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As we continue our look at the future of the game, and the role of our young players, I look at the murky underbelly of the transfer world and the tapping up scandals that have continued to dominate the headlines.

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If those running the youth teams of smaller clubs around Europe had hoped that the tapping up of young talent by the biggest fish in world football had been brought to an end in the wake of the Gael Kakuta saga, the news this week that Chelsea are being investigated for their role in the tapping up of young Feyenoord prospect, Nathan Ake, will have sent sighs of exasperation across the football community.

In fact, the whole concept is fast becoming a boring soap opera, and one that none of the football authorities seem to be in any great rush to bring to an end. The constant violation of the rules and regulations surrounding the acquisitions of young talent is often so blatant that the nominal fines and superficial punishments have been laughable.

The Kakuta saga was interesting in that it was the first time that a club had been severely punished by FIFA for illegal dealings involving the acquisition of young players. Kakuta was alleged to have broken the terms of his contract with parent club, Lens in order to sign an agreement with West London giants, Chelsea in 2007.

The FIFA imposed ban on Chelsea’s transfer activity for two transfer windows was deemed harsh in some quarters, but was also an indication that the biggest fish could no longer bully the smallest in the fashion they had previously become accustomed.

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The ban imposed in September 2009 was quickly overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and whilst the legal arguments for the reversal were undoubtedly sound, it was found Kakuta did not have a valid contract with Lens, the chance to make a big statement on the issue was lost.

The way in which players are recruited already suits the largest clubs- it makes sense that the finest talent will be presented to the biggest and best sides in Europe from an early age, in the hope that these big outfits take a particular interest in these youngsters and nurture them into top level footballers.

Young players will naturally want to go to Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona or AC Milan from a historical point of view. Because of their relatively recent rise to the top level of club football, Chelsea have found some top talents choosing destinations other than West London in which to ply their trade. This, combined with owner Roman Abramovich’s desire to develop a cost- effective, top quality young squad, has meant the attempts to acquire potential stars of the future have intensified. The relatively small amounts of cash needed to keep these poorer clubs from kicking up a fuss, has been deemed a worthy expenditure.

The irony is, that for Chelsea, despite the adverse reaction, the recruitment of these young players has not really worked. Both of the boys acquired from Leeds in 2006 have failed to make an impact a Stamford Bridge- Michael Woods currently plays in the reserves having made a handful of substitute appearances, and Tom Taiwo has moved on to Carlisle United having not played a single game at Stamford Bridge. Jon Obi Mikel, the Nigerian who once cost Chelsea 15 million pounds in a compensation deal with Manchester United has performed at first team level, however has certainly not lived up to the hype he was afforded.

Chelsea may have been underhand in some of the cases that have been brought to light, but they are by no means the only side to be caught with their trousers down- almost every single major player on the European stage has had one point or another been reprimanded for their movements on young players- it is inevitable.

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Whilst strict punishments remain a pipe dream, big clubs will continue in their pursuit to find a talent worth bringing into their first team squad. The rewards of finding just one special talent amongst ten dubiously located prospective players are such that clubs will continue to risk punishment, pushing and pushing until someone pushes back.

Want to read more? Follow me on Twitter. I’ll be hiding in an underground bunker hoping to avoid Frank Arnesen.

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Birmingham City have emerged as strong contenders to win the race to sign Standard Liege striker Dieumerci Mbokani.

The 24-year-old DR Congo international is set to leave the Belgian club this summer, with Italian outfit Lazio the Blues' main rivals for his signature.

Mbokani has told Standard that he will not feature in any pre-season games to avoid injuries, saying:"What is the point in playing in exhibition games, that is no good – I risk getting an injury.

"Since last week I have been training with full devotion and please, it is not my intention to pollute the group with a bad atmosphere.

"I just won't play in the friendly games, it makes no sense for someone who is leaving.

"My agent has talked with Lazio and I talked with Birmingham. It is also not correct that there was contact with Fulham.

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"Chief executive Pierre Francois has assured me that he and (director) Luciano D'Onofrio were in London, but just talked about another player and not with Fulham, not about me.

"They have no reason to lie to me about something and I have no reason to doubt his words."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Your average cup of tea usually spends longer in the cup than Plymouth Argyle do, for whom most seasons a cup game means little more than just making up the numbers before doing our customary exit in the first round.

But not this season.

It goes to show how dreadful our record really is in the League Cup (only 36 wins from 130 games prior to this fixture), when many Argyle fans were forecasting that we would lose to Portsmouth. A club who were forced to field a team full of teenagers and their first team coach in order to fulfill the fixture due to their ongoing administration.

