Archive for the ‘Soccer’ Category
May 17th, 2012 | 
Author: Published: 17 May 2012 – 20:17:05
Charles Green has signalled his intent to push through with a takeover of Rangers despite confirmation of a transfer embargo – but he revealed the club were still assessing a possible challenge to the Scottish Football Association sanctions.
An SFA appeal tribunal has upheld the judicial panel’s ruling that Rangers be fined £160,000 and banned from registering players aged over 17 for 12 months.
The former Sheffield United chief executive met officials from the SFA and Scottish Premier League at Hampden on Thursday, and told reporters outside: “When we offered to buy the club, we realised what the potential was. Last night’s announcement was an option that we had considered.”
Green has backed the club’s decision to consider a review of the decision and he revealed talks were ongoing.
“We are discussing all the options that are available to the club,” he said.
The club, who are subject to an automatic SPL transfer embargo while in administration, could take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport or instigate civil action.
Administrators, whose legal duty is to secure the maximum return for creditors, would struggle to justify spending money on a bid to overturn a sanction that prevents the club spending money on transfers. However, the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund paid the SFA appeal costs and could continue the fight.
Rangers’ case now appears to centre on the fact they believe the transfer ban, imposed as punishment to the withholding of £13million in tax payments, was not available as a sanction for the tribunal.
However, the SFA articles of association include a clause that a judicial panel can implement any sanctions they deem appropriate.
Green’s meeting with the authorities on Thursday was pre-planned with several issues on the agenda.
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Published: 17 May 2012 – 22:16:57
Cheltenham withstood heavy first-half pressure before goals from Jermaine McGlashan and Marlon Pack secured a 2-1 win at Torquay to confirm their place in the npower League Two play-off final.
Torquay substitute Taiwo Atieno gave Martin Ling’s men brief hope by cancelling out McGlashan’s goal, but Pack rifled home a magnificent 87th minute free-kick to secure a 4-1 aggregate triumph for Cheltenham.
Mark Yates’ men travel to Wembley a week on Sunday to face a Crewe side unbeaten in their last 18 outings.
McGlashan was narrowly off target with a rasping 30-yard drive in the early stages before his side were forced to withstand a first-half onslaught.
Goalkeeper Scott Brown was the outstanding performer of the opening 45 minutes, and he got his night’s work under way by tipping a Eunan O’Kane effort over following some deft footwork from the Torquay midfielder.
Cheltenham defender Keith Lowe fortuitously cleared via the post as he looked to hack clear from his own goalmouth and Brian Saah fired the loose ball wide. There was drama a minute before the interval as Torquay full-back Kevin Nicholson’s sweetly struck free-kick rattled the crossbar with Brown rooted to the spot.
Cheltenham began the second half with greater purpose and Robert Olejnik gathered at the second attempt when McGlashan looked to clip home from an acute angle at the end of a mazy run.
O’Kane’s 54th minute header looped up off Robins defender Alan Bennett to force Brown into another superb save, but it soon became clear that Torquay’s early attacking verve had deserted them.
Kaid Mohamed hit a swerving shot over after a mazy run down the Torquay left by Robins full-back Sido Jombati before the decisive moment arrived in the 74th minute. Mohamed was allowed to ease infield after collecting Ben Burgess’ pass and he played in McGlashan, who stabbed home via Olejnik’s boot and the inside of the far post.
Atieno reduced the aggregate arrears when he was left unmarked to glance in a near-post header from O’Kane’s 85th minute corner. However, Pack applied the gloss in memorable fashion when he found the top corner after Saah fouled Jeff Goulding.
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Published: 17 May 2012 – 21:17:04
Hertha Berlin have appointed Holland’s Jos Luhukay as their new coach after the 48-year-old ex-Augsburg boss signed a two-year deal on Thursday as they prepare for life in the second division.
“We are very pleased that we could take Jos Luhukay for the next two years,” said Hertha manager Michael Preetz.
Luhukay replaces ex-Greece coach Otto Rehhagel who took over in February but was unable to prevent Berlin going down as they lost the German league relegation play-off against Fortuna Duesseldorf 4-3 on aggregate.
Hertha have appealed to the German Football Federation (DFB) after chaotic scenes in Tuesday’s return-leg in Duesseldorf blighted the 2-2 draw as two separate pitch invasions caused lengthy delays.
The result confirmed Hertha’s relegation after Fortuna won the first-leg 2-1 in the capital, but Berlin’s appeal will be heard by the DFB on Friday.
Excluding caretaker coaches, Luhukay, whose resume includes Cologne and Moenchengladbach, will be Hertha’s fifth coach in five years.
