NYHETER: Ex-player/-manager news, Part 10

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Portsmouth defender Silvain Distin has conceded he had never heard of Paul Hart and Brian Kidd before they took over the managerial duties at Portsmouth but says the duo have turned the club's season around. (Various)

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Sunderland striker David Healy could make his full Sunderland debut against Everton on Saturday, nine months after former boss Roy Keane signed him from Fulham for £1.5m. (Daily Star)

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Goal.com's Top 50 English Players: Tony Currie (#49)

Goal.com are counting down England's greatest players of all time and at number 49 is the man hailed as Sheffield United's best ever player, and Leeds United's most creative, Tony Currie...



Tony CURRIE
Born: 1/1/1950, Edgware, London, England
England: 17 caps, 3 goals
Clubs: Watford, Sheffield United, Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, Torquay United


Tony Currie was a showman who stood out even in an era of larger-than-life entertainers. He was a crowd pleaser whose extravagant skills and buccaneering style made him a hero to a generation of Sheffield United fans who’ve been waiting for someone of comparable stature ever since.
In one of football's classic errors of judgement, Chelsea discarded Currie as a youngster, but Watford saw his potential and snapped him up. He'd made just 18 first-team appearances for the Hornets, scoring nine goals, before Second Division Sheffield United signed him just after his 18th  birthday.



When the Blades won promotion in 1970-71 with an attacking team put together by manager John Harris, their inspiration was Currie in the iconic No. 10 shirt.
Going up into the top-flight was one of three great personal peaks in Currie's career. He was 21 at the time, and he dictated the tempo of a team that always tried to go forward when he was pulling the strings. Blades fans will tell you it was Currie who conducted the orchestra from midfield, spotting the openings and spraying the passes that captured
their imaginations. He F***ed the times perfectly.
In full flow he was a memorable sight. Fleet-footed with a powerful physique, long blond hair flying in his own slipstream, shirt flapping outside his shorts, he made the ball do exactly what he wanted. His game combined speed and strength with visionary passing over any distance. He could bend a moving or dead ball spectacularly, coax it with subtle chips and flicks or hammer it into the net with venomous force before blowing kisses to the crowd. Yet there was nothing of the prima donna about him: he protected his talent with a robust physical presence and could win the ball as well as use it. He was a gladiator; and Bramall Lane, still open then on one side because of its summer usage by Yorkshire Cricket Club, was his arena.



Playing on the First Division stage afforded Currie greater exposure, and having represented England's Youth and Under-23 teams, he was finally picked by Sir Alf Ramsey for the seniors against Northern Ireland in 1972. Playing for his country was another personal milestone; yet he was to win just 17 caps between 1972 and 1979 - a total which did scant justice to his ability. At that time in particular, England managers seemed unwilling or unable to build teams around their most inventive players, so
Currie was too often wastefully overlooked.
It might have been different had he moved earlier in his career to a bigger, more 'fashionable' club. There was no shortage of admiring suitors; but he stayed to play 376 games for the Blades, scoring 66 goals, before making the glamour move to Leeds United for £240,000 in June 1976. Although not able to emulate the dominance of the Don Revie era, Leeds were still a major power, and Currie, filling the role vacated by Johnny Giles, was virtually ever-present in his three seasons at Elland Road, where the fans idolised his mix of flamboyance and commitment.
Currie's time at Leeds was encapsulated in a cameo that coincided with the first game of Jock Stein's brief reign as manager. Leeds were at Highbury on the opening day of the 1978-79 season against Arsenal, and on the sunlit, manicured pitch, two artists were at work, one for either side. Liam Brady and Currie were determined to outdo each other in a compelling battle of creative wits. Brady curled home an unstoppable effort from 20 yards for the Gunners. In response, ‘TC’ took the ball almost to the goal-line, shaped to cross then lashed it into the net from the tightest of angles. Even a packed North Bank felt obliged to applaud.
After 102 League appearances for Leeds (11 goals), Currie moved to QPR for £450,000 in August 1979, and with Rangers he enjoyed what he described as his best moment in football, playing at Wembley in the 1982 FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur. It was an extended moment, too - QPR held Spurs to a 1-1 draw after extra-time, and Tony was captain for the replay in place of the suspended Glenn Roeder. Fate ruined the script, though, Currie conceding a penalty from which Glenn Hoddle scored the only goal for Spurs.
A crippling knee injury soon followed, wrecking his first-class playing career prematurely. As he struggled to rehabilitate himself there were spells in Canada, with non-league Chesham United and Torquay United as a non-contract player. But the injury proved too serious and he was invalided out of the game. For the next five years he found himself in a despairing sort of twilight zone until Sheffield United came to the rescue in 1988 by making him their Football in the Community Officer - a role he still performs today with great enthusiasm.
There is an enduring feeling that his skills deserved greater recognition. At international level England, who seemed rudderless for much of the 1970s, never really knew where to play him or how to get the best out of him. Players with a fraction of his lavish talent went on to win three times as many caps. Yet those who watched Currie play remember a  brilliant, audacious and unorthodox original who was, first and foremost, an entertainer.