With the game being announced as a special ‘fans re-united’ fixture by the Argyle club president a week before, some were worried that the consoling feelings of the Argyle fans would spread onto the pitch and allow the young Blues to beat Argyle, but that was far from the case. Before the 15 minute mark had been passed Simon Eastwood, the Pompey goalkeeper, had already narrowly kept out an ambitious Gorman shot and produced a stunning save to deny Matt Lecointe.

As the half progressed it seemed to become a matter of simply when Argyle would break the deadlock. The home side were dominating the possession but, to the young Pompey defences credit, created only a few clear cut chances. There were goalmouth scrambles aplenty every time an Argyle ball was crossed into the box where the sea of Blue meeting the crosses where working on a ‘when in doubt, give it a clout’ policy. Only some last ditch defending denied Matt Lecointe and Nick Chadwick shots on goal from close range.

It was just when it looked as if Pompey would hold on to go into the break level that Argyle scored, and what a goal it was. Paul Wotton played a neat through ball to Johnny Gorman on the left wing who raced towards the box. Instead of crossing if though, Gorman opted to put his foot through the ball and hammer it straight across goal into the side of the net from some way out. His finish would not have looked out of place in the Premier League.

Portsmouth, as expected, came out of their shell in the second half as they looked for an unlikely equaliser. Although they had a lot more possession than they did in the first half they very rarely threatened Argyle’s goal, as the experience in the Pilgrims defence gave them a clear edge over their rookie opponents. Adam Webster went closest for the team from Hampshire, firing a long range effort just wide in front of 700 Pompey fans.

You always felt that a second Argyle goal was on the way however, and with just three minutes to go it arrived. A Conor Hourihane corner found Maxime Blanchard at the back post who headed it across goal for debutant Paris Cowan-Hall to nod home his first goal for the club.

Within two minutes it was three as Joe Lennox found space on the right wing to cross the ball in to Chadwick who took a touch to set himself before smashing it past the hapless Eastwood.

3-0 seemed quite a harsh scoreline on a Pompey side who really gave it their all on the night, when it would have been easier for them to just roll over after Appleton stated before the game he would not criticse any of them. On the balance of play though, it was a fair result.

So into the second round we go, for only the third time in the last 21 years. We all left Home Park dreaming of a tie against one of the bigger premier league clubs that enter in the second round, Aston Villa or Everton, for example. The dreams were not realised though, and the draw for us on first sight is a bit of a stinker; Burnley away. On reflection though, it’s not so bad. We have a half chance to win this game and if we do then who knows? Manchester United coming down to Home Park? It could happen…

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For more talk on Argyle, you can follow me on Twitter

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In their respective Barclays Premier League games this season, Blackburn Rovers players have covered a total of 443,725m (275.7miles) while Arsenal players have covered 468,673m (291.2miles) The Arsenal team covered a total of 109,959m (68.33miles) in last week’s win against Swansea City The Blackburn team covered a total of 125,116m (77.74miles) during their 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday Aaron Ramsey was the Arsenal player who covered the most distance (11,487m / 7.14miles) against Swansea, just ahead of new signing Mikel Arteta (11,165m / 6.94miles) Mauro Formica was the Blackburn Rovers player who covered the most distance (12,970m / 8.06miles) at Fulham last week, followed by David Goodwillie (12,280m / 7.63miles) Goodwillie was the Blackburn Rovers player who hit the second fastest top speed (25.69MPH) during last weekend’s game, only 0.02MPH slower than the top speed Steven Nzonzi hit Blackburn Rovers’ Michel Salgado is one of three Barclays Premier League players (along with Wolverhampton Wanderers pair Jamie O’Hara and Richard Steaman) to have won every one of the 15 tackles he has entered in to this season Salgado is also the player to have made the most interceptions (13) in the Barclays Premier League this season.

Read the full article and comments at The Transfer Tavern

Arsenal have little time to get over their shock 1-1 FA Cup draw with Leyton Orient on Sunday, with a Premier League tussle with Stoke on Wednesday.Originally scheduled for December 18 at the Emirates, persistent snow saw the match postponed.With a replay against Orient in the offing, the club will contest the Carling Cup final on February 27 and are still involved in the Champions League, meaning Arsene Wenger’s side will be busy in coming weeks.Arsenal are second in the league, just four points behind leaders Manchester United, and will be desperate for three points to bridge the gap and keep the pressure on Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.There is no love lost between Wenger and Stoke boss Tony Pulis, with the Frenchman a critic of what he described as Stoke’s ‘rugby’ tactics against goalkeepers.Wenger’s comments strained relations already frosty following last season’s challenge by Ryan Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey that left the midfielder with a broken leg. Stoke are in 10th place, after being in contention for a European place earlier in the season, but with just eight points separating them from bottom-placed Wolves – and with three losses from their past four games – Premier League survival could soon become a pressing issue for Pulis’ side. The signing of striker John Carew on loan from Aston Villa has given the squad a new dimension, while the only concern Pulis has from the treatment room is a hamstring injury to winger Matthew Etherington.Wenger has more pressing injury concerns ahead of the fixture, with Thomas Vermaelen, Lukasz Fabianski and Emmanuel Frimpong all unavailable, but with 10 first-team players rested for the Orient game, the Gunners should be fit and firing for Wednesday night’s match.

