Snippets - Pickens Leaving Chicago...Ricketts in Limbo...Stewart in Jamaica...Cerny at Spurs...Murphy Not QPR...Telegraph re QPR...Jim Langley Obit

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Chicago Tribune/ Luis Arroyave re Goalkeeper, Matt Pickens
"...The Fire confirmed that goalkeeper Matt Pickens will not return to the team for the 2008 season. According to a source, Pickens is expected to join Queens Park Rangers in England" Chicago Tribune

Chicago Fire Announcement - "...PICKENS NOT WITH FIRE FOR 2008
The Chicago Fire announced Monday that the club will not re-sign former Chicago Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens, as he looks to pursue opportunities abroad. Pickens played four seasons (2004-07) with the Fire, 40 games - 38 starts, and was the team's starting goalkeeper since September of 2006. Pickens' contract with the Fire ended as of Dec. 2007. Pickens, 25, leaves the "Men in Red" after setting the club's single season shutout record with 10 in 2007, while posting a 1.20 career goals against average.
The six-foot, three-inch Washington, Mo. native was a member of the 2006 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup-winning Fire squad and also helped Chicago to the finals of 2007 MLS Eastern Conference Championship. Pickens is one of two Fire players to have taken home the MLS Player of the Month award twice (Oct. 2007, Sept. 2006). The Chicago Fire Reserves (now Premier) product registered 159 saves and leaves the Fire with a career record of 16-13-11." Chicago Fire

Jamaica Observer Transfer failure plunges Ricketts to reserves
"Jamaica's goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts' collapsed move to Queens Park Rangers (QPR) has not only left the player devastated, but also demoted to reserve games at Bradford City.
Ricketts, 30, was on the verge of signing with League Championship outfit QPR last week when the deal fell through.
He had passed a medical, agreed personal terms and was waiting on a work permit from the British Home Office that was never granted based for three main reasons:
a) Jamaica's low FIFA world ranking which should average below 70 over the last two years;
b) His lack of international appearances for his country and;
c) He was not assured of being the starting goalkeeper at his new club.
Now he is back at Bradford City where his contract expires at the end of the season, and the veteran goalkeeper has been relegated in the pecking order to Scott Loach, who was brought from Watford to replace him when he left.
"I am back at Bradford and they signed someone and his contract says he has to play. Right now I am just training and playing reserves," Ricketts candidly told the Observer yesterday.
Loach, 19, is yet to make a senior appearance for Watford, but has had loan spells with Morecambe and Stafford.
Prior to his proposed move, Ricketts was clearly the number one choice, but now he will have to wait on an opportunity to get back between the sticks. But he remains optimistic.
"Maybe he gets injured and I play again, but right now I am just training and watching football," he noted.
However, Ricketts is not bitter at the Home Office's decision not to grant him a new work permit and is taking everything in stride.
Said Ricketts: "Based on the reasons I think it is a fair decision so I can't complain about it.
"I am very disappointed, but I spoke to my mom and she said everything happens for a reason," he added.
Ricketts has been at Bradford City since 2004, and if he represents Jamaica regularly and helps to improve the country's rankings on the world stage over the next few months, he could just be granted a work permit by the British Home Office in the summer, when his contract expires. Jamaica Observer

QPR's Damian Stewart (and Donovan Ricketts) are in the Jamaica squad, currently training in Jamaica -
Jamaica Observer
"... 11 local-based players were chosen from the 24 who attended the week-long training last week....
The squad will be further trimmed to 18 for Wednesday's game which means that of the 11 local-based players, only five should complement the 13 overseas-based players.
All the overseas-based players are now in the island, with the exception of the injured Claude Davis (Derby County), who will not make the trip, and Jason Morrison (Royal Whitestar), who was scheduled to arrive yesterday.
Marlon King (Wigan), Ricardo Gardner (Bolton), Donovan Ricketts (Bradford City), Ian Goodison (Tranmere) were in attendance at the JMMB press launch.
Ricardo Fuller, Demar Phillips (Stoke City), Damion Stewart (Queens Park Rangers), Tyrone Marshall (Toronto FC), Shavar Thomas (Chivas), Omar Daley (Bradford City), Jamal Campbell-Ryce (Barnsley) and Luton Shelton (Sheffield United) are the other overseas-based players here." Jamaica Observer

Sky Sports/Vasek Kadlik - Cerny keen to stay at Spurs Keeper waiting for decision
Radek Cerny has confirmed he would 'love' to stay at Tottenham Hotspur beyond his current deal.
The Czech Republic goalkeeper's stay from Slavia Prague is due to expire in the summer and he is waiting to learn if he will be retained.
He recently admitted he would be interested in joining Queens Park Rangers after being mooted as a target for the Championship club.
But, after replacing Paul Robinson as Spurs' first choice in recent games, Cerny is keen to stay at White Hart Lane.
"My contract ends at the end of the season and there is no reason to think about it now," Cerny told Galaxie Sport. "We will see how it will turn out."
When asked if he wanted to stay, Cerny replied: "Definitely. I would love to stay at Tottenham and now it just depends on them if they will come up with something." ... Sky Sports

