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After scoring his third century in Test cricket and his second against India, Shivnarine Chanderpaul would be an unlikely person to raise an objection if the West Indies were to play India much more often

Special Correspondent16-Apr-2002After scoring his third century in Test cricket and his second against India, Shivnarine Chanderpaul would be an unlikely person to raise an objection if the West Indies were to play India much more often.”I was determined to do well this time. I have had too many 50s and 60s. But I wanted to go on once I was set. Carl (Hooper) was playing superbly at the other end. That boosted my confidence. And it is my home-ground; I had support behind me,” said Chanderpaul.Among the West Indians of Indian descent in Guyana, he is a celebrity. Those who could not get the tickets to enter the ground temporarily stayed in tents outside the Bourda Oval. There, after the third day’s play, Chanderpaul was almost mobbed. He was made to dance to the tune of “Soldier Soldier,” have the compulsory glass of beer and chat with everyone present. His wife, father and friends from the United States were also present.”This is an important hundred for me at a crucial juncture of my international career. I was not getting big scores for so many days. Once you get one, it paves the way for others. Now I have to continue this good work,” he said.The fact that his best effort in Tests came in front of his own crowd, of course, was the most satisfying aspect of his knock for the left-hander.

Former Newcastle United star Keith Gillespie believes that there will be plenty of interest in Joe Willock this summer, telling The Transfer Tavern that he has emerged as a fine player during his time at St James’ Park.

Willock moved to Newcastle on loan from Arsenal in the January transfer window.

And he has gone on to make a phenomenal impact at the club as they have climbed clear of relegation danger.

The 21-year-old has made 12 appearances in the Premier League for the Magpies and has scored six goals, netting in all of his last five outings for the club.

That includes strikes against Manchester City, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur.

As a result, there has been a natural suggestion that Newcastle will do everything they can to bring him in on a permanent basis, but Gillespie feels they will face major competition in their bid to sign Willock permanently.

However, he also doubts whether Arsenal will be willing to let him leave.

The former Newcastle star said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s other clubs interested if he is made available for transfer but for me, I just thought he was getting let out on loan to get a little bit of experience by Arteta, so I don’t know whether they’ll be willing to let him go or not.

“For me, he looks a really, really good player.”

According to a report by the Guardian, Tottenham Hotspur, and by extension chairman Daniel Levy, have now spoken to managerial candidates – which include Champions League-winning coach Hansi Flick.

The Lowdown: On the agenda?

Touted as a major favourite for the German national team recently, Bayern Munich recently announced that former Spurs managerial target Julian Nagelsmann is set to replace him at the end of this season.

Flick, who is now leaving the Allianz Arena, emerged as a possible target for Levy and Spurs with the manager hunt going on.

The 56-year-old could be an attractive prospect given the job he has done in Bavaria and the fact he has experience winning major silverware.

The Latest: Tottenham speak to Flick…

Bringing the latest update on his possible appointment, the Guardian claim that Flick has now been spoken to by Spurs as they narrow down the managerial shortlist.

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While the report doesn’t go into detail surrounding these talks, journalist David Hytner, who wrote the piece, believes Flick is more likely to take over the German national team after this summer’s European Championships.

As he puts it, the search for a new Spurs manager is set to ‘rumble on’.

The Verdict: Great option for Tottenham

While all the odds point towards Flick being appointed by his national side, we believe that Levy and co must pull out all the stops in an attempt to sway him towards north London.

Indeed, having won seven trophies in just two seasons at Bayern (Transfermarkt), despite the fact he was arguably managing in a less competitive league, Flick’s experience overseeing players on the big occasion could prove invaluable.

He has also earned plenty of praise from Premier League managers, with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp blown away by Flick after he guided Bayern to a treble last season.

Klopp, waxing lyrical over the former Hoffenheim boss, proclaimed ‘writing more history in eight months would be quite difficult to do’ (Bundesliga).

Meanwhile, ex-Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes described him as a ‘gem of a coach’ in an interview with German magazine Kicker (via Bundesliga).

Therefore, we believe that Levy may be hoping Flick doesn’t opt for Germany after-all.

In other news: Sky Sports journalist makes ‘interesting’ Harry Kane claim, find out more here.

