Albert's Ghana play in the World Cup!

Bristol City’s flying winger Albert Adomah has indicated that he fancies playing for Ghana in the 2014 World Cup campaign.

Adomah, 23, was born in London and played for Barnet before moving to the Robins last summer and has dual nationality. Albert proved himself at Championship level last season and gave a number of defenders headaches when I saw him play. He’s still not the finished article, but has stacks of pace and trickery. From what I saw he still needs to improve on his final ball and decision making, but they are things that come with maturity.

Former Liverpool and Newcastle midfielder Didi Hamann has now been linked with the vacant manager’s job at Swindon. The former German international is currently employed in a coaching capacity at Leicester City and joins Paolo di Canio, Paul Buckle, George Burley, Paul Trollope, my mum and numerous others in the running for the job. Meanwhile defender Michael Rose looks to be off to Colchester. The 28 year old former Stockport defender joined from Stockport last summer and was fuming earlier in the season when Danny Wilson dropped him to the bench after the arrival of Alan Sheehan. He told me: “I didn’t come to Swindon to sit on the bench – not at my age.” It looks as though he won’t be hanging around for more of the same treatment.

Bristol Rovers are also in for Buckle once his play-off involvement with Torquay is over.

Oxford boss Chris Wilder has signed Eastbourne Town’s Ryan James, a 21 year old central defender. James played youth football for both Millwall and QPR. James combined playing for Eastbourne with work for the Nike Academy which helps young players join professional clubs. He has been given a six month deal.

Bristol Rovers Appointment - The Penny Drops

Former Doncaster Rovers, Darlington and Oldham boss Dave Penney has taken on the job of managing Rovers following Paul Trollope's sacking in December. Penney guided Doncaster back into league football and also won the League Two title the following season. He spent six years as Donny before moving on to Darlington and Oldham Athletic, but left his Latics role in May last year.

Penney told the local media: "It is nice to get back in and straight down to it, which is just what I need. I made a conscious effort when I left Oldham to try and choose the right football club and I have been in a fortunate position to wait a bit.


This felt right when I had the interview. The club has great tradition and I don't think it is in the position it should be. I have watched the team and there are certainly things to build on. It is an exciting time for myself and something for me to get my teeth into. When you get the club moving in the right direction, the fans will be right behind you.

There is half the season left and plenty of time to turn things around. We need to get the players back at it and with a couple of additions we'll be a lot stronger. First and foremost we need to make sure we are in this division next season. Long-term the aim is to build on what we started."

The Bristol Evening Post (link below) carried the following on its website: "We are delighted to welcome Dave to the club," said Rovers' chairman Nick Higgs. "There were over 60 applications for the job and Dave quickly emerged as the top candidate. The interview process took slightly longer than anticipated as a number of candidates were in employment and we had to seek permission to talk to them.


During his interview Dave showed an understanding of what we need to do as a club to move forward, and an extensive knowledge of the lower divisions and lower league players. We believe we have a nucleus of good players, but the aim is to sign two or three new faces before the end of the transfer window."

More news to follow as it comes out of the Memorial Ground, but I've been told to get along there tomorrow evening to cover the relegation clash against Walsall ... who still haven't got a boss since Chris Hutchings recent sacking.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/sport/Penney-takes-charge-Bristol-Rovers/article-3082212-detail/article.html

Bristol Rovers 2 Plymouth Argyle 3 - Stunned and Amazed

I was sitting next to a local Plymouth reporter for last night’s encounter at the Memorial Ground and at the break he was bemoaning the fact that Mikkel Andersen had made a superb save low to his left to ensure Rovers went in for their half time oranges two Will Hoskins’s goals to the good.

Even though the home side were head and shoulders above Argyle for most of the first 45 minutes I told the journo that if they scored before Rovers got a third, panic would set in and that’s exactly what happened.

My clipping from today's paper

Bradley Wright-Phillips pulled one back in the 58th minute and then co-striker Joe Mason prodded home an equaliser eleven minutes later as the Gas deflated and imploded.

Midfielder Stephane Zubar stole all three points in the 81st minute poking home from about four yards after team mate had pumped a 45 yard free kick forward to the unmarked Frenchman.