Ireland online Daryl Murphy: the boy for Brazil
HE WAS the 11-year-oldWaterford kid who fell in love with Brazil watching them in the World Cup and then wore the canary and blue replica jersey on the street as he attempted to emulate his exotic heroes from the small screen.
Now, 13 years on, Daryl Murphy is in line to share the Croke Park pitch with the Samba stars of today and he is almost pinching himself at the prospect....
Murphy may have to be content with a starting place on the bench tomorrow night but his good form for his club this season suggests he has every chance of adding to his six international caps at some stage during the 90 minutes in Croker.
“I have been playing regularly so I’ve been quite happy,” he says, his satisfaction all the more understandable given that, as recently as December, Roy Keane was prepared to let him go until Murphy proved his determination by seizing on an opportunity to get back into the first 11.
“There was a period of uncertainty for me,” he admits. “The gaffer told me that clubs were interested in taking me on loan and it was something I thought about. QPR then came in with an offer and, at the time, the club accepted it. I was trying to get my head around that and decide what was the best thing to do.
“But then the gaffer sat me down and said that he wanted me to stay, that he was going to give me a run in the team and that it was up to me to show what I can do. I played as well as I could, as I have always done, so that he would realise that I had something to offer the team and club. He knows what I can do and it’s up to do me consistently. I have found a bit of form from playing regularly and that’s what I needed....” Ireland on Line

Telegraph Blogger/James Higgs Considerably richer than you
James Higgs, a QPR supporter, writes about what happens when your club suddenly becomes 'the richest in the world'
QPR manager Luigi De Canio missed Saturday's game because of a family bereavement. The rumour seems to be that he sleeps with the fishes.
Since Flav and Bernie took over, QPR have been the subject of some very fanciful gossip. We were going to sign Alessandro del Piero, Mourinho would be the new manager, Luis Figo will sign in the summer. The last of these is still doing the rounds.
Now, according to The People, De Canio has been talking to Napoli about becoming their coach because of he's having difficulty settling in London. Elsewhere in the same paper, he's also supposed to have been talking to Lazio. They report that 'fans still sang his name, and Rangers' multi-millionaire owners could be playing with fire if they sack him.'
Like so many things that the press say about football, I suspect that there is little or nothing to this story. The BBC originally said that 'it is not known when ... De Canio will return to the club after the death of his father'. Later, that story was amended to read 'De Canio is due to return to work on Monday afternoon following the death of his father.'
In that same article, QPR are linked with an American goalkeeper, the Chicago Fire's Matt Pickens, whose nickname surely has to be 'Slim'. The story appears to be confirmed by a Chicago Tribune blogger, who attributes it to 'a source with the Fire'. Who's that then? Prometheus?
With all this fire about, there has to be some smoke. Telegraph

Belated Obituary for Jim Langley
Brian Glanville/ Guardian Jim Langley - England, Fulham and Leeds United defender
Jim Langley, who has died aged 78, may be regarded as the pioneer of the overlapping full-back. Not surprisingly, perhaps, he began as a left winger, as did a subsequent and better remembered left back in Terry Cooper. Both played for Leeds United, though the London-born Langley in his year at Elland Road in 1952-53 was mainly a reserve player, while Cooper went on to share in the subsequent triumphs of the Leeds team under Don Revie.
Langley played at non-league level before joining Brentford in 1946, but was rejected as too small and slipped back to non-league before joining Leeds. At 5ft 9ins and 11½ stone, but always lean and mobile, Langley made just nine first-team appearances for Leeds, but scored three goals. In July 1953 he joined Brighton and Hove Albion, turned into a speedy left back and became a great favourite. He made 166 appearances and scored 14 goals. On February 1 1957, a £12,500 fee took him to Fulham, where he spent eight years with 323 first-team appearances and 31 goals.
The Munich air crash of February 1958 deprived England of the Manchester United captain and left back, Roger Byrne. This led to three caps for Langley. The first, in April 1958, saw England crush Scotland 4-0 at Hampden Park. The next was a narrow win against Portugal at Wembley. Langley seemed all set for the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden, but his third appearance was in the catastrophic 5-0 defeat in a boiling hot Belgrade by Yugoslavia. Langley lost his place to the more robustly defensive Tommy Banks and never won another international cap.
In January 1965, he moved the short distance across west London to join Queens Park Rangers, where he played until June 1 1967, making 87 appearances and scoring nine goals. He was a member of the QPR Third Division team that dramatically beat West Bromwich Albion of the First in the League cup final at Wembley in 1967.
At the age of 42 he became trainer-coach with Crystal Palace before returning to non-league Hillingdon as club administrator for 13 years from 1972. Later he worked in the motor industry. He was married with two sons.
· Ernest James "Jim" Langley, footballer, born February 7 1929; died December 9 2007 Guardian