From Tom Williams of Southampton on Football365’s letters page, definitely sounds like something very fishy going on over Theo Walcott, the conspiract theorists don’t circle around one man like David Dein this much without something going on now do they?

Does anyone know why this week’s England game was a ‘B’ international? Because there is a rumour going round the south coast that it’s because Arsenal would have had to pay us an additional 2 million quid for Theo if it had been a full international…

It’s a fact that we get a lot of money per international that Theo plays. I think you can find the structure of the deal online somewhere. At the end of the day, they’ll still have to pay us the money at some point, as he is clearly going to play plenty of internationals (the majority of England and indeed Arsenal fans won’t have seen him play, so just take my word for it…), but the reason they haven’t picked him for their first team is that they want to be sure about him before they have to pay us any more money.

In fact, I bet you he goes out on loan somewhere next season in a further attempt to put off paying for him. That human paraquat Redknapp has been sniffing round apparently. That would be almost too much to bear…

I’d like to know when it was decided that the friendly would be a ‘B’ international. If it was decided since it emerged that Theo would be in the squad, there is clearly something very dodgy going on.

I like most Saints fans was very upset when Theo went, and this has rekindled my rage. The FA need to do something to stop the likes of Arsenal raping smaller clubs, because that’s what it amounts to- what is effectively the non-consensual buying of our players. With Spurs and Liverpool apparently sniffing round our brilliant young defender Gareth Bale it is increasingly concerning.

What’s the point in having a kick-arse academy if your best youngsters are going to end up at other clubs before they’ve played a full season for you? It’s not our responsibility to provide players for the ‘big five’. Clearly though, nothing is going to change while snakes like David Dein are involved. Allegedly he also vetoed the possibility of Wenger being offered the England job. What a surprise.

What makes it worse is that if Theo makes an impact at international level, Wenger will claim all the credit, when he deserves none. It is unbelievable that when he was selected in the squad, the likes of Redknapp and Wenger were immediately basking in the reflected glory, yet almost no mention was made of our academy staff Georges Prost, Malcolm Elias and Huw Jennings (’Who?’ you might ask…).

We’re not whiter than white. We’ve essentially done the same thing, poaching players from Notts County, Oxford and others. Theo himself was briefly on Swindon Town’s books. It’s not really Arsenal I have a problem with- I admire Wenger’s crusade to win the title back using the rough diamonds he has ‘unearthed’. It’s the rule, whereby players can be transferred for a fraction of their true worth if they are under 17, that I am objecting to, and the obvious conflict of interest of having David Dein and his ilk effectively running the game.

No smoke without fire?

Andriy Shevchenko is expected to make a decision on his club future later today after meeting with AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani to discuss the club’s offer of a new contract to run until 2011.

Shevchenko has spent seven years at the San Siro in the black and red of Milan and still holds the club and their fans in very high regard. What will be a deciding factor is that Shevchenko is now 29 years old and this contract will be his last at the very highest level so he will have to make a final decision based on many factors.

Chelsea are long time admirers of the Ukraine hitman and as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and Shevchenko are close personal friends it wouldn’t take a huge leap of imagination to see him decide to head for West London if today’s meeting with the Milan administration doesn’t lead to a successful outcome.

Having already secured the services of Germany captain Michael Ballack for next season, Chelsea chief executive can afford to be optimistic as he moves for another high profile European superstar as the pulling power of the glitz and glamour of London, coupled with the mountains of roubles at Mr. Abramovich’s disposal, makes Chelsea a very attractive proposition for any player.

Never a stranger to tabloid front page scandal, Newcastle United midfielder Kieron Dyer has been arrested and questioned by police after allegedly indecently exposing himself to a female staff member at an East Anglian hotel.

The incident, which took place at the Swallow Nelson Hotel in Norwich at the end of April, supposedly occurred after a drinking session involving Kieron Dyer and friends, including Titus Bramble’s brother Tesfaye who plays for Stockport County.

Dyer attended a police station this week along with his solicitor and has now been released on bail pending further investigation.

A Norfolk Police spokesman said: “A 27-year-old man was arrested yesterday morning on suspicion of indecent exposure and was released on police bail pending further enquiries.

“The arrest relates to an incident in Norwich on April 30.”

French midfielder Robert Pires has finally ended speculation about his future by announcing that he has signed a two year deal with Spanish side Villareal. After six years at Arsenal, Pires has found that the club were unwilling to increase their 12 month contract offer and will move on now to the club Arsenal put out of the European Cup at the semi final stage this season.

Pires said today:

“After six wonderful years at Arsenal, full of fantastic moments, I have decided to accept a new challenge at Villarreal for the next two years of my career. I am very grateful to Arsene Wenger, the players and all the fans for their amazing support over the years.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger had already prepared himself for the classy midfielder’s departure by snapping up Czech Republic star Tomas Rosicky from Borussia Dortmund this week but admits that it will be a huge wrench to see Pires leaves:

Wenger said: “Robert has had six tremendous years with us and made a huge contribution to the team’s success during his time here.