HONOURS
Second Division runner-up (promoted) (1970-71)
FA Cup finalist (1981-82)
Leeds United Player of the Year (1978)
Nominated FourFourTwo's best ever Sheffield United player (2006)

DID YOU KNOW ... That Tony Currie's nephew Darren Currie has played more than 400 League games for various clubs including Barnet, Wycombe, Ipswich, Derby and Luton, and is currently with League Two Chesterfield?
goal.com

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Keeper David James is backing Paul Hart to bring back the glory days to Portsmouth. (Star)

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Tony Yeboah endures as Jupp Heynckes' gift of gaiety to Leeds
The return to Bayern Munich of the former Frankfurt coach evokes memories of a Leeds United legend



Bayern Munich fans have good reason to welcome back Jupp Heynckes as caretaker manager after Jürgen Klinsmann's new-age revolution in Bavaria descended into defensive chaos. He might only stay until the end of the season, but as the coach with the best wins-per-match record in the history of the European Cup his pedigree suggests he is capable of rousing Bayern for their tilt at the Bundesliga title. But I cherish him for a decision he made 14 years ago, one for which Eintracht Frankfurt fans are yet to forgive him.
Back in the early 90s, in the preâ€'internet dark ages for garnering club-focused daily news, technology had not progressed much beyond Dial-A-Disc and Prestel. Then some bright spark decided to marry the two, advertising dedicated premium phone lines on ITV Teletext. Every time you called up a page, it would scroll through lists of services to call at 50p a minute, luring you in with tantalising but equivocal headlines such as: "Leeds to swoop?" Such was the susceptibility to that kind of hook where I worked that each quarter we would await the telephone bill with trepidation in case our boss had asked for an itemised one.
Leeds United's bombastic managing director, Bill Fotherby, was the star of the club's official service. Almost every month he would be engaged in the pursuit of some exotic star or other and would happily divulge the details. It was his labyrinthine and ultimately fruitless negotiations to sign Thomas Skuhravy, Ruben Sosa and Faustino Asprilla that really pummelled the phone bill.
In January 1995, however, he pulled off a coup, one that was trailed on Clubcall with a flashing banner reading "Leeds sign African superstar". The absence of the qualifying question mark seemed promising and indeed, after investing only £1.50 to sit through some reserve-team news, I discovered that the superstar in question was Tony Yeboah. He, along with Jay-Jay Okocha and Maurizio Gaudino, we were informed, had fallen out with Frankfurt's manager, Heynckes, and the Ghanaian would be joining Leeds on loan until the end of the season. The profile they had of him was rather sketchy but Fotherby seemed genuinely chuffed, waxing about his prolific scoring record in the Bundesliga and his partnership with Abedi Pelé for the national side.
I went to Elland Road for his first game, a 4-0 victory against QPR, when he came off the bench after the man he replaced, Philomen Masinga, had scored twice. The scale of the man was the thing that stuck in the memory and over the coming months it would provoke semi-homoerotic tributes to the awesome size of his thighs and bulk of his backside.
When he got into the starting XI he scored eight times in his first nine games and his power, occasionally languid grace and exceptional dead-eyed finishing saw him fully embraced by the crowd. The loss of Eric Cantona in 1992 left a hole in Leeds fans' hearts that all the vilification of the Frenchman for his defection could never fill. For a short time, though, Yeboah plugged the gap, never more so than in the club's run to European qualification at the end of that season. The chant "Who needs Cantona, when we've got Yeboah?" required you to mangle the pronunciation of Tony's name to get it to rhyme, but it was sung with full-throated glee as Cantona languished in France after his ban for kicking Matthew Simmons.
The following season things got even better â€" that stunning, dipping goal volley against Liverpool, the goal of the season against Wimbledon, a hat-trick away to Monaco, a brilliant 25-yard strike against Sheffield Wednesday and a barnstorming run from the halfway line and subtle chip over Peter Schmeichel in a Christmas Eve 3-1 victory over Manchester United. But it all unravelled so quickly, the humiliation at Wembley by Aston Villa in the 1996 League Cup final proving the symbolic if not the actual end of Howard Wilkinson's reign.
Injury struck Yeboah, then George Graham, like Heynckes, used the striker's weight as an excuse to sideline him. He stuck him on the bench and limited him to the odd run-out as the new manager made it clear he did not rate him. Hauling him off at White Hart Lane proved one insult too many and Yeboah hurled his shirt at Graham, an unforgivable act that was, nonetheless, forgiven by the fans. He went back to Germany and gave sterling service to Hamburg for another few years.
But the memories of how he lit up Leeds for a year and banished the age of austere and sterile football that was characterised by Carlton Palmer's ponderous performances in midfield still endure. Leeds, sadly, are no longer in a position to capitalise on Heynckes's mistakes but I, for one, will for ever be in his debt for the gift of Yeboah.