The ‘oles’ that greeted Rovers passing game in the first half we replaced with jeers of derision as the game wore on and the only round of applause was saved for keeper Mikkel Andersen who appeared to be saying goodbye before returning to parent club Reading as his loan deal has now expired.

I left the ground with Mikkel and while he wouldn’t be drawn as to what his plans were, he did say:

“I want to be playing regularly and will be hoping to start against West Brom in the Cup on Saturday.”

It appears he now has is eyes focused on making a claim for involvement at Reading, but he did see some positives for Rovers.

“There are some very good younger players here,” he said “And I thought Elliot Richards was great tonight. In fact a lot quicker than I thought.”

Rovers caretaker boss Darren Patterson saw his own career path fade before his eyes in the second half and groaned:

“We are obviously very disappointed. From probably playing the best football we have done all season we gifted the game away. That’s what we did, absolutely gift it away.

We had to work pretty hard for our goals, but we simply don’t do the ugly side of the game very well and it’s simply killing us.

We have lots of technically gifted players at the club, but maybe we need people who can do the horrible things when we need to protect a two goal lead.”

Patterson understandably refused to even discuss the vacant manager’s position given the result and - after the first question on the subject – made a point of telling the rest of the assembled reporters not to ask it again.

If the players did want him to take on the job full time I’m afraid that they really didn’t do him any favours at all with their second half collapse and with 81% of readers in a local paper stating that they do NOT want him as manager, any interview the board grant him now will be given as a mere courtesy.

Why the board sacked Paul Trollope with no fallback position though remains a key question. With no game this weekend, the board better sort out an acceptable replacement in the next few days before the Gas faithful turn their frustration on them.

Argyle’s players haven’t received their wages from the club now for two months, the club is under a football league transfer embargo and it is selling key squad members to clear debts and so manager Peter Reid praised their fighting spirit after the game.

"The players deserve every bit of credit," said the Argyle boss. "Away from home, 2-0 down and then to get a result speaks for itself. We started slowly. They dominated us early on and we could not get out of our half. But towards the end of the first half we were threatening and I felt if we could get one goal, a foothold, we would be back in it and I was right. It was fantastic. The second half was so exciting.

It’s a balancing act at the moment. We have to sell players to pay off our debts so that we can get the transfer embargo lifted and then try and bring in loan players, but it is what it is and we just have to get on with it and the players have shown a great spirit after what they’ve been through.”

Quotes from Paul Trollope and Chris Lines - One for the team

Following last Saturdays game against Rochdale, Rovers boss Paul Trollope was delighted with the win and said:

“We were pleased to go two up and creating a second goal and it was a cracking finish. We made a few poor decisions at 2-0 going towards injury time. The last ten minutes we stared giving the ball away a little bit cheaply and they launched some swift counter-attacks which we knew they would be dangerous on. Obviously the own goal led to a nervous finish when we should have been playing it out when we should have made a few more better professional decisions like taking the ball to the corner and seeing the game through. But it was a good three points for us.

I was very please with Charlie (winger Reece). He’s making very good progress. He showed glimpses last year in starts and subs appearances, but his strength is coming now and his game management, in terms of his positional play, is good and he provided a link down the right-hand side with Carl Regan and provided energy. He can be pleased with his contribution.

As far as the penalty was concerned, Trollope said:

"It was one from where I was. From my angle Jo (Kuffour) got there first and was taken. I didn’t think there was any question.

He’s a young referee who’s trying to make his way in the game and go up the levels. Considering the others we’ve had this season, I think he performed pretty well."

Of man-of-the-match Will Hoskins and his side in general, Trollope said:

“He lifted us out of a little bit of pressure that was on us in the first half with some good skill and spread the play. His linking and movement are very good and he was unfortunate not to get a goal. He worked hard and we asked a different question of him in recent weeks which served a purpose to a certain extent, but he is an out-and-out striker and his movement behind is probably as good as anyone in his position. He’s got six already and possibly could’ve had a few more.

