What does every young boy and girl dream about when they watch their football idols on the television? For most youngsters the fantasy is to pull on the shirt of your country and score the winning goal in the World Cup, thus making you a national hero. Well it appears that when the dream becomes a reality, things do not always go as planned in the fantasy.

It has emerged today that Wolves striker, Steven Fletcher has told Craig Levein that he does not want to accept the call-up to the Scotland national team for the upcoming Carling Nations Cup match against Northern Ireland. Levein himself has stated in a newspaper interview that Fletcher informed the Scotland camp of his intentions via a text message.

It is not entirely clear why Fletcher has asked to be left out of the squad, but the former Burnley and Hibernian forward criticised Levein’s tactics in the qualifying game against the Czech Republic in October. Levein punished Fletcher for his outburst by leaving him out of the squad for the win over the Faroe Islands in November, but was clearly willing to hand the 23-year-old a second chance in the forthcoming fixture. It now seems that Fletcher’s Scotland career is over for as long as Levein is at the helm.

“What I have found since taking this job is that I want to work with people who want to play for Scotland.

What I don’t want is anyone in the squad who is not of that mind. For the life of me I just can’t understand anyone who doesn’t want to be part of what is happening,” Levein said.

When the opportunity arises to represent your country at International level it’s more than likely that most fans would jump at the chance and play any role the manager asked of them. However, in modern day football it seems that international matches are not just about the pride of pulling on your national colours. In recent years there has been a glut of stars who have called time on their international careers despite being wanted by their national managers.

In the last 12 months alone, England boss Fabio Capello has lost the services of Luke Young and Paul Robinson who have both retired from the international scene. The reasoning for both men was the frustration of being regularly selected for the squad and then having to watch the games from the bench and wanting to prolong their domestic careers.

As money plays a progressively prominent part in the growth of football, there is likely to be more players who grow frustrated with travelling the world with their countries, only to sit in the stands for every match. The opportunity to stay at home with their family and rest during international week is an option that more players are seeing as the best way to keep themselves fit for their club.

There are of course other cases, such as that of Emmanuel Adebayor who retired from the Togo national team in the aftermath of the horrific shooting on the team bus before the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.  The Man City striker, who is now on loan at Real Madrid, said he was retiring as he no longer wanted to put him and his family at risk for the sake of football, a decision all people could understand.

This month sees the first matches to take place in the newly created Carling Nations Cup that sees Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland play each other in a series of fixtures reminiscent of the Home Nations tournament last played in 1981.

Well it is fair to say that January 31^st 2011 will go down as a memorable day in the history of British football as two transfer records were broken and one of the World’s most feared strikers switched between two of England’s most successful clubs.

Fernando Torres made his much talked about switch to defending champions Chelsea from Liverpool for a British record transfer fee of £50million, making Torres the third most expensive player in history after Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. His number nine shirt at Anfield was swiftly filled by Newcastle United’s England international centre forward, Andy Carroll who became the most expensive British player as he moved for a startling £35million.

Transfer deadline day is always a strange 24 hours in the world of football, but yesterday was comfortably the craziest and biggest spending day in Premier League history. It must have been the type of day that the producers of Sky Sports News (SSN) have dreams about as their heads hit the pillow each night. SSN went into hyper drive yesterday with the voices of the presenters becoming increasingly louder as the spinning clock in the bottom corner of the screen counted down every second. Back and forth we went to reporters freezing themselves outside training grounds only for them to tell us that they had no new news. It should have been wholly unwatchable madness, but the sheer unpredictability of the day made it impossible to switch off.

The day started with Harry Redknapp stating that Tottenham were not interested in signing anyone and ended with Spurs having failed with bids for Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan, Phil Neville and even at the very last minute, Charlie Adam. It seems it wouldn’t be correct for a transfer deadline day to pass without Redknapp trying to pull off a late signing that no one else saw coming. In the end though, it was Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle who were at the centre of the action in a dramatic day in the Premier League.

