back position. They lost the match 3-0, but young Baird (naturally) doesn’t seem to have been at fault for any of the goals.

Shiels out for the ‘foreseeable future’

Which is actually only a couple of weeks:
“Dean has been trying to push through but his back has been giving him problems. We’ve taken the decision to let him rest for a while to allow things to settle down so he won’t be featuring for a few weeks.”
Hibs lost 2-0 away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle today.

7th Sept making a few top 10’s of 2005 :)

And not just the ones you’d expect!
NUMBER 1 on Sporting Life’s 10 Sporting Moments to Forget – there’s no chance of that happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
And over at icWales (‘the National Website of Wales’) our victory over England comes in at number 8 in their top 10 moments to cherish:
“The biggest upset in the history of international football? Maybe. [Yes - Steve] What is certain is that Lawrie Sanchez’s green and white army enjoyed the best night of their lives as a malfunctioning [only 'cos we made them malfunction - Steve] England were dispatched inside a rocking Windsor Park. Gerry Armstrong? David Healy.”
Man, they must hate England!

Griffin looking for fresh start

Danny Griffin aims to make a fresh in 2006 after 4 years of being plagued by injuries. The defender, who has been capped 29 times by Northern Ireland played only 41 times for Stockport in 2 years at the club and hasn’t played for Northern Ireland since Lawrie’s first game in charge – against Norway in Feburary 2004. He was an unused substitute in our 3-3 draw with Austria the following October, and asked not to be selected for June’s 125th Anniversary friendly with Germany due to family reasons.
He told today’s BT:
“I was told about a year ago that I was no longer needed at Stockport, my family moved back up to Scotland where we had been before and things have finally been done and dusted this week. I was only at the club three months when I snapped my Achilles tendon, putting me out for six months. Then I got hit in a tackle in training and was out for a while with a knee injury.
“I’m fit now though, have been working hard in training and played ten games this season, but the move to Stockport never really worked out for me.”
“I suppose this is a chance for me to make a fresh start and I hope that is what it is. If I can steer clear of injuries I know I can get back to where I was before. I have had four years with one injury after another and now I just want to look forward and hopefully get a good club.
“There isn’t really a lot I can do at the minute, although the transfer window is close there isn’t usually a lot of activity around Christmas, but hopefully the phone will be busy when the New Year comes and I can get myself fixed up. After having a hard time I just want to get back playing again and I hope there is a club who will give me that opportunity.”
According to HattersMatters.com, Danny spent the last two weeks on trial at SPL clubs Aberdeen (who were looking to sign him in April) and Dunfermline. Dunfermline had already said that he wasn’t what they were looking for at the time although they may change their mind now he is a free agent. The Stockport fans aren’t too sad to see him go – at around £2,000 a week he was one of their highest wage earners.
Follow Danny’s injury history since AWS started

Sproule close to regular first team place

Hibs boss Tony Mowbray told the Edinburgh Evening News last Monday that Ivan Sproule was nearly ready to become a regular started in the Hibs team:
“Ivan’s getting to the point where he is starting to push himself towards being a regular starter in the team and that’s credit to him as he’s worked extremely hard on his fitness.”
“There’s been great temptation to stick Ivan in and believe he can do for 90 minutes what he’s done in 20 or 40 for us. But I watch him in training every day and the decisions which have been made are for the right reasons, for the benefit of the team and the player himself.
“Ivan is bright enough to understand the reasons for those decisions, putting him on the bench while he has been building up his core fitness. He’s never given me a minute’s problem regarding selection or the time he’s spent on the bench. We have to make sure we keep encouraging him and now he is very much competing for a starting position.”
The article goes on: And [Mowbray] admitted that, at times, even Sproule’s team-mates over-estimate his pace by launching passes which are much too adventurous in his direction.
He said: “The rest of the team have to understand that Ivan cannot be the outlet every time we get the ball, we have to give him the ball in the right areas where he can cause trouble. I think they are understanding that. They know Ivan can be a very potent weapon for us but, at the same time, Ivan is learning when to run with the ball, when to keep it moving and waiting for that chance when he’s isolated one-one-one rather than facing three opponents and running into a cul-de-sac. Sometimes, though, we try to over-utilise Ivan and ask too much of him.”

