Scotland defender and former Hearts captain Steven Pressley has decided to snub a move to the premiership in favour of staying in Scotland to join Glasgow Celtic.

Pressley indicated that his relationship with manager Gordon Strachan and prestige of the club were his motivating factors for moving across the M8 from Edinburgh to Glasgow, following his acrimonious split with Hearts.

The new Charlton Athletic manager Alan Pardew is ready to make his first signing since taking the helm at the Valley. His target is former Hearts captain Steven Pressley, who is available on a free transfer following his acrimonious split with Heart of Midlothian after a row with owner Vladimir Romanov.

The Scottish international would help shore up the leaky Charlton defence as Pardew looks to deliver the club to safety. However the Addicks are not the only club in the chase for the defender’s services, SPL champions Celtic would like him to ply his trade at Parkhead even though he would be unable to contribute to the Bhoys successful European Champions League campaign.

Pressley may fancy a move south of the border however he may not choose to go to a premier league club that look like they are in free fall, especially if managers from more secure clubs are knocking at his door.

Leeds United have announced that the Elland Road stadium they call home has been sold to a company based in the British Virgin Islands. Teak Trading Company has bought the ground from Jacob Alder.

The Elland Road faithful have nothing to worry about, as along with the transfer of the deeds, the clubs right to buy back the 40,000 capacity stadium has also been transferred. Allowing the club to own their ground when they are in the financial position to do so.

Injuries can hurt even the most equipped of footballing sides. It appears that this is the case even at a club that has a whole constellation of stars like Chelsea.

Cech is still making a recovery from the head injury that he received against Reading, the same game that Carlo Cudicini suffered an injury that has had him out of the side and forced the Blues to sign Magnus Hedman as cover.

Arjen Robben and Joe Cole are providing Mourinho with massive constraints on his attacking options that are compounded by Shevchenko being possibly the most consistent under performer in the premiership this season.

The most problematic though is the loss of captain marvellous John Terry who has missed the festive fixtures through a back injury. His replacement Khalid Boulahrouz has cost his side a number of goals that have allowed Manchester United to remain ahead of the Champions. Mourinho is still unsure just how long his main man will be unavailable for, with reports saying it could be anything up to 12 weeks.

The club owner and provider of many millions Roman Abramovich has already indicated that he wants to see more product from the clubs academy rather than having to pay massively inflated prices for players.

How will the ‘Special One’ cope? Will he hold out his begging bowl and use the Oil Merchant’s money to plug the gaps in his squad. Will players want to go to Chelsea and risk ruining their career, and becoming an expensive bench warmer like Shaun Wright-Phillips. There are no shortage of clubs who are prepared to sell their stars for a handsome profit. Similarly there are just as many looking to capitalise on massive depreciation in Chelsea players when they are sold on, like Newcastle did when they bought Damien Duff for £5m when three years previously he moved to Stamford Bridge for £17m.

Midfield maestro Tom Huddlestone has signed a new four-year and a half year deal keeping him at the club until 2011. He joined the club in January 2005 and has had loan stints with Derby County and Wolves.

The nineteen year old has often figured in the heart of the Spurs midfield this season in all competitions. He has scored three goals in this campaign in fifteen appearances.

Les Reed left his post as Charlton manager by mutual agreement, giving him a place in the premiership history books as the manager with the shortest tenure so far, just 41 days and eight games.

Reed has been immediately replaced by Alan Pardew, who was a recent casualty of the Icelandic take over at West Ham United, Pardew has a mountain to climb if he is to save the club from relegtion. He is rumoured to have a bonus of a million pounds if he can save the club from the clutches of the Championship.

Pardew had expected a quiet Christmas in front of the television, but after receiving a call from the chairman. Pardew admits it was an easy decision to make as the valley is a home from home with friendly faces from his days there as a player.

He has the January transfer window to equip himself with the personnel needed to fight for survival. He also believes that former Addicks manager Alan Curbishley has what is needed to guide his old club to safety. Which must mean that two of Wigan, Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United will join bottom club in the drop to the Championship.

Giant killers Southend United saw their fantastic Carling Cup run come to a dramatic end. They had punched well above their weight in the previous round against premiership leaders Manchester United, when a Freddy Eastwood free kick was the difference between the sides.

The Seasiders started just as they had left off in the last round. Similarly Tottenham played as if they were away from home. Which many of the fans had put down to officials moving their most vocal supporters around the ground to accommodate the travelling support from Essex.

There were few moments for either set of supporters to get excited about. Crowd favourite Tom Huddlestone showed one or two flashes of his passing ability and how well he can strike the ball. There were one or two goalmouth incidents that ended with the goalkeepers coming out on top; Flahavan made some excellent saves that could put him in the same January shop window as Eastwood, but the game finished a draw forcing extra-time.

The extra-time was just as drab as the game that preceded it, with a penalty shoo-out on the cards. Until Jermain Defoe slid the ball home from less than three yards from the goal.

Scott Parker’s dream of receiving nasty text messages from his predecessor Alan Shearer was cruelly shattered by Didier Drogba. In a game where both sides were depleted due to injuries the champions demonstrated their class by dominating the proceedings, however it took their striker supreme to come off the bench for a second time to secure their place in the Carling Cup Semi Finals.

Jose Mourinho could only watch as his expensive Ukrainian striker Shevchenko drew yet another blank. Shevchenko could find himself in the January bargain basement if he is unable to find some kind of form over the crucial Christmas period.

Charlton Athletic continued their desperate run of form crashing out of the Carling Cup to a side from League Two. Les Reed will be wondering if the board will stand by him or if he will suffer the same fate as Iain Dowie. He may well be one of the most qualified coaches in the game; but from recent performances he has not demonstrated that he has the ability to motivate top-flight footballers when it matters most.

Paul Lambert’s side dictated the play to the Premiership side. Forcing a number of great saves from Addicks keeper Scott Carson, eventually the pressure brought the visitors a goal and a deserved lead through a Jermaine Easter strike. Easter has scored in every round of the competition so far and will be hoping that he can help his side get through the semi finals.

Lambert had no problem in motivating his side, employing Martin O’Neill ethos “I am a great believer, as Martin O’Neill used to say at Celtic, if your in something you may as well go and try and win it.”
Charlton did not have their strongest side out but it was a team sheet littered with big names, who can and should have done better. They didn’t and Les Reed will have to find some inspiration under his Christmas tree if he is to guide his side to safety.

With the other game postponed due to bad weather, Paul Lambert and his team can sit and watch the other games to see who they might face in the semi-finals next year.

Alan Curbishley achieved in one game with his new club West Ham United something he was unable to do in fifteen years at Charlton. He managed to beat them in the Premiership.

He has been in charge for less than a week and has had a number of fitness and injury worries to deal with. With nothing to lose he set his side up to play 4-4-2 as opposed to the 4-5-1 system that he had favoured at Charlton.

The hammers were completely out played by the league leaders with Giggs and Ronaldo their main tormentors. Although Ronaldo inflated the shooting stats by trying his luck from almost anywhere much to the annoyance of Saha and Rooney.

Curbishley brought off Zamora for United old boy Teddy Sheringham to hold up the ball and pose their defence a few problems. However it was his strike partner Marlon Harewood that disrupted the united defence and set up club captain Nigel Reo-Coker to score the goal that won the game for his current manager although in the press conference after the game he dedicated the strike to former manager Alan Pardew, who must have been asking himself how the same players that were destroyed by Bolton last week could beat the league leaders this week. A question that the players should be asking themselves in the wake of Pardew’s dismissal last week.