For Chelsea, the £70million+ they splashed out yesterday on Torres and Benfica’s Brazilian centre back David Luiz will be seen as a real sign on intent from Roman Abramovich as Chelsea struggle in their pursuit of consecutive Premier League titles. The sum paid for Torres will undoubtedly be seen as a gamble by the West London club given the Spaniards troubles with his form and most worryingly, the injuries he has been troubled by over the last 18 months.

Torres has scored just nine goals in all competitions this season in the red of Liverpool, but Carlo Ancelotti will be hoping that a change of shirt colour will be just what the former Atletico Madrid star needs to rediscover the form that saw him score 56 Premier League goals in his first three seasons in English football. However, spending £50million does not guarantee that a player will be a success. Kaka moved to Real Madrid for a similar figure 18 months ago, but injuries and a lack of form have meant that the Brazilian has looked a pale form of the player who led AC Milan to the Champions League in 2007.

With Torres departing Anfield, Kenny Dalglish needed to act fast to sign a replacement that would excite the fans and ease the pain of losing a player who had become an idol to those on the Kop. By spending nearly £60million on two young strikers, the new Liverpool owners, Fenway Sports Group have sent a message to the fans that they are determined to restore the club to its former glories and are surely committing themselves to a future with Dalglish at the helm beyond the summer.

The new strike partnership of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll has the makings of a deadly front line, the power and aerial ability of Carroll combining perfectly with the pace and intelligence of Suarez. One of the major issues for Liverpool this season has been that Torres has often looked isolated up front on his own, especially in away games, so Dalglish will be hoping that by pairing his new strike force together his team can provide a far greater threat to opposition defences.

Although Suarez comes from Holland, where it is acknowledged that the league is not as strong as it once was, the South American’s performances at the World Cup suggested that he is capable of making the step up to the demands of the Premier League. It is hoped on the red side of Stanley Park that the 23-year-old will make the same smooth transition from Holland to England as Ruud Van Nistelrooy did at Manchester United and not be a flop like Mateja Kezman was for Chelsea.

Despite the euphoria that seems to have surrounded the arrival of Carroll at Anfield, it would not be unreasonable for Liverpool fans to have some nagging doubts about the club record deal for the Newcastle born player. Before last season’s successful Championship campaign, Carroll had failed to establish himself in the first team at St. James’ Park and as a result has only really enjoyed half a season as a regular starter in the Premier League. Of course, in the opening six month of this season the 6ft 2in forward has been a revelation with his 11 goals in 19 starts, form which led to him making his England debut against France in November. But, just how much of a gamble is it from the Liverpool hierarchy to spend £35million on a relatively inexperienced player, who let’s not forget is still injured?

If in a year’s time Carroll has firmly established himself as the new hero on Merseyside, then the deal struck last night will be seen as a masterstroke. However, you can’t help feeling that there is a faint whiff of last minute desperation from Liverpool’s owners who realised they needed to make a signing that would appease the fans as Fernando Torres made his way down to London.

If Torres had left in the summer and John W. Henry et al. had the time to scour the world for a replacement, would they still have spent an exorbitant amount of money on a young striker who is unproven at the really highest level? The chances are they would not have done, but if Carroll can fulfil his unquestioned potential then the £35million could prove to be money well spent.

This seasons FA Cup continued to provide plenty of unexpected score lines and engrossing matches as it entered the fourth round this weekend.

We begin our round up of the action in Nottingham where Notts County very nearly pulled off the shock of this year’s competition as they took on the expensively assembled Man City. Paul Ince’s County players grabbed the lead in the second half of the match when Neal Bishop headed in his first goal of the season on the hour mark to send the crowd at Meadow Lane into raptures.  On a mud splattered pitch, because Nottingham Rugby Club also use the ground, the Premier League club struggled to create any meaningful chances. However, with City ten minutes away from a stunning exit to the League One club, Edin Dzeko scored his first goal in English football when he latched onto the end of a Micah Richards cross from the right.  The Bosnian’s strike from close range means that Notts County will travel to Manchester for a lucrative replay and a second chance of knocking out one of the competition favourites. The strike will also be a relief for the former Wolfsburg man who had started twice before for City without finding the net. Roberto Mancini will be hoping that this goal will spark a prolific partnership between Dzeko and the enigmatic Carlos Tevez.