guardian.co.uk

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Dundee United have won the race to sign ex-Everton ace Danny Cadamarteri from Huddersfield as a replacement for the injured Jon Daly. (The Sun)



Speed could feature in play-offs


Speed has not revealed whether he will carrying on playing next season


Sheffield United midfielder Gary Speed has not ruled out a return to the playing squad if the Blades fail to gain automatic promotion this weekend.
The Welshman, 39, has been out since November with a serious back injury and does not know whether he will be fit if the Blades end up in the play-offs.
Speed told BBC Radio Sheffield: "If you think the play-off final is the end of May then that's another six weeks.
"There's a chance of that, but I wouldn't put my head on the block, no."
Meanwhile, the club have confirmed that they have sold out their extra allocation of tickets for Sunday's promotion decider at Crystal Palace. (BBC)

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* Manchester United skipper Rio Ferdinand will be out of action for at least three weeks after the cracked rib he picked up during the Champions League win over Arsenal led him to start coughing up blood. (Daily Mail, Daily Mirror)
* However, some reports are saying Ferdinand's injury is not as bad as first feared and the 30-year-old could be fit to face Arsenal in the second leg on Tuesday. (Daily Star, The Guardian)

Eric Cantona has vowed to help out football minnows Bath City - in a bid to raise money for new players. (The Sun)

* Danny Cadamateri has snubbed a new deal at Huddersfield and is set to join Dundee Utd. (Mirror)
* Også: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/d/dundee_utd/8026796.stm

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Aspin - Looking Forward To Challenge

FC Halifax Town manager Neil Aspin has only been in the job a couple of days but the former Leeds United and Port Vale centre half is hitting the ground running and was meeting the players this evening for the first time since his appointment on Tuesday.
Aspin spoke to the official website before meeting the players and explained that he wouldn't have left Harrogate for many other jobs.
He said, "Once I made my mind up to leave Harrogate Town, I had a look around at the various Clubs at non league level. There would have only been a few clubs which would have appealed to me.
Coming to Halifax appealed to me despite a drop of a couple of divisions because of the level of the support and the potential of the Club. I am well aware of how difficult it will be to get the Club back to where it wants to be but I am looking forward to the challenge.
It's only a step down in terms of Leagues but not in terms of the Club. No disrespect to Harrogate, but Halifax Town is a lot bigger Club. They won't get to the size of this one. The potential here is a lot more than Harrogate and whoever the Manager is needs to try to realise the potential."
Aspin, 44, left Harrogate Town to join the Shaymen and was delighted to have been offered the chance here.
He said, "Once the previous Manager left and there was a vacancy here, you look at it and wonder whether you have a chance at the job. I was happy at Harrogate but there was an opening here and if I was offered the job, it was something I would be interested in."
The newly appointed boss has only been in charge for a couple of days but he is learning all about his new surroundings.
He commented, "I have learnt the things I have needed to learn so far. I know the wage bill for last year and the players who are contracted at the moment. I know about the injuries they've had which is not helpful for any manager and is something that you can't legislate for. I would be lying if I said I knew all the players that have played for the Club this season, I do know some of them but not all. At the end of the day, it's my first chance to gauge who wants to play for me and who wants to leave."
His appointment comes after the end of the season and he believe this is a good time to take over the reins.
"It's the best time, if you want to bring players in you can at least try to bring in them. However it can also be the worst time as I can't watch games and see who is already here. It's always because of results a job comes up, it's unusual for a job to come up when a team is top of the league and everything is rosy.
I will be speaking to players, I know a few I want to bring in but the problem is although Halifax is huge in size and status, due to the level of football some would be loathed to drop down to this standard but I will be aiming to do that. The Club is not going to be somewhere where players just pick up the money.
I was in a fortunate position that I controlled the purse strings at Harrogate and that has to happen here. My job is to cut the wage bill but improve on last year."
Aspin had a reputation as a no nonsense centre half during his playing days. Do his teams play in the same way?
"My teams at Harrogate played football, we were known for playing good passing football. I am not that naïve to think we won't have to make changes at this level. It's a very difficult league to play passing football due to the state of the pitches.
His arrival means he stays in Yorkshire after playing at Leeds United during his playing days.
"I live in Knaresborough and work in Wakefield. I enjoyed my time in Leeds, I have played at the Shay before. I know about the Club, it's problems which sees us here now and that's the past. It's a time to look forward and that's what I am doing. I am positive, determined and the board are determined for the Club to get success. I am not one to blow my own trumpet or make promises, but I guarantee that I will work hard to try to achieve those aims but it won't be easy. "
And his message to the fans, "Whoever comes into the Club, will work hard to try to get the team back up to the league that we want to be and give 100% but no guarantees that there will be success. If the fans see the commitment, recognise that and they will support us. I am fully aware the Club is all about the supporters. I came due to the fan base. I know if we don't get the results, there will be added pressure. It would be great to see the numbers grow on the terraces because it will mean we are being successful. "

