Revealed: Arsene Wenger's Letter to a Fed Up Fan

It's not always common that you find a football club manager taking his time to respond to a disenchanted fan who is complaining about why a club finished a season poorly, why the club hasn't won a trophy for years, why the best players want to leave and why there seems to be little interest to do whatever possible to bring in marquee names that can help a club end an embarrassing title drought.

Well, Arsenal Manager Arsene Charles Ernest Wenger found himself doing exactly this. Below is the letter that "le Proffesor" sent to unidentified fan in early June.

NB: Click the picture to open in new window for clearer view

And That's thesteifmastertake!!

All Set for COPA Coca-Cola Provincial Finals

The lineup for the COPA Coca-Cola provincials was completed last weekend when twelve teams booked their tickets to the showdown.

In Taita Taveta County, Voi Youth and Mwangea Secondary claimed the bragging rights after outclassing their opponents to take the coveted top two slots.

Voi Youth FC were the first team to take to the field, beating Kiwinda Secondary 2-0 with a goal each from Christopher Mohamed and Meshack Chere from either side of the half.

In the second match, Mwangea hit the ground running with a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Mwatate Juniour. The game started cagily with both teams preferring to pass the ball within their own half. But when it looked like the goalkeepers would both depart with a clean sheet, Mwangea gave their opponents a sucker punch.

Reginald Kilele collected a through ball from the midfield, whizzed his way past his markers before hitting a low cross that found the right foot of Paul Chuma who expertly slipped the ball past Mwatate Juniour keeper to give Mwangea the lead.

The two combined again just ten minutes before the interval when a mix-up in the Mwatate defence gifted Kilele with an opportunity to score but he unselfishly crossed the ball to Chuma who finished easily to score his and Mwangea’s second of the game.

The second half was a drab affair with the only highlight being Ramadhan Abdalla’s missed penalty for Mwangea ten minutes before the final whistle.

In other matches, Kiwinda Secondary and Mwangea shared a 1-1 scoreline with Dominic Mbashu and Anderson Karari on target for Kiwinda and Mwangea respectively. Mwatate Junior gave themselves a lifeline with a surprising James Njoroge solitary winner over Voi Youth but a 2-0 loss to Kiwinda condemned them to last position in the group.

Voi Youth ensured they finished top of the group with a 3-1 drubbing over fellow provincial finalists Mwangea Secondary School.

The COPA Coca-Cola provincial finals will be played on the 2^nd and 9^th July with the finals slated for August in Kisumu.

Other Results

Nandi County

Kapsabet Boys 1-1 Cheptil High

Terige Boys 0-0 Kapsabet Boys

Terige Boys 0-2 Cheptil High

Kilifi County

Malindi United 4-0 Chasimba High

Malindi Youth 1-1 Maweni United

Chasimba High 2-1 Malindi Youth

Malindi United 1-0 Maweni United

Chasimba High 1-1 Maweni United

Malindi United 3-1 Malindi Youth

 

And That's thesteifmastertake!!

Chelsea Get their Bo(a)ss

Former Porto boss Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas, simply known as Andre Villas-Boas, has been named the new Chelsea manager.

Villas-Boas has signed a three-year contract with the Stamford Bridge club and will begin work with immediate effect. 

The London club have been shopping for a new manager after sacking former boss Carlo Ancelotti at the end of last season. The Blues paid the £13.3m compensation to release the Portuguese coach, touted as “The new Mourinho” from his contract at the Estádio do Dragão.  

The likes of former caretaker boss Guus Hiddink, former Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard and even former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez had been hyped to take the job at the London club. However, the 33-year-old (who won a treble with Porto last season) became the favourite after handing in his resignation on 21 June 2011. 

About Villas-Boas

He is 33 years old having been born in October 17 1977

He lived in the same apartment block as a 16-year-old with the then Porto manager and English great Sir Bobby Robson

He is the youngest manager in history to win a European title, the UEFA Europa League on 18 May 2011

At Chelsea, he will coach a player his senior like Henrique Hilario (38) and age mates like Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, both 33, as well as Nicolas Anelka and Paulo Ferriera, both 32

In his first season as coach, Villas-Boas set the following records:

• By winning the UEFA Europa League on 18 May 2011, he is the youngest manager ever to win a European competition, at 33 years and 213 days of age
• The club record for the most matches across all competitions unbeaten (36). This record was previously held by José Mourinho at 33 matches. Part of this streak was completed by the previous coach of FC Porto, Jesualdo Ferreira.
• The most wins in Europe in one season by a Portuguese club (14)
• The most points in a 30-game Portuguese league season (84)
• The highest number of consecutive wins in the Portuguese league (16)
• The biggest margin over the second placed team in the league (21)
•  The only team to win the Portuguese league without being beaten aside from Benfica in 1972/73
• On 3 April 2011, Villas-Boas won his first Primeira Liga, five rounds before the end, by defeating second-place Benfica 2–1 away at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, becoming the third youngest coach to win it, only behind Mihály Sistka (1938–39) and Juca (1961–62). It is the second time that Porto won the Portuguese league by beating its rival at its home soil, the first time being 71 years ago, in the 1939–40 season when Porto clinched the title by defeating Benfica at the Estádio das Amoreiras.
• On 22 May 2011, Villas-Boas won the Treble by winning the Portuguese Cup, equalizing Tomislav Ivić (when he won 4 titles for Porto in 1987/88), and making Porto the first (and only) European team to win a treble twice (Portuguese League, Portuguese Cup and UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League).

