Matthew Upson Fan

Milton Keynes Dons’ Karl Robinson has confirmed that some players have played their last games for the team after the 2-1 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Matt Upson alongside others that include Nicky Maynard, Alex Revell, Anthony Kay, Cody Cropper, Jordan Spence, Carl Baker and Charlie Burns do not have deals extending into next season, though most will know by now whether they will be playing at stadium:mk again next season.

An announcement is expected as to the future of those eight players.

Robinson said:

“It’s about us rebuilding now. The line is drawn. For as quick as I forgot about the emotions of promotion, I’ve got to forget relegation.

“We’ve seen the end of some of the players, we’ll know at the beginning of next week.

“There’s no right way of doing it, but we’ve shown them a lot of respect. I have thanked them all for their hard work and dedication this season,” he added.

The final game of the Championship season was a dead rubber for both sides, though with two goals inside the opening 20 minutes, it could have turned into a tasty affair to give the season a good send off.

But despite Nicky Maynard cancelling out Chris Cohen’s opener, Danny Fox’s red card for a high tackle on Spence shortly before half time ended it as a spectacle.

At the end of the game, Robinson thanked the fans for sticking by his side throughout what has proven to be a disappointing campaign in the second tier. He added:

“Of the 11,000 or so fans here today, who already knew we were relegated, 80 per cent stayed until the end. And that’s who we’re playing for. Through thick and thin, they’ll stick with us.

“Next year, part of our team talk will be to remember the fans who stayed and showed what true supporters are about.”

Former Stoke defender Matthew Upson has urged Aston Villa to consider appointing Nigel Pearson as their next manager.

With the club relegated to the Championship and without a manager since the sacking for Remi Garde, Upson has stated that Nigel Pearson will be a good appointment for them.

In fact, Nigel Pearson is considered as one of the favorites to take control of the club given that he has enough experience to take the club forward. He helped Leicester City won promotion to the Premier League in 2014 and kept them in the top flight last season. Many believe that he was the one that laid the foundations for the current successful season that Leicester City is having.

Former Stoke player who played under Nigel Pearson at Leicester City believes that his former manager will be an excellent fit for Aston Villa as he has the qualities necessary to help the club go forward. He said that at the moment Villa need a manager with character and the discipline to help move the club forward and help them push for a Premier League return.

For Mathew Upson, changes are needed in both the board and players’ attitude and mentality, and Pearson is the right man to achieve this. He has a strong character that will help motivate the team and give them a clear vision of the future. Upson definitely knows all about the man’s character after he saved them from relegation last term.

However, it is believed that a new manager will only be appointed after a reported takeover bid is completed. Villa’s chairman Hollis is currently considering bids from China and the United States, and it is only after this that a decision will be made about the next Aston Villa manager.

Former West Ham United defender Matthew Upson has praised his former teammate Mark Noble for his tenacity and he feels that it is about time that Noble was selected for the England national team.

After coming through the ranks at West Ham, Noble went on to make several hundred appearances for the Upton Park outfit before being named as captain of the club. Now one of the established members of the squad, Noble continues to play a major role in the club’s push for a top four place in the Premier League. His form has not gone unnoticed by many of his peers.

However, England manager Roy Hodgson continues to look away from the possibility of selecting Noble. The 28-year-old has now received attention from his former teammate Upson, who currently plies his trade in the Championship with MK Dons. Upson also represented teams like Stoke City and Birmingham. He is considered as an experienced Premier League defender and he continues to shine in the Championship even at 36. Since making his debut at the age of 17, Noble has been a tremendous influence on West Ham, according to Upson. The duo played with each other for four years before Upson left the club permanently in 2011.

“He epitomises everything that West Ham is about, really. His commitment and tenacity over the years, playing in the middle of the park, stands out.His passion for the club does too, and that really filters into his game. He’s a great lad as a person too, and when you first join the club, he’s one of the first to welcome you in. He’s a local player and he’s been there his whole career, so he knows the club inside out.He’s such a warming, welcoming character, especially when you first sign,” said Upson.

QPR striker Charlie Austin is once again set to become the transfer target for many clubs in the Premier league after impressing with his goal record in the Championship.

The striker decided to remain loyal to QPR and ended up staying at Loftus Road despite the club’s relegation into the second division of English football. Austin was one of the sought-after players following the end of the 2014-15 season. He had scored on a similar level to the likes of Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane. The fact that he was English only made things much better for the top teams since he would fit in well with the home-grown players rule.

