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Glasgow Rangers fans are absolutely delighted with an official statement from the club in the aftermath of the Glen Kamara racism row.

The Gers were defeated 2-0 by Czechia champions Slavia Prague at Ibrox on Thursday, with the loss knocking them out of the competition in the process. However, much of the discussion since the final whistle has been about the allegations of racial abuse midfielder Kamara has directed at Ondrej Kudela.

Kamara has since released a statement backing up his claim, while Slavia have moved to vehemently deny the allegations (slavia.cz). Now, the Gers have released a statement of their own. They have reiterated their support for Finland international Kamara, and have demanded action be taken by UEFA.

The Gers shared the statement on their official Twitter account, and it attracted plenty of attention from the Gers supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the Rangers fans had to say about the statement

 “Brilliant statement from our Managing Director. As a supporter, this is the type of strong, resolute statement I wanted to see from my club. Now its over to @UEFAcom but they should be rest assured that we will not let this case of racism be brushed under the carpet.”

Credit: @GrahamDoolan1

“I stand with @GlenKamara4 and all players, staff & management of our club @RangersFC. Excellent statement.”

Credit: @RANGERSTILLIDI7

“Superb statement. Stance has been set. UEFA all eyes are on you for a response”

Credit: @Bairdric1

“Very very good statement. Let’s see how serious @UEFA are about stamping out this bile.”

Credit: @beaford_j

“Class statement by @RangersFC again. This is the Rangers I want to see defending our Club our Players and our Fans and also showing compassion to an opponent during injury. Well Done”

Credit: @StandwithKamara

“Brilliant. So proud of everyone at the club. We’re all behind Glen and the rest of our players 100%.”

Credit: @CemetryGates89

In other news, Alan Hutton has suggested this Rangers ace could leave the club this summer.

Many Sheffield Wednesday fans are reacting to the news that Darren Moore is the new manager of the club and will take over immediately from Neil Thompson.

The club announced the appointment on Twitter, and following confirmation of the news, journalist Dom Howson tweeted: “Darren Moore is set to meet his new #SWFC squad this morning and take training”

Moore was at League One side Doncaster Rovers and was doing a stellar job as they are currently sixth in the division (SofaScore). In total, the manager had taken charge of 77 games (Transfermarkt) and had won 36, drew 14 and lost 27.

It is quite surprising to see him make the move, despite the fact that the Owls are in the division above, as Wednesday feels somewhat like a sinking ship during current times, especially with them in a huge relegation dogfight as they are six points from safety and have lost their last four games (SofaScore). Owner Dejphon Chansiri will be hoping that this appointment can turn fortunes around sooner rather than later.

Here is how fans reacted to the news:

“I am absolutely gobsmacked!! Happy, but gobsmacked!! Welcome to the roller coaster Darren, strap yourself in, & wish you all the best in the world”

Credit: @Chezricho

“Big Dave as West Brom supporters called him.”

Credit: @DenJSW

“Can he still play? Be decent next to Lees and Dunkley”

Credit: @hawky06

“Speechless. I’m back on side”

Credit: @LHambling

“You bet he is. Come on DM. Keep us up”

Credit: @Wednesdayite4

“Attacking football please and put the ball in the net , that’s all we want”

Credit: @Nowak9148365

In other news, fans fume at this Dom Howson tweet!

According to a report from TEAMtalk, West Ham United and GSB are in talks to sign young Fulham defender Ibane Bowat as his current deal expires in June – with negotiations having been ‘ongoing’ over the last few weeks as the Hammers attempt to snap him up.

Bowat has been a mainstay for Fulham’s Under-18s side since putting pen to paper on a two-year scholarship back in 2019, assisting the Cottagers in their Premier League South title win last campaign.

West Ham in talks for Bowat

As a result, Fulham are keen to keep hold of the ‘classy’ 6 foot 2 defender and have offered him a professional deal to sign in June – but now West Ham are eager to take him away and are in talks over a move.

The Irons are one of a number of clubs that are in contact, with Brighton, Arsenal and Everton all having talks recently as well as German side FC Koln – even though it is understood the Bundesliga side could not agree terms.

Transfer Tavern take

Predominantly a centre-half, the versatile 18-year-old can also play left-back upon requirement, a prospect of his game that may have attracted the Irons.

Despite signing fellow promising centre-back Frederik Alves from Silkeborg in January, West Ham are now in conversation with another defensive starlet, and it remains to be seen whether they will win the race for his signature.

In other news: West Ham fans erupted over this news, find out more here.

Southampton take on Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup on Tuesday evening, hoping to secure their place in the fourth round, where a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal awaits.

After the original game was postponed due to an outbreak of the virus in Shrewsbury’s squad, both sides will be relieved to be able to play the game on Tuesday night at St Mary’s.