Source: Wikipedia

And That's thesteifmastertake!! 

Kisumu High and St. Joseph Carry County’s Hope to Provincial Finals

Kisumu Boys High School and St. Joseph will represent Kisumu County in the Copa Coca-Cola provincial finals after they easily secured tickets to the July 2^nd and 9^th spectacle.

Kisumu High kicked off the games played at Kisumu Polytechnic brightly, brushing aside Kisumu Day 3-0 in their first match. Led by their mesmeric captain John ‘Black Messi’ Olande, Kisumu High showed their intentions to kill off the contest early when they found the back of the opposition’s net just two minutes into the game, but the referee adjudged the goal to have been scored from an offside position.

They continued with their deft touches and three minutes later, they got the opening goal courtesy of a powerful effort from Silas Owiti. Kisumu Day were clearly rattled and they conceded the second goal just after the restart when Jackton Oyoo broke clear before tucking the ball past Kisumu Day custodian Levis Omondi.

The first half ended 2-0. Into the second half and Kisumu Day continued to chase the shadows of their evidently superior opponents who unleashed a shot after another from all corners of the pitch. A goalkeeping error just ten minutes into the second half gifted ‘Black Messi’ a glorious chance to put the game beyond the opposition’s reach and he obliged with relative ease to give Kisumu High a morale-boosting 3-0 win.

In the second match of the day, two strikes within five minutes from St. Joseph captain Apollo Otieno were enough to help his team to a 2-0 win over a hapless Shauri Moyo side. Otieno floated in a sublime freekick just ten minutes into the game before adding the second courtesy of another horrendous goalkeeping error.

In their second matches, John Olande was on target again as Kisumu High dismissed a stubborn Shauri Moyo 1-0, a scoreline that St. Joseph replicated against Kisumu Day.

In Bungoma county, Mundika Secondary proved a class above their opponents as they won all their matches. They whitewashed Villa FC 3-0 in the first match before pipping St Mathias 2-1 and rounding up a fine performance with a hardly fought 3-2 win over Malaba. They will be joined in the provincial finals with St Mathias who walloped Malaba Youth 3-0 before scraping a 1-0 win over Villa FC.

Villa and Malaba youth were both kicked out of the tournament with their only point coming from their 0-0 stalemate against each other.

And That's thesteifmastertake!!

Superpicks – When Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham Face Each Other

The release of the 2011-2012 English Premier League fixtures gives you the feeling that the beginning of the season is just around the corner. Coupled with the ongoing transfer rumours and deals per se, the excitement is building towards what could potentially be the most hotly contested premier league season in history.

Rejuvenated Liverpool, defending champions Manchester United, rebuilding Chelsea, sulking Arsenal, money-rich Manchester City and the rising Tottenham Hotspurs will all be considered favourites to win the 2011-2012 premier league title.

The title could be won by maintaining a good run against the smaller teams, the bigger ones, the average ones, in home matches or away. However, whichever team that will mix all of the aforementioned will win it.

But while all the games matter, the ones contested among the top six will matter most. Below, this article takes a look at when all these title favourites will be facing each other, plus the Merseyside derby.

NB: Home team on the Left, Away team on the Right. All fixture dates are provisional and therefore subject to change.

Liverpool             Man Utd              Saturday 15 October 2011

Man Utd              Liverpool             Saturday 11 February 2012

Arsenal                 Man Utd              Saturday 21 January 2012

Man Utd              Arsenal                 Saturday 27 August 2011

Arsenal                 Liverpool             Saturday 20 August 2011

Liverpool             Arsenal                 Saturday 3 March 2012

Chelsea                Liverpool             Saturday 19 November 2011

Liverpool             Chelsea                Saturday 5 May 2012

Man Utd              Chelsea                Saturday 17 September 2011

Chelsea                Man Utd              Saturday 4 February 2011

Man Utd              Man City              Saturday 22 October 2011

Man City              Man Utd              Saturday 28 April 2012

Chelsea                Arsenal                 Saturday 29 October 2011

Arsenal                 Chelsea                Saturday 21 April 2012

Liverpool             Man City              Saturday 26 November 2011

Man City              Liverpool             Monday 2 January 2012

Chelsea                Man City              Saturday 10 December 2011

Man City              Chelsea                Saturday 17 March 2012

Man City              Arsenal                 Saturday 17 December 2011

Arsenal                 Man City              Saturday 7 April 2012

Man Utd         Tottenham                 Saturday 20 August 2011

Tottenham       Man Utd                   Saturday 3 March 2012

Tottenham       Man City                  Saturday 27 August 2011

Man City         Tottenham                Saturday 21 January 2012

Tottenham       Liverpool                 Saturday 17 September 2011

Liverpool         Tottenham               Saturday 4 February 2012

Tottenham       Arsenal                    Saturday 1 October 2011

Arsenal            Tottenham               Saturday 25 February 2012

Tottenham       Chelsea                   Tuesday 20 December 2011

Chelsea            Tottenham              Saturday 24 March 2012

And That's thesteifmastertake!!