In a highly controversial manifesto that was quickly dismissed by senior figures at the club Landscrona, the largest fans group of the Russian side, claimed that black players were "forced down Zenit's throat" whilst gay players were "unworthy of our great city."

In light of the release of the manifesto, named 'Selection 12', The Football Examiner went out to learn more about the proposals from the Zenit supporters group, consulting Saint Petersburg based journalists and Russian football expert Ivan Potapov, here's what he had to say:

According to the fans themselves the main point is to make it clear they want to keep and preserve their "regional identity". They say it's not money but first and foremost home-grown players who have helped Zenit to become a real force in Russia and they want the club to keep it going. 

The most shocking item in the manifesto reads: "We don't want to see any sexual minorities playing for our club". Homophobia among football supporters has its own story but it's probably the first time a core of any club's football supporters went out to admit they were homophobic.

But there's a strong background to this story - earlier this year Saint-Petersburg city Parliament passed the infamous act on "propaganda of homosexuality" driven by Putin's "United Russia" activists to "keep children away from it" and "protect them". Currently there's a possibility a similar act will be passed on a nation-wide level. 

Their appeal is to use the regional-based strategy with four grades of "priorities" as their club's transfer policy. The first "priority" is to sign players from Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region, then from North-West Russia and Central Russia, then from rest of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, "slavic countries", "baltic countries" and Scandinavia and if there are no players that suit Zenit demands sign them from rest of Europe.

According to the manifesto they "don't need players from other continents other than Europe because we don't want to lose our regional identity". 

There's a separate section on black players. According to authors of the manifesto "lack of black players in Zenit ranks is just a tradition that underlines our identity". "We have nothing against them but we want to see Zenit players with mentality similar to ours". 

So it's really about "right mentality". They don't think black players would be good for Russia because of the "severe climate conditions" and "physical nature of the game" here.

There're clearly some ideas every supporter tends to agree with - fans of any club (mostly) prefer skilled local or home grown player to any outsider and would love to see their team play fair - especially the fans of clubs like Zenit with strong background of producing local players and stars. 

But it seems to me that xenophobic flavour of "Selection 12" manifesto was influenced by far-right wing of Zenit supporters who want to spread their ideas and legitimise their use of racist slogans under the club crest and colours. There are strong links between football fans subculture (especially hooligans) and Neo-Nazis and other far-right organizations here in Russia and ex-USSR nations. The problem is the society turns a blind eye to unemployment xenophobia and racism of some of the youth and young workers. 

Zenit supporters en masse are not different from any other supporters group in this country but - thanks to some Neo-Nazi activists and club management - they have some reputation in terms of "racism issues". The club has never signed a black player in its history. 

There're some grounds for it — back in 90's Zenit was in decline, and had no money for foreign players at all. They signed some players from ex-USSR nations (Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine) but their players were mostly local lads. Zenit comes back to life in late 90s and grew in stature when some new names from its youth ranks have emerged.

There were a bunch of a really talented players (Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Malafeev and Bystrov among others) with addition of Czech and Slovak players (Martin Skrtel was one of them) their then-manager Petrzela signed. At the time some of the richest club in Russia (Spartak Moscow, CSKA, Locomotive) had already signed some good black players, even others signed unknown black players from Romanian and Bulgarian clubs.

Nobody really knows why club management turns down any possibility to sign any black players - now with Gazprom money they can sign any player they want. Some people say there was a big deal of xenophobia among Zenit and Gazprom directors and they didn't want to sign black players to their club but preferred to start an urban legend of "fans who don't want any black players" four or five years ago. But the fact is a fact - there were no players from Africa in Zenit history and a minor set of their fans are even proud to hear some media called them "racists". 

History told us Zenit directors are not the ones who listen to any supporter's open letters, manifestos or whatever. They're businessmen and do with the club what they want to do. In the past six years they have sacked popular managers twice (first it was Vlastimil Petrzela and then Dick Advocaat who was extremely popular among Zenit faithful).

They shocked some Russian conspiracy-looking media when the club signed couple of foreign players with dark skin colour (there were a few players from South Korea, later it was Bruno Alves and now Hulk and Witsel), they infuriated fans when they re-signed Vladimir Bystrov from Spartak Moscow (who left Zenit for arch-rivals Spartak Moscow and shut the door loudly saying he always wanted to play for them).

