Scotland job appeals to Moyes

Everton manager David Moyes admits that one day he would like to be manager of Scotland, but that the England job would never be a consideration.

The Everton manager is finding himself linked with big jobs now he has guided the Toffees to the FA Cup final against Chelsea on May 30.

And his chairman Bill Kenwright says he could "manage Barcelona, no problem. But he's not going anywhere." But Moyes, also frequently linked with Manchester United, does fancy the job as manager of his country.

The Glasgow-born 46 year-old said in a BBC Inside Sport interview: "I am very ambitious and I want to win things. And I would like to do that with Everton.

"But I have always thought that the Scotland job would be something I would like to do in time, and living back in Scotland does appeal to me.

"I class that as my home and I do see that (the Scotland job) as a possibility. But I have a long way to go and a lot to do 'down here' and who knows.

"It might not be the right time for Scotland when David Moyes is available for that job."

But England is not on his radar. Moyes said: "I recall taking a call once from someone who asked whether I would be interested in the England job. And I thought he was winding me up.

"I would never get back over the border and I don't know as a Scotsman whether I would be invited back. I can say it is the one job that I have no interest in whatsoever."

Carragher driven on by Mersey mission for league title

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes the club are closer than ever to winning the Premier League title.

The Reds are on course to be the first team to lose just two league games in a season and not win the championship.

Carragher did praise Manchester United for winning their 18th crown to equal the record held by Liverpool but cannot wait to challenge them next term. It's hard to win the Premier League as our top four sides plus Barcelona probably make up the best five sides in Europe,' he said.

'That's the challenge we face. You can look at the statistics and it is impressive we've only lost two games and scored lots of goals, but United have got more points than us and credit to them - that's what matters.'

Reds goalkeeper Jose Reina added: 'When I first joined Liverpool we were something like 30 points behind United, now it is only three or four points.

'We have already beaten the club record in terms of points and we tried our hardest to do our best at the end of the season.

'But it wasn't enough because United didn't slip at any time.

'We are really proud to be closer but we will be even prouder to win it. That is the next step.' Brazilian Lucas admits it was hard to watch as United gained the point needed to win the title on Saturday, and he could not bear to see their title celebrations.

'I watched the game but when they were about to receive the trophy I switched off my TV,' the midfielder said.

'Last year in January we were out of the fight for the title, this time we were right up there.

'We have to believe in ourselves. We have the quality to win the title.'

Ireland nowhere near new City deal

Manchester City star Stephen Ireland insists he is a long way from agreeing a new contract with the Eastlands club.

Reports last week suggested the midfielder was set to be offered a big-money four-year deal after excelling in a season which saw him shortlisted for the PFA's Young Player of the Year award.

The 22-year-old believes his performances this term speak for themselves and has called on the City hierarchy to resolve his future. We're nowhere with the contract, to be honest, we're still a long way off. Talks have barely started,' he told the Daily Mirror.

'I don't know what's going to happen and if I'm going to sign or not sign. It's out of my hands right now, it's up to the club, not me.

'It's getting to the stage now where I don't know if I'm going to be signing or not. I think I've done enough this year, let my football do the talking.

'The club haven't really made an offer yet. If they make one great - if not, I've got two years left.'

Ashley to blame for Newcastle mess, says Shepherd

Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd insists Mike Ashley is solely to blame for the club's relegation plight and urged the current regime to stop 'whingeing'.

Shepherd sold the club to Ashley nearly two years ago having himself suffered criticism for his running of the club.

Since then, however, the Magpies have lurched from crisis to crisis and are staring relegation in the face heading into the final weekend of the Premier League season.

And Shepherd told The Sun: 'Relegation would be an absolute disaster in terms of corporate and the crowd.

'It took us 12-15 years to get a big ground, a great academy and a good set of players. We left and all of a sudden there's a disaster. And you can't make a profit out of a disaster.

'One thing that is really upsetting is the whingeing that is going on. They blame everyone but themselves.

'They have to look at themselves and say 'what have we done wrong here' and not start blaming other people. It annoys me that they seem to blame me all the time.

'Every year we were there we made a profit. There is only one person to blame and that's the guy who decides who is going to run the club.

'Lots of people can buy football clubs but not many can run them.'

Sunderland stay in contention for drop

Sunderland's bid for Barclays Premier League survival will go to the wire after two defensive howlers allowed Portsmouth to snatch victory at Fratton Park tonight.

The Black Cats could have secured their top flight status with a win and they took the lead with a 59th minute strike from Kenwyne Jones.

But Portsmouth then scored twice inside seven minutes through John Utaka and Phil Bardsley's own-goal after a dreadful gaffe from Anton Ferdinand.

Portsmouth wrapped up the victory three minutes from time after Armand Traore was allowed acres of space to angle his shot inside the far post.

The only consolation for Sunderland ahead of next Sunday's final league game at home to Chelsea is that their top-flight future remains in their own hands.

Sunderland remain a point better off than Hull, who host Manchester United, and two ahead of local rivals Newcastle.

'Anton's [Ferdinand] obviously held up his hand,' said Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia.

'It's happening too often in general - we play well, we think we're sort of in charge of the game.

'We knew in the second half they'd push on to us and close us down. but we got off to a good start. Kenwyne scored and from then on we should have been a bit more confident and bossed the game.

'We kept the lead for two minutes, and that's not acceptable. The second goal was a bad mistake by Anton. He switched off. I would imagine he should have just put his foot through it and helped it on.

'From then on I thought we played reasonably well. We left ourselves open late on - we were obviously trying to go for the equaliser.'

Wenger won't quit Arsenal for Real this summer

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood insists boss Arsene Wenger won't quit the Emirates for Real Madrid this summer. The Gunners chief also slammed shareholders for their 'disgraceful' criticisms of the French manager.

In the wake of a Champions League semi-final mauling by Manchester United which confirmed a fourth trophyless season for the north Londoners, the French boss suffered the wrath of some fans during the forum at the Emirates Stadium on May 14.

Wenger's youngsters were accused of lacking backbone, defender Mikael Silvestre was branded "geriatric" and striker Emmanuel Adebayor also came in for fierce personal criticism over his performances this term. Reports this week have suggested Wenger could be tempted by a move to Real Madrid after he refused to rule out the possibility when quizzed on French television this week.

And Hill-Wood insists the flak aimed his way was the last thing needed at such a sensitive time. 'Frankly, some of the questions were quite disgraceful,' he told the Daily Mirror. 'There you have the most successful manager in our history and two or three of the shareholders made the most negative and somewhat hostile and sarcastic comments, which I think were completely out of order.

'I was very upset by the questions, I have to say. We, and he, kindly agreed to have this meeting and whether we have another one is a moot point.

'Arsene was very diplomatic and honest in his answers and deserves great credit for that. But I wouldn't have been anything like as polite if they had asked me.

Hill-Wood also quashed suggestions Wenger, whose contract runs until 2011, was set to leave Emirates Stadium any time soon.

He told the Daily Star: 'Arsene is here and under contract, and I am sure that is how it is going to remain.

'I think he is a big enough man to accept that a few people are not prepared to be reasonable.

'I think we all have to accept criticism, but you expect it to be reasonably constructive, rather than destructive.'