Dean Windass has exclusively told Football FanCast that there’s more chance of Gareth Bale returning to Tottenham next season now Jose Mourinho has departed.

Mourinho was a major part of a sensational coup that saw the Welshman come back to Spurs last summer, on loan from Real Madrid.

But their relationship was a topsy-turvy one, with Bale starting just six Premier League games all season under the Portuguese.

Bale was tasked with proving his fitness during his opening few months back at Tottenham due to his lack of gametime at Madrid, which he eventually did during a six-game spell when he scored as many times and provided two assists.

However, Mourinho appeared angry with Bale following the north London derby last month, accusing some players of ‘hiding’ – pointing the finger at him and Tanguy Ndombele, who were both hauled off.

Bale would play just 10 minutes across the next four Premier League games.

But with Mourinho now gone, Windass believes there’s every chance that the Welsh captain is back at Tottenham next season especially after his goalscoring performances against Southampton and Sheffield United.

He told Football FanCast:

“It’s up to Gareth if he wants to stay, it’s nothing to do with the club.

“Now Mourinho has gone, there’s more chance of him wanting to stay, because he is going to get a run of games.

“I guarantee you this, Daniel Levy will be telling Ryan Mason to play him.”

Exactly one year after the National Cricket Academy was formally inaugurated, India’s premier coaching body gets ready to welcome its second batch of trainees at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday

Staff Reporter30-Apr-2001Exactly one year after the National Cricket Academy was formally inaugurated, India’s premier coaching body gets ready to welcome its second batch of trainees at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday. The NCA is qualitatively raising its profile this year with the setting up of five zonal academies in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Kanpur operating in sync with the parent body.Twenty candidates will attend this year’s session and virtually all are inthe Under-19 age bracket with 23-year-old Bengal stumper Deep Dasgupta theoldest of the lot. The trainees are Vinayak Mane (Mumbai), Y Gnaneswara Rao(Andhra Pradesh), Gautam Gambhir (Delhi), Ishan Ganda (Haryana), KashinathKhadkikar (Maharashtra), Gaganinder Singh (Punjab), Arindam Das (Bengal),Arjun Yadav (Hyderabad), Ajay Ratra (Haryana), Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan(Tamil Nadu), Raja Ali (Railways), Uday Karkera (Maharashtra), Salil Yadav(Gujarat), Mulewa Dharmichand (Karnataka), Swapnil Hazare (Mumbai), LBalaji (Tamil Nadu), Maninder Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Shalabh Srivastava(Uttar Pradesh), Parthiv Patel (Gujarat) and Deep Dasgupta (Bengal).Two of the twenty, Ajay Ratra and Deep Dasgupta are also in the list of 25probables announced by the national selectors to attend the preparatorycamp before India’s tour of Zimbabwe next month. The camp is also scheduled forBangalore from September 13-18, with the team to be released on the finalday.An informal meeting of the coaching personnel appointed to the NCA as wellas its zonal units has been held over the last couple of days in order tostandardise coaching techniques across the board. The staff at the NCA hasundergone a reshuffle with KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel taking over fromHanumant Singh as Director. Balwinder Sandhu is the chief coach, KJayantilal assistant coach and Roger Binny consultant coach.Hanumant who indicated last December that he was resigning from his post ofDirector for personal reasons has been accommodated in the NCA Committeechaired by Raj Singh Dungarpur, with Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar and SVenkataraghavan as the other members. The head of coaching at the fiveregional centres are: Nari Contractor (West Zone), Yashpal Sharma (NorthZone), Kris Srikkanth (South Zone), Arun Lal (East Zone) and KailashGhattani (Central Zone).While four of the five zonal academies, in the North, East, West andCentral, will be kicked off on Tuesday, the South Zone academy wouldcommence proceedings a day later. This was announced by Ashok Kumbhat,convenor of the Academy. Kumbhat told PTI in Chennai that the BCCI hadadvanced a circular for the period from May 2 to 27, advising the zonalacademies to pursue the same pattern of coaching and exercises followed inthe NCA. “Perhaps, we will get another circular before May 27, as the campis for a period of two months’, Kumbhat said.The following trainees (all in the Under-19 age group) are to attend thecamp: Deepak Chougule, H T Sudhir Rao, Vinay Uthappa, Stuart Binny, ChetanWilliams, Senthil Kumar (all Karnataka), A S K Varma, K Srinivasa Rao, P AV N Raju and G Shankar Rao (all from Andhra), T Suman and AT Rayadu(Hyderabad), Vikram Kumar and Vishal Kudua (Tamil Nadu), Sreesanth, VincentGomes and Mousam Nathani (Kerala) and Sher Bahadur Yadav (Goa).