At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal’s month of struggle against Football League clubs continued as they escaped with a victory from their contest against League One Huddersfield Town thanks to a late Cesc Fabregas penalty.

The Gunners needed a slice of good fortune to open the scoring in the first half, Marouane Chamakh controlling the ball with his arm before feeding Nicklas Bendtner, who saw his heavily deflected shot hit the back of the Huddersfield net. Once the home side had the lead it looked as if Arsenal would have a routine win on their hands, but things changed when Sebastien Squillaci was sent off just before half time. The Frenchman cynically brought down young Huddersfield full-back, Jack Hunt as the defender went on a mazy run from his own half. With the Premier League side a man down, the second half provided superb entertainment. Alan Lee scored his first goal for the Terriers to deservedly draw the West Yorkshire club level against their higher profile opponents, but Fabregas came off the bench to score from the penalty spot late one to spare the Arsenal blushes.

Another of the Premier League’s high fliers, Manchester United survived an extremely difficult evening at St. Mary’s, the home of League One promotion chasers Southampton. The Saints have pulled off several surprise wins over United in the past, but second half goals from Michael Owen and Javier Hernandez overturned a half time Southampton advantage. Midfielder, Richard Chaplow scored right on half time to put the home side in front against a lacklustre United side who looked unorganised and lacking any creative spark when they went forward. Sir Alex Ferguson even admitted after the game that he got the tactics wrong and shouldn’t have set his team up to play an unfamiliar diamond in midfield, but thankfully for the Scot, his strikers dug the team out of trouble and into the next round.

The other notable results over the course of the weekend saw the only Non-League side left in the cup, Crawley Town progress to the fifth round where they will travel to Old Trafford. Blue Square Premier League’ s second placed team, Crawley overcame League Two side Torquay, despite missing from the penalty spot twice and both teams ending the game with ten men. Matt Tubbs scored the only goal of the game to continue the Conference side’s impressive cup run and make it 25 in all competitions for himself.

A shock of another kind took place on the banks of the River Thames as Fulham thrashed Tottenham Hotspur thanks to a remarkable first half at Craven Cottage. Mark Hughes’ Fulham team were two goals in front within 14 minutes on Sunday evening as Danny Murphy converted two penalties, the second of which earned Tottenham’s captain for the day, Michael Dawson a straight red card and left Harry Redknapp’s pre-match plans in tatters. Further goals from Brede Hangeland and Moussa Dembele effectively ended the tie by half time. The defeat means that Spurs best chance of silverware this season is in Europe where they are set to take on Serie A leaders, AC Milan in coming weeks. Redknapp will be hoping that he can get some of his central defenders fit for the trip to the San Siro as William Gallas, Ledley King and Younes Kaboul are all currently sidelined with injuries. However, long term absentee, Jonathan Woodgate is back in training and could be available very soon.

The fourth round, just like the third has provided us with some classic cup upsets and produced enthralling clashes between sides who on paper are nowhere close to each other in terms of ability. However, the FA Cup has once again proven that ability and previous successes play no part in a cup tie that puts tiny clubs on the same platform as Premier League giants. Non-League Crawley’s epitomises what the FA Cup is all about and their visit to Old Trafford in the fifth round is sure to be a match none of the players or fans will be forgetting in a hurry.

Results in full:

Arsenal 2-1 Huddersfield Town

Aston Villa 3-1 Blackburn Rovers

Birmingham City 3-2 Coventry City

Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Wigan Athletic

Burnley 3-1 Burton Albion

Everton 1-1 Chelsea

Fulham4-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Notts County 1-1 Manchester City

Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 Hereford United

Southampton 1-2 Manchester United

Stevenage 1-2 Reading

Swansea 1-2 Leyton Orient

Torquay United 0-1 Crawley Town

Watford 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion

West Ham 3-2 Nottingham Forest

Wolves 0-1 Stoke City

Blackpool were handed a £25,000 fine by the Premier League yesterday for fielding an under strength team in a game against Aston Villa earlier on in the season.

Blackpool manager, Ian Holloway made ten changes to his starting line-up for the game at Villa Park on November 10. Despite all the changes to the team, the Tangerines played their part in a highly entertaining match that ended in a 3-2 victory for Gerard Houllier’s Villa side.

