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Paper Talk
Contract rebel Raheem Sterling was heckled yesterday at the launch of Liverpool's new kit.
Jonas Gutierrez is close to earning a new contract at Newcastle by triggering an appearance clause.
Newcastle have joined Burnley in the race for Carlisle midfielder Kyle Dempsey.
Birmingham are set to finally cash in on Demarai Gray this summer - with Bournemouth leading the race for his signature.
Norwich will make sign Graham Dorrans on a permanent deal from West Brom in the summer.
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has ordered his stars to keep their cool in tomorrow's derby or face his wrath.
Martin Skrtel is unsure about his Liverpool future.
Raheem Sterling was heckled by a Liverpool fan yesterday as he helped to launch the club's new kit.
Roberto Martinez has told Aaron Lennon to keep impressing if he wants to earn a permanent move to Everton.
Louis van Gaal believes beating Manchester City could propel Manchester United to a top-three finish in the Barclays Premier League.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho insists Eden Hazard is in a one-horse race to win the player of the season award.
Martin Skrtel has revealed his contract talks at Liverpool have been put on hold until the summer.
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini insists he is not worried about losing his job this summer.
Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has insisted it will only be a matter of time before Harry Kane outgrows Tottenham.
Jonas Gutierrez will not be offered a new contract by Newcastle.
Dick Advocaat has not ruled out the possibility of staying at Sunderland beyond the end of his short-term contract.
Former Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston has warned the club may have to abandon its crest and start afresh to beat Mike Ashley in the battle for its identity.
BBC
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Manchester City are willing to offer Samir Nasri, 27, and Edin Dzeko, 29, to Juventus so they can bring 22-year-old midfielder Paul Pogba to the club this summer. (Daily Star)
However, Manchester United have, according to news website Tuttomercatoweb, requested face-to-face talks with the Italian club over the possibility of bringing Pogba back to Old Trafford three years after he left on a free transfer. (Daily Express)
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, 24, expects to move to United this summer with Dortmund team-mate Mats Hummels, 26, also attracting interest from Reds boss Louis van Gaal. (Daily Mail)
Jose Mourinho has admitted that the club sometimes have to consider commercial activities after reports that Chelsea will bid for FC Tokyo's 22-year-old Japan striker Yoshinori Muto. (London Evening Standard)
Martin Skrtel, 30, is happy to wait until the summer to discuss a new contract with Liverpool with just over a year remaining on the Slovakian defender's current deal. (Liverpool Echo)
Meanwhile, forward Raheem Sterling, 20, will not sign a new contract at Anfield this season as he waits to see what offers come his way this summer. (ESPN FC)
Arsenal are keen on signing 18-year-old Benfica forward Goncalo Guedes but will have to pay £40m to bring him to the Emirates. (Metro)
OTHER GOSSIP
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino thinks Aston Villa and ex-Spurs boss Tim Sherwood deserves a good reception from Spurs fans when the two sides meet at White Hart Lane on Saturday, for the first time since Sherwood's sacking last May. (Talksport)
Argentina great Diego Maradona has attacked Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal over his handling of striker Radamel Falcao, 29, claiming the Reds boss is "closer to the devil himself". (Guardian)
QPR manager Chris Ramsey has refuted claims from predecessor Harry Redknapp that there is infighting at the west London club. (Daily Mirror)
Burnley's players will receive £200,000 each if they survive relegation from the Premier League this season. (Sun - subscription)
BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Chelsea captain John Terry posted a photo on Instagram of his selections for the PFA team of the year, naming Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho as his player of the year, and Spurs' Harry Kane as the season's best young player.
Manchester City's Micah Richards, on loan at Fiorentina, used Instagram to wish City's Vincent Kompany a happy 29th birthday, referring to the Belgian as "El capitano".
Sheffield United manager Nigel Clough joined 150 other people to sleep rough at the club's Bramall Lane ground for charity.