Austin, however, was always destined for the Premier League and his goal record in the Championship is a testament to this fact. Still just 26 years old, Austin will represent a great addition to any team like Manchester City or Chelsea.Defender Paul Konchesky, though, believes that it is vital that the club hold onto the player in order to have any chance of a return to the top division. Even with the 10 goals from 16 score by Charlie Austin, QPR are down in the mid-table due to a weak defence. They have not won in the last five matches and are facing another season in the Championship.

“Charlie showed the instinct that he’s got. Give him a chance and he will score.We can’t rely on him all the time but this time we have and he’s nicked two goals for us. Everyone can see what he can do in front of goal and hopefully he’ll keep banging in goals for us and for himself.Of course there will be interest in him – there was in the summer – but we know Charlie and he’ll keep working until, or if, anything happens.He gives his all in every training session and game,” said Konchesky.

Inter Milan’s Roberto Mancini is looking to remove some of his players from his squad in order to stay in the limits of the amount of performers which is allowed and the squad size quota restriction of the Italian team is 25 players. The coach of the Italian team has set his eyes in selling XherdanShaqiri as well as a few other players.

XherdanShaqiri has not made an impact since arriving to the Giuseppe Meazza after having joined the Italian side earlier in January of the current year. Shaqiri is constantly being placed on the bench for a large period of the previous season, he had to settle with being an unused substitute, Mancini is believed to have considered the Swiss player on being surplus to the club and selling him is the most likely option.

The Premier League side Stoke City is interested in signing the 23 year old winger and the English outfit have prepared an offer of £60,000 each week which will be the salary of the young player meanwhile Inter Milan will be receiving £12million for the services of Shaqiri.

It still seems like Shaqiri is uncertain about whether or not to join Stoke City but making a move to the Premier League side is his best chance of snatching a regular starting role in any team as his opportunities to flourish in Inter Milan are seriously limited and it not likely to change anytime soon.
In one of the latest press conferences of Inter Milan, Roberto Mancini revealed information concerning the current situation of the Italian club as Mancini said that some players will have to leave and there is simply no other way to avoid that from happening.

“We have the restriction of a 25-man squad, so we’ll have to do something.And reluctantly some will have to leave. I think they will do well in the Premier League.” Inter Milan’s coach, Roberto Mancini told reporters.

Leicester City have been able to utilise summer signing Matthew Upson for only 59 minutes of the Premier League so far.

This is because the former West Ham and Birmingham City defender has suffered numerous injury problems since signing for the club. At 35 years of age, manager Nigel Pearson was hoping to utilise the defender’s experience in the best possible way.

This has not happened. His much awaited debut came in the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal last week, but he could not last the full match after hobbling off in the 59th minute with an injury.

Pearson says that he is hopeful of getting the defender back in time for the FA Cup match against Aston Villa. This is unlikely to be a priority for the club, who are bottom of the Premier League with four points separating them from the 18th place. Leicester will be quite happy to go out of the cup competition in order to focus on the Premier League, which has far better financial rewards if the club ends up staying for next season. Despite this, Pearson has confirmed that he has no plans to put the league in front of the FA Cup. He says that he will be fielding a strong line-up against Villa.

“I’m working hard to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be for this game. I’m focused on the team.When you’re not winning in the league, cup competitions give you the chance to win games and build confidence. The players have my full support, but they need to perform themselves. They have a responsibility to do so.We want to progress in the FA Cup, but I’m sure Aston Villa will have something to say about that. It’s important for the players that they approach this in a positive manner,” said Pearson.

Leicester City have been given a major boost with regard to the fitness of defender Matthew Upson after manager Nigel Pearson revealed that the defender is close to returning to the first-team.

The 35-year-old has not featured for Leicester since signing for the club at the start of the season on a free transfer. He was released by Brighton and Hove Albion at the end of last season. Upson was expected to provide a huge amount of experience to the Leicester City back four. The 35-year-old played 21 times for the England national team between 2003 and 2010.

Over the years, he has played several matches in the Premier League with the likes of Birmingham and West Ham. Since leaving West Ham in 2011, he has struggled to achieve a settled position at any of his previous clubs like Stoke City and Brighton. Even though he has signed a contract only until the end of the campaign with Leicester, Upson will have a major role especially given that the club have been sliding down the table in the last few weeks. After a brilliant start that saw them beat the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, Leicester have been unable to pick victories of late. This poor run of form saw them slip into the 18th place.

