Clingan could be out for rest of season

Northern Ireland received some bad news today as it was revealed that midfielder Sammy Clingan will miss our next 2 Euro 2008 qualifiers, away to Liechenstein and home to Sweden. He suffered a broken ankle in the first half of Nottingham Forest’s 5-1 win over Huddersfield this afternoon, which incidentally moved his team back up to second place in League One.

Manager Colin Calderwood confirmed: “Sammy has broken his ankle and will be in plaster for six weeks before he starts his rehab. I don’t know whether it’s his season over – hopefully we’ll be able to roll him out to help celebrate promotion – but it’s a terrible blow for him and overshadows what has been a good day for us.”

Sammy Beckham

Sammy Clingan = David Beckham, apparently. Interesting quote from Lawrie about 40% of international goals being from set-pieces!

“David Beckham is a player I have taken a lot of interest in and I’ve taken note of his dedication to working on set-piece play,” said Clingan.
“He was born with a great talent but his skill with a dead-ball is something he has worked on over and over again.
“When I first discovered I could create goals and score them from free-kicks, I knew it was a talent I could improve on. I stay behind at training to work on set-plays because it’s a very important part of my game and I want to be successful with it.
“Lawrie Sanchez told us in America that over 40 per cent of international goals are scored from set-pieces, so that is something I want to improve upon for Northern Ireland.
“If people think I’m in a position to be Northern Ireland’s answer to David Beckham that won’t frighten me, it will only make me work harder to do what he has done for England.”

Clingan sets sights on starting Euro campaign

Nottingham Forest midfielder Sammy Clingan is aiming to be the man Lawrie Sanchez chooses to replace Damien Johnson for Northern Ireland’s first two Euro 2008 qualifiers, against Iceland and Spain at Windsor Park. Johnson will be suspended after being sent off against Austria, and Lawrie has already experimented with Chris Baird in midfield, but if Clingan continues to impress, the former Wolves man may well start:

“I didn’t know that Damien was going to be suspended for the first two games of the European qualifiers,” admitted Clingan. “I would love to be given the chance to play in those games but at the moment it’s all about performing well in each game so that you are picked for the next. You always want to impress the manager especially with the European qualifiers coming up.
“I enjoyed my first experience of senior international football on Sunday. “It was great to be playing with Premiership player Steve Davis. He’s a player who likes to get into the box and score a few goals whereas my job is to sit back. Sunday was unbelievable: to win my first cap in the Giants Stadium against a quality side like Uruguay will stick me for a long time.
“Romania will also have good players, they always have done down the years, and I’m sure it will be an intense match.”

Sanchez ‘refreshed’ by young guns

Some of the new boys are impressing the boss:

“I enjoyed seeing the new players in action that I hadn’t seen before. Players like Sean Webb. I wanted to give them all a chance.
“Young Lafferty did himself a lot of favours in the short time he was on the pitch. We know James Quinn is not going to be around for ever, so we’ll need someone to replace him. Lafferty might be that particular player.
“And Peter Thompson caused them a lot of problems. We thought about starting him with Quinn but then decided to go with Ivan Sproule in attack and Steve Jones on the right. However Thompson did do very well when his chance came.
“I also thought we were very dangerous from Sammy Clingan’s set plays. That is an asset to us and something we will be working on because it will be crucial for our goalscoring. We need to be making the most of those deliveries. Sammy had a good game. He was tidy on the ball and gave us natural balance because he played as defensive midfielder and therefore allowed Steve Davis to stride forward. He made the important challenges and tackles and a defensive midfielder is what we need with Damien Johnson going to be missing from the first two games of the European qualifiers.
“I’m going to sit down today and have a think about my selection for Friday but there will be changes. We have a few options so I might give other players their opportunity. These new players on this tour have every chance of being involved in the European qualifiers and it’s been refreshing working with them.”

One player missing out is Sammy Morrow, who would have been there but for injury:
“Lawrie had been watching me in the last few Under-21 matches and saw me score a few goals. He told me I would be going to America and that I’d win my first cap over there. So the injury was a bit of a blow but Lawrie has reassured me. He told me to get back fit as quickly as possible and that my debut wasn’t too far off. That made me quite happy and has given me something to look forward to, hopefully before Christmas.”
“Lawrie told Dean his operation wouldn’t end his international career and that’s proved to be the case. It’s fantastic for Dean, he’s had a lot to deal with but he’s a strong character and it’s all credit to him that he’s across in America just now.”
On the innocuous challenge that led to his 6-month injury:
“I was going for a ball over the top, I got it before the centre-half and he pushed me in the back and I stumbled. It’s the sort of thing which has happened a million times to me in games but it’s just the way you fall. I heard a snap but tried to kid myself I hadn’t.
“I played on for a couple of minutes but my leg was flopping about all over the place. I knew something was wrong and when the doctor took me to the changing room my knee went up like a balloon. But Hibs have been great, our physio Colin McLelland got me scanned one day, I saw the surgeon the next and the operation was done very quickly. It was first-class.”
Morrow has a year left on his contract at Hibs, but his aim now is just to return to fitness:
“The manager might go out and sign five strikers or he may not sign any. My personal target is to get myself in good shape so whoever I am playing for I can give 100 per cent.”

