ubamobile

31
Sat, Oct

Guest Columnists

Opinions

News

News

Sports

Super Eagles of Nigeria striker, Emmanuel Emenike, is in danger of landing an imprisonment term, after a Turkish court was told that he faked injury in order to avoid playing for his former club, Karabukspor, against Fenerbahce in a Turkish SuperLig fixture in May 2011.

If convicted, Emenike, who is widely tipped to make the country’s South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations squad and is a prominent member of Spartak Moscow in the Russian Premier League, will be sentenced to prison for three years — a judgement lawyers in Istanbul are already urging the court to make.

According to witnesses, Emenike’s agent was approached by Fenerbache officials before the match and prevailed on him to arrange the player’s injury so he would not feature against them.

The 25-year old attacker, who is standing trial alongside 92 other players for unethical practices in the Turkish first and second divisions in the 2010-11 season, has been accused of match-fixing in a crisis that has already claimed a high-profile casualty — President of Fenerbache FC, Aziz Yildirim, who was sentenced to six years and three months in prison.

After Tuesday`s 3-0 defeat to Juventus, Chelsea FC Wednesday parted ways with its manager Roberto Di Matteo. The club in a statement published on its website, said,

“the team’s recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary to keep the club moving in the right direction.”

Full text of the statement, reads

“Chelsea Football Club has parted company this morning with Manager Roberto Di Matteo.” 

“The team’s recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season.” 

“The club faces a difficult task ahead in qualifying for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League as well as maintaining a strong challenge for the top of the Premier League while competing in three other cup competitions. Our aim is to remain as competitive as possible and challenge strongly on all fronts.”

“The owner and the Board would like to thank Roberto for all he has done for the club since taking over in March. Roberto helped guide us to an historic Champions League victory and a seventh FA Cup.”

 “We will never forget the huge contribution he has made to this club’s history and he will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge.”

 

 

 

Mario Balotelli has no intention of leaving Manchester City despite the increasingly peripheral role he is playing for the club, culminating in being left out of the matchday squad for Sunday's win against Tottenham Hotspur.

Balotelli is still waiting for his first league goal of the season and watched the Spurs game from the stands after being informed his current form did not even warrant a place among Roberto Mancini's substitutes.

The £25.5m signing has frequently found himself out of the team – in 2012 he has started only 11 league matches – and this was the first time he had not even made the bench purely because of his form. Yet the message from the player's camp was clear. "He doesn't want to leave," his agent, Mino Raiola, said. "There's no player who is ever happy with not playing in a game, but he accepts it. It's all part of the game."

From City's perspective, there is clear frustration behind the scenes that a player who was recently nominated for the Ballon d'Or has done very little to justify it for his club, exacerbated by all the baggage that he tends to bring.

His relationship with Mancini has frequently been strained because of the length of time it has taken Balotelli to get anywhere close to the manager's impression of a footballer who could be regarded as next in line to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo with better application.

Balotelli, however, remains convinced he can establish himself in Mancini's team on a more permanent basis and Raiola dismissed the latest reports about a possible move back to Italy. "There is no [transfer to] Italy and no plans to go there," Raiola said. "He'll work until the end of his contract. It [Sunday] doesn't mean he wants to leave Manchester."

City turned down an approach from Internazionale in the summer, as well as a counteroffer from two other Italian clubs and Paris St-Germain. Inter have also reputedly spoken to City about the possibility of negotiating a transfer that would take him back to his former club in January. guardian.co.uk

 

Chelsea has announced an annual profit of 1.4 million pounds for the year ending June 30, 2012.The declaration marks the first time the Blues have made a profit since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003. The club also announced a record group turnover of 255.7 million pounds, putting the Stamford Bridge outfit into fifth in Europe in terms of generated revenue.

Chelsea’s profits in 2011-12 are a significant improvement on the club's 67.7 million pound loss for the previous financial year, while they also made a 28.8 million pound profit in the transfer market. The figures do not include the lavish investment spent on the likes of new recruits Eden Hazard and Oscar, as the money was spent in the new financial year.

However, Chelsea’s successful financial year will still not go unnoticed and was hugely attributable to the increased revenue gained from the Blues' UEFA Champions League win in May. In addition, the club was able to secure numerous commercial deals off the field, and the overall impact has delighted chief executive Ron Gourlay.

“Our club philosophy is built on success. We had that success on the field this year, as we were the first London team to win the Champions League, and we enjoyed it off the field as well and this helps us inject financial investment into the team," Gourlay said. “The big challenge is always to have a successful team on the field that wins trophies and to make a profit at the same time.

“The objectives have been set across the whole business, from the academy to Under-21s and all the way through to the first team.”

The figures place Chelsea in a much healthier position to deal with UEFA’s upcoming Financial Fair Play regulations, and chairman Bruce Buck was similarly pleased by the announcements.

“We will never forget that night in Munich and now we are celebrating serious progress off the field too," Buck said. “While we draw huge satisfaction from the achievements of the past 12 months, we are more than ever focused on continuing the story of on-field success supported by improving financial performance off the pitch.”

 

Didier Drogba, former Chelsea striker has disclosed that he hopes to train with the West London club following the conclusion of the Chinese Super League season.


Shanghai Shenhua finished a lowly ninth in the CSL, after the Ivorian's eight goals in his first 11 games came too late to save his new club's domestic season. With the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations approaching, the 34-year-old is keen to maintain sharpness and is hoping his former club will help him to do so.