We’ve got a decent squad and, touch wood, they are fit at the moment. People are waiting in the wings patiently for chances to show what they can do. We’re having a lot of reserve team friendlies to ensure they’re up to speed and ready and we’re pleased at the moment ticking along and in the top half of the table again ahead of some very big clubs. We’re okay, but it is still a work in progress as I’ve said before. The three points was important after not getting what we deserved on Monday (against Swindon).

We said in the week how tight the division was and it’s still tight when you look above us and immediately below us, but we want to look upwards and we want to make progress and it’s good now that we’ve got a clear week. There have been a few mid-week games, but now we can have a good week’s training when we can work on the issues that we need to and make sure we can work on the issue that have been highlighted today and go up to Hartlepool in a positive manner.”

Trollope also defended midfielder Chris Lines who has been receiving criticism from some fans. He said:

“The shape and the personnel we had playing meant we had a lot of attacking players on the pitch – Will Hoskins as a third striker and Jeff Hughes with basically a free role and so you can’t have Chris Lines going forward as well. I’m not going to sit here and justify things, but we’re pleased with players’ levels. There’s more to come from Chris. Everyone’s expectation of him went up dramatically at the start of last season. I thought he played a major part in the second half in us getting back into the game. He scored a cracking goal and he’s a major player for us who’s got all the attributes of a modern player so we’re pleased with his contribution.”

Midfielder Lines, 24, sealed the win for Rovers and said:

“Rochdale were very difficult to play against with the amount of players they packed into midfield especially in the first half and at times it looked as though they had more players than us, but we worked on that in training and limited them to the chances they had. Even though they had the possession, I think it was us who had the best chances in the first half.

We were a bit disappointed with a bit of the play in the first half, but at the end of the day we went in 1-0 up at half time and in the second half we were a different team and pretty much dominated it.

In the second half today that’s the most I’ve been able to get forward in the last few games in the slightly different formation we’ve been playing, but in the second half I was able to get forward and make some of the runs I was doing last year and getting myself goals and I think with that happening I got my first league goal today.

Reecey coming in on the right gave us real width on the right hand side and you can’t really say Will (Hoskins) does that naturally because he’s a striker and he naturally going to come inside and I think Hughesy the same. But today when the game was stretched it let me run into the holes where maybe in the last few games Will’s been running into those holes so I’ve maybe had to go wide or something like that. In the second half I was getting a lot of the ball in areas where I was getting a lot of the ball last year.

I set my standards high last season by having the best season I’ve had for scoring goals and I’m quite happy to try and live up to that. Now I’ve got my first league goal hopefully I can get a run together like I did last year and get up towards ten again.

I guess quite a lot of people have noticed that I’ve played quite a lot deeper at times, but in the last few games – even at Swindon where I won the penalty with the type of run that was getting me goals last season – I’m getting into those areas that you know with those two up front (Hoskins and Kuffour) they’re going to hold it up and link it which gives me the chance to just drive forward. They didn’t seem to want to track back with me today and so that’s obviously why I got the goal.

You’ve just got to be disciplined at times and sit back. That’s what we work on in training and maybe people on the outside don’t quite realize that I can’t keep bombing into the box when Will and Hughesy are doing the same thing. I don’t like doing it, but sometimes you have to work for the team rather than for yourself.

If we can go to Hartlepool and get a win – and we’ve played well up there in the last few seasons – we’re going to be well up in the table.”

Bristol Rovers 2 Rochdale 1 - Moron

There’s no pleasing some people.

It was a real pleasure watching Chris Lines knock in what turned out to be the winning goal – if only because an few idiot six rows behind me spent the full ninety minute berating the midfielder for no good reason. Thus, this so-called fan ended up looking like the moron he had sounded like all afternoon.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

I have never understood why fans think that slagging off the players they have paid to ‘support’ is going to do the player or the team any good, but fortunately for the rest of the Gasheads, Lines is the type of guy who responds in the right way. His first league goal of the season turned out to be the winner.

The Bristol-born midfielder is arguably the best technical player Rovers have and at some point in the next couple of seasons will move to a bigger club. In the meantime, I'd suggest that the fans make the most of his talents and if they hear idiots slagging him off, they should tell them to pipe down.

