Nigeria Content Online

Fourteen
weeks into the season, the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), remains
enmeshed in crisis, and today at a Federal High Court in Lagos, hearing
will resume on the suit filed by Total Promotions Limited, the firm
which represented MTN in the bidding for the NPL title rights.

Total Promotions is
seeking to challenge the cancellation of the contract it entered with
the NPL after emerging tops in an initial bid exercise conducted on
December 15 -16, 2010 in Abuja.

The congress of the
NPL that met in Abuja last Wednesday, January 26 had ruled that the
process of the bidding exercise was faulty hence they called for a
fresh exercise that will come up within two weeks.

However, for Niyi
Alonge, Total Promotions’ boss, the NPL congress was wrong in its
decision claiming that they have no right to unilaterally terminate a
duly signed commercial contract.

“Total Promotions Limited affirms it has a duly executed subsisting contract between the two parties for the next four years.

The contract fully
states the process by which it can be vitiated by both parties. No part
of this subsisting legal agreement gives one party the right to act
unilaterally.

“We are duty bound to await and abide by the courts decision on the subsisting suit,” said Alonge in a press statement.

More crises

While the court
cases are still hanging, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), has also summoned six NPL officials to answer questions on an
alleged sponsorship scam totalling over 3 billion naira (about $20
million).

The officials for
questioning include: former NPL boss, Oyuiki Obaseki and the current
chairman, Davidson Owumi. Others invited by the anti graft body are:
Al-Hassan Yakmut, the NPL’s former executive secretary; Shehu Gusau,
the NPL’s vice-chairman, as well as Joe Amene and Total Promotions’
Alonge.

“They have been
told to report to the EFCC office in Abuja on February 10. They are to
answer to allegations of mismanagement of revenue accruing from the
sale of television rights on behalf of the NPL,” said EFCC spokesman,
Femi Babafemi.

It has been alleged
that the television rights for the NPL were sold for a total of three
billion naira (over $20 million) between 2006 and 2010 to a South
African company, but only about 436 million naira or about $3 million
was received by the league in all these years.

Former league
sponsors, Globacom had earlier fingered the high level of corruption in
the NPL as the reason for defaulting in the payment of monies owed the
league body. However, Justice Olasuyi Olateru-Olagbegi of the Federal
High Court, Lagos, did not reckon with Globacom’s claims as she ordered
the telecommunication company to pay up the contract fee of the
2009/2010 season owed NPL valued at slightly over Nine hundred million
naira.

Pull quote: No part of this subsisting legal agreement gives one party the right to act unilaterally

Two
premier league sides with differing tales to tell meet today in the
fourth round of the FA Cup. Fulham lost to Liverpool on Wednesday but
gave a very good account of themselves and should have at least
finished on level terms if not for some wayward shooting by Belgian
forward, Dembele. Today they will have to step up with the visit of
Tottenham. The London side have been playing some eye-catching stuff
and are fifth on the league table. Dickson Etuhu should return to the
Fulham team after a bout of injury but his replacement, Steve Sidwell,
gave a good account on his debut for the Cottagers. Tottenham are in
danger of losing Gareth Bale to a back injury but have the good luck of
having bought Steven Pienaar from Everton.

Harry Redknapp told
Reuters, “He’s been to see a specialist and it shouldn’t be too long, a
bit of work on it and he should be okay.

“He’s never, ever
needed an operation. That’s the last resort when you have a back
problem. He has a little back injury that went into a spasm, but he
should be back in 10 days.” Roman Pavlyuchenko and Benoit Assou-Ekotto
should return to the team after the both missed the trip to Newcastle.

Fulham have already
lost twice to Spurs this season but Fulham captain, Danny Murphy
believes the defeat was based on small margins. Murphy spoke on his
club site that, “I thought we were desperately unlucky in both the
games we played against them so far this season. We’ve also got nearly
a fully fit squad to choose from, other than one or two missing and
hopefully we’ll be able to give them a good game. We owe them one for
knocking us out last year.”