"It will first be necessary that I ask permission to Shanghai and Chelsea also,” Drogba told France Football. “Then, if everyone agrees, it is possible that I will go and train there until the African Cup starts."

Drogba went on to dismiss claims that he was ready to leave China due to a salary dispute as "absolutely false."

"It is absolutely false that I have been paid late at any point - I've never had this problem here," Drogba said.


 

 

Manchester City coach, Roberto Mancini will not be punished by UEFA following his outburst at Danish referee Peter Rasmussen in the aftermath of Manchester City's draw with Ajax on Tuesday.

Mancini was angry at the final whistle after his side were denied a penalty late on in its Champions League clash with the Dutch champions.

Earlier in the game the hosts had also had a Sergio Aguero goal disallowed after Aleksandar Kolarov had been ruled offside.

However, UEFA has confirmed that the Italian coach will not be facing any disciplinary action as the match officials did not mention the incident in their match report.

"Nothing was reported neither by the delegate nor by the referee," a UEFA spokesperson told the Guardian. "No disciplinary proceedings are opened."

Mario Balotelli has also escaped punishment for his involvement in the closing minutes of the game, after the striker had to be held back by captain Vincent Kompany after also approaching the match official.

Roberto Mancini, Manchester City boss called for more respect at his press conference on Monday following questions about his future at the club.

Hear him:

"Why do you keep asking me about last month and last season? Why do you keep asking me about last year?" he asked reporters.

"People should have more respect for me and the players at the club."

It was revealed last week that Mancini had spoken to "seven or eight" clubs last season when it looked like the Premier League title would slip away from Manchester City's grasp.

When asked whether he could understand the supporters' unease at the situation, Mancini responded furiously.

"I stayed here, my work is here. I believe in the future of this team. For 15 years the club won nothing and now we've won the Premier League and FA Cup in two years," he said.

He added, "I come here and I am polite and I answer your questions. Every year I may have one or two situations where I could leave the club but I want to stay here and work here."

Mancini's men faces Ajax at the Etihad Stadium in a must win Champions League fixture on Tuesday night but the Italian has conceded that it’s still too early for them to be contenders for the European title.

"In the future it will be easy," Mancini continued. "But what I've had for the first three years is a new team. That's not so easy."

The Italian has a selection headache for the visit of Ajax, with injuries piling up at the club. Mancini confirmed that defenders Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards and Maicon are all injured, while Kolo Toure is not registered for the Champions League.

The Blues are also struggling in midfield as Jack Rodwell, James Milner and David Silva are all still unavailable, though Javi Garcia is back from injury, after making a substitute's cameo against West Ham.

 Former England striker believes the north London club's inability to hang on to its players suggests a lack of ambition in contrast to Manchester United's winning mentality.Alan Shearer has condemned Arsenal's display in its defeat away to Manchester United and hinted that the club can no longer be considered one of the top clubs in the world based on their recent record.

The defeat was the Gunners' third Premier League loss of the season, with their former striker Robin van Persie opening the scoring for the hosts after a mistake from defender Thomas Vermaelen, and Shearer has questioned whether Arsene Wenger's side is any longer in the top bracket of clubs worldwide.

"Which other big club around Europe would sit by and continue to employ a manager who has not won a trophy in seven-and-a-half years? Or do Arsenal no longer put themselves in their category," Shearer replied to The Sun.

"It is the ease with which their best players have walked out the door at the height of their powers that is so worrying — and the replacements have not been up to it."

Shearer believes that Theo Walcott will follow the footsteps of other top stars that have left the club over the past four years.

"People like Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure and, soon, Theo Walcott. The Bosman ruling can often take things out of the manager's hands but why are the players allowed to get to a point where they can use it," he said.

"If the team was successful they would not be even looking at the exit door and therein we have the biggest problem. There is nothing to suggest this Arsenal side is going to change that trend. "

"The DNA has gone out the side. Arsenal just seem on a continual slide to a point where they are not even considered contenders."

Shearer also strongly criticized Arsenal left back Andre Santos, who could be seen swapping shirts with Van Persie at half time.

"I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. He's 29, not a young naive lad. He was absolutely all over the place on Saturday as were the whole Arsenal team in terms of defending," he said.

He went on to question the side’s mentality, contrasting Wenger’s fortunes with his counterpart at Old Trafford, pointing out: "Alex Ferguson also had a barren spell, when he went three seasons without the title between 2003 and 2007.

"People were even questioning him at that stage. But he rebuilt and produced another all-conquering team.

"You could argue this Manchester United team does not compare with that of 1999-2001 or of 2008 that had Cristiano Ronaldo in it. What it still has is that steel, desire and will to win."

 

John Terry is considering an appeal after the FA's disciplinary hearing found him guilty of "using abusive language" towards QPR's Anton Ferdinand last October which "included a reference to colour and/or race"The independent regulatory commission delivered its verdict on Thursday after a four-day hearing, ruling that

AFP – Disgraced Lance Armstrong’s fate was sealed on Monday, as cycling’s under-fire world governing body decided to back a life ban for doping and strip him of his record seven Tour de France titles.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it supported a decision by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to erase the Texan’s career and his place in the sport’s history.

“We will not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and we will recognise the sanction

Page 8 of 8
Today73
Yesterday4
This week838
This month18201
Total1451977

Visitor Info

  • IP: 216.73.217.114
  • Browser: Unknown
  • Browser Version:
  • Operating System: Unknown

Who Is Online

1
Online
2026-10-31

Joomla! Debug Console

Session

Profile Information

Memory Usage

Database Queries