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ACCESS ALL AREAS

Looks at the life of

the Adidas Predator

football boot

Thursday 23rd April

What actually go

es

on in a footballe

rs

medical?

Find out on page

2!

All the latest match

previews on page 6 & 7 !

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Fans of football across the world are fa-

miliar with the fact that a medical is un-

dertaken on a player before he signs for

a football club, but what the player actu-

ally go through is somewhat of a grey ar-

ea for most fans of the sport.

Furthermore, what are the reasons be-

hind a player failing a medical for one

club and passing for another? Access All

Areas explores

Considering bold transfer dealings can

be the difference between the success

and failure of a season; the financial

growth or tidal waving debt of a club;

managers have a difficult decision to

make as to whether to sanction these

deals. In one ear the fans are calling for a

new hero; in the other, the medical are

saying this players body is a ticking time

-bomb.

Medical procedures have developed

alongside advances in sports science and

medicine. Even a players eyesight or

dental health can come under scrutiny.

George Boyds proposed move from Peter-

borough United to Nottingham Forest last

year was scuppered over an inconclusive

eye test, while Ravel Morrison had seven

bad teeth removed to ensure his loan deal

from West Ham to Birmingham City went

through.

However during the 1970s - an era populat-

ed by English footballs most memorable

mavericks - the condition of a players liver

was more of a concern. Mark Lawrenson

failed his Brighton medical after a summer of

guzzling Guinness and blackcurrant in

Benidorm.

There was so much sugar in his blood that

the Seagulls thought he was diabetic, but

once he revealed the details of his boozy

trip, manager Alan Mullery shrugged it off

and signed him anyway.

Doctors came across these issues with basic

medical equipment, but physios were often

left to make an assessment armed with

nothing more than their intuition.

In a more recent case where medicals have

made the news, many will remember Loic

Remys proposed transfer from QPR to Liver-

pool that collapsed.

The Merseysiders and QPR had agreed

the formalities of the 10.5 million

transfer, only for Remys heart defect to

show up on the medical, causing the

deal to be cancelled with manager,

Brendan Rodgers, pulling the plug. Later

on in the transfer window Chelsea

signed the Frenchman instead.

Remys predicament is far from unique.

Demba Ba had previously failed a medi-

cal at Stoke due to a degenerative knee

condition, but in 2011 West Ham ig-

nored the risks and were rewarded with

seven goals in 12 games. The Senegalese

forward couldnt save them from relega-

tion, but Bas form put him on many top-

flight managers radar, all willing to over-

look a supposedly dodgy knee. A year

later, Ba was voted the signing of the

2011-12 Premier League season after his

16 goals fired Newcastle into Europe.

The scrupulous modern-day medical in-

volves several stages, depending on

time and budget. Every medical will in-

volve a visit to the doctors office. Here a

players injury history will be discussed

and a physical examination conducted.

Thursday 23rd April

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DID YOU KNOW?

Frank Worthington had his move from Hudders-

field Town to Liverpool aborted in 1972 after

the striker failed a medical due to high blood

pressure apparently caused by having too

much sex.

Body fat and muscle mass are recorded

before the physio takes over, performing

a functional movement and orthopaedic

screen to check the major joints and liga-

ments.

To gain a definitive picture of the players

athleticism, the sports science team car-

ry out a series of tests to measure fitness

levels. If club medicals discover an area

for concern, players are sent for further

investigation at a private hospital. Alter-

natively, they can pay independent com-

panies to conduct the entire evaluation.

Sports medicine and rehabilitation spe-

cialists Perform, who operate out of the

FAs National Football Centre, St Georges

Park, provide this. A standard assessment

which includes a heart screening and im-

aging, costs 2,040 and takes six-and-a-

half hours. For 3,260 a comprehensive

11-hour service is provided, where a doc-

tor, a physio and a sports scientist go

through everything over two days.