Adebayor to make his debut

The charge
continues for Jose Mourinho and his boys at the Estadio Reyno de
Navarra, where they have to face Osasuna today. Real Madrid managed a
slim 1-0 win over Mallorca last weekend courtesy of Karim Benzema’s
third goal for the club in 20 appearances and with the loan signing of
Emmanuel Adebayor completed on Thursday, Mourinho now has more options
in attack. He can decide to play the conventional 4-4-2 or continue
with the much vaunted 4-3-3 all-out attacking frame. Mourinho’s team
continued to show character with the 1-0 win over Sevilla in the Copa
del Rey first leg semi-final match. Adebayor is keen to get straight
into action. “I have no idea where Pamplona – the home city of Osasuna,
but they have told me it will be difficult to win there. I hope to
play,” Adebayor told Spanish radio station, Cadena Ser on Thursday.

“My first
conversation with Jose Mourinho was positive but we haven’t gone into
details yet (about his role),” the Togolese international concluded.

Meanwhile Osasuna
are just a point above the relegation places, so a loss could push them
furtively closer to the ignominy of the second division. The first leg
ended 1-0 in favour of the Los Blancos courtesy of a 48th minute goal
by Ricardo Carvalho. That match witnesses fans jeering the ‘Special
One’ but Mourinho said it was expected as his team did not perform
well. “The public can jeer if they want and I can respect it,” said
Mourinho.

“I work for the
total satisfaction of the public and they pay me to work and not to
criticise the fans. I will never say anything against the fans of Real
Madrid. Is it only at the Bernabeu where they demand more? I don’t know
any supporters of any big clubs that settle for less. “It is nothing
new for me.” Today the battle will be won by the team that shows the
most desire.

Inter Milan need all three points

After the first
loss had been digested by Inter’s new manager, Leonardo, it will be a
return to the safe surroundings of the San Siro to host Palermo, who
are two places below but separated by a point. Inter MilanMilan’s
defence of their Scudetto had decidedly gone off the tracks before the
Club World Cup triumph in Abu Dhabi. Samuel Eto’o made all the
difference in the first leg, when he scored two goals to cancel out
Josip Ilicic’s opener after 28 minutes. But Eto’o equalised in the 63rd
minute before getting the winner, seven minutes later at the Stadio
Renzo Barbera. Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini has blamed the
referee for that defeat and his players will be keen to pay Inter
Milanback. Zamparini said after the September 19 defeat that, “Maybe
the referee got heatstroke today, as if those incidents had occurred in
the Palermo area, he would’ve awarded four penalties against us. He
lost us the game.

“There were four
penalty incidents. Two were absolutely clear; two could’ve been given
or not given depending on the interpretation. It’s a bit much,
especially considering the penalty awarded against us in Brescia last
week was non-existent.” Juve are floundering Udinese humbled Inter
Milanlast weekend and get another chance to continue their
giant-killing act as they face Juventus today at the Stadio OLympico.
Juventus were roundly beaten 2-0 by Roma on Wednesday in the Coppa
Italia and Coach Luigi Del Neri will start looking over his shoulder as
his team is dragged towards mid-table existence. Juventus have been
performing below par in recent weeks and Del Neri knows that the
fortunes of his team must rebound or he could be out of a job very soon.

Battle of the Nigerians

Monaco are looking
down the barrel and their case could be worsened by the visit of
defending champions, Olympique Marseille to the Velodrome. Monaco’s
young Nigerian midfielder, Lukman Haruna has also not been having the
best of seasons. Marseille also have another Nigerian in Taye Taiwo,
bombarding down the left flank, so it could just become the tale of two
Nigerians. While Monaco need all the points they can get to stave off
relegation, Marseille need the points to keep pace with pace-setters,
Lille Metropole, who are six points better with 38 points.

How long will these go on? For how long will greed and selfishness continue to throttle Nigerian football?

