European Transfer List: Five biggest January movers so far

European Leagues / Michael Lintorn / 27 January 2012 / Leave a Comment

Maxwell was Paris St-Germain's first major signing under Carlo Ancelotti

"Most of the exciting transfer speculation to have done the rounds this month has involved the [1.41] Ligue 1 favourites, with Carlos Tevez, Kaka and Alexandre Pato among the big names linked."

It has been a fairly dull window, and even the final days threaten to underwhelm with Carlos Tevez now judged unlikely to move. Michael Lintorn picks out five high-profile transfers that actually have taken place...

Gary Cahill (Bolton to Chelsea, £7 million)
Chelsea conceded as many goals in the first half of this season (24) as they did throughout four of the last seven campaigns. To solve that problem, they opted to reunite John Terry with an England colleague. One advantage of buying from Bolton is that there's no need to worry about Champions League ineligibility; they are [16.0] to win that competition.

Maxwell (Barcelona to Paris St-Germain, £3.35 million)
Most of the exciting transfer speculation to have done the rounds this month has involved the [1.41] Ligue 1 favourites, with Carlos Tevez, Kaka and Alexandre Pato among the big names linked since Carlo Ancelotti's arrival. Their first signing wasn't quite as glamorous, with the defence strengthened by the capture of Barcelona's Brazilian left back.

Jose Antonio Reyes (Atletico Madrid to Sevilla, £2.9 million)
Reyes once changed clubs for a sum rising to £17 million in January, and though the fee for his latest switch doesn't come close to that, it's been the standout deal of a very quiet Spanish window. The 28-year-old returns to his local side, while his former employers have welcomed back an icon of their own, hiring Diego Simeone as coach.

Papiss Cisse (Freiburg to Newcastle, £10 million)
At the start of 2012, it seemed like the only chance of Newcastle appearing on this list was by selling one of their stars, but instead caught everyone off guard with the eight-figure purchase of one of the most prolific players in the Bundesliga over the last 18 months. The Senegalese striker is [2.9] to help the Magpies maintain their top-six position.

Eduardo Vargas (Universidad de Chile to Napoli, £11.5 million)
Five Napoli starters hail from South America, not to mention their idol Diego Maradona, and it is hoped that Vargas will be their latest hero from the continent. The Chilean forward has arrived for a hefty amount from Copa Sudamericana winners Universidad de Chile, yet Walter Mazzarri plans to bed him in slowly after a poor debut against Cesena.

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Man Utd Transfers: The verdict on their biggest English buys

Premier League / Michael Lintorn / 27 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Rio Ferdinand has set a high standard for new arrival Phil Jones to match

"There is something incongruous about Carrick’s duel role as a fairly frequent starter for the reigning Premier League champions yet struggle to even make the England squad, where the likes of Scott Parker and Gareth Barry are favoured."

Manchester United's decision to spend in excess of £15 million on both Phil Jones and Ashley Young was a rather significant show of faith, given that the Red Devils have only spent such sums on four English players in the past. How did those guys fare? Michael Lintorn investigates...

Rio Ferdinand
The Red Devils paid around £30 million to sign Ferdinand from Leeds in 2002 after he excelled for England at the 2002 World Cup. While there have been a few rough patches in the nine years since, such as his eight-month ban in 2004 for a missed drug test and his hefty demands when negotiating a new contract a year later, his contribution to their performance in that period, which has included five Premier League titles, cannot be underestimated.
Success of signing: 9/10

Wayne Rooney
Rooney was also purchased after a star showing in an international tournament, netting four times in four games at Euro 2004 to earn a move to Old Trafford for a fee in the region of £27 million. Early on, he played second fiddle to first Ruud van Nistelrooy and then Cristiano Ronaldo, but delivered when anointed the main man in 2009-10. That was the sole campaign in seven though in which he scored 20 in the Premier League and averaged more than a goal every two matches.
Success of signing: 6/10

Michael Carrick
There is something incongruous about Carrick's duel role as a fairly frequent starter for the reigning Premier League champions yet struggle to even make the England squad, as the likes of Scott Parker and Gareth Barry are favoured. However, while his impact if often underappreciated, a record of four titles in five seasons under Sir Alex Ferguson's guidance can't be knocked, and has more than covered the £18.6 million shelled out to take him from Tottenham.
Success of signing: 7/10

Owen Hargreaves
Of the quartet, Hargreaves is the one most will judge the biggest flop, despite being the cheapest at £17 million, having made just 18 top-flight starts in four years prior to his release this summer, but he was integral in his debut campaign. He fired the fantastic free-kick that saw off Arsenal in perhaps the decisive match in arguably the toughest of their 12 Premier League triumphs and shone in their only Champions League win this century, to ensure that he will be remembered fondly by fans.
Success of signing: 5/10

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Tony G Wins Biggest Pot of His Life

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 18 April 2011 / Leave a Comment

Tony G, not John Eames

Antanas Guoga, better known as the loud-mouthed Tony G, is one of poker biggest characters. His opinionated and often obnoxious trash talking at the table creates a larger-than-life image. Now he is winning pots even larger than his substantial ego, this won being more than £63,000!