“Matt is training very well at the moment but hopefully he will play some part of a game next week, possibly. He is making good progress,” said Pearson. The upcoming match against Sunderland provides them a great opportunity to take three points since this match is at home. Sunderland are expected to be in the relegation trouble till the end of the season. Taking three points from this encounter will be seen as six points since they can prevent Sunderland from taking a win.

South Korea may not be getting former Dutch national team coach Bert van Marwijk as the new national team manager after talks are reported to have broken down. South Korea have been looking for a permanent replacement for Hong Myung-bo, who stepped down as the national team coach after the World Cup 2014. It was a disappointing tournament for the Asians, who were expected to do well due to the massive fan following that they have taken to the South American nation. Further, South Korea were regarded as one of the strongest representatives from the Asian region along with Japan.
Failure to get past the group stages of the World Cup 2014 led to the resignation of Hong Myung-bo. Since then, technical director Lee Yong-soo has been looking at various options to text charge of the national team. South Koreans have developed a huge respect for Dutch coaches after the success of former Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink. The Dutchman took the relatively mediocre South Korean team to the semifinals of the World Cup 2002. Bert van Marwijk could have been the next Dutchman to lead South Korea, but it now appears that talks have failed to progress.
Lee Yong-soo has so far been silent on the issue and the next move of the Korean football Federation remains to be seen. “He’s a great coach. Maybe we will have another opportunity to work with him but we’ve decided not to pursue the talks any further at this time. The one important thing for us is for the new coach to have passion for the national team and to have the willingness to dedicate himself to improve football in this country,” said Lee Yong-soo at a later stage by explaining the failed to get van Marwijk, which he put down as tax rates and the length of work.

Leicester City earned their promotion spot to the Premier League after enjoying a superb season in the Championship League as they cruised to the top of the English league having secured 102 points at the end of the campaign.

The head coach of Leicester City, Nigel Pearson has a tough season ahead of him as his team will have to play against the best teams of England in the Premier League and one of the first players that will be joining the team of Nigel Pearson is the 35 year old veteran defender Matthew Upson.

Around 1 month ago, Matthew Upson signed a 1 year deal with Leicester City as Pearson considers the veteran player as a reinforcement that can upgrade the defensive division of the squad.

Dean Hammond is an English midfielder who has been playing as a player of Leicester City since 2013 and he has already praised the quality and everything that Matthew Upson will bring into the team.

“He is a top-quality player. He has had a great career. He has really good experience and is still a very good player. I played with him at Brighton and he is a very good centre-half, a footballing centre-half as well. He is a clever player and will be a great addition to the squad. He will settle in well because he is a good lad and he will be up for the challenge because I know he wants to play Premier League football again. He has played the majority of his career in the Premier League and played for England, so players can feed off that experience’’ Dean Hammond said as he praised one of his new teammates.

Trying to avoid the relegation zone will be a huge task for Nigel Pearson with Leicester City not having such a competitive team compared to other clubs in the Premier League but the arrival of recent signings such as: Aaron Hughes and Matthew Upson is expected to help them continue playing at the top tier English League.

Former Stoke city defender Matthew Upson has said that he believes that Brighton and Hove Albion are in a great position to reach the play-offs position despite the recent draw with Blackpool. Brighton have been competing for a play-off place throughout the season, but it is only in the last few weeks that the competition has materialised. The automatic promotion spots were recently filled up by Leicester City and Burnley respectively. This leaves four teams competing for the play-offs position in order to gain promotion to the Premier league.

Promotion to the top division of English football is expected to be worth more than £ 100 million due to the new TV money. As a result, many teams have been spending in excess of their transfer budget in order to achieve promotion. Brighton have been very prudent about this and the experience of players like Upson will be holding them in great regard towards the end of my campaign. The team have fallen at a disadvantage in the race for the top six after the recent draw with Blackpool. The result leaves them one point behind the sixth place, but they have played a game more than the rivals.

“We have got to be careful we don’t get too disappointed as we are still in a great position and it is all to play for. We are far from out of it and we are still in a great position. In those games this season we maybe haven’t maximised the points as much as we would have liked to have done. Blackpool was no different. It’s a difficult question to answer as there is not a lot different other than the team we are playing. Maybe it’s a slight psychological thing,” said the 35-year-old Upson, who has played for several top clubs in England.