It is really
distressing that while other societies are marching forward and
dragging their football along with it, here in Nigeria we are setting
back the game by decades.

The English Premier
League, which we are all accustomed to watching and other leagues like
the La Liga in Spain and the Bundesliga in Germany are already in full
swing with players, fans and officials lapping up all the action.

In our case, the
league is held captive by greed, selfishness and ego. The unfolding
drama over who sponsors the league has in very eloquent language
presented our sports administrators and some players in our business
sector as enemies of the game.

The whole saga
certainly re-enforces the argument for football to be run and driven by
individuals without any attachment to the government. It is
government’s involvement in the game through its funding of it that has
created room for the kind of malfeasance we are now seeing.

For if truth be
told if the Nigeria Premier League board is not controlled by the
Nigeria Football Federation, which in turned is controlled by the
National Sports commission, which is itself controlled by the
Presidency, we would not have the kind of situation where the congress
of the NPL, which ratified a bid process undertaken by a committee set
up for that purpose would turn around to annul it stating that all
parties were not carried along. We would also be spared the situation
where the National Sports Commission (NSC), which set up a panel to
review the bid process (even though it was none of their business) and
found the process flawless, would turn around to exert pressure on the
NPL to cancel the bid.

Why do we have
small men in and around Nigerian football? How come we have difficulty
doing simple things; accomplishing simple tasks? Is Nigerian football
fated to be yoked eternally to these greedy, egotistic and selfish
individuals in a dance of death?

Moral burden

The tragedy of the
present situation is that of all the parties involved, none is without
one moral burden or the other. The shenanigans of the officials at the
NSC and NFF are well known to us, so we will not dwell on them here.
That leaves us with Globacom and Total Promotions, the party aggrieved
by the latest faux pas by the NPL.

Let me state at this point that Globacom has done well to have funded the Nigerian league these many years.

Their intervention
proved crucial along the way. That said it is also important to point
out that they have benefited immensely from their relationship with the
NPL. While it cannot be said that organisers of our league had done a
good job of packaging it, Globacom did benefit from brand visibility.

It is thus
uncharitable for them to claim as they have done that the reason they
failed to fulfil their contractual obligations to the NPL with regard
to the nearly one billion being owed the league body is because of
corruption within the NPL. Does Globacom have any proof that this is
the case (at any rate the High Court sitting in Lagos, which ordered it
to pay the money to the NPL didn’t think so)? And is there a clause in
the contract, which states that it could withhold funds if it suspected
that it wasn’t being put to proper use?

If Globacom feels
so strongly that the NPL mismanaged sponsorship funds, why is it still
interested in sponsoring the league? Would it willingly commit more
funds to the same body to mismanage? I suspect that Globacom has not
told us the real reason they withheld the N922 million being the last
instalment of its sponsorship agreement.

As for Total
Promotions, only MTN knows why it opted to use the company as agent in
its bid to acquire sponsorship rights to the Nigerian league. It is
understandable that having been bruised before it is not willing to
have its ego dented any further and thus prefers to bid by proxy but
the question is: why Total Promotions, an organisation already
affiliated to the NPL and one, which has thus far failed to
satisfactorily explain how funds for broadcast rights for the league
have been expended?

It is regrettable that the league has found itself wedged between parties whose conduct has been less than satisfactory.

As they engage themselves in mortal combat, it is the game that suffers.

In
my recent commentaries in respect of pension for our past athletes some
of whom were household names worldwide, I noted that some Nigerians
were offended for which I am now obliged to supply more specific
details on why I made such statements.

By way of
background, let it be known that I am one of those athletes that will
benefit from any existing pension schemes because I was employed by the
Kaduna Sports Council from 1979-1980 before leaving for the USA on
academic grounds. I am also part of those athletes abandoned by
existing pension scheme as mentioned by Nnamdi Okosieme in one of his
articles recently based on the fact that I represented Lagos State in
1975 National Schools Cross Country held in Jos as well as Hussey
Shield/Lady Manuwa Competition in Benin City and the National Sports
Festival Kaduna 1977. I also represented both Kaduna and Kano State in
my days and won the 800m at the Zonal (Zone 1) Championship of 1979,
although, these were not international engagements.

