English Premier League Gossip – David James Gossip By Oliver Brown

David James has indicated that he wants to leave Portsmouth for Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham to cement his place as England’s No 1 goalkeeper.

Despite the stirrings of a Portsmouth revival under Avram Grant, James is deeply dismayed by the break-up of Redknapp’s FA Cup-winning team at Fratton Park and harbours a strong resolve to rejoin his former mentor at White Hart Lane.

“You could say that I’m flattered by a team of Tottenham’s stature and that it would be good for my England chances to join an upwardly-mobile club,” James told Telegraph Sport.

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With Carlo Cudicini out at Tottenham with wrist and pelvic injuries after a motorcycle accident, the likelihood of James being installed as a deputy to Heurelho Gomes by Redknapp, who has long expressed his admiration for the 39 year-old, has increased. Grant, however, claims that Portsmouth cannot contemplate the loss of James, while Tottenham are yet to make a formal approach.

James explained: “You have to focus on where you are, and I want to help Portsmouth to climb the table. The departure of so many players from the club last summer was a great pity, especially when those players are your proven goalscorers.” He was referring to Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch, both of whom remain in the World Cup reckoning and have both moved to Tottenham.

“When half of the team disperse, you feel a bit cheated,” James said.

Portsmouth have been blighted in recent months by financial uncertainty, prompting reports that players have not been paid on at least two occasions. Avram Grant, the club’s director of football, has acknowledged that they need to buy in the January transfer window.

Topics : English Premier League Gossip – David James Gossip. Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Tim Sherwood – The First Team Coach of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – English Premier League Football Club

Timothy “Tim” Sherwood (born 6 February 1969 in St Albans) is an English former professional footballer who was captain of Blackburn Rovers’ Premiership title-winning side. He also made three appearances for the England national team and is currently assistant first-team coach of Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.

Personal information
Full name : Timothy Sherwood
Date of birth : 6 February 1969 (1969-02-06)
Place of birth : St Albans, England
Height : 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position : Midfielder / The First Team Coach
Club information : Tottenham Hotspur
(Assistant first-team coach)

Career
Sherwood made his debut for Watford against Sheffield Wednesday on 12 September 1987. 31 more league appearances followed in Division Two. He moved to Norwich City in July 1989 and notched up a total of 88 games and 13 goals in Norwich colours before joining Blackburn Rovers in February 1992.

As one of Kenny Dalglish’s first signings for Blackburn, he initially struggled to make the first team but became an integral part of Dalglish’s big spending Rovers side. Under Sherwood’s captaincy, Blackburn finished second in the Premiership in 1993-94 before winning it the following season. At this point it was a surprise that he did not gain international recognition, adding only an England B cap to the England Under 21 honours he picked up whilst at Norwich. During his time at the club Dalglish had wanted to sign both Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry who were playing in France for FC Girondins de Bordeaux, however Rovers Chairman Jack Walker reportedly said to Dalglish: “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?”

Source: For more Time Sherwood, First Team Coach of Tottenham Hotspur, English Premier League Football Clubs, visit wikipedia.org.

Robbie Keane – Captain / Forward / Striker of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – English Premier League Football Club

Robert David “Robbie” Keane (born 8 July 1980 in Tallaght, Dublin) is the current captain of the Republic of Ireland national football team, and a first-team striker for Tottenham Hotspur F.C. He is the all-time record goalscorer for the Irish national side, as well as the 10th highest goalscorer in Premier League history.

He began his professional career at Wolverhampton Wanderers, scoring twice in his first team debut aged 17. The following season he was the club’s leading goalscorer and scored his first international goal with Republic of Ireland. He changed club frequently between 1999 and 2002, breaking transfer fee records, but his brief spells at Inter Milan and Leeds United were unexceptional. He joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2002 and played there for six years. The 2007–08 season was the most fruitful of his career as he set a career record of 23 goals in a season, scored a landmark 100th competitive goal for Tottenham and won his first senior honour, the Football League Cup. He moved to Liverpool in July 2008 but he spent only six months at the club and soon returned to Tottenham, where he was made first team captain.

Keane is best known for his performances at Tottenham, where he gained repute as a consistent goalscorer and often finished the season having scored the most goals on his team. Keane’s pedigree was reinforced when he became Ireland’s record goalscorer in 2004 and Steve Staunton appointed him national team captain in 2006.

Return to Tottenham

Keane rejoined Tottenham on 2 February 2009, signing for a basic fee of £12 million, potentially rising to £19 million with add-ons.^[42] The deal meant that the cumulative transfer fees paid for Keane over his career amounted to around £75 million.^[43] He signed a four-year contract with the north London club.^[44] Keane was one of three players to make returns to Tottenham during the transfer window, along with Jermain Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda.^[28] He was also made Tottenham vice-captain a week later,>^[45] after often deputising for Ledley King during his first spell there.^{[46][47][48][49][50]} Keane scored his first goal since his return to the club on 4 March,^[51] opening the scoring in the crucial 4–0 home victory against Middlesbrough.^[52][53] He followed this up by scoring another vital goal, this time a last-minute equaliser, away to Sunderland in a 1–1 draw on 7 March.^[54][55]

Soon after Keane’s return to White Hart Lane, railway service Virgin Trains ran an advertisement with the slogan “A Liverpool to London return faster than Robbie Keane.”^[56] On his return to Liverpool on the final day of the season, he scored in a 3–1 defeat.^[57] He received a generally warm reception from the fans despite scoring against them.