Most interestingly, no one gets a pass or

fail stamp the medical team just hand

their findings to the manager with rec-

ommendations and he goes to the

board.

This is where the manager earns his

money. The medicals aim is to gain as

much information as possible so the club

can make an informed decision. It will

identify the risks, but also the players

strengths. Weighing up a number of fac-

tors money, the players health, what

the team needs the manager has to

make a call.

Bigger picture? Sometimes, injured play-

ers are recruited as part of a bigger plan.

For instance, Martin ONeill signed Stew-

art Downing for Aston Villa from Mid-

dlesbrough after the player had surgery

on his foot.

He knew Downing wouldnt be fit for an-

other four months, but he was

part of the managers long-term

strategy.

One expense clubs try not to

skimp on is heart screenings,

which have become more preva-

lent after Boltons Fabrice Muam-

ba suffered a cardiac arrest on the

pitch in 2012.

In the heat of transfer deadline

day, the rigour of medical testing

can suffer. When Sky Sports News

is counting down to midnight and

a manager is desperately trying to

sign a much-needed striker, is he

going to spend time putting a

player through a thorough exami-

nation that might jeopardise the

deal? Well, this is why a lot of

loan deals happen last-minute in

the transfer window as players

might go on loan initially, with a

view to a permanent move be-

cause the club hasnt had time to

do all the appropriate tests.

DID YOU KNOW?

It is now compulsory for all 16-year-olds to be

screened before they become professionals

the reason for this is that most heart defects

develop in adolescence.

Thursday 23rd April Thursday 23rd April

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Jamie Carragher / @Carra23

Over 80 million quid of CB's in the 2nd half couldn't

stop Suarez. Martin Kelly & myself did 2 weeks ago &

I'm a free while he's worth 3 mil

Gary Lineker / @GaryLineker

Read some sanctimonious, hypocritical rubbish about

a 20 year old lad indulging in something legal in pri-

vate in today's papers.

Chris Smalling / @ChrisSmalling

Proud and honoured to sign a new deal at the club.

This is an exciting time for everyone at United

Guillem Balague / @GuillemBalague

Admirable the fact that not a single Atletico player

abandons their obligations when they don't have the

ball. They cover, run, track back

3 UP

Aston Villa Since the appointment of the charismatic Tim Sher-

wood the mood around the midlands club has lifted, along with

pushing away from safety, this weekend just gone has seen them

beat Liverpool in the FA cup semi final.

Reading In the weekends other semi final despite being beat by

Arsenal, the championship side took the Premier League outfit all

the way to extra time and had chances to win themselves.

Burton Albion After the heartache of losing in last years play

offs, the brewers confirmed promotion at Morecambe on Satur-

day and look certain to be crowned champions.

3 DOWN

Liverpool- Losing to Villa at Wembley has seen the Merseyside

clubs season all but over, just weeks after fans were speculating

a top 4 finish and winning the FA cup. Brendan Rodgers has a lot

of work to do during the summer.

Leeds United Off the field matters are as bad as they have

been for years at this sleeping giant but the weekends defeat to

Charlton made it 6 defeats in a row and heaped more misery on-

to the loyal supporters.

Notts County County going into December were sat in the play

offs, now with a run of 1 win in the last 14 and defeat to fellow

relegation rivals Crawley on Saturday has changed fans hopes

from promotion to merely

surviving in the league. Thursday 23rd April

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Launched in 1994 the boot was introduced

