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The Portuguese business consortium interested in acquiring ownership of Charlton Athletic has heaped praise on the dynamic of the club. 

Fernando Corte-Real, who represents Corporate Football Organisation (CFO), has spoken to the media about his interest in buying the club.

The Portuguese businessman has outlined his intent for if or when he acquires Charlton and admits it will be a long-term project to get the Addicks to where they deserve to be.

“In companies there is great rigour and control, and sometimes, in football, things are not quite like that,” Corte-Real told A Bola (via Sport Witness). “It’s a very simple idea, without any magic wand. We want to do things well and those who now work at the club can continue with us.”

CFO have been linked to the club along with former Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins. The ownership of Charlton will change hands for the second time in a year after the relationship with current owners East Street Investments collapsed.

Corte-Real went on to praise the Addicks’ youth setup and he believes this can be utilised in achieving success.

“Our logic is to build from the bottom up, and Charlton have a strong academy, which, we believe, can be a smart way to balance the team and reduce the need for investment,” he continued. Indeed, Charlton boast an impressive youth system, which has seen the likes of Joe Gomez graduate and go on to conquer Europe and, inevitably, the Premier League.

The CFO businessman also believes Charlton will survive the drop this season. He has outlined that plans will change if the team are relegated but Corte-Real is confident that Lee Bowyer’s men will “stay up”.

This kind of talk is exactly what the Addicks need as they walk wearily towards a new working relationship. This year has been a turbulent one for fans and some stability and genuine belief in the club is the ideal way to start fresh.

Bowyer and his side have a fight on their hands once they return to Championship action, but maybe with some hope of potential owners joining who believe in their ability, they may be able to pull through and remain in the second tier.

What do you make of Corte-Real’s words, Charlton fans? Have your say in the comments below…

This is the story that keeps on giving.

And sadly it’s doing nothing to help the reputation of one of Leicester’s most renowned players of the past couple of years.

Riyad Mahrez has been speaking to France Football, and he’s had some incredibly negative things to say about his time at the Foxes, despite the fact the managed to win the Premier League there and was named PFA Player of the Year along the way.

Now it has emerged that he didn’t feel Leicester City prepared correctly to take on the Champions League during the 2016/17 season, although he did also say that his performances weren’t the greatest either, so at least he’s not completely blaming everyone else.

That didn’t seem to cut it with the Leicester City faithful as they continued their all-out assault on the Algerian, and made it crystal clear that he has well and truly burned the bridges when it comes to their relationship.

In fairness, the Foxes should be cut a little bit of slack in the circumstances, it was their first time in the Champions League so it’s impossible for them to know right away what the best practices are.

In our latest instalment of the Flashback series, we take a look back at a certain moment and look at how things might have changed those initial reactions.

Having already featured in a UEFA Cup final during his time at Middlesbrough, 21-year-old Lee Cattermole joined Sunderland from Wigan Athletic in a £6m deal in 2009, as reported by The Telegraph.

Steve Bruce’s comments from The Guardian, made when signing the midfielder, show how highly the then-Sunderland manager regarded him: “He’s fiercely competitive, driven, very like Roy. When Roy was younger he had the same dynamism. Lee reminds me of him in his attitude for the game. He is a born winner.”

Cattermole would go nowhere near reaching the Manchester United icon’s level of achievement, but he did mirror parts of his grit and determination, which in turn led to him becoming a popular figure among many Sunderland fans.

The midfielder went on to play 262 times for the Black Cats during his 10 years at the club, with his dedication to the cause being highlighted in an interview with The Guardian, in which he disclosed that he had played for years with a torn hip, relying on painkillers to get through games.

This is the type of willingness to suffer that was absent from many of Cattermole’s teammates towards the end of his time at the Stadium of Light, with Jack Rodwell having his contract terminated in 2018 after Chris Coleman – and pretty much the whole of Sunderland – questioning his mentality, as reported by BBC Sport.

Cattermole’s professionalism and dedication to the club even extended to his mutually agreed departure in the summer of 2019, which saw him join VVV-Venlo.

Following two painful relegations in a row and then the League One play-off final loss against Charlton Athletic, by leaving the Stadium of Light, he allowed the club to get out of an agreement that could prove unsustainable and therefore helped them to reinvest, as reported by The Sunderland Echo.

From start to finish, Cattermole gave his all to the club and many fans showed their appreciation for that, meaning that despite the hardship he faced at the club and the mocking he faced from fans of other teams, he will be fondly remembered at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland fans, what are your biggest memories of Cattermole? Join the discussion by commenting below…

Sheffield Wednesday will be looking to put Friday’s frustrations behind them as they host Stoke City at Hillsborough later tonight.

Garry Monk was furious with the decisions surrounding Cardiff City’s equaliser just a few days ago.

He believed that the foul which handed them the original free-kick was soft and that the decision to even allow the goal was incorrect because Bluebirds centre-back Aden Flint was blocking the goalkeeper’s vision.

Julian Borner’s striker-like volley looked to be enough for the Owls to return to south Yorkshire with three points until this incident occurred three minutes from time.