halifaxafc.co.uk

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Ipswich boss Keane: No contact with Portsmouth No2 Kidd
Ipswich boss Roy Keane insists he's not spoken with Portsmouth No2 Brian Kidd about a move to Portman Road.
Speaking to the Official Club Website, Keane admitted: "I've not spoken to Kiddo for a few months now. It's just speculation. I've been linked with Kiddo for two or three years now and it's probably not going to go away.
"I've not made any decision on staff or players here yet. I'm very happy with Tony Loughlan here as coach. He's someone who I trust and the players have responded to him.
"The other staff here, Bryan (Klug) and Steve (Foley) have been a great help. I've not come here to make lots of changes. If I see something that I think can be improved I will make it but I have been impressed with everyone at the Club."

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MLS: Carver steps down
Head coach John Carver was absent from the Toronto FC sidelines last time out. On Saturday, he disappeared completely.
The MLS team announced Carver was leaving for personal reasons. "His resignation will take effect immediately," the club said in a seven-paragraph statement.

Ex-Toronto boss Carver insists no Newcastle, Sheffield Utd contact
Former Toronto FC boss John Carver has played down talk of links with Newcastle United and Sheffield United.
Carver told the Evening Chronicle: “I haven’t got a job to go to, I haven’t spoken to anybody else in England.
“People who know me know how much I like it here (in Canada). I was trying to build something but I can’t work under those circumstances. Enough was enough.
“I’m not walking away from football, I’m walking away from the MLS.
“I have a few things I need to sort out here in Canada first and then I will be back as quickly as I can. I haven’t had enough of football, it’s the MLS.”

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Spurs winger Aaron Lennon is wanted by both Manchester United and Liverpool. (Daily Express)

Rio Ferdinand is on track to face Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final showdown on Tuesday. (Daily Star)

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Spurs winger Aaron Lennon is wanted by both Manchester United and Liverpool. (Daily Express)

LENNON'S RED REVOLUTION



Manchester United and Liverpool are set for a summer tug of war over £20million-rated Spurs star Aaron Lennon.
Liverpool expressed their interest in winger Lennon in January, but United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has now joined in the fray, as he is convinced he will lose both Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez at the end of the season.
With Ryan Giggs nearing the end of his glittering career, Ferguson badly needs back-up and Lennon has been told he can make his dream move to Old Trafford this summer.
Although Spurs will try desperately hard to keep Lennon, the reality is that the player will get his way and looks set to leave White Hart Lane, just as Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick have done in the past two seasons.
Ferguson is aware of Liverpool’s interest, but in a straight fight between the two, Lennon would choose United in order to further his England ambitions and to play under the most decorated manager in the history of the game.
Lennon has started to fully deliver on his enormous potential this season and although he has just signed a two-year extension to his contract, meaning his £50,000-a-week deal ends in 2014, the reality is Spurs would be powerless to keep him if Manchester United or Liverpool can reach their £20m valuation.
Leeds-born Lennon, 22, was snapped up from his home-town team by Spurs five years ago for just £1m and since then he has won 11 full England caps.
He has electrified the Premier League with his pace and, although Lennon is still very much a rough diamond as his crossing and finishing ability is at best modest, Ferguson believes he has the makings of another Ryan Giggs.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy moved heaven and earth to try to keep Berbatov away from Ferguson’s clutches last summer, but eventually a £30m deal between the clubs was agreed.
Levy will be similarly intransigent with Lennon but, again, the player will move if Spurs’ valuation is reached.