On 31 July 2009, Robbie captained Tottenham to winning the Premier League Asia Trophy in a pre-season competition in China. He scored twice in the 3-0 win over Hull City inside Beijing National Stadium. On 26 September 2009, Keane scored four goals in a 5-0 win over Burnley.^[58] During Tottenham’s Carling Cup Fourth Round match, Keane scored one of two goals against Everton on 27 October 2009 at White Hart Lane

Source: English Premier League Football Club, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Robbie Keane, Captains information at wikipedia.org

For other Captains of English Premier League Clubs, visit Captains

Heurelho Gomes – Goalkeeper of Tottenham Hotspur – English Premier League Football Club

Heurelho da Silva Gomes (Portuguese pronunciation: [??omis]), born 15 February 1981 in João Pinheiro, Minas Gerais), commonly known as Heurelho Gomes or Gomes, is a Brazilian goalkeeper, who currently plays for Tottenham Hotspur. He previously made a name for himself at Dutch club PSV.

Heurelho da Silva Gomes at Tottenham Hotspur

Following appointment of manager Juande Ramos, Gomes signed for Tottenham Hotspur on 27 June 2008^[2] for a fee believed to be around £7.8 million. Gomes played his first game in Tottenham Hotspur colours in a pre-season friendly match on 19 July 2008 against Segunda División B side Dénia, which Tottenham won 4–2.

Gomes eventually obtained a work permit to play in the United Kingdom, despite playing less than the 75% required amount of games for Brazil in the last 2 years.

Gomes made his home debut on the 10 August 2008, keeping a clean sheet with a 5–0 victory over Roma on Tottenham’s last pre-season friendly, before the English Premiership campaign 2008–09.

Gomes didn’t have the best start to life in the Premier League, as Tottenham lost the first two opening games 2–1 to Middlesbrough and Sunderland respectively, but his commanding presence in goal helped Spurs earn their first point of the season with a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. However, his reputation took a hit a week later when he “inexplicably let Ashley Young’s weak 54th-minute shot slip under his body”^[3] in Spurs’ 2–1 home defeat against Aston Villa. These blunders continued as he conceded an own goal against Fulham on 15 November 2008, which kept his club mired deep in the relegation zone and also caused Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeping coach Hans Leitert to be sacked on 19 November 2008 in the wake of Gomes’ blunders.^[4] Since his nervous start to his new club, he put in brilliant performances against West Ham United, saving two important shots deep into the match in which Tottenham won 2–0, before earning praise from Harry Redknapp with two world class saves to deny Park Ji-Sung and Ryan Giggs in a 0–0 draw with current champions Manchester United.^[5]

Gomes was injured in Spurs’ 5-1 win over Hull City in the second game of the 2009-10 Premier League season and had to be replaced by second-choice keeper Carlo Cudicini.^[6] After an MRI Scan it was revealed that Gomes suffered damage to his groin which will keep him out for up to a month.^[7] Gomes made his return to first team action in the 5-1 victory over Preston in the Carling Cup on 23rd September 2009,^[8] and made his Premier League comeback in the 2-1 win at Portsmouth on 17th October. During this match the Brazilian made a handful of brilliant saves, one of which was compared by former Spurs ‘keeper Pat Jennings to a famous save made by Gordon Banks against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup.

Source: English Premier League Football Club, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Goalkeepers, Heurelho Gomes information at wikipedia.org

Harry Redknapp – Manager of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – English Premier League Football Club

Henry James “Harry” Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former footballer who has had a long career in football management. He is the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, a club in the English Premier League.

He had previously managed A.F.C. Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton and Portsmouth in a second spell. While in his second spell at Portsmouth, he managed the side to win the 2008 FA Cup. This was his first and so far only major trophy as a player or manager.^[2]

His son, Jamie Redknapp, played under him at Bournemouth and at Southampton. He is also uncle to Chelsea player Frank Lampard, who played under him at West Ham United.

Tottenham Hotspur

Following the sacking of Juande Ramos by Tottenham Hotspur, the club announced that Redknapp had agreed to take over as the new manager at Spurs.^[17] This was confirmed by Redknapp himself, in the Midnight Goals show on Setanta Sports News on 26 October 2008. Tottenham paid £5 million in compensation to Portsmouth for letting Redknapp go.^[18] When he took over Tottenham had only two points from the first eight games in the league but in his first two weeks in charge he took the club out of the relegation zone, winning ten out of the twelve points available with wins against Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool and Manchester City and a draw against North London rivals Arsenal. In January 2009, Redknapp signed five new players in order to add quality and depth to his squad. He brought back Jermain Defoe from his old club Portsmouth for £15.75m, Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios from Wigan Athletic for £12m, long-serving Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini joined on a free transfer, ex-Spurs player Pascal Chimbonda returned to White Hart Lane from Sunderland for a fee in the region of £3m and Robbie Keane, who like Chimbonda and Defoe had only left Spurs within the last year, re-joined after an unsuccessful spell at Liverpool for an initial fee of £12m. By March 2009, Redknapp had led Spurs to the League Cup final, which they lost on penalties to Manchester United. On 21 March, after beating Chelsea, Spurs moved into the top half of the table for the first time since Martin Jol was in charge. He eventually led Tottenham to a finish of eighth place in the table narrowly missing out on a Europa League place.

Source: English Premier League Football Club, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Harry Redknapp, Tottenham Hotspur’ Manager, English Premier League Football Clubs’ Manager information at wikipedia.org