Welfare packages

From the National
Sports Commission (NSC) budget of 2009/2010 athletes’ welfare amount
was N10.5 million and N500 million was made available for grassroots
sports development. With this in mind, I acknowledge that there is room
to accommodate pension schemes for all athletes (past and present) in
the future but I believe that to do that requires legislation. Any
budgeted line item must be agreed to by the National Assembly including
re-allocation of already budgeted amounts as amendments because
ministers simply lack the authority to amend or do away with federal
budget. I refer to the reasons for the conviction of Bode George as
recently upheld by Court of Appeal for usurping National Assembly power
on procedural steps on contract awards.

Existing rules

Although, I am not
an authority on Nigerian pension law but I refer to Pension Reform Act
2004 and a National Pension Commission’s (NPC) document dated 5
February 2008 posted at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/20/11/40104425.pdf.

Literally, the
provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2004 concerns employees of public
and private sectors only and some of its provisions are:

“1.(I) There shall
be established for any employment in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a
Contributory Pension Scheme (in this Act referred to as “the Scheme”)
for payment of retirement benefits of employees to whom the Scheme
applies ‘under this Act.

(2) Subject to
Section 8 of this Act, the Scheme shall apply to all employees in the
Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory and the
Private Sector (a) in the case of the Public Sector, who are in
employment; and (h) in the case of the Private Sector, who are in
employment in an organisation, in which there are 5 or more employees.

2. The objectives
of the Scheme shall be to (a) ensure that every person who worked in
either the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory
or Private Sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due:

(h) assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age.

Based on this Act,
it is my position that the Promised Land for the affected athletes
rests with the legislature that established pension laws. With
elections approaching the time is ripe to put pressure on these leaders
as the election is around the corner.

Turning the page
over, we can see that some of the athletes mentioned in the Okosieme
article – Bruce Ijirigho, Charlton Ehizuelen, Felix Imadiyi and others
clearly qualify under the Pension Reform Act by been former employees
who are over 50 years of age. I also believe that they will need
employment lawyers to seek their entitlements.

Going forward

These athletes clearly know what to do and while it is not my intention to advocate any hooliganism or banditry,

I would ask
athletes to think deeply before deciding to represent Nigeria and that
having decided to do so, they should consider their efforts as more of
a voluntary gift to the country and should not think that the country
owes them anything afterwards, in addition to the allowances given to
them during performance.

In comparison with
other countries like USA, Canada and UK, again there is no such thing
as Pension schemes for athletes (past and present). Those who are
employees somewhere (public or private) enjoy such pension as well just
as Pension Reform Act 2004.

Again, what I would
personally like to see is simply that the old ways of employing these
athletes by their respective State Sports Council be re-established and
to do so demands that those athletes make it known publicly to the
respective Governorship candidates or even Presidential candidates.
And, their plan B would be to lobby the National Assembly aspirants.
This is my view and I invite any improvement that will help these
athletes accomplished their goals.

Mr Balogun, a lawyer and former athlete, is based in the United States of America

At
the last edition of the Lagos International Half Marathon, which held
in February 2009, the presence of world acclaimed long distance runner,
Haile Gebrselassie, was one of the high points of the event.

Though the
Ethiopian did not compete in the race, his presence added glamour to
the event, which was won by the duo of Kenyan’s Luke Kibet and
Netherland’s Lornah Kiplagat.

Dashed expectations

For athletes that
failed to meet their expectations at that year’s race, the thinking was
that they will be back to compete at the next edition of the race,
which was beginning to assume the status of a world class marathon.