After the match, Holloway threatened to resign if the Premier League punished his club, but speaking yesterday, Blackpool Chairman, Karl Oyston said that if Holloway did offer his resignation he would not accept it.

“There is no way I would countenance Ian resigning and I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Oyston said. He then went on to criticise the fine handed down by the Premier League.

“It is a squad game now. As a Premier League rule, we have to nominate 25 players and that is what we have done. If the Premier League think those players aren’t good enough to appear on our behalf, then maybe they should tell us that as we nominate them and maybe they should pick our team for us.

The manager has got absolute total control over which players he picks and I support every decision he makes.”

Oyston’s evident anger at the fine is easy to understand given the new rules this season requiring Premier League clubs to nominate a squad of 25 players who are eligible to play in the league. It is hard to fathom how the League can fine a club for fielding what they consider a weakened team when they state at the start of the campaign that managers can chose from a squad of 25. Surely it is down to the manager and the manager alone which eleven players start each match. They get credit if their team wins and criticism if they lose, so they are well aware of the consequences of making a raft of changes.

Holloway justified his decision to make ten changes for the Villa match by saying that his team faced three matches in a week and he wanted to rest some of the players who had started regularly up until that point. It is a commonly held thought that in modern day football it is vital that managers make full use of their squad of players over a long and tiring season of high intensity matches.

Wolves were handed a similar fine last season when Mick McCarthy made a number of changes to his starting XI in an away match to Manchester United. McCarthy was as unimpressed as Oyston and Blackpool are about the sanctions handed down to them.

The problem with the Premier League fining clubs for naming under strength teams is that the notion of what under strength is is down to an individual’s perception of what full strength constitutes. The League officials claim that making ten changes undermines the credibility of the league, yet Blackpool’s ‘under strength’ team produced a fine display against Aston Villa and very nearly gained a point from a match in which they were clear second favourites, hardly ruining the precious reputation of the Premier League.

After fining Wolves in the previous campaign, the Premier League would have faced massive complaints of hypocrisy and inconsistency if they did not hand the same punishment to Blackpool. The problem is that they could now begin influencing manager’s team selections, undermining these men’s jobs. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the 20 league managers to select what they perceive to be the best eleven players for each match and no one should be able to tell them otherwise.

Edwin Van Der Sar has announced that he will retire from professional football at the end of the current season.

The Manchester United No.1 will be out of contract in the summer and it had long been expected that he would hang up his gloves after six years at Old Trafford. He joined United from Fulham in the summer of 2005 and has gone on to make 245 appearances for the Red Devils.

Van Der Sar, who turned 40 last October has refused to comment on speculation about his future all season, but with Sir Alex Ferguson signing Danish ‘Keeper, Anders Lindegaard earlier in the month it has looked increasingly likely that the Dutchman would bring an end to his illustrious career. The Goalkeeper said in a statement on www.sport-promtion.nl that he was leaving the game as “it is time to pay attention to my family”.

The Dutchman’s wife, Annemarie suffered a serious illness last year and Van Der Sar has admitted that he has been contemplating retirement since she was taken ill.

“I cannot really identify a time when it [the decision] happened. Let’s just say that it was playing on my mind from the moment Annemarie had her stroke.

She has fought back from it. We decided on another year in England and thus to stay at Manchester United. But, once engaged in the season, the thought of saying goodbye started to gnaw a bit more emphatically”.

When his career does draw to a close in a few months time, Van Der Sar will be remembered as one of the finest goalkeepers in the history of football. In a professional career that has spanned 21 years he has won two Champions Leagues (Ajax 1995 & Man Utd 2008), three Premier League titles and four Eredivisie titles in Holland during his time with Ajax.

Van Der Sar’s physical presence has always meant that he has been very strong when defending set pieces, but it has been his shot stopping and supremely accurate distribution skills that has set him apart from most others goalkeepers of the same generation.