He's a decent lad who appeared as uncomfortable taking questions from a bunch of middle-aged hacks as he looks comfortable on the ball.

Lines, 24, needed to show the discipline asked of his manager, Paul Trollope, and said:

“People are entitled to their opinion, but to be honest the more they moan, the more likely I am to try and get to the other end and score a goal. that’s pretty much what’s happened today. I’ve just got to aim for double figures again as I did last year and that would be pretty good for a central midfielder.

I set high standards last season and I’m quite happy to try and live up to that. Sometimes I have to be disciplined though because we can’t all bomb forward. I don’t like sitting back, but sometimes you have to do that for the team and perhaps people don’t quite see that.”

I enjoy visiting the Mem – not least because of the passion and loyalty of their supporters – but prats like the ones behind me acting like drunk five year olds must spoil the experience for every other fan who can hear them.

Dale striker Chris O’Grady typified his side’s have-a-go mentality. The northerners could well have taken the step up from the bottom flight in the summer and tried either a kick-an-rush style or even a kick-the-opposition style, but they have continued to try and play football.

Even die-hard Rovers fans couldn’t have begrudged them a point on their first half performance alone. Rochdale hit the woodwork twice in the game and O’Grady said:

“Since we came up from League Two we’ve found that we’re up against a lot more sides who like to play good football and that suits us. If we carry on playing the way we are we’ll win more games than we lose.”

More quotes from the game on tomorrow’s blog from Paul Trollope, Chris Lines and Rochdale boss Keith Hill.

Bristol Rovers 0 Brentford 0 - Hanging on the telephone

BBC coverage now online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8992323.stm

A slightly embarrassing moment after the game on Saturday.

I left the ground with Brentford manager Andy Scott who was not travelling back on the team bus and as we were walking along he asked:

“Where are you parked?”

I then offered to give him a lift and gave a long rambling description of where I usually parked my car that went on for a good fifteen seconds. It was only when I paused to draw breath that I realized he had his phone to his ear and wasn’t even talking to me. He must have thought I was a bit of a nutter – then again, he would’ve been right I suppose.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Scott’s side played well, as did Rovers, but neither got the goals they deserved.

In the first half, the Rovers midfield of Chris Lines, Stuart Campbell and Jeff Hughes seemed to find space wherever they wanted it and Lines, in particular, was picking out the front two of Jo Kuffour and John Akinde for fun, but the ball didn’t run for the strikers.

Akinde is on loan from local rivals Bristol City and was making his full debut. The Gashead faithful gave him a warm welcome - setting his background to one side - and he rewarded them with a display that was full of effort – if not end product.

Akinde is a big lad and has a great deal of pace, but is obviously short of match practice and, understandably, will take time to build a partnership with the smaller, gutsy Kuffour.

Jo has built a good reputation at Rovers and never tires of running. He’s also not afraid to stand up for himself and probably came off best in a fairly physical battle with Brentford’s skipper and central defender, Karleigh Osborne.

Two Reading loanee keepers were on show in Mikkel Andersen for Rovers and Ben Hamer.

In the first half Hamer made a good low save from Kuffour and, while he didn’t really have any other saves to make, showed good levels of concentration (and how aware he is) by clearing his lines and dashing from the box to thwart a Rovers attack.

In contrast, Andersen made four excellent saves in the second half that should have seen him pick up the man of the match champagne.

Brentford wingers Nicky Adams (twice) and Myles Weston both had goal bound shots saved by the Danish U-21 international as did striker Gary Alexander with a point blank headern from 10 yards. Afterwards Adams said:

“We all knew how good Mikkel was before we got here and so no-one was surprised.”

The Rovers sponsors gave the man of the match award to the excellent Will Hoskins ten minutes after the striker had been substituted and swapped for midfielder Wayne Brown.

Rovers defender Gary Sawyer had just been sent off for a second booking and when Hoskins number was shown the Rovers fans showed their disapproval by booing manager Paul Trollope’s decision. There’s no doubt that Hoskins had run his socks off and played well, but I couldn’t help but feel that the sponsors decision was a dig at Trollope’s.