Over the weekend he was one of the players who took part in the "Big Game V," a 48-hour cash game that was played with blinds of £25/£50, though most hands started with a £100 straddle with some even having a £200 double-straddle! He was joined by the likes of Roland De Wolfe, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Roberto Romanello and Mike Matusow at the Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham where tens of thousands were won and lost for the duration of the 48 hours.

Tony G was nicely in profit for the weekend but after a massive hand where his overbet shove was called in two spots he become the player with the most profit in the Big Game V. In the hand Tony G's fellow Lithuanian Kristijonas Andrulis raised to £150 and when the Dusk Till Dawn founder, Rob Yong looked down at QsQh he made it £700 to play. After a couple of folds Martins Adeniya came along for the ride holding AdKd. With the action then on Tony G he checked his cards, AsAh, and announced he was all in, a huge over-bet an a bet that covered both players. Yong made the call for £19,500 and after much deliberation Adeniya called off his £21,825! Both players looked disgusted when Tony G turned over the bullets and when the board ran out 9h-2s-3c-9d-8h and the £63,350 pot slid in the direction of Tony G. "This is the greatest show in the world" said the Lithuanian amongst other brags and mini rubdowns as he stacked his chips high.

The charismatic Tony G has long cited that he is one of the world's best cash game players but he is also no slouch when it comes to live tournaments as he has already won close to $4,400,000 in his career, despite not having a single cash $600,000 or over. He never lacks confidence but now he has won the biggest pot of life it will be interesting to see if he goes to the upcoming World Series of Poker and walk away with a bracelet and a $1,000,000+ score.

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Betfair Ascot Chase Betting: Theatre ready to take his place on the biggest stage

Ante-post / Harry Bowles / 17 February 2011 / Leave a Comment

Riverside Theatre is fancied to prove too strong for Pride of Dulcote

Pride of Dulcote plainly remains with plenty of potential, but this will clearly demand more and, as more of a staying type, the drop back in trip is most unlikely to come as naturally to him as it will Riverside Theatre.

The National Hunt season has had more than a stop-start feel to it thus far, with all the abandonments of December rolling into January and then the unfortunate events at Newbury last weekend. Here's hoping that the rearranged meeting at the Berkshire track on Friday and Ascot's big card on Saturday signal the return of the show to the road.

The headline race is the twenty-one furlong Grade 1 Ascot Chase and the bulk of attention will be centred on Riverside Theatre and Pride of Dulcote representing the powerhouse stables of Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls respectively. Riverside Theatre has progressed plenty from his novice campaign in two starts at Kempton this season, winning a minor event in November before a fine second to stablemate Long Run in the rearranged King George last month. That looks the most convincing piece of recent form brought to the table here and he must have strong claims of gaining a first Grade 1 success with the shorter trip certainly no inconvenience.

Pride of Dulcote was a smart hurdler who suffered a splint problem after making a winning chasing debut in early-2009/10, but he came back to make it two from two over fences with a narrow defeat of Punchestowns at Newbury over Christmas. He plainly remains with plenty of potential, but this will clearly demand more and, as more of a staying type, the drop back in trip is most unlikely to come as naturally to him as it will Riverside Theatre.

After a brace of wins in the Peterborough Chase at Newbury and a Grade 3 at Cheltenham, Tartak has to come into the reckoning somewhere along the line, even if it's just for place purposes. He's responded well to the fitting of a tongue strap in getting back to winning ways and these are his conditions. Worthy of respect on that basis, though the suspicion is that he'll always prove vulnerable at the highest level.

Big Fella Thanks was a smart chaser for Paul Nicholls who was fourth in last season's Grand National (stamina seemingly just stretched) and will surely have that race as his target once again. Returned with good second in minor event at Carlisle before falling at the third in Hennessy. This race is sure to be used as a stepping stone to Aintree, so it remains to be seen if he's cherry ripe for the day.

With only Tataniano to look up to amongst last season's crop of novices, French Opera might be considered a leading player. There's just a suspicion that a tough campaign has left a mark of some kind after an uncharacteristically tame reappearance effort at Sandown last month. Clearly he can't be written off wholesale just yet, but it's certainly fair to say the yard appears to hold considerably stronger claims with Riverside Theatre.

Deep Purple won the Charlie Hall and Peterborough Chase last term and ran just as well when third in former race this season. Possibly amiss at Newbury next time and he's got a bit to prove now, something which is true to varying degrees of all of the remainder.

After serving notice that he can play a major role at the top table when runner-up in the King George, it's very difficult to overlook Riverside Theatre in this line-up, the substance to his form all the more appealing than the residual potential of Pride of Dulcote.

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Back Riverside Theatre to win the Betfair Ascot Chase

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