As well as fantastic success at club level, the 6ft 5in shot stopper played a record 130 times for the Netherlands and even captained his country at two major tournaments. Despite being part of a superb generation of Dutch footballers, Van Der Sar was not able to help his country to any major international success. The closest the Netherlands came to lifting a trophy came when they reached the semi-finals of both World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000. Van Der sar retired from international football at the end of Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, but returned to play a part in the qualifying games for the following World Cup, however he did not feature in the tournament itself.

With Van Der Sar soon to depart Old Trafford, the search for his replacement at the League leaders will begin in earnest. Current No.2 Tomasz Kuszczak has said he will leave if he is not the first choice next season, while Lindegaard and youngster, Ben Amos are likely to be considered too inexperienced to follow immediately in the Dutchman’s footsteps. Therefore speculation around the likes of Manuel Neuer, David De Gea and Craig Gordon is sure to intensify in the coming months as Sir Alex Ferguson hunts for his new goalkeeper.

For an hour last night, the mood at the Emirates Stadium in North London was one of tension and nervousness. All 60,000 of the fans inside the sprawling arena, including the 9,000 who had ventured from Suffolk looked on as the underdogs of Ipswich Town manfully kept Arsenal’s superior quality at bay, the tie teetering on a knife edge.

The boys from East Anglia did enjoy a few pieces of luck with Arsenal missing two outstanding chances to open the scoring. But, with the Gunners supporters becoming increasingly agitated there was a palpable sense of utter relief from the home crowd when the much maligned Nicklas Bendtner slammed in the goal that broke Suffolk hearts with less than half an hour left of the Carling Cup Semi-final second leg.

Walking to the ground before the match there was a clear air of belief amongst the huge mass of followers from Ipswich. The Championship club have endured a difficult few months in the League. Their form has plummeted drastically and they have slipped down the table as a consequence. This led to the dismissal of Roy Keane from the manager’s office. The new incumbent, Paul Jewell got his first win in charge at Portman Road at the weekend against Doncaster Rovers and it was evident that a renewed optimism was in full force as the self styled ‘ Tractor Boys’ converged on the Emirates. For much of the match this optimism appeared to be well served, but by full time the expected parity was restored as Arsenal booked their place at Wembley next month.

Ipswich began the match with Grant Leadbitter attempting an audacious effort to embarrass Wojciech Sczesny from the kick off. After this unusual start to proceedings, the match followed much the same trend as the first leg at Portman Road a fortnight earlier. Arsene Wenger’s team inevitably dominated the possession and territory as they forced the Ipswich midfield deep into their own half from the off.

The home side were unlucky on several occasions in the first 45 minutes as Robin Van Persie headed against the crossbar from close range. Not long after, Cesc Fabregas should have scored when played through by Jack Wilshere, but the Spaniard hooked his left footed shot wide of Marton Fulop’s far post.

Although Paul Jewell’s men were not able to really trouble the Premier League side in the first half, they began the second brightly. For the opening ten minutes after the interval the away side looked more confident in possession and the Blues fans in the Clock End seemed to sense that their players could conjure up a goal to strike an arrow of despair through the hearts of the Arsenal followers.

Despite their increased endeavour, Ipswich were not able to find a breakthrough as they attacked towards their own fans. With the match now more open, Arsenal were able to take advantage of the extra space in midfield. Prodigious teenager, Wilshere sprayed a pinpoint pass out to Bendtner on the left wing. The Danish striker took the ball in his large stride, cut into the penalty area and drilled the ball into the opposite corner of the net. The goal sparked the home support into life as the fear of an embarrassing defeat began to evaporate.

The effect of the goal on both sides was evident as Wenger’s team began to attack with more verve. It took them just three more minutes to take the lead in the tie when loose marking from an Andrey Arshavin corner allowed Laurent Koscielny to get his first goal in English football with a thumping header.

As Jewell pushed teenage prodigy, Connor Wickham forward to partner Jason Scotland who replaced the ineffectual Tamas Priskin, Fabregas made sure of the Gunners progress to their first final at the new Wembley. The Captain’s left foot succeeded where it had earlier failed by firing the ball past Fulop and into the net.