The campaign to oust the Glazer family as owners of Manchester United was tempered last week when the Red Knights, the investor group aiming to buy back United from its American overlords, admitted that they were unwilling to meet the £1.5bn valuation of the club. The news came as a blow to the fans who care about the long-term future of the club and who want a new ownership model that accommodates the supporters and their views, but talk of the Red Knights having suffered a permanent setback is premature.

Critics of the anti-Glazer movement are calling for United’s fans to forget about ridding Old Trafford of its current owners. After all, the Florida-based businessmen have repeatedly said that the club is not for sale and, to back that up, last year they reportedly turned down a bid from a Middle East consortium. The critics, some of them on FootballFanCast, think that United’s supporters should reserve their concern for events on the pitch, especially as the Red Devils’ hopes of an unprecedented fourth Premier League title in a row were dashed by Chelsea last season. However, United’s second-place finish owed far more to a lack of investment in new players the previous summer by the Glazers than it did to any possibility that the fans’ protests against the owners transpired to unsettle the team.

It is far too early, then, to be talking about winding down the campaign. For a start, the Red Knights have not shelved their plans for a bid indefinitely, as they made clear in a statement on 2 June. The Manchester United Supporters Trust also remains steadfast in its support for the Red Knights. MUST continues to believe that the wealthy investors, who are led by the Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, sincerely wish to achieve ownership of the club and that their determination to do so has not waned.

An article in the Manchester Evening News on 1 June predicted the Red Knights’ decision but reacted to it with optimism. It said that the group “refuse to pay over the odds, even if that effectively rules out their hopes of a quick sale. Instead – with financing in place – they would rather play the waiting game and see the pressure increase on the Glazers before making a bid in the region of £1.2bn.” With the local media and the supporters still behind the Red Knights, and confident of success eventually, the anti-Glazer campaign still has much further to run.

In the meantime, a little backing from fans of other clubs would not go amiss. And yet, the wearing of green and gold colours by disgruntled fans has been mocked by opposition supporters. Chants of “Are you Norwich in disguise?” have become commonplace whenever United are playing poorly. It is understandable terrace humour, of course, but it betrays the overriding lack of understanding that other sets of supporters seem to have both for United’s ownership situation and the reasons why the Red Knights are seeking to change it.

Why should supporters of other clubs care that United fans want the Glazers out? Well, because other clubs are vulnerable to the same circumstances that allowed the American tycoons to take control five years ago. Back then, the fans did not have a large enough stake in the club to stop the takeover. United were bought with borrowed money and the astronomical debts incurred by the club’s owners through their share purchase will largely have to be paid back from revenue generated by the club. So the club’s income is there to service the debts of the owners and not to be invested back into the team. The same situation applies at Liverpool, and other clubs could follow. The likelihood of a takeover at Arsenal continues to grow, for example.

The two most successful English football teams in history – with thirty-six league titles and eight European Cups between them – have been saddled with the debts of men with no geographical, familial, or emotional ties to the clubs. Read that sentence again. Abhorrent, isn’t it?

Under the Red Knights, Manchester United fans would not run the club outright but they would have a say in its affairs and also own enough shares to ensure against a repeat of the Glazer takeover. This would safeguard the future of United and, as an ownership model that could spread to other clubs, it would go a long way to preserving the wellbeing of English football in general. It would mean an end to the era of the absentee owner who runs a club purely as a business and who has no affinity with the team’s local area or its people. Fans of all clubs should want that.

Written By William Abbs

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Whilst some may see pre-season tours as a way for footballers to extend their holidays and do a little bit of light exercise in the sunshine whilst fans drag themselves out of bed at ridiculous times in the morning to watch tours of America, not to mention a useful marketing tool, just how far do pre-season results matter in light of the forth coming season?

For a number of Premier League clubs, they will be hoping the answer to the above question is not very much. It is one thing losing by a goal to nil to a giant like AC Milan, but to be outplayed by Brighton when the majority of your first team is on display is something that is quite worrying, and given Chelsea’s form this pre-season, if RDM adopted the squat made so famous by the hapless AVB no one would be surprised.