Frankly though, when you lose a defender and go down to ten men, one of the strikers has to be sacrificed. As Trollope said:

“I don’t know a manger anywhere in the world who would carry on playing with three strikers after going down to ten men. Will had run himself into the ground and put in a good shift and so I took him off.”

I guess you could argue that Akinde could have been brought off, but even with ten men, Rovers were still looking to win the game and Trollope probably thought he was more likely to trouble Brentford’s central defenders than Hoskins – and as mentioned above, Kuffour was giving Osbourne a hard time of it.

For me, Trollope made the right decision.

All in all, a draw was a fair result, although both managers felt they could have won it and I’ll post their thoughts on here tomorrow’s blog once I’ve reviewed my recording of their interviews and made sure they were talking to me and not someone else on their mobiles!!

Oxford United 6 Bristol Rovers 1 – The Massacre

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

It’s easy, this writing lark!
One hundred words on the final whistle. Piece of piss really when you’re covering a fairly minor first round Carling Cup tie unless …

I was looking forward to seeing how newly promoted Oxford fared against League One outfit Bristol Rovers. It was going to be a good test for them against a decent side and a win wouldn’t necessarily have been a shock – this wasn’t a footballing win though, it was blood sport at its most horrific.

Striker James Constable in particular looked to be a man making up for lost time after several seasons plying his trade in the conference. On Saturday in the goalless draw against Burton, Constable had to deal with veteran defender Darren Moore and the Oxford skipper admitted he had to check Moore still wasn’t behind him before kick off in last night’s game. However, he had no such problems with the Rovers defence.

Constable scored two and had a hand in two others (for winger Matt Green and midfield Simon Heslop) and his awareness was superb. Constable’s co-striker Jack Midson also found the net and Heslop wrapped things up with his second in the dying seconds with the Rovers players desperate to get back on the team bus and go home.

Simon Heslop also deserves special mention (as an excited Oxford fan called Ian Smith pointed out to me at half time) and he certainly helped boss the midfield and gave his teammates the platform on which to strut their stuff.

Whatever the level of football, most of us have been on the end of a drubbing like this at one time or another, but something was seriously wrong with the Rovers players last night and, although Paul Trollope claimed afterwards that spirit was good in the camp, I have seen a fair bit of these players in the last couple of seasons and felt that the problems ran deeper than a bad day at the office.

There are some very good footballers in the Rovers team which makes it an even more puzzling result and it’ll be interesting to see how they get on in the West Country derby game against Yeovil on Saturday. My feeling is that the cider drinkers will be licking their lips in anticipation if they get their hands on the DVD of this one!

But it would be churlish to put this result down to Rovers’ ineptness. As bad as they were, Oxford were excellent.

Every Oxford player got stuck in and the movement and passing were superb – the finishing wasn’t too shoddy either!

Poor Mike Green – making his first competitive start in the Rovers goal after four years with the club – deserved much better protection. Frankly the goals weren’t his fault and I hope that his teammates all chip in to buy him a decent bottle of malt so he can drown his sorrows – it’s the least they can do for him. Trollope said that several of them apologized to him in the dressing room afterwards and so that’s a start.

Mikkel Andersen is first choice as Rovers keeper for the next month while on loan from Reading, but he was away on international duty with the Danish U-21s last night. Don’t be surprised if he “misplaces” his passport when he gets wind of this performance.

Chris Wilder was chuffed with his players last night and well he might be. It’s a tricky job sitting in the dugout knowing what your players should be doing and yet not being able to really influence proceedings (ask Paul Trollope), but last night’s game was one of those that Wilder could sit back and enjoy knowing his players were doing everything right.

I suspect he wasn’t too disappointed with Chris Line’s Rovers goal either. It allowed former Rovers’ keeper (and fan) Ryan Clarke to bend down and pick the ball up and stretching exercises are good for an athlete after all!

Oxford versus Rovers – Keep your eye on the money

I’m off to watch the 'big one' tonight in the Carling Cup and while the Premiersip sides seem to increasingly see this tournament as a bit of an inconvenience, for the cash strapped smaller clubs, it could be a way of easing their financial pressures.