to change the way footballers could kick the

ball. The boots were not as effective for

amateur players but the professionals

thrived with the Adidas predator boots on

their feet. Adidas has announced that in the

summer of 2015 they will stop manufactur-

ing the Predator boots which allows us to

look back on an illustrious 21 year history of

the boots. In 1994 the football industry wit-

nessed the birth of the Adidas Predator a

simple design but had technology that had

never been seen before. Technology such as

rubber skin on the front of the boot which

improved shooting and passing accuracy,

the boot also had sharp rubber edges de-

signed to allow the player to swerve the

ball with ease. The upper part of the boot

was made from kangaroo leather and the

studs had new traction technology but the

most active part of the boot was the three

stripes the boots had on the side which

made them stand out from the crowd. Until

a few years ago football boots were pre-

dominantly black where each rival manu-

factures had to invent new technology to

outclass their rivals. Throughout the

lifespan of the Predator brand Adidas have

released 12 different predator models de-

veloping new technology as the years have

progressed. The fundamental technology

that was used in the first Predator is still in

use in the latest predators. The rubber edg-

es are still used to allow players to curl and

put spin on the ball, most of the boots still

use kangaroo leather and have the shooting

and passing zones. This shows how far

Adidas were ahead of their time when they

created the Predators as the boot technolo-

gy they created has been improved and

adapted to be used on Adidas Predators to-

day. Adidas had the colour scheme of a

black base with red decal from 1994 all the

way through to the final predator design in

2015. .

At the turn of the 21st century Adidas experi-

mented with different coloured Predators

none were as successful as the traditional

black and red colour schemed Predators.

The Adidas predator was an industry leader

from the late 90s all the way through to 2015

where the boot was a popular choice for

many world class players such as Raul who

wore the Adidas Predator boots all his career

at Real Madrid and for Spain who went on to

become the leading scorer in the Champions

League and for the Spanish national team.

Another player to wear the iconic boots is Xa-

vi from Barcelona who has been considered

one of the best centre midfielders in the

world for the last 10 years laying on numer-

ous assists to make Lionel Messi the prolific

goal scorer he is today. The most iconic player

outside of United Kingdom to wear the boots

is Zinedine Zidane, the French midfielder is

considered the best player ever to wear the

boots Zidane has been voted FIFA world play-

er of the year 3 times wearing the boots as

well as leading his country to a World Cup vic-

tory in 1998.

Player Goals wearing Adidas Predators

David Beckham 85 for Manchester United, Preston (loan), Real

Madrid, LA Galaxy , AC Milan and Paris Saint-

Germain

Raul Currently on 307 for Real Madrid, Schalke 04,

Al Sadd, New York Cosmos and Spain.

Steven Gerrard Currently on 138 for Liverpool and England

Zinedine Zidane 126 for Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus, Real Ma-

drid and France

Xavi Currently on 69 for both Barcelona and Spain

David Beckham became

such as valuable asset to

Adidas that they worked

together to create his

own personalised Preda-

tor boots. These were al-

so put on sale to amateur

footballers so they could

buy them to emulate tak-

ing free kicks, crosses like

Beckham.

Thursday 23rd April

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Championship Brighton & Hove Albion v Watford

Watford will be looking to boost their chances of automatic promotion at Brighton on Saturday.

Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United

Leeds looking to end a poor run of form in this Yorkshire derby.

Birmingham City v Charlton Athletic

With Charlton missing out on play offs this season they will hope to end this year on a high.

Cardiff City v Blackpool

Already Relegated Blackpool are playing for pride in the welsh capital.

Fulham v Middlesborough

Boro looking to build on a massive win against Norwich in their fight for promotion.

Huddersfield Town v Blackburn Rovers

Both teams looking to end the season on a high.

Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest

Ipswich can confirm their playoff place with a win over forest and if results elsewhere go their way.

Millwall v Derby County

Derby can also confirm their place in this seasons playoffs with a win in the capital.

Reading v Brentford

Brentford looking to creep into the playoffs if any of the teams above them slip up.

Rotherham United v Norwich City

City hoping to bounce back after their recent setback v boro a win would see them back into the automatic promotion spots.

Premiership - Saturday

Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur

With hopes of top 4 all but gone Southampton and Spurs battle it out for Europa league.

Burnley v Leicester City

A crucial game in the fight against relegation, both teams needs a win to lift them out of the bottom three.

Crystal Palace v Hull City

Hull need a win to put some daylight be-tween them and the bottom three.