As expected,
thousand of athletes had begun the process of registration for the 3rd
edition, which was first scheduled for December 12, 2009 but after an
endless wait, an unsigned message was posted on the event’s website by
the sponsors, read:

“May I start by
thanking you for the enthusiasm shown for the Glo Lagos International
Half Marathon which was earlier scheduled to take place in Lagos, on
December 12, 2009. We, in Globacom, were looking forward to receiving
you at the event and to, once again, have a memorable time together.

“However, we regret
to inform you that the event has been postponed owing to circumstances
beyond our control. In consultation with all stakeholders, especially
the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), it was agreed that the event
be postponed till next year.

“A new date is
being considered by all concerned and will be communicated to you in
due course. Your registration details are still valid and we will get
back to you as soon as a new date is fixed to remind you. We hope you
will still be able to join us at the start-line on the new date.”

Game over

That promised has not been kept. The race was neither held in the 2009 – when the message was posted nor in 2010.

The AFN, after
waiting two years for the company to fulfil its promise, announced on
Wednesday that it was terminating its contract with Globacom. A
statement released by the federation and signed by Duro Ikhazuagbe, its
Media Officer, said:

“The Athletics
Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has terminated its relationship with
Globacom due to the inability of the telecommunication company to
fulfil terms of the contract for the annual Glo-Lagos International
Half Marathon”.

This decision was
said to have been taken at the a board meeting of the AFN, which took
place in Abuja on January 26 where the federation insisted that it
could no longer wait endlessly for Globacom on the international
marathon.

Geofrey Ogu, an AFN
board member who confirmed the decision of the board revealed that
Globacom had been in default for two years running.

“The board (AFN)
has just decided now to terminate the contract. We are going to give an
update on the marathon in due time. What however is certain is that the
contract with Globacom has been terminated,” he said.

The federation
explained that its decision was the outcome of many months of trying to
persuade the telecommunication company to honour its obligation in line
with the five-year contract it signed in 2007 with the federation.

The Technical/
Performance Director of the AFN, Sunday Bada, recently said the
inability to host Lagos Half Marathon has become an embarrassment.

“We have an
existing contract with Globacom. The terms of the five years contract
says that the event will hold every year but for whatever reason that
didn’t happen last year and this year they are not making any move to
see how the event will take place,” observed the former IAAF World Cup
winner.

While reiterating
the importance of the Half Marathon as the biggest AFN event, the
Sydney Olympic 4x400m gold medallist frowned at situations where
sponsors fail to honour agreements.

Globacom keeping mum

When NEXTSports
sought the position of Globacom on the development, Harry Iwuala, the
company’s Sponsorship Manager, said he was not in a position to comment
on the matter.

“I am sorry I
cannot comment; I have not been given the authority to comment on this
issue, so I cannot say anything about it,” he said.

It does appear however, that the door may not have been completely closed on Globacom.

“Of course we are still open to discussion with Globacom but we will not be resting on our oars,” Ikhazuagbe said.

For the major
actors, the athletes and coaches, a quick resolution is imperative
given that the marathon is one of the events they look up to every year
in the country’s athletics calendar and would not be happy to see it
scrapped.

Njoku Genevieve was
one of the top Nigerian female finishers at the last edition and for
her the problem needs to be solved as soon as possible.

“They should please
settle the problem. Of course we cannot run for free so we the need the
sponsors. They should just help us bring back the marathon,” she said.

Abass Rauf, coach
of Greater Tomorrow Athletics Club, whose athletes also take part in
the race said a quick resolution is what they call for.

“It will be in the interest of everyone for this matter to be
quickly resolved. Nigerian athletes have been benefitting from this
event and we cannot just allow it to die,” he said.

Liverpool
have agreed to sign Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez from Ajax Amsterdam
for 26.5 million euros ($36.32 million), the clubs have said .

The news came hours after Liverpool rejected an offer from Premier League rivals Chelsea for Spain forward Fernando Torres.

“The club have now
been given permission by Ajax to discuss personal terms with the player
and his representatives,” Liverpool said in a statement on their
website (www.liverpoolfc.tv).