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Damned in England, Revie found peace in Scotland

 

IT is a long time since the cinema on Station Road in Kinross became a bingo hall, but if the recently-released The Damned United had played in the town then locals might have joined Duncan Revie in being unable to recognise the portrayal of his father.
Regarded as gregarious and warm by all who truly knew him, Don Revie lived out his final years in the Scottish town, a part of the world he loved almost as much as his adopted homeland of Leeds.
Kevin Keegan, handed the England captaincy by Revie, is not the only former England manager to have set up home in Scotland, something which is recalled as the 20th anniversary of Revie's death from motor neurone disease approaches next month. Just as Brian Clough steals the show in The Damned United, Revie was overshadowed even in death, at the age of just 61, by a collision of big football occasions; he passed away in Edinburgh's Murrayfield private hospital just hours before Liverpool took on Arsenal in a last-game shoot-out to decide the destiny of the English title in May 1989, weeks after the tragedy of Hillsborough. The following day saw Scotland host England in the Rous Cup for the final time.
"I was with Don in the Murrayfield the night before he died," recalled Dave Duncan, Revie's brother-in-law, earlier this week. "To cheer him up I said: 'Tomorrow you will be able to watch the big game between Liverpool and Arsenal on TV'. He shook his head, as if to say 'no I won't'."
Two decades on and many have been re-awakened to the former Leeds United manager's memory, while a new generation has been introduced to Revie. Whether it is the real Revie is debatable. Clough is granted a reprieve in the film version of The Damned United, having been cast as a psychotic drunkard in David Peace's original book; Revie, depicted as stern and humourless in both, is not.
"The actor, Colm Meaney, did a good job in terms of mannerisms, but he was far removed from my dad's character," Duncan told the Scotsman this week. "He came over as curmudgeonly. He was the absolute opposite of that. He looked after everybody he came into contact with, whether it was the lady doing the washing or the groundsman doing the pitch. In fact, the Leeds groundsman, by then getting well into his seventies, travelled by coach to come to mum's funeral in Kinross. These were the people who really knew dad, as well as the players. The Peter Lorimers of the world will tell you that."
It is just as well Revie did not follow the advice of Clough, who famously ordered those players briefly under his charge at Leeds United to throw their medals and souvenirs into the nearest bin. The superstitious Revie also had a compulsion to hoard. Last year such memorabilia as a League Championship medal from Leeds' first ever title win in 1968-69 were retrieved by Duncan from a travel trunk stamped 'Kinross', and handed to auctioneer David Convery. Later this month, 20 years after his death almost to the day, the Don Revie Collection will be auctioned in Edinburgh, with the proceeds â€" expected to be as much as £20,000 â€" going towards motor neurone research. Also included among these items is the famous red book Revie was gifted after being chosen as the subject for This is Your Life, aired on the night Leeds were confirmed as league champions for the second time in the club's history 25 years ago last week. It includes a hand-written message from host Eamonn Andrews: "What a night! What a season! And even Billy made it." Billy is of course Billy Bremner, one of the many Scots whose careers Revie influenced since making his first signing from across the Border â€" his wife, Elsie.
The day after Revie's death Scotland fell 2-0 to England at Hampden against a backdrop of trouble on the Glasgow streets. It was a different scene to the one at Wembley in 1977, when jubilant Scots tore down the goalposts and carved up the turf. Again these memorable circumstances eclipsed what might otherwise be remembered as Revie's last competitive match in charge of England, whose chances of qualifying for the World Cup finals in Argentina had all-but evaporated. Within weeks he had covertly signed a deal to manage the United Arab Emirates, swapping the first stirrings of cruel media treatment now considered the norm for England managers for sun and financial security, both of which were guaranteed by the Dubai-based post.
Revie was cast as a traitor to the English cause, but though Scotland might have seemed an obvious place to head there were other factors involved in Revie's retreat north from Surrey, where he had briefly decamped after his stint in the middle east ended.
Revie's journey back up the spine of England took him past Leeds, where he spent his most successful days as manager, and then Manchester, where he carved out his name as a player for Manchester City. He passed also his native Middlesbrough, where he was born in 1927. In this flight north Revie kept a promise made to Elsie that they would retire to the east-coast of Scotland.
Although she lived nearly all her married life in England, Elsie Duncan was a proud Scot, born in Lochgelly. Football shaped her life from cradle to grave. Following her husband's death until her own in 2005 she was president of the Leeds United supporters' club, making the trip down from Scotland each year for their annual dinner.
Tommy Duncan, her father, was a footballer whose career took him south following an unusual transfer. Both he and brother Johnny joined Leicester City from Raith Rovers on the same day, signed by former Rover Peter Hodge. Johnny was better known as 'Tokey', and as manager later led Leicester City to the FA Cup final in 1949. Tommy died aged just 39, having played also for Bristol Rovers. Latterly he had worked in the Turk's Head pub in Leicester, owned by his brother. Tokey became a surrogate father to Elsie, his niece, and her four brothers and sisters. It is through him that she met Revie, then a fledgling forward in Tokey Duncan's Leicester side.
Elsie, as the first born, remained in Scotland to attend school in Cowdenbeath, and lived with her father's family â€" who even Revie referred to as the "old folks". The Duncan family owned a general store in Lochgelly, which Revie, a builder by trade, helped construct. In the close-season he would often begin his pre-season training with Raith Rovers, before heading south again. Elsie graduated from Moray House teacher training college in Edinburgh, and wherever Revie's career led â€" she estimated they moved house 19 times â€" she would enter another classroom of unfamiliar faces. But she finally found stability in Leeds, as Revie set about building a team which would compete for the title of best English side since the war. Elsie continued teaching at Leeds Girls' high school even after Revie left Elland Road and took over at England, the period in which The Damned United is set.
But they had always aimed to retire to Scotland, and did so in a house on Broom Road, just an iron shot away from the fourth hole at Kinross golf club. "Dad loved Scotland," recalls Duncan. "He loved Leeds, he loved Scotland, and he loved Manchester too. But I think if you pushed him it would always be between Leeds and Scotland."
His wife's family are still represented in Kinross, through her brother Dave and sister Jenny. Notably, there remains a family link to Leeds â€" Agnes, another sister, returned to settle in Yorkshire after a spell in Australia. But Revie passed away just three years after he and his wife moved to Scotland, having been confined to a wheelchair. His funeral took place at Mortonhall crematorium in Edinburgh, but few expressed surprise at the location where his ashes were scattered â€" Elland Road. The obituary in The Scotsman described him as 'tragic Revie' in an article which ran in sports pages otherwise devoted to the previous night's championship crunch match, settled by a decisive injury-time goal from Arsenal, and build-up to that afternoon's clash against the Auld Enemy. When he slipped away in an Edinburgh hospital bed, Revie was a friend rather than foe, and still young, too young.