Newcastle United v Swansea City

Newcastle will be looking to end a run of defeats and end the season on a high.

QPR v West Ham United

QPR will need a win to help their chances of staying up.

Stoke City v Sunderland

Sunderland still not safe and will need to pick up points in the potteries.

West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool

Liverpool can still catch City in the race for the top four so will need to win in this one.

Manchester City v Aston Villa

A City win will all but secure top 4 and end Liver-pools hopes of Champions League football next year.

Premiership - Sunday

Everton v Manchester United

United looking to bounce back after defeat to Chelsea with a win.

Arsenal v Chelsea

Chelsea can all but win the league with a win away to their London rivals.

Thursday 23rd April

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League 1 Bradford City v Barnsley

Both teams looking to finish the season strongly and have something to build on for next season.

Chesterfield v Bristol City

Champions, City will be able to re-lax, could see a weakened side against Chesterfield this weekend.

Fleetwood Town v Colchester United

Colchester looking to make a late push to avoid relegation as Fleetwood narrowly miss

Leyton Orient v Sheffield United

Orient can jump out of the relegation zone if results go their way on Saturday.

Coventry City v Crewe Alexandra

Must win game for Crewe as the look to secure league one football for next season.

Notts County v Doncaster Rovers

County need a win, but will only get out of the relegation zone if re-sults go their way.

Peterborough United v Crawley Town

Crawley can all but secure their place in league one next year with a win at Posh.

Preston North End v Swindon Town

Swindon can pile the pressure on Preston with a win at Deepdale on Saturday.

Rochdale United v MK Dons

MK Dons can enter the automatic promo-tion spots if they win and Preston lose to Swindon.

Scunthorpe United v Gillingham

Scunthorpe can secure their league 1 sta-tus if they get a result on Saturday.

Walsall v Oldham Athletic

Both teams looking to finish the season on a high.

Yeovil Town v Port Vale

Still not safe Vale can secure safety with a win over already relegated Yeovil

League 2

Burton Albion v Northampton Town

Northampton could make a late surge for the play offs with a win over already promoted Burton.

Bury v AFC Wimbledon

Bury only need to win the rest of their games to clinch automatic promotion.

Cheltenham v Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury can still finish the season as champions if they win and results go their way.

Dagenham & Redbridge v Accrington Stanley

Both teams looking to finish the season on a high as focus turns to next seasons preparations.

Hartlepool United v Exeter City

United still not safe but a win over Ex-eter will put them on their way to se-curing league 2 football for next year.

Mansfield Town v Portsmouth

Mansfield now safe so both teams likely to rest players for this clash on Saturday.

Oxford United v Cambridge United

Cambridge disappointed in their first

on the football league but ensuring

weekend they look to finish on a high.

Plymouth Argyle v Tranmere Rovers

Argyle need a win to help fight their play off push whereas Tranmere need a win to help them in their fight against relegation.

Southend United v Luton Town

Luton look to make a jump into the play off places where Southend can still make auto-matic promotion if results go their way.

Stevenage v Carlisle United

Stevenage will hope to go into the playoffs in form with a win over struggling Carlisle.

Wycombe Wanderers v Morecambe

Wycombe will need to win and hope Bury slip up for them to make auto-matic promotion.

York City v Newport County

Newport can still make the play offs but will need to win against York and hope results go in their favour.

Thursday 23rd April

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In 2001 Coventry City were relegated from

the Premiership after a 34 year stint in the

top flight of English football, fast forward 14

years and the 1987 FA cup winners are star-

ing relegation into the 4th tier of English

football in the face. This weeks edition of

Terrace Talk we speak to lifelong fan Alex

30 years old from Coventry to get his views

on the demise of his beloved club and what

is next for this once proud club.