At 3-0 and with victory assured, there was a carnival atmosphere inside the stadium. Home fans waved their red and whites scarves with gusto, whilst Ipswich fans continued their endless singing despite the score line. On the pitch, Fabregas et al. began to take their foot off the pedal as Ipswich’s energetic players tried in vain to grab a late goal. They did come close with minutes left on the clock when Captain David Norris headed narrowly over from a Shane O’Connor cross, but a consolation was not to arrive.

The final whistle was greeted with vibrant celebrations from those in red and applause of appreciation from the travelling hoards towards their players for a battle well thought. And a battle it was for the Premier League side who for over two hours of play were unable to break down the stubborn resistance of the Championship team. Through sheer persistence they were eventually able to make their mark on the tie and earn the victory that many thought would be simple. The important thing for the Gunners was the win that takes them to within reach of their first piece of silverware since 2005. As for Jewell and Ipswich it’s back to the key business of gaining points to move away from the relegation zone and perhaps make a late Blackpool style charge for the play-offs and what confidence their efforts against Arsenal will give them.

The Captain of Manchester United is Serbian, the captain of Arsenal is Spanish and the captain of Aston Villa is Bulgarian, yes players from outside of these shores have well and truly become part of the furniture of the Premier League and beyond in the 21^st century.

It is not exactly a hidden fact that over the past twenty years, British football has seen an influx of foreign talent. The debate rages about whether the arrival of so many players from all over the globe has been beneficial to football in this country or not, but what is for sure is that there appears to be no signs of the numbers of foreign players dwindling anytime soon.

On Sunday evening the extent of the foreign invasion became more evident than ever before when Blackburn Rovers played host to West Brom at Ewood Park. The Lancashire town played host to the most nations ever to take part in a single Premier League game, in all there were 22 different countries represented overall by the two clubs. Of the two starting XI’s, only Paul Robinson, David Dunn and Jerome Thomas are eligible to play for the England national team, with the other 19 players to start the match all representing different nations at international level.

Internationals for countries as far flung as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Grenada played some part of the match, making Ewood Park the surprise scene of the most cosmopolitan game of football ever played in the history of English football. Foreign players in the English leagues is no phenomenon of course, the number of players from abroad has been steadily rising for a number of years.

Of the 500 plus players who are registered to play in the Premier League for the 2010/11 season, 337 of them originate from foreign climes. This means that over half the players registered amongst the 25 man squads of the 20 teams in the Premier League are from outside of the British Isles.

The sheer number of foreign players in the Premier League did not become wholly apparent until Gianluca Vialli’s Chelsea named a completely non-British starting XI in 1999 when they beat Southampton at The Dell. This was the first time that an English team had started a match without a single British player in their team, something that caused a lot of consternation amongst British football fans at the time.

The inevitable question that arises from reading all these figures is this; has the amount of foreign players plying their trade in Britain helped the national teams of the home nations?

When the Premier League was established in 1992, one of its main aims was supposedly to enhance the performances of the English national team at the major tournaments, however England of course missed out on the first World Cup of the Premier League era in 1994. In fact, the national team has only managed to go further than the quarter finals of a major international tournament on one occasion since 1992 and that was on home soil in Euro 1996. In this time the only other home nation to have made a tournament is Scotland and they managed it just once, at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Can the influx of foreign players be attributed to the continued disappointments of the national teams? Well, there is no question that with over half the players in the Premier League not being eligible for the British nations has drastically lowered the pool of talent available to the likes of Fabio Capello and Craig Levein.

But perhaps it could be argued the other way that the influence of foreign players and managers has led to extremely promising young players like Jack Wilshere and Josh McEachran coming through the youth ranks with better technical ability then previous generations of young players. Both of these teenagers have slipped effortlessly into the first teams of two of Europe’s strongest clubs with their calmness on the ball and superb passing ability. Perhaps the passing and movement that is seen in a lot of league’s in mainland Europe and South America is becoming a part of the fabric of young British players, because they are playing with and against players from around the world.

The match between Blackburn and West Brom proves that the Premier League is the most multi-cultural league in the world, a major reason behind its huge global commercial success. Of course all fans of the four home nations would love to see more players from Britain playing for the Premier League clubs, but perhaps Wilshere and McEachran are the first signs of the positives that foreign players could have on the future of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.