Unfortunately for the South Coast club, they are going through something of an injury crisis right now, with a number of key first-teamers currently sidelined, meaning that the Austrian manager will likely have to turn to his youth players in order to find a way past the League One side.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects the Saints to line up against Shrewsbury, with eight changes from the starting team that lost against Leicester…

Fraser Forster’s performance against Liverpool in the Premier League recently was impressive, so Hasenhuttl should hand him the start in goal ahead of Alex McCarthy.

In defence, only Jack Stephens keeps his place and he partners 19-year-old Allan Tchaptchet at centre-back, as he is rewarded with a first-team debut after featuring on the bench in recent fixtures.

Yan Valery replaces Kyle Walker-Peters at right-back, whilst Jake Vokins comes in for Ryan Bertrand, with both first-choice full-backs perhaps deserving of a rest.

There are two changes in midfield, as 20-year-0ld winger Will Ferry also makes his debut on the left-hand side, with Hasenhuttl extremely low on options in that position after the injuries to Moussa Djenepo and Nathan Redmond.

James Ward-Prowse is another to be rested, after playing every minute in the Premier League so far, which allows for a third debutant in Kgaogelo Chauke, who starts alongside Ibrahima Diallo in central midfield.

Finally, Shane Long and Dan N’Lundulu come in for Theo Walcott and Che Adams up front and hopefully, those two will be enough for Hasenhuttl’s side to see off the League One strugglers.

And, in other news… Southampton will surely rue not signing £18m beast who “makes scoring goals look so easy”

With Leeds’ long-term struggles over finding a genuine left-back, it’s no surprise that Marcelo Bielsa’s side appear to be gearing up to fix that issue in the summer transfer window.

Writing for The Athletic, Phil Hay claimed that left-back is likely to be a position that is high up on the summer transfer agenda and that both Bielsa and Victor Orta “can see how an effective, specialist left-back — something Leeds have struggled to unearth for many years — would improve the balance of their line-up, complementing Luke Ayling’s box-to-box presence from the opposite full-back spot”.

Hay revealed that the Whites are genuinely interested in Stade Brest ace Romain Perraud, who has been a revelation for the French side in Ligue 1 this season.

The 23-year-old has been the most productive defender in the division this campaign, scoring three goals and providing five assists, with his assists total actually only bettered by eight players in the entire league, among players in all positions.

Compared to current Leeds left-back Gjanni Alioski, Perraud’s numbers in the key offensive metrics are far superior, bettering his shots per game (1.1 to 0.7), key passes (1 to 0.7), accurate crosses (1.2 to 0.4), and successful dribbles too (0.9 to 0.4).

Hay added: “Perraud, 23, played for France up to under-20s level and his performance data — taken from smarterscout, which gives detailed analytics on players all over the world and gives ratings between zero and 99 across a series of metrics — shows characteristics which would meet Bielsa requirements: a creative edge and a high number of dribbles and shots for a player at his position, combined with a very active role in pressing defensively.”

With the 5 foot 8 Perraud flying down the left-hand side from full-back, that could open up the gates for Jack Harrison to wreak even more havoc. The duo would have the pace and energy to dove-tail well, with the winger previously raving about Alioski when he shone at left-back.

He said: “Always energetic, always running and causing problems for the opponents. We know what he’s like. Provides that as an outlet for the side as well.”

Perraud could offer something similar given his impressive offensive stats, and that ability to be a dynamic threat going forward makes him a dream player for Bielsa, especially in that full-back position.

With Alioski potentially being phased out or even let go in the summer – his contract is expiring at the end of the season – Perraud could be the perfect player to come in and start an exciting partnership with Harrison down Leeds’ left flank.

Meanwhile, Phil Hay has revealed Leeds are planning a summer move for this ace…

Everton see in the New Year at home to West Ham United on Friday night with a chance to move second in the Premier League standings with a 10th win of the season.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees go into the game well-rested after seeing Monday night’s clash with Manchester City postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Sky Blues camp, having otherwise been forced to play twice in 48 hours with a threadbare squad.

West Ham were held to a goalless draw at Southampton on Tuesday night, and will now travel to Merseyside to face an Everton side which is due to welcome a clutch of key players back into the fold following injuries.

So, with changes on the cards from the Blues XI which beat Sheffield United on Boxing Day, here’s a potential line-up Ancelotti may name at home to David Moyes’ Hammers…

Jordan Pickford recorded his third clean sheet of the Premier League season at Bramall Lane last time out, and will be pushing to earn a 14th appearance of the campaign at home to West Ham.

Ancelotti is likely to favour retaining the core of the Everton line-up which edged a nervy win over Chris Wilder’s relegation-threatened Blades, yet may axe Mason Holgate to award Seamus Coleman a first top-flight start since early November after recovering from his persistent hamstring injuries.

