Sam Allardyce has signed Joey Barton for a fee of £5.8m from Manchester City, there had been some issues in completing the deal as City were reluctant to pay Barton a fee believed to be in the region of £300k.

Barton leaves the Eastlands stadium following a training ground row with Ousmane Dabo. The 24 year olds career has been blighted with incidents that have earned him a reputation of being a trouble maker. He will no doubt look to a fresh start in the north east an look to become a hero to the toon faithful.

The Tinkerman Claudio Ranieri has decided to turn down the offer of working at the Eastlands stadium and take over the sterling work of Stuart Pearce, in order to resume the mantle of Didier Deschamps.

Ranieri was thought to be the chosen one of the consortium bidding to buy City. His appointment at Juve has been welcomed by goal keeper Gigi Buffon who said Ranieri was “the right choice”.

Former Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce has fired a parting shot at the Manchester City board. Pearce feels that he was treated like a caretaker manager during his tenure at the Eastlands.

Pearce believes that he received no financial backing from the board. Which reduced his spending capacity in the transfer windows, making him unable to attract the talent that was required to turn City into a success.

Defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur and the Joey Barton debacle appear to be the straw that broke the camels back for the Manchester City board.

With the club failing to score at home since new years day and a constant stream of rumours coming from the dressing room, there has been a lot of talk about Pearce’s future.

Manchester City confirmed Pearce’s immediate departure on the clubs website. Pearce has been at the club for six years, he joined to learn his trade from Kevin Keegan, then Pearce stepped in to the breach when Keegan left in 2005.

There will be a number of managers with Premiership pedigree looking to fill the vacancy, Chris Coleman, Sam Allardyce, Glenn Roeder and Paul Jewell are all currently seeking employment. The favourite has to be Jewell, having demonstrated his ability to work on a shoe string at a small club, he would relish the opportunity to work at a bigger club where he could build a team for the future.

Tottenham Hotspur new they needed at least a point from the final game of the season against a Joey Barton-less Manchester City to ensure they qualified for UEFA cup football for the second year running.

Spurs were sporting next years 125 year anniversary all white kit For the final game of this campaign. The home side set about reaching their European goal and on ten minutes the reunited Keane and Berbatov partnership opened its account. Jermaine Jenas chipped a delightful ball over the Manchester City defence springing their offside trap. The ball fell for Ireland captain Robbie Keane to volley the lilywhites in front

Manchester City had their opportunities, forcing brilliant saves from Paul Robinson but it was Dimitar Berbatov who scored the games second goal. As the Bulgarian striker tried to make room in the City area for a Spurs shot, the ball broke lose and he clinically struck it past Isaksson, to give Spurs a two-goal advantage.

Tottenham leaked their trademark soft headed goal five minutes before half time. Emile Mpenza found himself unmarked at the back post and he coolly headed home the goal that brought City back in to the game.

The second half was not without incident Jermain Defoe on as a substitute for Keane missed a penalty after Didier Zokora was brought down in the box by City captain Richard Dunne. Isaksson dived the right way and saved the kick, and Defoe was unable to steer the rebound under the bar.

Spurs finish fifth for the second year running, this season however they managed to perform in the cups as well making a semi-final and two quarter-finals which was a vast improvement on last season. Next season will only be a success if Spurs manage to crack the dominance of the big four.

The player most Liverpool fans call ‘God’ will be leaving the club he calls home at the end of this season for the second and probably final time as a player.

Fowler will be hoping to finish on a high, helping the Reds of Anfield over come AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League final on the 23rd May.

The former Leeds United and Manchester City striker will take stock over the close season and decide what he will do with his future. He could move to America and join David Beckham and former team mate Claudio Reyna in the MLS. Alternatively he could retire and manage the vast property empire that he was clever enough to acquire during his time as a player.

With the Premiership clubs expecting bumper television revenues from both domestic and overseas right deals and with the ever increasing merchandising opportunities. There has never been a better time to invest in or take over an English Premiership Club.

Manchester City appear to be next in line, following the lead of Liverpool, West Ham United and Aston Villa who have all succumbed to the lure of foreign funds this season. The City board have have announced to the London Stock Exchange that there are ‘third parties’ interested in investing in the club.

Manager Stuart Pearce will welcome any investment, especially if it allows him to invest in new talent during the summer transfer window.

Looking for the FA Cup Semi-Final Draw?

There will be smiles on the faces of the managers of the big three this afternoon after they witnessed the draw for the quarter-final of the FA Cup sponsored by EON, as they all managed to elude each other again.

Granted Manchester United will have to get past a tricky away trip to Reading in order to face Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. Similarly Arsenal have to travel to Ewood Park and over come Blackburn Rovers before playing host to Manchester City.

Chelsea have a home tie against Tottenham Hotspur who knocked out their south London neighbours Fulham. The last draw of the round is between two of the countries young managers Ian Holloway of Championship side Plymouth and Aidy Boothroyd of Premiership strugglers Watford.

Sixth round draw in full:
Middlesbrough or West Brom v Manchester United or Reading
Arsenal or Blackburn v Manchester City
Chelsea v Tottenham
Plymouth v Watford

In Steve McClaren’s first squad of 2007 there are a number of surprise inclusions in comparison to his last gathering. He has named twenty-eight players in the squad for the midweek friendly against Spain, expecting that some players will drop out with knocks from games over the weekend.

There are a number of players that will be doing their best to ensure that they are not injured Barton, Barry, Dyer and a Woodgate; Barton because it is his first call up to the full squad, Barry, Dyer and Woodgate will hope to shine in their first call up under McClaren having endured a while in international exile.

Johnson, Terry and Owen Hargreaves are all just back from injuries and straight in to international duty.

Full squad:

Goalkeepers:
Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic), Ben Foster (Manchester United).

Defenders:
Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Gary Neville (Manchester United), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Phil Neville (Everton), Jonathan Woodgate (Real Madrid).

Midfielders:
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Scott Parker (Newcastle United), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle United), Joey Barton (Manchester City).

Forwards:
Andy Johnson (Everton), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur).

Manchester City’s eleventh hour bid to sign Spurs striker was foiled half an hour before the transfer window closed. City sent their medical team to Ashburton Grove to give the Egyptian striker a medical.

After being beaten by Arsenal in the Carling Cup Semi-Final Tottenham Manager Martin Jol decided that he wanted to keep Mido at the Lane. Probably because he was unable to find a suitable replacement and did not want to panic buy like he has done with strikers previously, buying Mido and Rasiak.