Arguably both of these clubs need the money as well .

Having done well last season to get back into the league, Oxford have every chance of making it two promotions on the trot in what is a fairly even division and so any extra cash would be welcomed by boss Chris Wilder as he looks to strengthen.

Paul Trollope is in the same situation at Rovers.

The Memorial Ground fans have backed him for the last few seasons, but are becoming more demanding and the pressure will build if they aren’t in the play-off places come May. The problem is that the crowds at the Mem don’t bring in enough revenue to underwrite big money signings and so a win against Oxford - and therefore the chance to get one step nearer to meeting a ‘big’ club later in the competition - is certainly something the bank manager would be keen on!

I suspect that Trolls would love to buy (or loan) a target man to act as a foil for striker Jo Kuffour and I believe this could help spur them on. Certainly another 3-0 drubbing like the one they received at Peterborough (managed by former Bristol City boss Gary Johnson) won’t help with finances or morale.

Money aside, the game will be a good test for Oxford. It’s an opportunity for them to pit their wits against an established League One side.

Personally I see it going to the wire and penalties … so – as my predictions are usually crap - put your money on one or other side being three-nil up by half time!!

Bristol Rovers 1 Stoke City 2 – No Jacket Required

A late call up from The Sun saw me off to cover the friendly game at the Memorial Stadium last night.

Unfortunately I was in my car miles from home when I took the call and didn’t have a thing to wear. Well, more specifically, I didn’t have a coat with me and by the time the final whistle blew I was sitting shivering in my shirt sleeves - having been reacquainted with the West Country wind that whips around the Mem. I won’t be making the mistake on a cold winter’s evening next February that’s for sure!

The match itself was usual pre-season fare. Nothing on the result and so a nice relaxed atmosphere in the ground as both sets of players stretched their muscles and built up stamina before real hostilities begin.

Rovers first game is on Saturday away at Peterborough United and – even though the game was meaningless – they were obviously keen to impress and they did.

Chris Lines (who will probably be in Paul Trollope’s staring eleven) sat the first half out on the bench while Dominic Blizzard, 26, took his place in the centre of midfield alongside skipper Stuart Campbell and the former Watford man caught the eye with a roving, all action performance and even grabbed a goal.

In the 45th minute Blizzard took advantage of a mistake by Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen – who flapped and missed a Wayne Brown corner – to bury a header from about eight yards out.

Former Fulham winger Brown, 21, also caught the eye and it was interesting to see him take some of the set pieces which have been the sole preserve of Campbell in recent seasons.

Rovers had re-signed keeper Mikkel Andersen, 21, on a one month loan deal from Reading hours before kick-off and the Denmark Under-21 star – returning to the Mem following his lengthy loan spell last season – looked commanding and was unlucky for Stoke’s opener.

Tuncay fired a low shot in from 12 yards in the 38th minute which Andersen did incredibly well to get down to and block, but the Turkish international left him with no chance when he followed up and buried the rebound.

Stoke’s winner came on the stroke of half time. Ricardo Fuller picked up a Michael Tonge pass into the box and side stepped Andersen to poke the ball past two Rovers defenders manning the line. It was Jamaican striker Fuller’s only real contribution to the game and manager Tony Pulis said afterwards that he is “definitely looking to add another striker” to his squad along with three or four other players.

Rovers on the other hand look to have a decent crop of youngsters backing up the first team and when Trollope made the usual friendly game wholesale changes on the hour, kids like Charlie Reece, Ben Swallow and Eliot Richards came on and looked far from overawed by the Premiership opposition – although some of their cheeky flicks and back heels might have seen them get a good old fashioned kick up the arse had it been a more competitive game! Still, it was good fun and showed they are a confident bunch and the Pirate’s future might be brighter than some Gasheads had thought.

Paul Trollope was also pleased with the effort put in by his kids, but said: “I’m more pleased that we came through the game without any problems and can now look forward to the first game on Saturday.”

N.B. The attached clipping was published in The Sun this morning and obviously welll worth freezing my nuts off for :-)
A link to The Sun's football pages can be found here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/