“He is not only a great footballer but a good man, so of course, we are sad to see him go. It is difficult to pick out one or two highlights - but he was superb in our double winning season during the 2001/02 campaign and contributed so hugely to our unbeaten season with 19 goals.

“I would like to thank Robert for the dedication, determination and passion he has shown and wish him well in his career.”

Wayne Rooney will undergo a scan on his broken metatarsal injury today as England team doctors try to ascertain whether their talismanic striker will play any part in this summer’s World Cup.

While the results won’t be known until tomorrow there is an understandable edginess surrounding the whole episode as the hopes of the squad, and the nation at large, rest squarely on the shoulders of the Manchester United man.

The findings from today’s MRI scan will be studied by specialists as well as Manchester United’s assistant team doctor Tony Gill before being handed to the England doctors to allow them to complete their requisite reports to FIFA on each player’s physical and mental health which must be handed in before May 30th.

Even if Wayne Rooney doesn’t fully recover in time after being named in this latest squad list, Sven Goran Eriksson has until the 9th June to replace him in his squad under FIFA regulations. England are hoping that they won’t even have to consider it.

Newcastle United have moved quickly to deny rumours that star striker Michael Owen will activate a ?12m release clause in his contract and move to European Cup finallists Arsenal.

Speculation has been rife since Owen moved back to England with Newcastle last summer following a less than successful spell at Real Madrid but the Toon hierarchy have continuously denied that their main asset will be going anywhere.

Owen’s injury problems during his first season on Tyneside limited him to only 11 games in the black and white stripes but with 7 goals in those games he displayed again just what a lethal finisher he is at Premiership level and that goalscoring prowess has now apparently captured the attention of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Newcastle used their open chequebook policy to beat off competition from Owen’s old club Liverpool to sign him for ?17m last summer and while it’s been an expensive gamble that hasn’t quite paid off for Freddy Shepherd just yet, there is no indication that Newcastle are ready to cut their losses and sell one of England’s top marksmen.

Whether Owen actually has a release clause in his contract could be the deciding factor once and for all about whether Freddy Shepherd or anyone at Newcastle United actually gets a say in the matter.

The 2006 World Cup is filled with countries who have historically failed to live up to their potential. For example, England, Portugal, and Holland have all found ways to scupper their chances during the Finals, be it playing defensively with a man advantage and a one-goal lead, not showing enough respect for Americans and South Koreans, or in the case of the Dutch, not even qualifying despite a surplus of talent.

But it?s the Spanish who one thinks of when it comes to teams not living up to their abilities. Every four years the Spanish are billed (possibly too much in their own heads) as one of the favorites to lift the Cup (or at least to advance past the quarterfinals) and every tournament they find a way to disappoint.

But coach Luis Aragones is determined that this year will be different, telling the Spanish sports daily AS, “We’ve got to banish the excuse mentality. I’ve never liked alibis to justify anything. We have to go into every game convinced that we can win.”

Talent is not the area where Spain is lacking. In fact an overabundance has caused Aragones to leave the experienced Ruben Baraja and Fernando Morientes (both with 43 caps) at home in favor of Cesc Fabregas, Marcos Senna, and Andres Iniesta who have a total of 2 caps between them. But the Spaniards are spoilt for choice with Xavi, Xabi Alonso, David Albeda, Jose Antonio Reyes and Luis Garcia all making cases to start in a strong attacking midfield. This is why Aragones felt comfortable only naming three strikers (Raul, David Villa, and Fernando Torres) in his squad.

In defense, Spain are steady and reliable with Iker Casillas in goal and Barcelona captain Carlos Puyol partnering Pablo in the middle of defense. Sergio Ramos and Antonio Lopez take up the right and left back spots respectively with Chelsea’s Asier Del Horno and Real Madrid’s Michel Salgado as more than able replacements.

The Spanish are once again very deep and there is no question that they can play with anyone in the world. But they haven’t made it past the quarterfinals since 1950 and its likely this will be their stopping point once again.

They should get out of a group that includes Tunisia, the Ukraine and Saudi Arabia. And either Switzerland or South Korea are certainly beatable in the Round of 16. After making it to the quarterfinals though, they are almost certain to face Brazil. It is here that Aragones will have to live up to his passion and determination. As he said this week, “”I have 23 good reasons to believe in this team and in Spanish football. But we have to keep our feet on the ground and take things one step at a time. That is the only way we will be able to get close to the favorites.”

New Ajax coach Henk Ten Cate would love to give Edgar Davids his dream of finishing his career back in Amsterdam in Ajax’s colours but fears that the player’s huge financial demands would be too much for the club to bear.