Israel 0 – 1 Northern Ireland (U21)

Under 21 skipper Sammy Clingan scored after 14 seconds to give Northern Ireland a 1-0 win over Israel today at The Herzelia Stadium. The teams play again on Wednesday.
NORTHERN IRELAND: McGovern, Ward, McArdle, McChrystal, Friars, Gilfillan, Clingan, Clarke, Scullion, Smylie, Stewart
Subs McVey, Callaghan, Hughes.

22 year old Clingan joined Nottingham Forest from Wolves in January, although he played 30 times for Chesterfield on loan over the past 2 seasons. Here’s how the Chesterfield fans recorded the loss of ‘Super Sammy’ in January:
“Absolutely gutted lads that you’ve got him. A great signing for you lot. Tireless young midfielder who has excellent passing ability, a great eye for a through ball, good corner taker, EXCELLENT free kick taker, can burst through the centre/left of midfield at any given time and wont lose the ball to anybody and score the odd spectacular 30 yard smack.”
Here’s what Sammy said on his transfer:
“I was delighted when Forest had a bid accepted for me but I was in the last year of my contract with Wolves and wanted to establish what their plans for me were. But in my heart of hearts, I always knew I wanted to come to Forest and I’m pleased it has all been sorted out. I may have left a Championship club but I don’t regard this as a step down. It’s a massive career move for me.”

———–
Hibs stuff not involving Ivan: Dean Shiels successfully went through his eye operation in Manchester last week. Sammy Morrow has joined Livingstone (inititally on loan till the end of the season) as part of the transfer that took ex-Linfield striker Paul Dalglish the other way. Livi boss Paul Lambert:
“Sam is a player I’ve admired for a while and I think he will bring something extra to the team at this vital time of the season.”
And here’s a video that shows all Ivan’s goals at Ibrox

Clingan set for Forest

(Former, I suppose) NI U21 captain Sammy Clingan is set to sign for Nottingham Forest, after they agreed a few with Wolves. Clingan, 22, has been on loan at Chesterfield this season, another League One club. Clingan was set to sign permanently for Chesterfield in the summer, but he broke his arm.
Related: 6 club chase Clingan

Smith scores (!) and other stories

– Andy Smith scored an overhead kick to give Preston the lead in a friendly against Bamber Bridge. Richard Cresswell missed a penalty for them and the game finished 1-1.
– Sammy Clingan’s proposed move from Wolves to Chesterfield has been put on hold after he broke his arm.
– James Quinn has rejected contract offers from Cheltenham Town and Peterborough United.

6 clubs chase Clingan

Mansfield caretaker manager Carlton Palmer is said to be closing in on Wolves and NI U21 midfielder Sammy Clingan. Clingan has only recently returned from a successful 3 month loan spell at Chesterfield as I reported on recently.
Palmer:
“I’m waiting on Glenn Hoddle who has got him back from Chesterfield and is having a good look at him but he’s said he’ll keep me informed.
“That’s the type of midfield player I’m interested in, but there have been about six other clubs after him both in our division and from the one above.”

Other news

James Quinn made his Sheffield Wednesday debut on Saturday, coming on as a 78th minute sub against Bournemouth in a 1-1 draw. The Owls nicked a late equaliser, from a Chris Brunt corner. Quinn played the whole match for Wednesday’s reserves yesterday afternoon away to Stoke in an effort to get his match fitness up. Stoke won the match 2-0.
The Northern Ireland U21 side will play their first game since August on Tuesday 8th February – against Scotland at the Oval. Roy Millar will try and include the likes of Sammy Clingan – a Wolves midfielder, just turned 21, who has just returned from a 3 month loan at Chesterfield where he scored 2 goals in 15 appearances and has come back to Molineux with the ambition to break into the first team. Hibs double act Shiels and Morrow are likely to be included. Chris Brunt is another likely to play unless Lawrie calls him up to the full internatinal squad.

Northern Ireland 0 -0 Serbia Montenegro (U23)

Northern Ireland U23’s put in a brave performance last night to draw 0-0 with Serbia Montenegro in a one off match. Lee McEvilly nealy scored for the home side early on but in the end they were happy to settle for the draw. Alan Blayney, and especially his half time replacement Alan Mannus were in inspired form in the Northern Ireland goal, with Mannus making two great saves to keep the tie scoreless.
Northern Ireland: Blayney (Mannus 46), Close, O’Hara, Webb, Buchanan, Clingan, Davis (Hughes 46), McFlynn, McEvilly, Braniff (Clarke 59), Davey (Brunt 46)
Subs not used: Gault, Campbell, Lindsay, McCourt