That would be the longest sequence of failure in the club’s history

That would be the longest sequence of failure in the club’s history.. Terry Venables is to ask the Football Association to push for a winter break in English football. The national coach, speaking exclusively to Independent, said he wanted the season to take a breather in January and believed it would benefit everybody in the game. The plan would mean extending the season for two weeks at its start and finish.
Venables said: “A break is a must. Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, will choose between Billy Thomson and Colin Scott to replace Goram and welcomes back Hateley, McCoist, Ferguson, Boli and Moore. Rangers are seven points clear of Motherwell and 10 ahead of third-placed Hibs whose manager, Alex Miller, has promised a positive approach at Ibrox.
Celtic travel to Pittodrie knowing if they do not beat Aberdeen they will have gone 11 games without a win.

In Scotland, the Premier Division leaders Rangers meet Hibernian at Ibrox without Andy Goram, their goalkeeper, who has a muscle injury. Lou Macari, the Stoke manager, has now told his opposite number, Roy Evan s, that he is available for a price believed to be in the region of £150,000.”We have talked about a permanent transfer,” Macari said. “It would be a great move for Mark and would benefit both clubs.”. But as a package we could come down a bit.”Meanwhile, Liverpool are considering a deal which could give Mark Prudhoe, Stoke City’s 31-year-old third-choice goalkeeper, the opportunity to push for David James’s first-team place at Anfield.Prudhoe, formerly with Darlington, has created a strong impression on loan with Liverpool, making the substitutes’ bench during the absence of the injured Dane, Michael Stensgaard. Charles is a classy attacking full-back and would probably command £1.5m. But Derby’s owner and chairman, Lionel Pickering, wants at least £3m for the pair.
Pickering, mindful of supporters’ protests over Paul Kitson’s £2.4m move from the Baseball Ground to Newcastle, said: “It’s my money that bought these players and I will not have anyone else selling them. If anyone got Johnson for less than £2m they would be pinching him from us.

Villa’s manager, Brian Little, made a pre-Christmas offer of £1.5m for Johnson, the striker signed from Notts County for £1.4m, as well as giving Derby the chance to recoup their £750,000 outlay on Charles, the former Nottingham Forest and England right-back. Derby County have warned Aston Villa that they will not be able to pick off Tommy Johnson and Gary Charles at bargain prices because of the First Division club’s financial problems, writes Phil Shaw. . Last year one of my Main Stand compatriots at Selhurst Park bought such a huge bird for Christmas he was still eating cold turkey sandwiches at the beginning of this season.So, if you’re reading this at a match, or you’re going to a game later on today, have a scan around the ground at half-time for the Bacofoil Brethren. It might be more fun than the game, Ipswich fans.n Kevin Borras is a contributor to the Onion Bag magazine..

I love looking round the ground trying to spot who’s brought cold turkey sandwiches wrapped in silver foil. For the money some of them earn I’d give up Christmas altogether).My favourite part of Boxing Day football is half-time. Bumping into fellow supporters gives you a sort of sense of belonging, born of brief motorway service station camaraderie, but I take exception at being expected to drive to Southampton this morning for amidday kick-off.What’s the big idea? Would a three o’clock kick-off mean that there would be more alcohol-sodden people in the ground than usual? No it wouldn’t. A three o’clock kick-off would mean that we had three more hours for the effects of the previous evening to wear off (I don’t feel any sympathy for the players. I don’t get to as many away games as I would like these days, but I haven’t missed a Boxing Day game since 1978. Usually, thanks to an understanding computer (one that understands that most football fans don’t want to travel up and down England’s fine motorway system when they have a hangover and would be instantly sick at the merest mention of the words “mince” and “pie”) most of the Boxing Day fixtures are reasonably local affairs – today’s fixtures include Crystal Palace v QPR, Coventry v Forest, Manchester City v Blackburn – at worst, you have to drive 50 miles.But this season has seen an ominous shift away from the fan-friendly fixture with a number of Premiership games bringing together teams from opposite ends of the country (Chelsea v Manchester United for example) and several kicking off at noon.”Oi, FA, noooo! You may well be the governing body of the world’s most popular game, but that doesn’t mean that you have to make us get up at eight o’clock in the morning to go and see it being played by professionals when we, and indeed they, would rath er be at home with the wife and kiddies.”Normally, I quite enjoy travelling to away games. There has to be an argument over which channel’s broadcast of the Queen’s Speech we watch before anyone can go.