Davids has enjoyed his first year at Tottenham Hotspur, helping push the London club into the UEFA Cup but has made no secret of his desire to return to his old stomping ground in Holland before hanging up his boots.

“Davids would find it terrific if he joined Ajax,” Ten Cate told RTL TV show Voetbal Insite. “But there is of course a price tag around his neck and that can make it very difficult.

“I do hope that he joins us though - together with Jaap Stam he’s a guy who doesn’t need a captain’s armband to have authority.

“They can make the young players understand what is needed to reach the top and even more importantly, what they need to do to stay there.”

Ten Cate signed off with a European Cup winner’s medal as Frank Rijkaard’s assistant at Barcelona before taking up the Ajax manager’s job. He’s now hoping to bring a player like Edgar Davids back to Ajax to help inspire the younger players in much the same way his old friend Rijkaard did with the same club in the mid-1990s as his career came to a close, helping to bring young guns such as Davids himself, Clarence Seedorf and Patrick Kluivert to European Cup winning prominence.

Czech Republic star Tomas Rosicky has completed a medical at Arsenal and the clubs are now in negotiations to finalise a deal to take the playmaker to North London before the World Cup.

Rosicky has been at Borussia Dortmund for five seasons since they signed him from Sparta Prague for a Bundesliga record fee of ?18m in 2001 and had been widely tipped to join Atletico Madrid during the summer. Atletico now seem to be short of cash until they sell their own star player Fernando Torres and Arsene Wenger has nipped in ahead of the Spaniards to add to his squad as the Londoners try to build on last season’s European Cup final appearance.

Classy and skilful on the ball, Rosicky has long been touted as one of Europe’s finest ball playing midfielders but his development at club level has stagnated at Dortmund over the past couple of years and a change of scenery will help to revitalise the 25 year old’s career.

The signing of Rosicky could force Arsene Wenger to change his tried and trusted centre midfield tactic of playing two strong ball winning players (Vieira and Petit, Gilberto Silva and Fabregas) as he makes room for a traditional playmaker in the centre in the shape of Tomas Rosicky. With Robert Pires still looking like going through the Arsenal exit door there will be a creative void in the Arsenal midfield and Rosicky will be expected to pick up the slack.

Unconfirmed reports have mentioned a fee in the region of ?4m rising to ?7m depending on honours and titles which would make sense with Borussia Dortmund still in some serious financial trouble and eager to cash in on their most prized possessions.

I heard on the radio today that Kevin Blackwell the Leeds Manger was disappointed about the state of the pitch at the Millennium Stadium after the rugby match that had been played the previous day. Boothroyd’s response had been ‘I’ve got no problems with the pitch’ I wish I had of acted on my instincts and gone online to www.betandwin.com One o

As I followed the build up to the game, the richest game in world football valued at between ?20 million and ?40 million depending who you listen too. A common theme coming from the mouths of the reporters and the Watford players was that Boothroyd gets the extra 1% out of his players. I was reminded about what Muhammad Ali did in the build up to his title fights, he was a master of the psychological battle, so much so that his opponents were often defeated before they got in the ring. Ali would make a series of statements over time that were true, they would have the effect in the mind of his opponent that everything he said was true and this would build up to a climax that he would drop them to the floor in four.

So what had Boothroyd done in the lead up to the big game. He’d met up with Clive Woodward, no matter what you think about Woodward, he is a World Cup winner, his book is probably the best sports/business book that I have ever read. Don’t be surprised when Clive Woodward gets his hands on a team if he does an Aidy Boothroyd.

The other act of looking for the extra 1% that impressed me about what Boothroyd instigated in the build up was to have a practice penalty shoot out immediately after their final home league game. The Watford fans were still present. His reasoning was that it was important to test the players in a pressure environment and that it would have been a totally different scenario testing his players out on the training ground. The genius in doing this was twofold:

1. In the event of a penalty shootout his players would have been better prepared and been more confidant

2. The Leeds players would have heard about Watford had done and would likely have that seed of doubt in their minds just like Muhammad Ali’s opponents.

Like life in general the difference between winning and losing is often the cumulative effect of those 1% actions. The difference between a successful relationship and divorce is often the cumulative effect of lots of 1% decisions.

What are the lessons that we can learn from Boothroyd that we can use in our everyday life. Lets ask some questions.

What area of your life do you want to do better in?
What are you going to do to get those improvements?
What are some 1% actions you can implement in the area you choose to improve in.

The question is do you want your life to be lived in the Premier League or are you going to settle for the Ryman Isthmian League or worse still Sunday league.

Gavin Allinson is a Total Success Life Coach. He is in the process of writing a book titled ‘Life Lessons from the world of football’. Subscribe to his blog here as he creates the content for his book
http://totalsuccesscoach.typepad.com/lifes_football_lessons/