Graham Kavanagh has played down suggestions he could link up with Sheffield United following his loan spell with city rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
The midfielder will return to parent club Sunderland after playing for The Owls against Blackpool this weekend.
But reports have claimed he could be swiftly loaned out again, with Blades boss Bryan Robson anxious to sign a midfielder.
Kavanagh has brushed off the rumours, but admits he would be open to a return to Hillsborough if he fails to break back into the Sunderland side.
"That's the first I have heard of any move to Sheffield United, I didn't even know they were supposed to be interested," said Kavanagh in the Yorkshire Post.
"I wouldn't imagine Roy Keane would allow me to go back to Sunderland, with the option of sending me off somewhere else. If that was the case it would have been another month here. I'm sure there are all sorts of rumours going round, but that's all they are. I spoke to the manager (Brian Laws) on Monday when he broke news to me that Roy Keane wanted me back. I said 'look, we will keep our options open'. If in the January transfer window it gets to the point where I haven't been playing at Sunderland, if Brian was to come back in again we would re-assess the situation come the time. I would certainly be interested in returning, it would then be up to the club to make the move happen."
25 October 2007
Simon Grayson says he is confident Blackpool have got what is takes to establish themselves in the Championship this season.
The Seasiders slipped to a 2-1 defeat at West Brom on Tuesday night but Grayson took plenty of positives out of the game and is convinced his side will continue to do well.
"We had a real go right to the end," he said. "We have played the biggest teams in the division - Watford, Wolves, Sheffield United and now West Brom - and not looked out of place. I am not being big-headed about my team but there is a lot of belief around the side. They are an honest bunch of lads who drive each other on with a lot of determination."
25 October 2007
Coventry manager Iain Dowie is the early favourite to succeed Gary Megson as Leicester boss, who is poised to join Bolton.
Megson's shock departure was confirmed on Wednesday evening, after Foxes chairman Milan Mandaric reluctantly allowed him to speak to the Premier League club.
Now Leicester will have to find their third manager of the season, and their fifth boss in six months, with Dowie being linked as the man who could fill the hot seat.
Reports claim the former Crystal Palace boss is getting frustrated with life with the Sky Blues, who had a transfer embargo slapped on them earlier this week.
Former Leicester defender and Blackpool boss Simon Grayson, ex-Wigan manager Paul Jewell and England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce have also been mentioned as possible candidates.
25 October 2007
Brian Laws was left reeling yesterday after seeing the spine of his Sheffield Wednesday team ripped apart.
The Owls manager was already struggling to come to terms with the long-term ankle ligament injury to star striker Francis Jeffers.
But in the aftermath of Tuesday night's home shocker against Scunthorpe United – which saw the Owls concede two goals for the fourth consecutive match and leaves them just one point off the bottom of the Championship after a quarter of the season – Laws was hit by another double blow.
First, centre-half Richard Wood, who was stretchered off against the Iron, has suffered a dislocated shoulder.
Then to cap a miserable week for Laws, Sunderland manager Roy Keane has ignored Wednesday's request to keep on-loan midfield general Graham Kavanagh for a second month as he wants him back on Wearside to help in their relegation battle in the Premier League.
"You always seem to pick up injuries when things aren't going well," said assistant manager Russ Wilcox.
"They are two key players. Everybody is important to the club, but these two are key players for us. You don't want to use injuries as an excuse but we have lost Richard Wood to a shoulder injury and we lost Francis Jeffers on Saturday. When things aren't going well you do seem to pick up injuries but we have enough in the squad to turn it around and we will just have to keep battling away."
In Wood, Kavanagh and Jeffers it is three players who formed the spine of Laws's team. One of Wednesday's main problems this season has been their lack of goals at Hllsborough.
They have scored just three times in six Championship games, including Deon Burton's penalty on Tuesday evening before he was substituted with concussion, and the other two scorers – Jeffers and Wade Small – are out injured.
Laws is hoping talks with chairman Dave Allen will allow him funds to bring in an on-loan striker to boost his firepower, but with performances from the Owls like the first 45 minutes against Sunthorpe, even strikers of the calibre of Wayne Rooney would struggle to get a sniff of goal.
Wilcox criticised his side's work-rate – usually a taboo issue when coaches moan about their players – and said the Iron had been more industrious than the Owls before the break.