sport.scotsman.com

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Hart and Kidd to sign Pompey deal

PAUL HART will get the Portsmouth manager's job full-time as reward for saving their Premier League skins.
The former Nottingham Forest chief was promoted from his role as director of youth at Fratton Park when Tony Adams was sacked in February.
But following a run of form, which has seen them pull clear of the bottom three, Hart and his assistant Brian Kidd are ready to accept a two-year deal in the summer.
Avram Grant, Martin Jol and Sven-Goran Eriksson have been strongly linked with the job since Hart was appointed caretaker 10 games ago.
But Hart and Kidd have won the approval of key members of the playing staff. The changes they have made have virtually assured the club of a seventh successive season in the top flight.
Pompey executive chairman Peter Storrie revealed he had been impressed with the two men nd that the board would review their situation next month.
And Hart and Kidd have always maintained they would like to be considered for the job permanently.
A dismal run under Adams in the autumn pushed Portsmouth into the relegation zone. But Hart and Kidd have revitalised the squad, who had grown disillusioned with player sales and the poor form shown during Adams' reign.
The FA Cup holders have now lost just three in 10 games. The defence has been stabilised and they have taken key points on the road at fellow strugglers Stoke and Newcastle.
Kidd has even been negotiating transfers with agents as the pair prepare to makes changes to the squad ahead of the new season.
An agent said: "I had discussions with the club this week and was given assurances before we began talks that Paul and Brian would be in charge next year. 
"Most advisors would not wish to send a player to a team if you don't know who the manager will be.
"That would be detrimental to the player's long-term interests."
A major problem for the south coast club has been that their mounting debts have made it difficult to attract a top-level manager to Fratton Park.
They sounded out both Eriksson and Jol - but Grant's appointment was vetoed earlier in the season after some players were thought to have raised objections.
Hart will still need to sell before he can buy but hopes he will get up to £10million to spend on strengthening the team over the summer. (NOTW)