Coleman returned to action during last month’s 2-1 win over Arsenal before featuring for the final 24 minutes at Sheffield United, and may have started alongside Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey at home to Manchester City had the game gone ahead.

Tom Davies, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Alex Iwobi will expect to start on Friday night in West Ham’s visit to Goodison Park with Ancelotti confirming that Allan and James Rodriguez are once again ruled out through injury.

Richarlison, who reportedly earns £90,000-a-week, missed Boxing Day’s win at Sheffield United through the Premier League’s concussion protocols following his Carabao Cup quarter-final collision with Manchester United defender Eric Bailly, but has now served the required period in order to replace Anthony Gordon on the left-wing.

The Brazilian’s recall will come as a welcome relief for Ancelotti, who saw Gordon struggle at Bramall Lane, with Richarlison a player the Italian sees no like-for-like replacement for.

“It is impossible to replace Richarlison,” Ancelotti said earlier this season, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo.

“There is no player in the world like Richarlison, so we have to replace him with another player with different quality. We have to change a little bit our style of play without Richarlison.”

Ancelotti will hope the unexpected break between fixtures will afford Dominic Calvert-Lewin a chance to reset, with Everton’s top-scorer now without a Premier League goal since penning his 11th of the campaign five games ago.

AND in other news, a rarely-seen £11m Everton “luxury” may have played his final game at Goodison Park.

Spurs are once again being linked with a move for Christian Eriksen and the Danish international could add something different to Jose Mourinho’s midfield.

What’s the word?

Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Jose Mourinho would like to have the Danish international back at Spurs, although his wage demands are currently proving to be an issue.

Whilst there are no advanced talks between Spurs and Inter yet, Romano claims that the 28-year-old would love to return to the Premier League, so perhaps we will see him back at the North London club in the not too distant future.

Imagine him and Hojbjerg

Spurs have dropped a lot of points from winning positions in recent fixtures and adding the creative influence of Eriksen in their midfield could allow them to kill games off.

The attacking-midfielder could also form a strong connection with international teammate Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in Mourinho’s side, as the former Southampton man can do the dirty work in midfield, allowing Eriksen more freedom to find space and play through balls to the likes of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son.

During his last spell with the Lilywhites, Eriksen would contribute an impressive 69 goals and 89 assists in 305 appearances, so whilst his time with Inter hasn’t exactly gone to plan, it is hard to argue that he wouldn’t add a creative spark in this Spurs side.

In his career thus far, the Dane has managed an impressive 157 club assists in all competitions, whereas the majority of Spurs assists this season have come from either Kane or Son, with Hojbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso all tied on one assist in the Premier League, suggesting that they are definitely lacking the quality final ball in midfield.

With Mourinho’s wingers also struggling for form so far this season, with Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, Gareth Bale and Erik Lamela having all disappointed with their performances, the arrival of Eriksen could allow the Portuguese manager to switch to a diamond midfield, with the former Ajax man at the tip behind Kane and Son up front.

It is clear that Mourinho would love to have him back and although his performances in his last season with Spurs weren’t the best, if he can rediscover the sort of form he showed under Mauricio Pochettino, it would surely be worthwhile for Daniel Levy to pay the wages necessary to bring him back to the North London club.

Talk about going down with a fight. After a wretched display before the international break saw Newcastle slip to a dismal 2-1 defeat to Southampton, you would have thought Steve Bruce’s side would be raring to put things right on Saturday afternoon against Chelsea.

Instead, they were timid, far too defensive and void of any creativity. A familiar scene for any Magpies fan this season. Frank Lampard’s side ran out comfortable winners in the end, and barely broke a sweat, with Sean Longstaff’s long-range strike deep in the second half the only real worthy effort of note.

And whilst they were poor going forward – they managed just one shot on target in the entire game – one man let his manager down massively: Federico Fernandez.

The Argentine has arguably been one of the more reliable performers this season at St James’ Park, but he was nowhere near the kind of standards he has set for himself.

The 31-year-old was involved in Chelsea’s first goal, and his attempts at trying to claim a foul from Ben Chilwell was pathetic. The 6 foot 2 central defender was far too weak in defending an incoming corner, and instead of trying to clear his lines, seemed more interested in going down at the slightest of contact from the Blues ace. The end result? He ended up sticking it into his own net.

And his nightmare display wasn’t all about his own goal either. As per Sofascore, he made no tackles or interceptions whatsoever, and competed in just one duel – which he lost.

For a centre-back to go through an entire game without registering a defensive contribution like that is frankly shocking, and he just looked all at sea in trying to deal with the pace and movement of the likes of Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham.