I don't think now it will be any different. But there's a Gordian knot no one wants to cut - and there's a possibility the situation will be escalated in the future. Some Russian media and rival fans fuel the flame, racist minority of Zenit fans plan their next move whilst the majority of Zenit fans have no clue what's wrong with their desire to watch local lads and players with right mentality playing and are puzzled why so many strangers call them racists.

Zenit directors decline to comment on the manifesto and stay silent as they always are. But at the same time their silence is a bad sign for Hulk and Witsel themselves. I don't think they were pleased to read the summary of "Selection 12" manifesto so they probably feel uncomfortable here and will probably think they should sit and decide if their future is with the Zenit or lies anywhere else.

The editorial team at The Football Examiner would like to thank Ivan for his analysis on the situation at Zenit St Petersburg. For more on Russian football as well as comment on the game around the rest of the world you can follow Ivan on Twitter.

Newcastle United have today confirmed that Demba Ba will hold talks with Chelsea after the West London club met a release clause built into the contract of the Senegalese international. 


Ba has been linked with a move away from St James' Park on numerous occasions since his arrival on Tyneside, speculation which intensified after the 27 year-old failed to strike up a strong partnership with fellow Senegal forward Papiss Cisse.

Now Chelsea have met a £7 million release clause built into Ba's contract which will allow the striker to being talks over a switch to the reigning European champions, with the Blues in need of support for main front man Fernando Torres as Daniel Sturridge heads to Liverpool.

"Newcastle United can confirm that Chelsea Football Club has made an official offer for Demba Ba which has triggered the release clause in the player's contract. An official statement from the North East club read.

"The club has given the player permission to speak to Chelsea FC and therefore he will not be included in the squad for tonight's game against Everton."

Former Barcelona president and close associate of Pep Guardiola, Joan Laporta, says he expects the Champions League winning coach to be back in management this year.


Guardiola took a year sabbatical after leaving Barcelona last summer, spending time with his family in New York. The Spaniard has had offers aimed to tempt him away from his managerial hiatus, most notably from Chelsea following Roman Abramovich's decision to fire Champions League and FA Cup winning coach Roberto Di Matteo, though Guardiola has stood firm that he won't take a job this season.

Laporta believes that Guardiola, who he refers to as "the best trainer in the world" will be back in management in 2013 though he is not entirely sure where his future lie's: "Pep will be back training next year. He has a huge personality, clear ideas and is very intelligent." Laporta told Expressen. 

With the club at risk of losing it's professional football licence, Rapid Bucharest have terminated the contracts of all their foreign players, with a view to building an all-Romanian squad. 


Bucharest filed for insolvency earlier in the month after running up considerable debts in part due to heave expenditure on players in recent years, with Rapid, one of the most decorated teams in Romania, at risk of losing their professional licence as football regulations in the country don't allow insolvent clubs to participate in the first division.

"We renounce all foreigners," Rapid manager Danut Perja told local media on Tuesday before revealing that the foreign players would have the news of their dismissal presented to them in a rather unorthodox and somewhat impersonal manner "All of them will receive the documents under which their contracts are terminated unilaterally by email." The foreign players have already started to move away from the club, with Macedonian striker Blaze Ilijoski already moving away from Rapid while Brazilians Pecanha, Wallace, Glauber, Renan and Figueiredo will have to find new clubs along with Portugal duo Rui Duarte and Filipe Teixeira, Serbians Milos Pavlovic and Nemanja Milisavljevic and Montenegrin Vladimir Bozovic.

With 2013 fast approaching the team at The Football Examiner sat down and considered the best players in the Premier League in 2012. Here's our Premier League Team of the Year as voted for by our writers. 



With the Premier League home to some of the top goalkeepers in world football the selection for goalkeeper of the year was a tough one. In the end we decided to go for Joe Hart, Premier League winner and England ever-present, after a stellar year the keeper is raking in the plaudits. It would be wrong of us not to mention the likes of Tim Krul and John Ruddy though for their efforts over the past twelve months.

