New Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez is continuing his pursuit of his Northern Ireland team members having already signed Aaron Hughes. This time he has secured the services of Villa midfielder Steven Davis.

Davis has moved to Craven Cottage after spending a season under the management of fellow countryman Martin O’Neill. Davis struggled to hold down a regular place in the Villa midfield.

Sanchez made Davis the youngest captain of Northern Ireland during his reign as an International manager. Neither Fulham or Aston Villa have disclosed the details of the deal but the transfer fee is believed to be around £4million.

The temporary arrangement that saw Sanchez take charge at Premiership strugglers Fulham which the Irish Football Association were reluctant to agree to has been made permanent.

The lure of day to day management and the finances put up by Fulham chairman Mohammed Al Fayed was too much for the former Wycombe Wanderers manager.

Sanchez has been put on a rolling ‘indefinite’ contract now that he has secured Fulham’s place in the top flight. He is looking forward to the challenges that will face him next season. Sanchez has spurned the opportunity of being the first manager to take Northern Ireland to a major Championship finals for more than twenty years.

Jim Boyce and the IFA have to search for a suitable replacement to guide who can guide them Euro 2008 qualification.

A poor run of form has cost Fulham Manager Chris Coleman his job, Coleman had been hailed earlier in the season for being one of the refreshing young managerial talents in the Premiership, but his side have not won a game in seven attempts and they are now just four points from the relegation zone.

Coleman and his assistant Steve Kean are to be replaced with immediate effect by Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez, after Fulham reached an agreement with the IFA for Sanchez to look after the team until the end of the season.

The official statement from Fulham “Chris Coleman has provided a fantastic service during his ten years at the club and it is disappointing that the club has no alternative but to part company.”

The used Coleman’s failure to achieve the clubs goals as their reason for sacking the Welshman, “As a team and organisation Fulham Football Club has goals to attain and success to achieve and by no means can this be compromised.”

Coleman took the reigns in four years ago as caretaker when Jean Tigana left the south west London club, in his 176 games he won 61 drew 44 and lost 71, however he has helped keep the club in the top flight using the minimal resources available to him.

Having agreed a three–year deal last summer with Mohammed Al Fayed and Fulham, French sportswear brand Airness had a platform to introduce their wares to the British public and global television audiences.

However with deliveries not arriving after the season had started two months Fulham had lost a lot of revenue from merchandise sales. Could this poor performance by Airness have triggered a get out clause for Fulham? Manager Chris Coleman was wearing a Nike training top with club crest and main sponsors Pipex’s logo emblazoned across key areas during the 2-1 defeat against Manchester United for the whole world to see. As were his whole backroom staff on the Fulham bench.

Fulham have no stock of the Airness home kit on their website or in the club megastore and away kit stock is running low. The site also says that the Airness kit will “meet the needs of the players and supporters”. They have already disappointed the supporters by not having the strip before the season started and again by running out of stock. All signs point to a change of kit manufacturer at the end of the current season and with the backroom staff wearing Nike already it looks like a done deal.

Could Nike be looking to capitalise on the American influence in SW6, by sponsoring the club and selling shirts both in the UK and in the States.

George Gillett has decided to take advantage of the collapse of the negotiations between Dubai International Capital and the Liverpool board, to launch his bid to become the third American to buy an English premier league club. With Randy Lerner at Aston Villa and the Glazers at Manchester United.

The DIC bid was worth £450M in total with only about 150M of that being used for buying out the share holders. The remainder would be spent on new players as Rafa Benitez requires and a new stadium as the capacity of Anfield is limiting the club’s income as they could easily sell 70000 seats for home games.

The Gillett bid is believed to be worth more to the share holders with reports in the media of it being an extra £500 a share; which the board are duty bound to consider as they have to answer to their share holders not the fans. However the source of the revenue for the Americans bid is not as transparent as that of DIC who have the worlds eighth richest man at the helm and a queue of investment banks willing to lend him anything he requires as he has the assets to back it. The sixty-nine year old American on the other hand has already been bankrupt fifteen years ago, but has since risen like a phoenix from the flames and has built his empire with the Montreal Canadiens the jewel in the crown.

There have also been rumours of Tom Hicks supporting the deal, the Texan owns the Texas Rangers, and could provide much needed financial support in the potential $850 000 000 deal.

Should the deal be finalised Liverpool would be the seventh premiership club to be foreign owned including three of the top four. As Chelsea, AstonVilla, Manchester United, West Ham, Fulham and Portsmouth all have foreign ownership. Can it be good for the English game?

Glen Roeder has bolstered his injury-ravaged defence by adding American World Cup star known as Gooch. Onyewu will be looking to impress during his spell at the Toon in the hope of securing a permanent deal in summer.

Having put in a solid display at last year’s World Cup in Germany he attracted admirers from all over Europe; Chelsea and Real Madrid to name a few. He almost moved to the Magpies nearest premiership rivals Middlesbrough in the summer but the deal fell through. Fulham manager Chris Coleman had also expressed an interest and with the US contingent at the club the move looked to be a done deal but it never came to fruition.

The draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup takes Blackpool or Norwich to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea, there is an all Championship tie between Plymouth and Derby ensuring a lower league team will be in the quarter finals. There is a London derby where Fulham play Spurs at craven cottage.

Bristol City or Middlesbrough will host West Bromwich Albion, while Arsenal or Bolton face another tough tie after their replay when they will be at home to Blackburn Rovers.

 The complete draw is below: 

Chelsea v Blackpool or Norwich
Watford v Ipswich Town
Preston v Manchester City
Plymouth v Derby County
Manchester United v Reading
Arsenal or Bolton v Blackburn
Middlesbrough or Bristol City v West Brom
Fulham v Tottenham

Just a year after leaving England for his homeland, following spells on loan at Portsmouth and Charlton while being part of the Russian revolution at Chelsea, Alexei Smertin has secured a deal to bring him back to South West London. To Chelsea’s neighbours Fulham.

Fulham boss Chris Coleman has secured the Russian midfielder on a two and half year deal at Craven Cottage, as he continues his transfer window trading.

Welsh wing wizard Simon Davies has decided that he has had enough of living in the Valleys and travelling to Merseyside to play for Everton.

The 27 year old has secured a move to work under fellow Welshman Chris Coleman At Fulham. Coleman has been busy during the Transfer window, bringing Montella, Dempsey and now Davies, while selling Luis Boa Morte and trying to find Collins John a new club after his agent indicated that he no longer wanted to be at the club.

Davies could feature in this weekends FA Cup fixture against Stoke City as he had not played in the competition for Everton.

Chris Coleman has not let his interest in American international Oguchi ‘Gooch’ Onyewu. The defender has been to the Cottage and had a look around the clubs training facilities in Raynes Park.

The problem appears to be the players current club’s valuation of the player, it is believed that Belgian club Standard Liege are holding out for a fee of around £1M. Gooch will be a welcome addition for Coleman who would appreciate having more defensive cover. Along with the imminent arrival of Clint Dempsey it appears that there is an every growing colony of Americans in South West London.