Stoke arrive on the back of an upturn in form after two successive victories, so will Monk make any changes for this encounter?

The 40-year-old may be forced into at least one substantial decision as goalkeeper Keiren Westwood was withdrawn just ten minutes before kickoff on Friday evening with Cameron Dawson replacing him.

Despite fans slamming him for his role in the Cardiff equaliser, Monk will surely stick with him and not risk the Irishman ahead of two games within five days.

He also continues to be without skipper Tom Lees, so the defence should remain much the same, after all, they only conceded a free-kick rather than something disastrous from open play.

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The Wednesday chief may elect to revert back to a 4-4-2, especially at home, with Fernando Forestieri in line for his first start since August – he returned from suspension in the Welsh capital but didn’t make an appearance from the bench.

Massimo Luongo would probably make way as the midfield pairing of Barry Bannan and Sam Hutchinson offers two different types of player – the stand-in captain has assisted three goals this term while the former Chelsea man averages 1.9 tackles per game.

Both Kadeem Harris and Adam Reach keep their place on the wing as Jacob Murphy continues to fail when given the opportunity.

Arsenal’s impressive comeback victory over Vitoria Guimaraes saw Nicolas Pépé grab his first brace for the club, and some fans simply loved the Ivorian’s performance and goalscoring contribution in the vital Europa League clash.

The Gunners maintained their 100% winning start to Group F after Pépé’s two goals in the final 13 minutes of play gave Unai Emery’s side a 3-2 victory in front of Arsenal’s home fans, with their club-record signing delivering an intrinsic showing. 

The match-winning performance from the 24-year-old could prove to be crucial in Arsenal’s bid to qualify for the knock-out stages of Europe’s secondary club competition, as Unai Emery bids to obtain the first silverware of his tenure at the Emirates.

After such an impressive performance, it’s far from surprising to see many Arsenal fans singing the praises of their £72m man. Here are some of the best reactions following a social media post from the club regarding Pepe’s latest outing…

أوضح أولي سولشاير المدير الفني لفريق مانشستر يونايتد الإنجليزي، أنه يحافظ على حوار مفتوح مع إدينسون كافاني مهاجم الفريق، بشأن مستقبله.

كافاني انضم إلى مانشستر يونايتد الصيف الماضي، في صفقة انتقال حر بعد انتهاء عقده مع باريس سان جيرمان، ووقع على عام واحد مع الريد ديفلز.

وخلال مؤتمر صحفي خاص بمباراة مانشستر يونايتد وتوتنهام، المقرر لها الأحد القادم، قال سولشاير: “لقد ظللت على اتصال مع كافاني وبالطبع نحافظ على حوار مفتوح”.

وأضاف: “لا يزال غير متأكد مما يريد أن يفعله الموسم المقبل، وهو ما أجده جيدًا، لم يكن عامًا سهلاً، سواء بالنسبة له أو لبقية العالم هذا الموسم، لذلك لا يزال يريد وقتًا لاتخاذ قراره”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. سولشاير: لا داعي للقلق بشأن راشفورد.. ونستعد جيدًا لـ هاري كين وسون

وتابع: “متأكد من أننا سنحصل على نسخة جيدة من كافاني لبقية الموسم، إنه يعلم أن هذه هي نهاية العمل لهذا الموسم، حيث نقاتل من أجل لقب الدوري الأوروبي ويمكننا رؤية خط النهاية في الدوري”.

وأتم: “لم يتبق سوى ثماني مباريات وأنت تفكر في المركز الذي سنتهي الموسم فيه، لقد كان إيجابيًا للغاية ورائعًا، ويعمل بجد الآن للحصول على لياقته البدنية التي استعادها والآن، نأمل أن نحافظ على لياقته خلال الأسابيع الستة أو السبعة المقبلة”.

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Barcelona fans disliking Ernesto Valverde is a rather common theme and nothing particularly new.

But the Basque coach has seemingly angered them more than usual in his latest interview ahead of the Blaugrana’s clash with Villarreal at Camp Nou on Tuesday.

Valverde has stated that the team is enjoying the support of all the fans and that he hopes the same will happen once they face the Yellow Submarine.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And this really hasn’t gone down well with the Cules on social media and Twitter, with many quick to react to his words.

Some of them accused him of lying and they stated that they do not support him but only the team.

Of course, they still want him gone from the club as soon as possible and they were pretty clear in debunking their coach’s statement; Barca, of course, lost to Granada on Saturday and currently sit eighth in La Liga, having won two, drawn one and lost two of their opening five games.

You can see some of their reactions and comments down in the tweets below.

Check them out…

Former Everton striker Jermaine Beckford has explained the reasons behind his Goodison Park departure for Leicester City in 2011, as told to the Liverpool Echo.

Beckford’s move to Leicester eight-years ago saw the striker return to the Championship having spent just a single season with Everton, having joined the Toffees on a four-year deal (BBC) following his release by Leeds United.

His transfer to the Foxes saw Everton land up to £4million (BBC), after rejecting offers in the region of £3m from the East Midlands outfit and reports of interest from Fulham to the tune of £3.5million (Goal).