Jamaal Lascelles’ injury probably didn’t help his cause either, but for an experienced professional like him to put in such a nothing display, was just a slap in the face for the supporters and Bruce.

Glasgow Rangers currently sit at the Scottish Premiership summit, eleven points clear of their arch-rivals Celtic at the top of the table.

However, if you cast your minds back to the beginning of the year, Steven Gerrard’s side found themselves floundering in a very different position indeed.

The Daily Record reported that the Ibrox boss sought to bolster his attacking options after Jermain Defoe suffered an injury and had drawn up a list of targets.

Chief among them was Burnley striker Matej Vydra, who had grown frustrated by a lack of game time under Sean Dyche as he had made just nine appearances for the Clarets at the time, and was angling for a move away from Turf Moor.

But Burnley rejected a bid from the Light Blues as they were only interested in selling him on a permanent basis.

The Gers signed centre-forward Florian Kamberi from Premiership rivals Hibernian on loan until the end of the season in the end instead.

We hate to say it, but hindsight’s a wonderful thing, as the Czech Republic international scored two goals in the Premier League shortly afterwards to send Gerrard a timely reminder of his obvious talents.

Valued at £3.6m via Transfermarkt, the 28-year-old has scored six goals and supplied four assists in 48 appearances for the Clarets, which is a pretty paltry record, especially when you consider the fact that they signed him for an undisclosed fee which is believed to be somewhere in the region of £10m in 2018.

But it’s worth remembering that the versatile forward was the top scorer in the English Championship the season beforehand, which raises more questions about Dyche’s style of play than anything else, really.

In 95 appearances for Watford, Vydra bagged 38 times and 15 assists in all competitions. Despite Kamberi’s best efforts, as he scored and assisted in the 2-2 draw with St Johnstone, the 25-year-old was never really given the time to shine, which suggests that Gerrard never full trusted him to fill in for Alfredo Morelos despite Defoe’s absence due to injury.

Without wishing to add insult to injury, Dyche heaped praise on the impact substitute after he inspired the Clarets to a 2-1 win over Southampton at St Mary’s back in February.

He said: “No (seriously) I mean you need big moments to win games and that was a big moment in a tight game, and Vyds has stuck at it.

“He does do as well as many other players here when they are not in the side and he has the respect of the group.“I can assure you when he walked in they were all buzzing for him and we have got such an honest group, they know when you are not playing it is hard.“But the players here know and respect the people who are not playing because they know when they come in, they have got to be ready and they are.“He showed signs of that and not just the finish, but the work ethic to work for the side and obviously the finish is the icing on the cake. It was a brilliant goal.”

There’s no doubt that Vydra’s versatility would have proven to be an added bonus as the Light Blues battled various injuries and an inconsistent run of form last season. Would he have made a big impact? Probably. Would he have helped the Gers regain the title? Probably not.

AND in other news, Steven Gerrard must unleash Glasgow Rangers striker Kemar Roofe against Standard Liege…

Unai Emery didn’t make too many great decisions whilst at Arsenal during his tenure as manager otherwise he’d still be in the job but one piece of business has to be lauded from the hilltops.

The sale of Alex Iwobi to Everton in 2019 has proven to be a masterstroke in every possible way.

It would have been a hard conclusion to make given that the Nigerian winger came through the ranks in north London and was once lauded by the legendary Arsene Wenger as “absolutely dangerous” every time he goes forward.

The 24-year-old played 149 times for the Gunners where he delivered 15 goals and 27 assists, per Transfermarkt, before being sold for a whopping £34m last summer.

Where is Iwobi now?

Iwobi is still at the Toffees but this season, he has seen his role diminished thanks to the arrival of James Rodriguez, which has proven to be quite the coup for Carlo Ancelotti.

He is yet to start a match in the Premier League this season, racking up just 88 minutes from substitute appearances and that’s hardly a surprise given his disappointing maiden campaign at Goodison Park.

Signed by Marco Silva, Iwobi scored just once all season, also failing to register a single assist, and averaged only 1.3 dribbles, one key pass and 0.9 shots per game, via WhoScored.

Overall, Iwobi has scored three Everton goals in 2,148 minutes of action. That’s one goal per 716 minutes. Shocking.

It’s a move that Darren Bent savaged in an interview with Football Insider. The former PL talisman ripped into Iwobi for having “no end product” and “no quality.”

There was even talk this summer that the Merseysiders were looking to move him on but only if a suitable bid came in as part of a mass exodus, as per the Mirror but evidently, that didn’t come to fruition.

But it does go to show just how bang on Emery was to let the £50k-per-week flop leave.

Although it’s not a surprise to see that both Emery and Silva are no longer employed by either club, perhaps making this call even more damning.

AND in other news, the Gunners may just have found their next Bukayo Saka…