If terms are
agreed, the 24-year-old Suarez would be a welcome addition to a
Liverpool team who have been enduring a poor season that has just begun
to show signs of improvement after Kenny Dalglish was appointed manager
earlier this month.

Torres has been
somewhat out of sorts this term and the addition of Suarez, who has
scored 111 goals in 159 matches for Ajax since joining in 2007, could
sharpen their attack.

“I can understand
Luis wanting to go to Liverpool, it’s a beautiful club, but then it has
to be satisfying for both parties,” Ajax manager Frank De Boer said
before his club released a statement along the same lines as
Liverpool’s.

“The departure of
Luis will be a big loss but on the other hand we have the quality to
win matches without him.” Suarez has just finished serving a
seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder
in a league match in November.

World Cup Further
controversy came at last year’s World Cup when Uruguay went through to
the semi-finals after his deliberate handball in the final minute of
extra time against Ghana prevented a decisive goal from Dominic Adiyiah.

Suarez, who blocked Adiyiah’s attempt with two hands on the line, was sent off but his team won a penalty shootout.

The striker, who has scored seven league goals this season, would
join Liverpool with the 18-times English champions sitting seventh in
the Premier League table.

Nigerian
striker John Utaka has ended his three-and-a-half-year stay at
Portsmouth after agreeing to a two-and-a-half-year deal with French
Ligue 1 side Montpellier.

“John has signed a
two-and-a-half-year contract and could play against St Etienne on
February 5,” the Ligue 1 club said on their website (www.mhscfoot.com)
over the weekend.

The move sees the
Nigerian international returning to a familiar terrain having
previously spent five years in the French top flight division between
2002 and 2007.

Following his
switch from Qatari club Al-Sadd to French side Lens at the end of the
2002 FIFA World Cup, Utaka went on to make over a hundred appearances
for the 1998 French champions before leaving for Rennes at the start of
the 2005/2006 season.

While at Rennes,
Utaka scored 22 goals in 63 games, prompting the then Portsmouth
manager, Harry Redknapp to bring him to the south coast for £7 million
in the summer of 2007.

But despite scoring
on his Premier League debut against Derby County at Pride Park, Utaka
never lived up to his hefty price tag as he only scored 13 goals in the
115 appearances he made for Pompey with his last coming in last
Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Burnley in the English lower division.

Montpellier, whose
roll call of famous ex-players include: Current French national team
boss Laurent Blanc, former Colombia star Carlos Valderrama and
legendary Cameroonian forward, Roger Milla, are currently in the
top-half of the Ligue 1 table but have managed only 17 goals in 20
games this season.

Martins’ move uncertain

However, with the
transfer window set to close at midnight Nigerian time today, Obafemi
Martins’ move to Birmingham is in danger of falling through. Martins
was announced as Birmingham’s latest January signing last week after
they came to an agreement with the striker’s parent club Rubin Kazan to
take him on loan.

However, his hopes
of a move are hanging in the balance as the two parties enter
discussions before Martins can undergo a medical and Birmingham can set
about getting a work permit.

With the transfer
window set to close, Birmingham face a race against time to get a deal
done for Martins as Alex McLeish desperately tries to recruit a new
striker after missing out on Robbie Keane who is close to completing a
switch to West Ham United.

Torres to Chelsea?

Another move that
looks set to be completed today is Fernando Torres’ switch from
Liverpool to Chelsea which could cost the Blues as much as £50 million
along with the London side’s French striker Nicolas Anelka, who is
expected to head to Anfield.

Liverpool have asked for Nicolas Anelka to be included in Chelsea’s bid for Torres.

Torres submitted a
written transfer request on last Friday which was rejected by
Liverpool, but that did little to deter Chelsea from making a second
offer for the Spaniard of £40 million in cash plus teenage striker
Daniel Sturridge.

Chelsea had a bid
of £35 million for Torres, who reportedly has a buyout clause of £50
million written into his Liverpool contract, rejected on Thursday.