London-born Beckford’s move to Leicester did not return a great future, though, as he would be offloaded to Huddersfield Town on loan in 2012, before being sold to Bolton shortly after his return (TransferMarkt).

With Everton, though, he enjoyed a moment of magic as he marked his tenth goal for the Merseyside outfit across all competitions, when he lifted the ball over Frank Lampard’s out-stretched leg, tapped it around John Terry and darted free toward Chelsea’s goal, where he chipped the ball over Petr Cech to break the deadlock.

Weeks later he was sold to Leicester, and Beckford has now explained why he felt he had to leave Goodison Park, having featured in all bar six league games during his season at the club (TransferMarkt).

“I’ll be honest, I wanted to stay [at Everton] longer but it was the minutes,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “I’m a football fan. I love to watch football and play football. I wasn’t asking to play every single game, but I was asking to play a few more minutes than I had done previously.

“When I was at Leeds, I played around 50 games that season, starting. Then I came to Everton, a completely different team, manager, everything, and I played around half of that.

“I had the bug to play and was told I wasn’t necessarily going to play as many minutes as I had done that season. I had a very, very difficult decision to make and it’s one I always look back on and think I should have stayed.”

Had Beckford stayed at Everton and fought for his place under David Moyes, he would have been competing for minutes with Victor Anichebe, Louis Saha, Apostolos Vellios, Magaye Gueye and summer signing Denis Stracqualursi, while Nikica Jelavic was acquired in the following winter, so the chances of the former Jamaica international playing more frequently would have been slim.

But only Jelavic proved to be a prolific scorer for the Toffees that season, with the Croatian the only man to hit double figures in the top-flight in Royal Blue despite his mid-season arrival at Goodison Park.

If Beckford had stayed and was able to replicate his goal against Chelsea, then Moyes may have been left with no choice but to entrust him more, but his form for Leicester – nine goals in 39 Championship games (TransferMarkt) – suggests that would not have been the case, and selling him for £4million was the right decision for all.

Everton fans, did Everton make a mistake in selling Beckford to Leicester? Let us know in the comments below…

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One of the break-out stars of Newcastle’s campaign last season, Sean Longstaff has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the top-flight of English football.

The academy product’s loan spell at Blackpool in League One during the 2017/2018 campaign kick-started his path into the Newcastle first-team, and he was promptly rewarded with a four-year contract last year.

After making his first senior appearance for the club in a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool, Longstaff perhaps more than most would have desperately wanted to play in Newcastle’s clash against the Reds on Saturday.

However, speaking in his pre-match press conference, Steve Bruce confirmed the 21-year-old suffered a “freak” ankle injury and ruled the midfielder out of the game at Anfield.

After hearing the injury update on Longstaff, Newcastle fans flooded to Twitter to voice their concerns about the situation ahead of the match.

Many supporters of the Tyneside club felt that all hope of securing an improbable result at the home of the Champions League winners is lost, following the 21-year-old’s injury.

Some fans even wondered whether it would be possible to forfeit the game, whilst others claimed choosing alternative options like Jonjo Shelvey or Ki Sung-yeung would lead to an absolute mauling at Anfield.

Check out some of the reaction of Newcastle fans below:

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

After seeing all the excitement of an opening-day win over rivals Chelsea fade into a distant memory, Manchester United head to Southampton on Saturday with a lot to prove.

The Red Devils’ creditable 1-1 draw away at Wolves was overshadowed by the infamous penalty saga, and all sense of a good start to the Premier League campaign firmly disappeared with an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.

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Heading into the game at St. Mary’s, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must contend with some serious injury concerns as he looks to kick his side back into gear. Keeping that in mind, here is a look at how United could potentially line up against the Saints.

Despite a costly error in the dying stages last time out, David de Gea will remain United’s number one. In front of him, the majority of the back-four should stay the same, but an injury to Luke Shaw will bring about an enforced change. The much-maligned Ashley Young came on as a substitute for the England international at Old Trafford last weekend, and barring an incredible show of faith in teenager Brandon Williams, will likely get the nod at St Mary’s.

For all the drama surrounding Paul Pogba at the moment, the Frenchman has been one of United’s better players in the opening stages of the campaign. He was imperious against Chelsea, and despite his penalty miss at Molineux, came out of the game with some credit. Alongside him, Scott McTominay should keep out Brazil international Fred once more.

Further forward is where Solskjaer could really ring the changes. Jesse Lingard has become a laughing stock for his lack of contribution to the side, and his anonymous performances could finally see him dropped. That decision could see veteran play-maker Juan Mata enter the fray from the start, whilst Anthony Martial’s injury will force a further reshuffle.

Marcus Rashford will surely get the nod to play as the side’s number nine, whilst Daniel James may switch over from the right-flank to a more familiar role on the left-hand side. As such, it could result in just a second league start for 17-year-old prodigy Mason Greenwood. The teenager stole the show on the club’s pre-season tour this summer and has already made himself a firm fan favourite.

If Solskjaer does make these popular changes for the clash on Saturday, there will be no doubting the travelling faithful will feel confident of getting a positive result.

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