AND FINALLY
Before Sunday's Manchester derby, Manchester United fan Stephen Howson provided live Twitter updates from his tour of City's Etihad Stadium while dressed in a vintage United shirt - until asked to stop by City staff. (Manchester Evening News)
Liverpool's Raheem Sterling was heckled while appearing at the club's unveiling of their kit for next season, with a fan shouting "Make sure we see you in it next season"" (Liverpool Echo)
C&H
Brady confirms signings policy
Karren Brady has confirmed there will be up to five new faces at the Boleyn next season as the club gears up to deepen the existing squad.
The vice-chairman has repeated what ClaretandHugh reported from its own sources several weeks ago when we revealed that two of them would be global names.
At that time one was believed to be Alex Song but there are now some doubts over the midfielder’s form and consistency.
However, David Sullivan and David Gold are ready to push out the boat again as they prepare for a last season at the Boleyn, the possibility of European football and life at the Olympic Stadium.
Brady, 46, said in her Sun column: “With at least four or five new players this summer, I can see us being even more of a force.”
London24
‘I am not fed up’ Sam Allardyce hits back at owner and fan criticism
Brad Pinard
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is not paying attention to rumours about his future or criticism from any angle.
Groups of Hammers fans are hoping for a change of manager in the summer and owners David Gold and David Sullivan have both aired their frustration at results since the turn of the year.
Allardyce though is only focussed on his job in hand and wants to get on with managing the ‘madness’ that is the football side of a club.
“I am not fed up,” Allardyce claimed.
“I don’t get involved with what happens in the outside world. My world is this area of looking after the football department at West Ham.
“When you venture into another area you affect your own mind. You can become complacent after praise and fearful after criticism.
“We have to manage the madness of football and that’s what we do.
“If you stand still you fail at this level and you must invest continuously.”
Reports suggest Gold and Sullivan are yet to make a decision on Allardyce’s future with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
However Big Sam believes he has done more than enough to be rewarded after fulfilling every task that has been put his way.
“For me, I sit in this seat to do my job to the best of my ability” he said.
“Have I delivered what I have been asked to deliver? Yes.
“Would I do anything different, yes, but have we grown the club? Yes?
“Have we got a better team going towards the new stadium? Yes.
“Is it a younger team? Yes. Do we create more entertainment? Yes.
“When results don’t go as well, criticism comes your way but we forget how much praise we get too.
“We have had far more praise than criticism from what we have achieved. Of course we are disappointed in results, but the performances have been right up there. But only the top line matters.”
OS
From the Dugout - Big Sam
We face Stoke City at the Boleyn Ground today and it’s an important match for us as we need to turn the good recent performances into results.
We’ve built up a big expectaction this year and that’s the nature and demand of the football club. Clearly when you’ve built that expectation when you don’t reach the standards you’ve set there’s a bigger disappointment there because everyone has been looking forward to it so much and it hasn’t quite delivered what excited them earlier in the season.
That disappointment can frustrate over into showing a little bit of discontent. But that happens across the board.
When we drew against Man Utd we were applauded off and when we lost to Chelsea we were applauded off – the atmosphere throughout the game was fantastic. We weren’t criticised at all but we hadn’t won for them. They appreciated the performance. When we don’t play as well against teams they expect us to do, like when we were 3-0 down against Crystal Palace, you expect to be criticised.
We shouldn’t have gone 3-0 down to Crystal Palace, but we did. The Premier League is accepted as the best league across the world because Manchester City have just lost to Burnley away and just lost to Crystal Palace away. In this league you cannot come into any game expecting to win it if you don’t perform to your best.
If you don’t the top club could lose to the bottom club at any stage of the season.
I’ve been reminding the players for weeks and weeks and weeks that performances are fine, but we’re in a results business and we’re really disappointed that we’ve allowed this run of games to get us in this position. The bottom line is we know it’s not good enough. We can keep going on about performances as much as we want, but performances have to equate to winning football matches. For us that’s what we all want – starting today.
Sam Allardyce
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