Likewise, West Ham and Sunderland have been privy to a few less than stellar results, in fact the list goes on and on, with Villa looking less than impressive and Stoke creating little in front of goal on the now mandatory tour of the US – something fans grew concerned about last season.

Obviously if a team has a new manager and a great deal of new payers, it takes time to adjust to the system, and it is common to see fringe players given a chance and mass changes throughout the game. Not to mention the fact that many players at top clubs were involved in the Euros and essentially have has no break this summer, meaning a bit of give and take has to be allowed.

Manchester City however have been playing with a three at the back which includes Savic and Kolo ‘I take diet pills’ Toure and have still managed to clock up some impressive results, yet generally fans tend to disregard the results that their team gets before the opening weekend of the season, with that being the only thing that really matters.

Of course there are multiple examples of teams having god awful pre seasons and then having a fine start to life in the Premier League, where as some teams are almost expected to have a poor start no matter what – Everton are all too used to having a shocker of a start up until about October when they really get going and move their way up the table.

Perhaps the way in which teams play is more noteworthy pre-season, and if chances are being created and the team looks like being on its way to having a solid defence that is enough, with a friendly not having the same intensity of a Premier League game, and thus not really having the same meaning for players.

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A third straight defeat however is cause for concern when virtually nothing is being created or defending is littered with school boy errors, and Chelsea more than most have something to be slightly worried about now their pre-season is coming to a close. Should they lose to City in the Charity Shield come next weekend, questions may start to be asked of RDM and with Pep waiting in the wings, no manager can afford a shaky start this season – well Martinez aside – I doubt Pep would be lured to the DW stadium even with the quality of the pies.

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Blackburn owners Venky’s have urged the club’s fans to back the team, despite growing calls for Steve Kean to be sacked.

The Lancashire outfit are bottom of the league after gaining only one point from their opening four games, and an anti-Steve Kean lobby is preparing to protest outside Ewood Park on Saturday before the team’s game against Arsenal.

However, the clubs shareholders have belief the side can turn their bad fortune around, and have asked their supporters to believe in the players.

“We understand that there is sense of disappointment and anger among our fans at the recent performance of our team Blackburn Rovers, which was not up to the expectations of the fans. We fully understand your feelings and share your disappointment,” an official statement reads.

“At times like this, when the team is going through a bad patch, they need all the support and encouragement they can get from the fans to boost their morale and enable them to perform at their best. This is the time when the fans can make a difference by lending their full support and cheer the team more vigorously than ever, and, help the players to renew the confidence in themselves.

“On behalf of Venkys, we would like to reassure the fans that we are fully aware of our responsibilities towards the them, and the club and to football.

“We are fully committed to make sure that the team’s performance improves, and that the recent set backs do not stand in the way of regaining our clubs standing in the Premier League, and the admiration of our fans,” it concluded.

Blackburn face a tough test against an Arsenal side that played well in Europe against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, and a defeat will put real pressure on an already under-performing team.

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Birmingham won a crucial battle against West Ham in their fight against relegation, winning 1-0 at Upton Park on Sunday.

Nikola Zigic headed the winner midway through the second half from a set play, to send Alex McLeish’s side one point clear of the drop zone while also condemning United back to last place on the table.

There were few chances created in the first half, although the in-form Victor Obinna was influential once more for the hosts.

Roger Johnson had the best chance for the visitors on goal, but headed over the bar from six yards out.

West Ham manager Avram Grant was forced to make a late change to his starting line up, replacing the injured James Tomkins with Matthew Upson, but the defender lasted only until half-time.

Sebastian Larsson came on for striker Cameron Jerome early in the second half, and the Swede justified McLeish’s decision when he provided a dipping free-kick which found Zigic at the back post who headed home the winner in the 65th minute.

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West Ham substitute Manuel da Costa missed two gilt-edged chances late on – one with the head, one by foot – firing wide on both occasions.

City move to 16th on the table, with a game in hand on their relegation rivals, while West Ham are bottom, two points from safety.

Manchester United could be in for a big summer in the transfer market – especially from a defensive point of view – and one of the positions Jose Mourinho could prioritise is at right-back.

While Antonio Valencia has been a great servant for the Red Devils, he is getting no younger and his own fans on Twitter are split as to whether he has a future at Old Trafford.

One right-back that could be a potential target for them is Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich, who impressed and scored in his side’s 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.

His display didn’t go unnoticed by United supporters on Twitter, so we decided to ask the fans to vote on our poll to see if they would want Kimmich to replace Valencia at right-back this summer.

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A huge 88% said they would want the Germany international to arrive at Old Trafford, and it will certainly be interesting to see what Mourinho intends to do this summer as it is clear that the club will probably need a new right-back if they are to compete with Manchester City for the Premier League title next term.