Unsurprisingly, Jamie Redknapp Wins the Player of the Month Award for December As He Scores 5 Goals in 6 Games and I Get the Manager of the Month Award…’Appy Days
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1/1 Unsurprisingly, Jamie Redknapp wins the player of the month award for December as he scores 5 goals in 6 games and I get the manager of the month award…’appy days. 16 year old Spanish stiker David Villa signs for a bargain fee of 900k (minimum release). The transfer window opening also brings lots of media questions regarding the futures of Zidane, Vieira, Rivaldo and Montero. None of whom I want to sell A loan offer for Michael Owen is turned down. A tough opener to the month as we welcome Arsenal. Rivaldo hasn’t recovered fully so Barnes keeps his place and Babb has to replace Montero as he’s lacking in match fitness as well. Arsenal pretty much matched us for the game, so we were slightly lucky to come away from that with a full three points, but it just goes to show the value of quality. Zidane showing why I won’t be letting him go. 30 games: GOALS: (12) Fowler. (9) Rivaldo. (8) Owen. (7) Zidane. (6) Redknapp. Fowler 4th in league ASSISTS: (11) Zidane. (9) Rivaldo. (5) Redknapp, Sylvinho. (4) Fowler. Zidane 2nd in league 2/1 More loan offers for Zanetti & Owen turned down Enquiry made for Nesta - rejected (2nd Jan) Rejected - £40m bid made (3rd Jan) Rejected - £55m bid made (5th Jan) Rejected - £75m bid made (7th Jan) Rejected - I don’t think they want to sell him. £75m + addons to get to £90m offer made… Rejected - last resort - declare as transfer target (8th Jan) 11th Jan - Nesta’s unhappy the transfer was blocked - take advantage of this…they accept £70m + £17 in add-ons. Perfect addition and he can play sweeper…hmnmnnn 5/1 It’s a real David v Goliath as we travel to League 2 Scunthorpe. I’m putting out a strong team and Owen gets the chance to add to his numbers this season, along with the rest of the attacking players. Bruggink features for Zidane and Zanetti for Simeone. Routine I can’t help but think there’s been some collusion as both Fowler and Carragher come to me asking for new contracts. But they’re both told they have plenty of time remaining - which they seem to accept. 7/1 Barca offer £24.5m rising to £33.5 for Montero. It’s rejected, but that’s probably going to piss him off. He’s valued at £30m, so it needs a big increase before it’s even going to be considered. He wasn’t happy - he was told he’s going nowhere - and now he’s VERY unhappy and several players think I should have accepted the offer…funnily enough, they’re all defenders. I talk to Babb, Scales, Ruddock and Bjorklund - the squad is going to be significantly weaker if Montero leaves. All except Ruddock come round. FUCKING transfer windows We travel to Championshjp team Hull in the 4th round of the FA Cup. 9/1 Away to Blackburn - ominously languishing in 16th. Fowler is restored to the starting line-up along with Rivaldo, Zidane, Simeone and Sylvinho. Redknapp’s excellent recent performances place him ahead of Vieira in the pecking order He keeps it… 12/1 I join in the training…nutmegged (accidentally) Rivaldo and then left - it wasn’t going to get better than that. I speak to Jamie after the session and praise him after his recent performances…he has been very good. 13/1 Shearer has to start as Fowler is injured and Owen is lacking in fitness. Redknapp’s purple patch continues. Shearer missed a penalty as well and for a man who didn’t actually play that well, his morale seems pretty good. He hasn’t scored since November, but Fowler’s been playing pretty well so it hasn’t really been noticed. 14/1 Alessandro Nesta signs for a fee of £80m + £7m after 50 games. That was costly, but the fans seem happy with the signing. The board think the transfer was too much, but I’m hoping he can take us to the next level. I’m thinking John Scales can be sacrificed… That £80m transfer, comfortably, becomes the world’s highest transfer…twice the previous record which was Cannavaro to Man Utd and Ferguson - who else - isn’t happy. He thinks that transfer changes the economics of the game. From my point of view, it was simply use it or lose it, coz they weren’t going to let me roll it over to next season. 18/1 Vieira catches me in the corridor on the way out. He says he’s happy to now stay at the club since Barca are no longer interested which is good news. Nesta makes his debut in the middle of the back 3 with Montero to his left and Carra to the right. Fowler, Zidane and Rivaldo will probably be the threats going forward. Shearer comes on for an ineffective Fowler and rescues the game for us, albeit via a penalty. Nesta has a solid, if unspectacular debut. 19/1 Nesta’s arrival means that we probably have a centre-back too many - John Scales is placed on the loan list and dropped to the U23s for the rest of tbe season. I tell him that we can’t guarantee first team football and he’s happy to go along with that. 23/1 I take a bit of a gamble, making wholesale changes for the visit of bottom placed Notts Forest. Nesta keeps his place, but he’s joined by Bjorklund and Ruddock this time. Vieira & Zanetti make the midfield with Barnes and Bruggink behind Shearer who is rewarded with a start after his goal against QPR. Well that went well. Vieira comfortably man of the match and that may rekindle some of Barca’s interest, but let’s hope not. 35 games: GOALS: (13) Fowler. (10) Owen. (9) Rivaldo. (8) Redknapp, Zidane. Fowler 4th in league. ASSISTS: (11) Zidane. (10) Rivaldo. (7) Sylvinho. (5) Redknapp. Zidane 2nd. 26/1 This is not an easy game to follow up the Forest one. Nesta contninues in the centre of the defence and is joined by Babb and Ruddock this time out. Zidane is the stand-out performer, but the win comes at a cost as he picks up a month-long ankle injury. Bruggink is set to be the like-for-like replacement and, whilst not as good as Zidane, he will be able to have an impact. Zidane - 4wks - ankle injury 27/1 Zanetti - loan - lots of teams (Newcastle, Spurs, Auxerre, At Madrid) Rivaldo £56m - transfer - Barca Zidane - £52m - transfer - Bayern NO….JUST NO… Hoping the transfer window closes with no drama NO DRAMA - just a good number of kids going on loan to League 1 & 2 clubs. Our only business was David Villa right at the start of the month and that massive transfer for Alessandro Nesta. Spurs did some good business bringing in Argentinian attacking midfielder Riquelme for, what looks like, a bargain fee and West Ham made a massive profit on Helguera, having picked him up on a free. That could be a key signing for City..