With the Spaniard
pushing both clubs to negotiate over a move before the transfer window
closes at midnight today (11pm in the UK), Liverpool have asked for
Anelka, and not Sturridge, to be included in the deal to meet their £50
million valuation.

The deal, upon completion, will see Anelka returning to a club he had previously played for as far back as the 2001/2002 season.

If the deal does go
ahead, it will smash the British transfer record, set in 2008 when
Manchester City paid Real Madrid £32.5m for Brazilian forward Robinho,
who is now with Italy’s AC Milan.

Busy market for Liverpool

The exit of Torres
would be a sad end to a Liverpool career which promised so much – he
scored 65 goals in 91 Premier League starts – but delivered nothing in
terms of silverware for the former European champions who over the
weekend snapped up Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez from Dutch side Ajax
in a deal worth £23 million.

Liverpool are also
on the verge of completing a move for French international midfielder
Blaise Matuidi from French side Saint Etienne.

The Times reports
that Director of Football strategy at Anfield, Damien Comolli, is a
known admirer of the player after holding a similar position at the
Ligue 1 club. His connection with the player is thought to hold the key
with regards to a Liverpool bid.

Matuidi started his
senior career at Troyes in 2004, but moved to his current employees at
the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in 2007. His impressive recent form has
also led to international recognition, with Laurent Blanc handing the
player his first Les Bleus cap against Bosnia.

Matuidi would
occupy a similar role to Lucas should he move to Liverpool, with the
defensive midfielder adding some bite for the club in the centre of the
pitch and allowing skipper Steven Gerrard to push forward.

Meanwhile, reports
have it that Manchester City will not allow Shaun Wright-Phillips to
leave the club, despite the player being on the fringes of the squad
and making just two Premier League starts this season.

The winger was signed in the summer of 2008 by the then manager,
Mark Hughes, who is keen on bringing him to Fulham this January, and
the 29-year-old is believed to have handed in a transfer request in
order to find first team football and hasten his exit.

Obinna
Nsofor ensured that beleaguered West Ham fans had something to cheer
when he scored three goals for the Hammers against former European
champions, Nottingham Forest.

The hammers made
the game hard for themselves by going behind twice before the Nigerian
loan player from Inter Milan spared the blushes of his coach, Avram
Grant. It was the 113th meeting between the two sides with the
statistics reading 43 matches won by both sides and 26 drawn. Nsofor
started his goals trail in the fourth minute with a simple tap-in,
which looked marginally offside. The League One side were not over awed
by the Premiership basement side and had 52% of the possession and that
counted for the equaliser which came in the 18th minute when Dele
Adebola scored his first goal of the season with a toe-poke in from
close range.

Nsofor scored his
second of the day when he equalised for the Hammers two minutes after
David McGoldrick had given Forest the lead in the 40th minute and the
goal had shades of David Beckham’s 40 yards goal in 1996 against
Wimbledon.

The Nigerian duly
completed his hat-trick after 52 minutes with a penalty kick and he
almost scored a fourth goal but Forest keeper, Lee Camp made the save
amongst many that he made throughout the tie. Nsofor has shown more
passion for the Cup games but his side will need some of these goals in
the Premiership to stave off relegation.

Arsenal saved by Fabregas

Again, Arsenal had
to rely on the penalty taking expertise of their captain, Cesc Fabregas
to avoid another replay. Fabregas converted the spot kick in the 85th
minute after Nicklas Bendtner had been brought down in the box by
Huddersfield defender, Jamie McCombe. Bendtner had given Arsenal the
lead on 22 minutes but the League One side equalised in the 66th minute
through a powerful Alan Lee header from a corner kick.

Fabregas rose from
the bench with 22 minutes left on the clock and justified the call by
netting the important second goal that effectively killed off
Huddersfield, who had acquitted themselves admirably throughout the
encounter. But there will be concerns about Samir Nasri, who limped off
with a hamstring problem.

In other cup games,
Manchester City were saved some embarrassment against Notts County, as
new man, Edin Dzeko equalised for City in the 80th minute.