Frontline Football Blog

In life, as in the work place, one has to stand up for oneself and avoid situations which could see you being "walked all over" by companies, bosses or colleagues, if you are to make a success of your career.

Daniel Sturridge is a bright young prospect who graduated to Manchester City's main office in 2006 and has since proven to be one of England's brightest young stars. His performances have been made even more impressive considering the form of players such as Stephen Ireland and Robinho.

For the 19 year old forward to be upstaging such famous names is surely a sign of what is to come.

There is no doubt in my mind, if Manchester City hadn't been bought over this summer, Sturridge would be a first team regular, probably in place of Brazilian superstar Robinho.

Unfortunately, as with any business, new owners means restructuring, new goals and new ideas.

The amount of foreign players in the Barclays Premier League has been an issue over the last few years with many people suggesting that the amount of foreigners in England was hampering the national team.

I had been inclined to think that way myself until I stumbled on the Inter Milan squad list while researching another article. It was flooded with foreign players and it got me thinking, does England really have too many foreign players and is this actually hampering the national side?

For my research, I took the top four sides (judging by league tables as of the morning of the 7^th February 2009) from Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and England's Premier League and worked out how many foreigners they had as individual clubs and national leagues. I chose the top four as these are the players likely to be representing each country in next years UEFA Champions League.

Having first got the idea for this article while looking at Inter Milan, I'll start by looking at Serie A. The current top four in Italy are Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus and the surprise package of 2008/2009, Genoa.

Football is a funny old game isn't it?

This weekend in the English Premier League referees were once again under the spotlight, most noticeable Mike Riley who ruled over the clash between Chelsea and Liverpool.

Riley was widely condemned for sending off Chelsea's Frank Lampard for what seemed a run-of-the-mill tackle on Liverpool's Xavi Alonso. While the sending off was a bad call, everyone makes mistakes and Lampard was exceptional in how he handled the situation, walking off the pitch without causing a fuss.

As expected, Chelsea challenged the red card and it was rightly rescinded. Lampard is now free to play in Chelsea's next game.

While all this is very fair, it is what has happened over the last two days that is most baffling.

16:54 GMT and my heart beat normally again while my breathing went back to a safe level. It was official-Andrei Arshavin had finally signed for Arsenal.

Arsenal fans thought we knew all about protracted transfers in the summer window when the will-he-won't-he Nasri saga was concluded in our favour. In the end, Samir Nasri's deal turned out to be a drop in the ocean compared to Arshavin's.

Arsene Wenger has been a fan of Arshavin for some time but baulked at the asking price following last summer's European Championships. Despite interest from other clubs, the Russian captain stayed at Zenit St.Petersburg.

However, it quickly became obvious that Arshavin was unhappy in Russia and wanted to ply his trade in one of Europe's bigger leagues.

As the winter transfer window progressed it became quite clear that Arsenal were the only team that had put in an official bid for the Russian. Despite the best efforts of Zenit and the very annoying agent Denis Latcher, Manchester City showed no interest in the midfielder.

Remember when you were small and your parents would say "If you haven't got something nice to say, then don't say anything"?

Well, judging by his comments over the last few weeks, Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood certainly missed out on this lesson.

Speaking directly to the tabloid The Daily Mirror, Hill-Wood said:

"There is no denying that it would be a real financial drain on the club if we didn't qualify for the Champions League next season.

Even if we were in the UEFA Cup and enjoyed a long run in Europe, that would not come close to making up the shortfall. But although missing out on the Champions League for one year would be a big disappointment, it would not mean financial armageddon for Arsenal.

On the day Portsmouth Football Club decided to take legal action against the Daily Express for alleging the south coast club were lining up Alan Curbishley to replace underperforming manager Tony Adams, one thing remains clear, Adams is surely favourite to be the next Barclays Premier League boss to be relieved of his duties.

Portsmouth refuted the newspapers claims on the their website this morning and Alan Curbishley has also denied any knowledge of the story but none of this speculation will be doing anything for Adams sleepless nights.

The former England and Arsenal defender has failed to live up to the standards set by predecessor Harry Redknapp before the latter jumped ship to Tottenham Hotspur and has in reality seen the pressure increase on his position as Portsmouth manager from day one.

It is not usual for a club to threaten legal action as soon as they see a story in the press and the fact Pompey seem "edgy" probably relates to just how much pressure is currently on their chosen manager. The Daily Express is not a tabloid "gossip" newspaper and the may well just have got it wrong, this time.

His rise to Portsmouth boss

Referee Mike Riley and Chelsea's Frank Lampard may have kissed and made up after Sunday's red card incident that cost Chelsea any chance of a point at Anfield but that controversy is just the tip of the iceberg.

Underneath lies an inconsistent Football Association incident review system that has apparently just looked favourably on Chelsea.

No one has any issue with the fact Frank Lampard's red card has been rescinded as most would agree it wasn't a red card, but my point lies with a certain Jose Bosingwa and his late Kung Fu kick that went unpunished as Chelsea lost 2-0 to title rivals Liverpool.

The incident took place at the corner flag, right in front of the assistant referee who has more than enough authority to get the Portuguese player sent off.

Amazingly, after an apparent review of the incident, it was decided that no further action would be taken. This would have been all well and good and we might even have forgotten about the incident had the FA not charged Shaun Wright-Philips with violent conduct just a day later.

Once upon a time, Tottenham Hotspur had a foreign boss, well Spurs have had five bosses and it hasn't always been a fairytale, at least not until they leave.

Believe me, I have looked at the facts, life after White Hart Lane tends to be pretty good for foreign bosses but it is the end of the road for English managers.

Well only because Blackburn Rovers aren't a bigger club than Tottenham, otherwise let's face it, Spurs fans would be wetting themselves.

According to Harry Redknapp, this will be the last job of his career? I don't know about that but it will be the best as no Spurs boss has gone on to bigger things since Terry Venable's in 1991.

Anyway, back to these five foreign managers.

There are many transitions in a young footballers career with none more important than fulfilling ones potential but unfortunately not all young players can follow that road.

Many instead go from promising hard working kids into a stage that can only be described as "spoiled brats" and for me, two young Barclays Premier League players proved this week, they are on the wrong road.

Charles N'Zogbia was once described by Sir Bobby Charlton as "gifted" and you'd be hard pushed to disagree but as we all know, being gifted just isn't enough.

His reported refusal to pull on a Newcastle United shirt is a slap in the face to loyal Newcastle United fans (apology or no apology) who have kept coming to watch their, in all honesty, poor side, for prices most families could never afford. He has a contract that those fans help pay for that states he is a Newcastle player. What makes Charles N'Zogbia think he is above that?

The Frenchman has only ever showed glimpses of his true potential in the black and white of Newcastle and has hardly spilt enough blood for the club (like Shay Given) to be honoured in a way that would see the Magpies stand aside to let him choose his own future.