Leeds have been boosted by the news that Ajax left-back Nicolas Tagliafico could be available for £13m in the summer transfer window.

The Whites look set to have a busy next few months as Marcelo Bielsa likely aims to strengthen his squad ahead of next season.

Leeds have taken five points off Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United in their last three games, and while that shows the levels they can now reach, they could still go up another gear.

With Ezgjan Alioski looking likely to leave at the end of the campaign, a new left-back looks set to be a transfer priority for Bielsa in the summer.

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Fresh update on Tagliafico emerges

Tagliafico has been linked with a move to Leeds in the recent past and the Daily Mail has now claimed that they could sign the Argentine for £13m.

Both Manchester City and Inter Milan are also mentioned as potential suitors for the 28-year-old, who has won 27 caps at international level for Argentina and was recently lauded as a “top-quality player” by Kevin Campbell, who was addressing this very transfer rumour in an interview with Football Insider.

Transfer Tavern take

Considering the experience and quality Tagliafico possesses, he could be an excellent replacement for Alioski. He is still young enough to have a few more years left in him at the top, but has also been around long enough to be a safe pair of hands, chipping in with one goal and three assists this season.

If Leeds are to go up a level, they may need players who know how to win trophies and Tagliafico is one of those, clinching the Eredivisie title in 2018/19. His experience of 331 club career games, along with his defensive prowess (two tackles and 2.1 headers won per game this season), also suggests that he could be a tremendous addition if Bielsa can attract him to Yorkshire.

In other news, Leeds are expecting one player to leave the club this summer. Find out who it is here.

Dean Windass has exclusively told Football FanCast that West Ham won’t sign Jesse Lingard permanently next season.

Lingard has been in outstanding form for the Hammers following his January loan from Manchester United, scoring nine goals in 11 matches, whilst laying on four assists.

His heroics have put West Ham in contention to qualify for the Champions League for the first time, leading to reports that David Moyes’ side want to bring the England attacker back to the London Stadium on a permanent basis.

But the likes of Real Madrid and PSG are also reportedly keen on signing Lingard, who’s got just one year remaining on his contract at Old Trafford.

And whilst Windass admires Lingard’s turnaround, having been left out in the cold by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he doesn’t believe he’ll be back in east London.

He told Football FanCast:

“I can’t see him being at West Ham next year, that’s a fact. Will he get in Man United’s team next year? He’s got another year left.

“I admire the kid, he’s been out in the cold, he’s had a few personal problems, he’s kept himself fit.

“He’s took West Ham to the next level. Would I be saying as a player ‘I am too good for this team?’ He probably is, and he’s proved it, so he won’t be there at West Ham.”

Celtic are making a number of off-field changes ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, and it seems as if another chief looks set to follow Peter Lawwell and Nick Hammond out of Parkhead.

According to a Hoops source, reported by Football Insider, Celtic recruitment chief Gary Penrice is in line for the exit after being the driving force for the failed Shane Duffy signing in the summer of 2020.

The 57-year-old, formerly of Everton, spearheaded a season-long loan deal for Duffy last summer, which, safe to say, hasn’t worked out.

Duffy has started just one of the club’s last nine Scottish Premiership fixtures, and it seems as if the Hoops are planning for life without the Irishman after much criticism.

It appears as if they’re also now getting ready for life without Penrice, who was named head of recruitment at Celtic Park 12 months ago.

Transfer Tavern take

Since Penrice was appointed as head of recruitment, it’s not only Duffy who has flopped.

The likes of Albian Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas, who the club paid big money for over the summer, have both struggled in their first season in Glasgow.

On that basis, with a major Hoops reshuffle going on, it makes perfect sense for the club to part ways with Penrice and bring in a new man picked out by Dominic McKay and Fergal Harkin, with the latter set to be appointed as the new director of football.

In other news: West Ham leading race for Celtic star after making recent progress, find out more here. 