Firstly prior to talking to Coventry fan Alex

we are going to give some background on

just what has gone wrong with this once

great football club. In 2008 the west mid-

lands based club were minutes away from

liquidation before hedge fund business Sisu

saved the club at the 11th hour, many fans

believe Sisu taking over was the real nail in

the coffin and being liquidated and starting

all over again in the lower leagues of English

football would of made for a less stressful

following 8 years that sky blue fans have had

to endure.

There was already unrest and pro-

tests against the clubs owners prior

to what many fans see as the last

straw, when the club relocated

playing its home games 35 miles

away to Northampton and the

7,653 Sixfields stadium, leaving the

32,000 Ricoh Arena without any

tenants. Coventry City CEO Tim

Fisher said at the time of the pro-

posed move that the fans would

come flooding back if the team on

the pitch performed, during the full

season the club played at Sixfields

the team broke records with the

amount of goals being scored but

contrary to Tim Fishers comment

the more apparent records being

broke was the lowest attendance

for a Coventry City game.

Why? The reason behind the

move to Northampton stems

from before Sisus reign, in 2005

when the club left the famous

city centre ground Highfield Road

to move to a outer city new build

Ricoh Arena the owners of the

club failed to negotiate a deal

that the club itself would own

any share of the Ricoh Arena,

half would be owned by the

charity Alan Higgs Trust and the

remaining 50% to Coventry City

Council. This meant that all

match day revenue i.e. beer,

food, money made in the casino

the football club would not see a

single penny of it, this left the

club in a powerless position and

was forced to create revenue

from selling star players leaving

the club in a downward spiral to

the extent now that League 2

stares the club in the face.

Thursday 23rd April

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Protests The Sky Blues trust ran by sup-

porters have initiated two separate

schemes against the running of the club

by Sisu, firstly Not One Penny More this

advised fans to not give another penny

of their money the club whilst the cur-

rent owners remained. Some fans took

this to the extreme of travelling to

Northampton when the team were play-

ing there but refusing to go inside

Sixfields, instead would watch the game

from a vantage point on a hill; the cam-

paign also meant that supports should

refrain from buying any merchandise.

Keep Cov in Cov was the campaign that

draw the most media attention and even

had supporters from other clubs across

the country joining in on marches

through the city centre of Coventry..

Now, its time to get stuck into some

questions with Alex our Coventry City

fan.

Firstly, before we talk any politics

on your club do you believe that

Coventry will survive in League

one?

Yes, since the dismissal of Steven

Pressley and the appointment of To-

ny Mowbray the form has taken an

upturn especially our usual awful

away record as in his first 4 away

games we have won 3 and drew 1.

The team seem to have been lifted

by the return of defender Reda

Johnson also, his first 2 games back

from injury led to a 1-0 win and him

getting a last gasp goal in a 1-1 draw,

I think we have enough quality to

stay up but it could go down to the

last game where we face fellow rele-

gation rivals Crawley.

Although the return to the Ricoh

was always a positive, the home

form has been a disappointment,

what do you put this down to?

The first game back at the Ricoh saw

a crowd in excess of 27,000 and the

party atmosphere spurred the side

onto a 1-0 victory and pushing to-

wards the top of the table, after

that came the fall in the sides form

and attendances at the Ricoh. We

are now getting about 7/8k on a

match day and playing in front of

that small amount in a 32,000 stadi-

um can create an eerie atmosphere

that away teams enjoy playing at.

The argument between the coun-

cil and Sisu has ran off for months,

who do you think should take re-

sponsibility?

Both parties are to be blamed for

the situation the club finds it in

now, the council can be looked at

for not selling its share to the club

or lowering the rent which in a way

forced Sisu hand to move out of

the Ricoh and find a new home

venue. Sisu have a lot to answer for

themselves moving a club away

from its city will never be forgotten

in forgiven in some fans eyes, my-

self personally I see the reasoning

behind the move but now the club

are back at the Ricoh its in a way

back to square 1.

What do you think is next for the

club? Is this as low as its going to

get or is the worst still to come?

I believe in terms off on the pitch

we have reached our lowest point

as a club; we should secure survival

for this season and then make a

push for promotion next season.

