The Footy Mumble: Indian youngster for EPL, Senegal fans riot!

Liverpool to stay at Anfield, may rename stadium

Liverpool have confirmed the news that they won’t be leaving Anfield anytime soon.

The club, were dithering about whether to stay on at their current home at Anfield or move to a new stadium at Stanley Park. And it seems that they have finally made their choice.

They will be renovating their current stadium to increase its capacity to 60,000 from its existing capacity of around 45,000. The renovation could take up to 5 years to complete and entire streets around the stadium may be demolished for the purpose.

Although cheaper than building an entire new stadium, it will still cost owners FSG around £150 million to renovate, which may be partially funded by selling naming rights to the historic ground.

Riot at Senegal-Ivory Coast match

An African Nations Cup match had to be suspended in Senegal after the home fans started rioting.

Didier Drogba had just scored a penalty to make it 2-0 in Ivory Coast’s favour in the 70th match, and a loss for Senegal would ensure Senegal missing out on the tournament in January.

With Drogba’s goal, all hell broke loose; fans starting fires in the stands and one fan even attempting to charge towards Drogba after getting onto the pitch.

Ivory Coast fans too had to escape from the stands and onto the pitch, but like their team, were escorted outside by the police.

The match was suspended and the scoreline was kept unchanged, confirming a 6-2 aggregate win for Ivory Coast.

PL clubs to be paid to play Brit youngsters, may even get winter breaks

Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore has admitted that the Premier League is looking at ways to introduce a winter break, but without disrupting the current fixture list too much.

Any change will need the support of three key stakeholders – the FA, the Premier League and the Football League.

Managers Alex Ferguson, Roy Hodgson and Roberto Mancini have all spoken of the need for a winter break, and Scudamore believes it is up to the FA to decide, with the FA Cup replays proving to be the biggest roadblock.

Also, in a bid to increase the number of British players in the EPL, the FA is looking to reward clubs who include more British U-21 talent in their Elite Player Performance Plan.

Just around 34% of players, reportedly, in the Premier League are British compared to 52% in the Bundesliga and as much as 72% in Spain.

And it seems the FA is getting desperate now, and wants to use some of the money from the new £3 billion broadcasting deal to push clubs in this regard.

Indian in EPL soon?

Brandon Fernandes, a hitherto unknown Indian U-19 International, might just be on the brink of achieving what every football fan in India dreams of – to play for an EPL club.

The youngster is set to trial with an unidentified Premier League club for the next two weeks, with the name of the club to be released only once he reaches England for the trial.

Fernandes has been kept an eye on by many clubs, allegedly, since he impressed in the Manchester United Soccer Skills competition 4 years ago.

He moved to play for ASD Cape Verde in South Africa, when he was just 16. If he does manage to land a contract with the club, Fernandes will be, technically, the first Indian ever to play in the EPL, with Michael Chopra, who played for Newcastle United, being of British Indian origin.

Yaya Toure to exit City? Cole set for Chelsea exit

And in rumors flying around as usual, surprises are in store, with Yaya Toure linked with an exit from Manchester City.

A ‘source’ claims the City star is considering offers from PSG and Anzhi Makhachkala. But respected Spanish sports journalist Guillem Balague says the story follows the same pattern as of a few years back when the player was at Barcelona demanding a new contract and similar reports came in.

So all Toure wants is a new contract! Which makes us wonder what the point in that would be, considering he’s already one of the top earners in the Man City squad (that is saying something), earning around £200,000 in wages.

And Chelsea look set to release Ashley Cole for free next summer, with reports emerging that the soon to be 31-year-old left back has rejected a contract extension with the club.

With Chelsea, as is their policy for players above 30, offering only a one-year contract extension, Cole has apparently decided to pack his bags and move, with Real Madrid and PSG touted as potential suitors.