Our right-back of choice was Manchester United's Rafael, with the Brazilian youngster establishing himself as first-choice in the position in a year in which the 22 year-old just missed out on a Premier League winners medal. The ever-improving Kyle Walker was another contender, whilst Liverpool's Glen Johnson has had a solid year despite the Reds troubles.

There was one player who was always going to be first-choice for one of the two positions at the heart of the Team of the Year defence and that was Manchester City's Vincent Kompany. The City captain had a brilliant season in which his assured defending and leadership skills helped bring the Premier League title to the Etihad, After a stumbling start to the 2012/13 campaign Kompany seems to be getting back to his best.


With a wealth of defending talent to chose from, the second central position at the back was a less easy choice. In the end we decided to go for Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini. The Argentine helped Newcastle to an impressive fifth place  finish in the last Premier League campaign and after missing a sizeable chunk of the 2012/13 campaign through injury the supporters at St, James' will be glad to have him back.

Shockingly our choice of left-back was a player we had initially looked over for the role, but the Premier League's best left-back this year has undoubtedly been Leighton Baines. The former Wigan man has been solid at the back but also dangerous on the break and his fine form has made him a regular England international. Swansea's Neil Taylor gets an honourable mention at left-back.

The third Manchester City player to feature in our Team of the Year is Yaya Toure. Since arriving from Barcelona the 29 year-old has proven himself as more than just a holding midfielder, with his attacking play getting him a bag full of goals and assists. City will undoubtedly miss the Ivorian when he heads to the African Cup of Nations in January.


The second of our central midfielder's is Everton's second inclusion, with Marouane Fellaini fully deserving of a place in the heart of the midfield in a year which has seen him become arguably Everton's best player and a target for some of the top clubs in Europe. After head butting Ryan Shawcross his year may end on a low, but there's no doubt Fellaini, and his afro, will be happy with the last 12 months.

The first of our three attacking midfield selections see's Chelsea's Juan Mata earn a place in the Team of the Year. The Spaniard joined the Blues from Valencia last August and took little time to adapt to the pace and physicality of English football, with the 24 year-old winning the Champions League and the FA Cup in his first season and now continually impressing alongside Hazard and Oscar.

Our second attacking midfield selection is Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, with the Argentine having a fine year in which he picked up the Premier League title. His finest moment of the year, of course, will be the last gasp goal against Queens Park Rangers which handed Manchester City the title on goal difference against Manchester rivals United.


Our final attacking midfield position goes to another Manchester City player in David Silva. Arguably the most technically gifted footballer in the Premier League, Silva notched up eight goals in all competitions and played his part in many more as Roberto Mancini's side snatched the Premier League title away from Manchester United.

The lone striker in the team of the year was, in our opinion, one of the easiest to decide, with Robin Van Persie proving himself as the most complete front man in the league at both Arsenal and Manchester United. Picking up the Premier League golden boot award for the 2011/12 season, Van Persie's high price move to United has done little to hamper his goalscoring, and fully deserves his position in the Team of the Year.


Full Team: Hart, Rafael, Kompany, Coloccini, Baines, Yaya Toure, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Van Persie. 

Subs: Krul, Walker, Skrtel, Bale, Rooney, Michu, Dzeko 

Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente could be set for a move to the Premier League as his contract with the Spanish clubs nears its end, with the player confirming his interest in moving to England. 


The 27 year-old is believed to have no intention of renewing his contract to extend his time in the north of Spain and is widely expected to leave the club on a free in the summer, with Juventus being one of the favourites to sign last seasons La Liga top scorer, with speculation suggesting the front man had a verbal agreement with the Serie A leaders about a move to Turin.

But Llorente has denied  rumours that a move to northern Italy is on the cards, stating his respect for the rules despite his falling out with the Athletic hierarchy  "No. That's totally untrue...I think it's normal that people talk about these things, but ultimately you have to respect the rules. I am an Athletic player and, until 1 January, I cannot sign with any other team."
"I really like the Premier League and I've mentioned on more than one occasion that it's a league which appeals to me a lot," Llorente told Sky Sports. "You never know. It's one good option in terms of my future but we'll have to wait until the end of the season to see what happens.

"It is true that we are approaching the date when I can sign for other clubs. I'm trying to keep it so that it is something which is managed by my brother and my representatives. That leaves me to focus on my football and help my team, Athletic, and nothing else, maintain focus."