The more concerning matter is the

ownership of the club, I cant see

Sisu leaving anytime soon so it

looks as if we are stuck with them

but I believe they are going to look

to build their own stadium which

they will own 100% which makes

business sense but common sense

should prevail and we make the

Ricoh our home.

We would like to thank long suffer-

ing Coventry fan Alex on the edi-

tions of Terrace Talk Next time we

are speaking to a Bristol City fan on

their promotion, stadium growth

and if they are destined for the

Premier League.

Thursday 23rd April Thursday 23rd April

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Chelseas young starlets write their name into the his-tory books

Isaiah or izzy Brown will be a name you hear a lot in the near future if you havent heard it already that is. A couple of weeks on from captaining his Chelsea U19s side to victory in the UEFA Youth League Final against Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, he now sets his sights on making is first appearance for Jose Mour-inhos side after only previously being on the bench as an unused substitute. As the season draws to a close as well as keeping one eye firmly on making the break through into the senior side he also has the small matter of a FA Youth Cup Final appearance against Manchester City, in which he hopes Chelsea can defend their crown and be named as the best academy in England. Well what else is there to know about the young England star? He started his youth career at Histon FC under legendary youth team coach Kit Carson, who helped shape the early careers of the likes of Danny Mills and Craig Bellamy. With Carsons guidance Izzy decided that after Histon failed to gain promotion to league 2 in 2009 that West Bromwich Albion would be the best place to develop his career further, Carson had already sent Liam ONeil there from Histon a few years earlier. Whilst at WBA Izzy played for their U16 and U17 teams before being a regular in their U21 team and consequently went on to be the Premier Leagues second youngest ever player after Fulhams Matthew Briggs at 16 years and 117 days. Narrowly missing out on the record as Steve Clark name him as an unused substitute at Stamford Bridge against his soon to be new team. Be-fore making his dream move to Chelsea in the sum-mer of 2013 he was named as WBAs academy player of the year but that couldnt keep the starlet at The Hawthorns as Browns boyhood club stepped up attempts to sign him, reports suggest Chelsea paid 1.5 million for the Peterborough born striker and few would argue that its not a good investment as brown is tipped to become a true great by many in-volved in the game. Alongside his club achievements he has also made a name for himself in the England set up, Brown has played for Englands Under 16s, 17s and 19s, scoring 8 in 21 appearances, Brown will hope to be involved with the U21s at some point next season. However with all Browns success, he is not the only one that makes Chelseas youth team click, his team mate and strike partner Dominic Solan-ke, whos goals helped Chelsea win the UEFA Youth League is in the same boat as Brown, however Solan-ke has a senior appearance to his name after being brought on as a substitute in Chelseas UEFA Champi-ons League

FACT FILE:

Name: Isaiah Brown

D.O.B: 7/01/97 (18)

Height: 1.82m

Team: Chelsea

Position: Winger/Forward

clash with Maribor in October last year. Solanke was named as the UEFA Youth Leagues top goal scorer, notching 12 goals including a header scored in-between Browns brace to see off Shakhtar 3-2 and become only the second team and the first British to team to lift the trophy. As well as mak-ing the one appearance for Jose Mourinhos men, Solanke has been named as an unused sub on a handful of occasions and travels in the match day squad whenever the U21 team doesnt have a game. So he wont be short of ex-perience when the time does come for him to start for the sen-ior team. The real question

that needs to be answered is whether Jose Mourinho will give these two youngsters a decent chance in the first team or will they get loaned out and forgotten about like many other of Chel-seas young English superstars, supposed next big thing Josh McEachran who has only made 11 first team appearances since 2010 and is currently on loan at Dutch side Vitesse. You could ar-gue Chelsea do not put enough faith in their youth and that play-ers like Brown and Solanke will not be given the chance they quite clearly deserve, either way, the future of English football has a bright future.

Thursday 23rd April