"We looked like we worked harder in the second half, but you shouldn't be asking players to work harder, that should be just a natural thing," said the Owls No 2.
"That was disappointing. Once we stepped up the tempo after the break, I thought we dominated the second half. We have got to perform better over 90 minutes. In the first half we never won a second ball, we couldn't just get any tempo, but in the second we won the second ball and that allowed us to play. It's very difficult as a coach or manager to put your finger on what went wrong. We just looked flat in the first half."
Of the three promoted clubs from League One, Wednesday have already lost to two at Hillsborough this season; Scunthorpe joining Bristol City in taking maximum points.
The third side, Blackpool, visit Hillsborough on Saturday and Laws will be desperate to avoid an unwanted hat-trick. It's a massive week for the club," admitted Wilcox.
One piece of good news for Laws, however, is that on-loan central defender Michael Johnson has agreed to stay at Hillsbrough for a further month.
Sheffield United manager Bryan Robson will today attend the launch of a special exhibition at Bramall Lane which celebrates the history of black footballers in Sheffield.
The event, which is organised jointly by the Blades, the "Football Unites, Racism Divides" campaign, and The Hub African-Caribbean Centre based in Sharrow, also includes the launch of a project named in honour of Robson's former West Brom team-mate Laurie Cunningham.
Cunningham, who died in a car accident in July 1989, became the first black player to represent England at international level when he scored for the under-21 side in a 1-0 win over Scotland at Bramall Lane 30 years ago.
22 October 2007
Simon Grayson has recalled Marcus Bean from his loan spell at Rotherham as he struggles to draft in loan signings of his own.
The Blackpool boss has been working hard to strengthen his ranks but after failing to draft in reinforcements, he has decided to bring Bean back to the club.
The midfielder has impressed for the Millers and will go straight into the Pool squad that takes on West Brom.
"We've got a lot of injuries at the moment and on Saturday I had only 16 fit players to choose from," explained Pool boss Simon Grayson.
"We've been trying every day for the last two weeks to get reinforcements in but haven't had any luck at all. Marcus is our player and given the situation that we've got at the club I felt I had no option but to bring him back. He'll travel with us tomorrow and I'll make a decision on my team, after seeing who is available and who is not, just before kick off."
11 October 2007
Blackpool goalkeeper Rhys Evans stoked up potential controversy with the Seasiders' fans with the candid admission: "We dislike each other."
Evans, currently on loan with League Two side Bradford City after losing his place as first choice to Paul Rachubka, said of his time at Bloomfield Road:
"I haven't been happy at Blackpool for a long time and I've not been made to feel welcome there in many ways. It's not necessarily down to the players and the staff, but the surrounding factors at the club. After an early period of last season the Blackpool fans decided that I wasn't the goalkeeper for them. We had a poor start and I think they tried to pin that on me a little bit. I had replaced the player of the season in Lee Jones, so I was the convenient target. We let in a few goals when the ball was bobbling over my hand and things like that and it all built up into a negative attitude towards me. That made it increasingly difficult for me to succeed there. I played 39 games last season but I don't think I enjoyed many of them.
"That's why I wanted to go somewhere just to enjoy playing football again."
However, Evans spoke of his determination to win over the Blackpool fans when he gets back.
"Hopefully by coming to Bradford and doing well, the fans will give me a clean slate when I go back and I may do the same for them. At the moment there's a mutual dislike with one another."
Evans was brought to Bradford on a month's loan by manager Stuart McCall and made his debut in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of MK Dons.
He was brought in because of a lapse in form of the Bantams' regular stopper Donovan Ricketts, the Jamaican international.
Evans said: "It must be very difficult for Donovan and I just hope I handle the situation with dignity. I'm certainly not here to rub his nose in it. I've been there and know what he must be going through. It happens to everybody."
Evans, the former Swindon and Chelsea keeper, added: "I know the manager wanted someone to come and take crosses and go for deep balls in the box. That's something I try to do generally in my game and I was pleased with that."
Despite his misgivings about the Blackpool fans' reaction to his displays, Evans says that there is an excellent team spirit at Bloomfield Road.
"I've come from a club where there's a positive feeling about it.
"If anybody was to ask me about the success at Blackpool, it's been built on a close unit and the good camaraderie among the lads. If I can put that across to the players here then maybe it will help."