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STRACHAN WINS MANAGER GONG
Celtic claimed an awards double when boss Gordon Strachan landed the Manager of the Year prize for the second time.
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/nw_story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/09/05/03/manual_210844.html





Fringe Socceroo Jacob Burns signs a three-year deal with Perth Glory
Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell has promised to unveil more big-name signings after securing former Leeds United midfielder and fringe Socceroo Jacob Burns for the next three seasons.
With Glory owner Tony Sage willing to splash the cash in a bid to wake Glory out of their slumber, Mitchell wants to lure three more high-profile players to the club, including a marquee signing.
(.....)
Burns played under Mitchell at Sydney United and Parramatta Power and was keen to link up with his former coach.
The 31-year-old, who has been playing for Romanian club Unirea Voluntari Urziceni, decided to return home to Australia despite Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek warning players that they put their national ambitions at risk by playing in the A-League.
"I've known Jacob for many years," Mitchell said.
"He's a bit of a character and he's a good player.
"He's a winner, first and foremost.
"He's very competitive and he gets forward, he gets in dangerous areas and creates goals and stops goals.
"He's a box to box player and he's on the fringes of the Socceroos.
"But I know Pim ... they're very fond of him so he (Burns) doesn't think it's a disadvantage for him coming back to the A-League because he's a winner and he thinks coming back here will enhance his chances." (foxsports.com.au)

Glory shopping spree nets Socceroo Burns
http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/football/news/article/-/5541811/glory-snare-exleeds-player-jacob-burns

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Wigan boss Steve Bruce will not sign Mido from Middlesbrough - unless Marlon King moves the other way. (Mirror)

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Seven players released by Ipswich 
Seven Ipswich Town players whose contracts expire in June have been told they will not be offered new deals.
Ivan Campo, Tommy Miller, Billy Clarke, Dean Bowditch, Chris Casement, Jai Reason and Kurt Robinson have all been released by manager Roy Keane.
The Town boss says the club is in talks with Alex Bruce, Shane Supple and Ed Upson about potential new deals.
Talks with Matt Richards, Liam Trotter and Dan Harding, whose deals run out shortly, are yet to take place

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Former Oldham boss John Sheridan is set for a return to management by taking over as Chesterfield manager. (Daily Mirror)

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FIVE PLAYERS RELEASED BY ROVERS
Doncaster striker Jason Price and defender Gordon Greer are among five first-team players released by manager Sean O'Driscoll.
Gareth Taylor, Darren Byfield and Tomi Ameobi are the other players who have been told they have no future at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Price, currently on loan at Millwall, made 28 appearances for O'Driscoll's side in the Championship this season and a total of 93 for the club, who he joined from Hull on a free transfer in January 2006.
Taylor has started for Doncaster 11 times this season, but scored only one goal before joining Crewe on loan in March.
Greer played a key role in Doncaster's promotion to the Championship, but has struggled with injuries this season and has made just one appearance, while Ameobi, who joined from Leeds last summer, and Byfield, a free signing from Bristol City, have been unable to force their way into O'Driscoll's plans. (PA)

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HUCKERBY OPEN TO NORWICH RETURN
Former Norwich hero Darren Huckerby has not ruled out a return to the club later in the year.
The 33-year-old is currently playing the MLS for San Jose Earthquakes but has admitted that he could be tempted to return in League One - if he felt fit enough to make a contribution at Carrow Road.
Huckerby told the Norwich Evening News: "By the time that I could play for Norwich I'd be nearly 34 and with a slightly dodgy hip.
"I've got certain standards that I set myself and I would want to be able to meet them while playing for Norwich. I will do whatever is best for Norwich City at the end of the day. Money wouldn't be the issue. If I can't go out there and inspire the fans then there's no point being on the pitch.
"The MLS season finishes in November and we'll see where it goes from there. I've not thought about what may happen much past November really but I have three options. I either stay in the MLS, play for Norwich or retire. They are the three options right now but we'll have to see.
"I would like to see my association with Norwich last for the next 15 to 20 years and I'd like to be involved in the youth set-up, helping bring players through into the first team. The youth set-up will be key for Norwich's future and it's important that they get it right."

