Soccer Central

Derby County manager Nigel Clough has decided to give former player Jake Buxton a chance in the Championship, and has signed Buxton on a one-year contract with the club. Should Buxton impress for Derby, then there’s a possibility that his contract will be extended for a further year.

The 24 year-old was named Burton Albion’s Player of the Year this season, and with Clough having managed him at Burton; he obviously feels that Jake Buxton is a player with potential, and if Buxton is a success at Derby then the fans will no doubt be praising Nigel Clough’s bargain buy come the end of the season.

Before playing for Burton, Jake Buxton previously played for Mansfield Town in the Football League, making 151 appearances for the club before joining Burton Albion in summer 2008.

It’s not going to be easy for Jake Buxton, trying to make the step up from the Blue Square Premier to the Championship; he does have Football League experience though, so he may yet surprise us all and make a success of himself at Derby County.

Good luck to Jake Buxton at Derby County, and here’s to hoping that he can go on to enjoy a successful spell with the club.

After Jim Magilton’s sacking yesterday; Roy Keane has now been named as the new manager of Ipswich Town. Having guided Sunderland to the Premier League in 2007, Keane will now be looking to do the same thing with Ipswich, and firmly believes that he has the squad strength and resources to do so.

Keane has signed a two-year contract with the club, and the Ipswich board obviously feels that Roy Keane is the right man to do the job of returning Ipswich Town to the Premier League for the first time since 2002.

£12 million has been spent improving the team since Marcus Evans became the club’s owner in 2007, and last season Ipswich finished just outside the play-offs in 8th. This season has not been so strong as last though, and the highest Ipswich can possibly finish now is 9th, and with two games to go; the club is currently 12 points off the pace of the play-offs.

Ipswich is not doing so well in the league as owner Marcus Evans had perhaps anticipated, the fact that Roy Keane is now the club’s manager should mean more success for next season though, and with a quality manager like Keane at the helm; the club’s fans will no doubt be feeling that anything can happen next season.

Roy Keane showed supreme strength as manager of Sunderland, and did fantastically well to turn the club’s season around and take the club back to the Premier League. Will Roy Keane accomplish his aim of achieving promotion with Ipswich next season though? We shall see, he’s definitely an excellent manager though, and will no doubt give it his best shot.

Southampton has officially been relegated from the Championship, but things could yet be even worse for the club if it doesn’t win 4 points or more in the remaining two games of the Championship season.

If Southampton gains 4 points or more in the last two Championship season then the club could yet finish the season outside of the relegation zone. If this is indeed the case, then the club will be deducted 10 Championship points, and will lose its place in the Championship nonetheless. If however the club is unable to come up with the points to secure safety, then the points will be deducted next season, and Southampton will therefore start off its League One campaign on -10 points.

The way that Southampton is being treated is rather odd to say the least, and surely a better policy here would be to deduct 10 points from Southampton next season regardless of what league the club happens to be in? If the Football League feels that 10 points ought to be deducted from Southampton next season then that’s perfectly fine, using the points deduction to make sure that the club will be in the league below next season though; that just doesn’t really seem right.

The club is to launch an appeal, as it does not believe that it’s deserving of a 10 point deduction given that the football club itself has not entered administration.

Dexter Blackstock, who started his career with Oxford United, has joined Nottingham Forest on loan from Queens Park Rangers until the end of the season. Blackstock signed for Rangers for a fee of £500,000 from Southampton in 2006, but has struggled this season to hold down a regular place in the first team.

Nottingham Forest is presently struggling for survival in the Championship, 3 points from safety with the second worst goal difference in the division. Blackstock has scored 12 so far this season and could well prove to be a huge help to Nottingham Forest in the club’s quest for survival.

Blackstock goes straight into the squad and is available for Forest’s game against Barnsley on April 4th.

Reading’s David Mooney has joined Norwich City on a month long loan. Mooney is yet to appear for Reading, but will now be hoping to make some appearances in the Championship this season as he moves across the country to play his trade in Norfolk.

Norwich City is currently 23rd in the Championship and battling hard against relegation, Reading meanwhile is 3rd in the league and chasing promotion.

Mooney joined Reading from Cork City in August 2008, with a phenomenal scoring record of 15 goals in 22 appearances. He’ll now be looking to prove himself in English football, and what better way to do so than in scoring important goals for a team that could avoid relegation as a result.

David Mooney started out his professional career with Shamrock Rovers, and the 24 year-old from Dublin most definitely has plenty of potential as a player. Mooney may not be able to make it at Reading, but he’ll no doubt still go on to become a huge success in English football.