Former Newcastle United midfielder Steve Howey has exclusively told Football FanCast that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer shouldn’t be sacked if Manchester United fail to win a trophy this season.

The United manager is on the verge of leading the Red Devils into the Champions League for the second consecutive season, but needs to win the Europa League to avoid another campaign without silverware.

Solskjaer’s team have a favourable quarter-final tie against La Liga outfit Granada, but the Norwegian has lost in each of his four previous semi-finals as United boss, including last season’s Europa League against Sevilla and the Carabao Cup last-four tie against Manchester City back in January.

United topped the Premier League earlier in the campaign, but four draws in a five-game period in February allowed City to move comfortably clear at the summit and on the verge of winning the title back.

It means that United’s hopes of a successful season lie in Europe, but does Howey think that Solskjaer’s job should rest on that outcome?

“No! They were top of the league at one stage this season,” he Football FanCast. “I have seen them a few times and they’ve been absolutely dire and I’ve seen them a few times and they’ve been devastatingly good.

“They’ve had some poor results this season, but have gone on a ridiculous away run. He seems to be really struggling and massively under pressure, and he gets a result out of nowhere.”

Italian journalist Carlo Alvino claimed on Canale 8, via quotes by Spazio Napoli, earlier this week that Carlo Ancelotti was never a fan of Alex Meret during his time in charge of SSC Napoli, so the Blues boss must not pull a full 180 and bring the goalkeeper to Everton.

Meret has been linked with a potential summer switch to Goodison Park by reports in Italy last weekend,  reports which claimed that Ancelotti has a strong interest in being reunited with the 24-year-old.

The opportunity for a potential reunion has arisen as Meret is thought to be considering his future at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium following a battle for the number one jersey, and he could hand in a transfer request at the end of the season.

Meret has only been called on to guard the Napoli net for 12 of their 27 Serie A fixtures thus far this term, with ex-Arsenal shot-stopper David Ospina more often Gennaro Gattuso’s favoured option.

Reports by Gazzetta dello Sport, via Sport Witness, also alleged that Napoli are working to extend Ospina’s contract, which has not eased Meret’s train of thought over a move away.

Meret intends to be the starting goalkeeper for whichever club he represents next season. But while Gazzetta dello Sport claim there is a 30% chance of that being Everton, Alvino has spoken about the doubts that Ancelotti had about the player in the past.

“Ancelotti didn’t bet on Meret; he wanted [Alphonse] Areola,” Alvino said. “[Sporting Director Cristiano] Giuntoli wanted [Bernd] Leno, then [owner Aurelio] De Laurentiis took Meret.

“It seems strange that Ancelotti is keen on Meret to take him to the Premier. I spoke to him about the boy, and he said: ‘As a goalkeeper, he has to be able to save’. Ancelotti was an old school coach.”

Ospina is claimed to be Gattuso’s favoured option at Napoli as the Colombian is better than Meret with the ball at his feet, although Alvino’s comments would suggest that Ancelotti also had doubt over the one-time Italy international’s ability as a shot-stopper.

If Alvino’s comments are true and Ancelotti harboured doubts over Meret’s talents when De Laurentiis sanctioned the Italian’s €22m (£19m) arrival in 2018, then the Everton boss must stay well clear of pulling a U-turn as the goalkeeper has not improved in the years since.

During Meret’s debut campaign at Napoli, he registered an 85% save percentage over his 14 Serie A appearances with 40 of 47 shots on target kept out. That dropped to 63% last term over 22 outings, with the £36,000-per-week talent only saving 46 of 76 attempts, per FBref.

It has been no wonder that Gattuso has often chosen to overlook Meret during the current season, either, with the former SPAL star saving just 35 of 49 shots on target faced, for a 69% success rate over his 12 appearances to date.

For comparison, Jordan Pickford – Ancelotti’s current number one at Everton – is saving 72% of shots on target over his 23 appearances in the Premier League, with 69 of 97 kept out, for the highest percentage of his time at Goodison Park so far.

If Ancelotti had doubts in Meret’s talents, that have seemingly not improved, then there should be no reason for the Italians to be reunited at Everton this summer.

AND in other news, an “exceptional” Everton figure is being eyed by a Premier League rival…