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Middlesbrough's Adam Johnson is a summer target of both Real and Atletico Madrid. (The People)

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Chesterfield are interested in appointing Andy Richie as their new manager following the departure of Lee Richardson. (Daily Mail)

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Armfield receives World Cup medal 



BBC broadcaster Jimmy Armfield will receive a World Cup winner's medal 43 years after England won the trophy.
The former Blackpool and England defender was one of the 11 reserves who did not play in the 4-2 win over West Germany at Wembley in 1966.
"It's nice to get it but I can't say it's something that's been bothering me all these years," said the 73-year-old.
Before the 1974 World Cup only players who started in the final received a medal, but Fifa has changed the rules.
Fifa also revealed that 14 additional medals would be made for each of the winning teams from 1930 to 1970.

"These days everybody gets a medal, the kit man, the bus driver, they all get one"
Jimmy Armfield

Armfield was capped 43 times by England and also managed Bolton and Leeds. More recently Armfield has worked as a football analyst for the BBC.
He captained England 15 times and won the last of his caps against Finland two weeks before the start of the 1966 finals.
"If you didn't play in the final, whether through injury or not getting selected, you didn't get a medal - it was as simple as that," said Armfield.
"But these days everybody gets a medal, the kit man, the bus driver, they all get one.
"And I think that's why this has happened. It's not as if anyone has been pressuring Fifa to have it done, it is just being brought into line with how it is nowadays." (BBC)

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Mye kjentfolk når The Times kårer tidenes 50 beste Sheffield United-spillere:


38. Mick Jones

33. Alex Sabella

31. Vinny Jones
(24. Jan Age Fjortoft)

6. Tony Agana

5. Keith Edwards

2. Brian Deane

1. Tony Currie

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article6204948.ece

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FORMER West Brom and Leeds defender Sean Gregan, 35, is a free agent after failing to win a new contract with League One Oldham. (The Sun)

http://www.oldhamathletic.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~1655478,00.html

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BOWYER SET FOR BLUES TALKS - REPORT
Lee Bowyer will meet Birmingham manager Alex McLeish later this week to discuss a permanent move to St Andrew's, according to reports.
McLeish has already stressed his strong desire to keep hold of the midfielder after his starring role in the club's promotion to the Premier League following his January arrival on loan from West Ham.
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=nonwire_soccer/09/05/12/manual_165836.html

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VIDUKA WANTS TO STAY AT NEWCASTLE
Mark Viduka has revealed he would love to remain at Newcastle, as long as Alan Shearer stays on as manager.
Although now 33 and out of contract at the end of the season, his man-of-the-match performance in Monday's 3-1 win over Middlesbrough proved he still has what it takes to play in the Premier League.
http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/09/05/13/SOCCER_Newcastle.html



PENNANT OPEN TO OFFERS
Portsmouth's on-loan winger Jermaine Pennant says he is open to offers this summer.
The 26-year-old's Liverpool contract expires during the close season meaning he can be snapped up for free.
http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/09/05/13/manual_092102.html

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Ex-Spurs, Leeds coach Poyet keen on Reading job
Former Tottenham and Leeds United coach Gus Poyet is interested in the vacant manager's job at Reading.
The Uruguayan is keen on the Royals post after Steve Coppell stepped down this week and said: "I think it's a massive club.
"Of course I don't know what's going to happen, so I have to be respectful with the club. If there is an opportunity then I would be interested. I want to put my things on the pitch. Be in charge. Make decisions. I think that's the way I am.
"I think I have to be grateful to Dennis Wise and Juande Ramos. They gave me the chance to be an assistant, but now I think it's time for myself."

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QPR's Liam Miller has been linked with move to Cork City when his contract expires this summer. (Daily Star)

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Reading want Watford manager Brendan Rogers to replace Steve Coppell, while also on their list of candidates are Tony Adams, Nigel Pearson and Lawrie Sanchez.
Also on Reading's list are Adrian Boothroyd, Phil Parkinson and Gus Poyet. (The Times)