Sproule’s electric pace is his most obvious asset, but Mowbray believes there’s much more to his game than simply outstripping full-backs in a straight race for the ball.
He said: “Ivan’s very much showing he has a few strings to his bow, he can come in off the right and shoot with his left foot or play on the left and move in to hit it with his right. He can get down the outside on either flank with his pace, he plays one-twos and you are now seeing him come inside and sliding the ball between defenders. His game is really starting to develop. We are just coming up to the end of his first year with us and he has done exceptionally well. And I think if you look at the year he’s been a good investment for £5000.”
Sproule then started in Saturday’s win against Motherwell and Norn Iron manager Lawrie Sanchez watched him set up a goal within 3 minutes. Ivan said:
“I thought I did well enough and hopefully that has given him a few fresh memories,” said 24-year-old Sproule after the game.
“It’s nice Lawrie was there and I showed that I can more than hold my own. This has been a good year for me and I want to build on it. Next year I aim to be every bit as good if not better.”

Davis commits to Villa till 2009

Steve Davis has signed a new 3 1/2 year deal with Aston Villa, which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2008/09 season, claiming that he had never been distracted by the Man Utd speculation.
“I saw the Manchester United speculation and just took it with a pinch of salt really. I treated it as speculation and that’s it.
“Obviously it is nice to be linked with a club like that, but I’m enjoying it here and I’m happy to commit my future to the club. I’m happy here and I’m enjoying my football. The fans have been great to me since I came into the team and that’s what mattered to me.
“I’m just hoping things will carry on the way they’re going on a personal note. Hopefully I can keep getting a few goals – that’s something I’ve tried to add to my game. If I can do that, it will take me onto the next level.
“I’ve been enjoying my football, I’m just glad to sign for another few years. I feel as though I’m progressing well here and I’ve got a lot of room to progress as well. I’m at the right club to do that.
“I haven’t actually set myself a goals target for the season. I’m just trying to get into the box as much as possible and luckily enough I’ve got a few so far.”
“As a team we’ve been a bit inconsistent this season. Hopefully we can iron that out and start moving up the table. It’s an important period for every team, so if we can get a good run of results, we’ll soon move up the table and hopefully it will feel a lot better after the Christmas period. Everybody is ambitious in the changing room. Everyone wants to do well and move up the table. If we can get that run of results, we’ll soon do that.
“Everton can’t come quickly enough. Saturday was a disappointing performance, on the back of four good results in the League. So everybody’s looking forward to the Everton game, to try and get that out of our minds. Hopefully we can pick up three points on Boxing Day.”

A delighted O’Leary told www.avfc.co.uk:
“This is great news for the club and full credit to the chairman and Steve Stride for sorting it out so quickly, with so little fuss.
“Steven has quickly made himself a fixture in the first-team squad here at Villa and it’s vital to the future of the football club that we keep players of his quality.
“He’s really made his mark, taken everything in his stride and he continues to develop. I’m absolutely delighted that he’s been able to agree a new deal.”
More quotes from the BBC site:
“Steven has been on small money and we wanted to try and get the contract up to a decent figure. To me, people like Steven Davis are the long-term future of this football club. He is doing marvellously well.”He has done excellently for us in the past year or so. I put him in the team and I want to keep him.
“He is quiet boy who doesn’t say much. Yes, the lad has got to go and develop and mature a lot more yet but he can go places in the game. Sometimes young players can be up and down form-wise when they come into the side, especially in the Premier League, but he has been very consistent.”
Davis: “A lot has happened in a year since making my full debut and I have been enjoying the way things have been going and I’m happy at Villa. When I got my chance I was out to impress and give the manager something to think about when he was picking the team and I think I did that. Luckily enough he has played me in quite a few games since then.
“This season I just seemed to get into the side for the first match and luckily enough I have stayed in there and played every game up until a couple of weeks go. I have had quite a good run in the side and that helps. It gives you a bit more confidence and I hope I can kick on.”

Happy Days magazine online

I dunno how long it’s been there but I just noticed recently that Happy Days magazine have an online presence at www.NotBrazil.co.uk. They have a news section (not that you’d need it! :p) and you can buy back issues of the magazine (of which there have been 3 issues so far) and t-shirts, such as:

No Man Utd approach for Davis

Aston Villa manager David O’Leary has insisted that he has received no approach from Manchester United for Northern Ireland midfielder Steve Davis.

He said: ‘There are that many rumours. No-one has spoken to me. I know Sir Alex Ferguson quite well. I’ve spoken to him enough times and he has never mentioned Davis to me. You’ve got to be looking at the players they have. They have got some quality and Davis has never been mentioned to me by Sir Alex.’
‘When I arrived here, people were telling me about the Whittinghams and the Moore brothers and people like that but I spotted Davis during the two weeks training before we went away on tour.
‘I was impressed with him and he has done well since he came into the side. I think it is important that the player is signed for the future of the football club, without a doubt.’
[Thanks to Pete once more for the story]