Askou and Motherwell “Focusing on the next job” as League Cup Semi Final Looms
An exciting few weeks await Motherwell, but for manager Jens Berthel Askou, “It’s about Falkirk, first and foremost”. The Steelmen suffered a heartbreaking defeat to champions Celtic before the international break. But despite recording their first league defeat of the campaign, Askou saw the positives from their spirited performance. “Gutted that we went home from Parkhead with no points, but I think the performance and our approach to the game gives us some really good confidence as to how to beat them when we play them next time” “But also it shows that we are capable of being for most of the part successful with our approach against the best team in the league, and then it’s small decisive moments that tips it to their favour and we know exactly it’s easy to see where we need to just improve a little bit, not hugely, but a little bit.” Apostolos Stamatelopoulos’ brace put the visitors ahead after Kelechi Iheanacho’s first-half penalty, but goals from Benjamin Nygren, and a last-minute Daizen Maeda header ensured Motherwell would leave with nothing. Askou referenced the impact of Stamatelopoulos, who now has three goals in two league matches, “It was a great first goal he scored, for me it’s important that if you have a confident line and you want him to score many goals, he needs to be a good penalty taker as well, he scored two out of two, it grows confidence …… and hopefully he will score more goals in time”. Motherwell face St Mirren at Hampden in 16 days for a place in the League Cup Final. The Fir Park side finished top of Group G, before away victories against St Johnstone and Aberdeen, to secure the tie. For Askou, the semi-final is ”not the focus right now”, “We have almost sold 7,000 tickets, which is fantastic, and we will probably sell quite a few more, which is amazing, so a lot of people are looking forward to that.” “We are focusing on the next job that’s on Saturday, obviously, we know it is in the calendar, we are not spending much energy on that now.” Motherwell host Falkirk at Fir Park on Saturday, October 18th, before matches against Livingston and Dundee United, respectively.
Sheffield Wednesday Facing Winding Up Petition after Unpaid Tax Bill
Unpopular owner Dejphon Chansiri could be forced to sell the club he has owned for the best part of a decade as Sheffield Wednesday face winding up order over an unpaid tax bill to HMRC. Whilst results on the pitch haven’t been smooth sailing for Sheffield Wednesday the club faces a hammer blow off the pitch as they are just days away from receiving a winding up order due to an unpaid tax bill. The Hillsborough club who have faced a turbulent few years under the ownership of Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri including multiple late payments of wages, unpaid tax bills and points deductions the end could be near for the historic club. The Owls who are currently banned from paying fees for any players until the end of 2027 as a result of the financial mismanagement of the club reportedly now face the prospect of administration over money owed to HMRC totalling £1 million pounds. In recent weeks there have seen protests against the ownership of Chansiri including a pitch invasion in a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Coventry as fans pile on the pressure on their owner to sell the club and end the sorry state of affairs that has plagued the Championship club. It was also revealed the players for the 5th time in 7 months would receive late payments of their wages owing to cashflow problems in Chansiri’s other businesses. The latest development in this long running saga could finally be a turning point as the Thai businessman now may be forced to sell the club and plunge them into administration as the financial situation at Hillsborough has become perilous. Chansiri has placed a £40 million pound valuation on the South Yorkshire club however should a winding up order be given and the fine be unpayable the value of the club will diminish significantly. Off the pitch it would be a catastrophic turn of events for the Sheffield based side however on the pitch the club could suffer further as should they be put into administration a points deduction would follow which would drastically affect the clubs already slim hopes of Championship survival. It remains to be seen what will occur in the coming days however the future is looking bleak for Sheffield Wednesday a historic name in English football history.
Steven Smith to take caretaker charge for Dundee United clash
Steven Smith, Rhys Owens and Sal Bibbo will take charge for Rangers’ clash against Dundee United at Ibrox this Saturday. The Light Blues sacked Russell Martin 11 days ago but are close to appointing Kevin Muscat as talks have been progressing well. It’s been reported that Muscat won’t join the Gers until the Chinese Super League is finished as he currently has Shanghai Port top of the table. Neil McCann looks like he will be part of the former Australian international’s backroom team and will most likely lead the team until his arrival. Last night Danny Rohl told the Ibrox club that he was no longer interested in becoming Martin’s replacement. It was expected that Steven Gerrard was set to make a stunning return before he turned down the opportunity for the second time as the timing wasn’t right. The Govan club are nine points behind Celtic and 11 behind Hearts and the next few weeks could be season defining for them.