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Published: 17 May 2012 – 20:47:04
Ireland will wear black armbands for their Euro 2012 match against Italy, the Football Association of Ireland said Thursday, in memory of a massacre in which six men died exactly 18 years before.
Six Catholic men died on June 18, 1994 in Northern Ireland when Protestant paramilitaries fired into a bar in the village of Loughinisland, where people had gathered to watch Ireland play Italy in the World Cup in the United States.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said it had approached the game’s European authority UEFA and been granted permission for the commemoration during the June 18 game in Poznan, Poland.
Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom, has its own separate football team but it did not qualify for Euro 2012.
“What happened in Loughinisland in 1994 was an awful tragedy and deeply moving for all football fans,” said FAI chief executive John Delaney.
“I would like to thank UEFA for assisting us in commemorating this atrocity and take the opportunity to remember all those who lost their lives in the Troubles.”
Four years after the massacre, the 1998 peace accords largely ended Northern Ireland’s Troubles, three decades of sectarian violence between pro-British Protestants and republican Catholics that left more than 3,000 dead.
The FAI added that the football team’s gesture would be “particularly poignant” because the victims were watching Ireland play Italy when they were killed.
Niall Murphy, the solicitor acting for the families of those who died, thanked football authorities and said they were “touched that this tragic event can be commemorated on such a poignant day”.
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Published: 17 May 2012 – 22:31:25
Robins take flight to Wembley
Cheltenham withstood heavy first-half pressure before goals from Jermaine McGlashan and Marlon Pack confirmed their place in the npower League Two play-off final with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Torquay
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Torquay came flying out of the blocks and Town goalkeeper Scott Brown was forced into a series of impressive saves within the opening half hour.
But Martin Ling’s men ran out of steam after the interval and winger McGlashan, who opened the scoring at the Abbey Business Stadium on Sunday, effectively settled the tie with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Torquay substitute Taiwo Atieno levelled matters on the night before Robins midfielder Pack rifled home a magnificent 87th minute free-kick from 30 yards.
Mark Yates’ men travel to Wembley a week on Sunday to face a Crewe side unbeaten in their last 18 outings.
McGlashan was narrowly off target with a rasping 30-yard drive in the early stages before his side were forced to withstand a first-half onslaught.
Brown was the outstanding performer of the opening 45 minutes, and he got his night’s work under way by tipping a Eunan O’Kane effort over following some deft footwork from the Torquay midfielder.
The Gulls headed into the contest without top scorer Rene Howe due to a hamstring injury, but they were not short on attacking threat, ably demonstrated when Ryan Jarvis burst into the box and forced Brown to push behind with a superb low block.
From the resulting corner, Cheltenham defender Keith Lowe fortuitously cleared via the post as he looked to hack clear from his own goalmouth and Brian Saah fired the loose ball wide.
Brown’s best moment came courtesy of another low stop in the 27th minute when Mark Ellis’ first-time shot from Stevens’ shot emerged cleanly from a crowd of bodies.
Cheltenham striker James Spencer might have done better when he fired straight at Torquay keeper Robert Olejnik after the half hour, but it was at least an indication that Yates’ men had weathered the storm.
There was drama a minute before the interval as Torquay full-back Kevin Nicholson’s sweetly struck free-kick rattled the crossbar with Brown rooted to the spot.
The visitors immediately sprung up the other end and Olejnik stood firm to deny Kaid Mohamed.
Cheltenham began the second half with greater purpose and Olejnik gathered at the second attempt when McGlashan looked to clip home from an acute angle at the end of a mazy run.
O’Kane’s 54th minute header looped up off Robins defender Alan Bennett to force Brown into another superb save, but it soon became clear that Torquay’s early attacking verve had deserted them.
Mohamed hit a swerving shot over after a mazy run down the Torquay left by Robins full-back Sido Jombati before the decisive moment arrived in the 74th minute.
Mohamed was allowed to ease infield after collecting Ben Burgess’ pass and he played in McGlashan, who stabbed home via Olejnik’s boot and the inside of the far post.
Atieno reduced the aggregate arrears when he was left unmarked to glance in a near-post header from O’Kane’s 85th minute corner.
However, Pack applied the gloss in memorable fashion when he found the top corner after Saah fouled Jeff Goulding.
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Published: 16 May 2012 – 22:16:59
Seventeen-year-old Max Clayton scored the goal which sent Crewe to Wembley for the npower League Two play-off final courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate win over Southend.
Substitute Clayton had only been on the field 10 minutes when he tucked the ball home to put his side 3-1 ahead in the 86th minute.
Ajay Leitch-Smith had earlier opened the scoring for the visitors before Neil Harris levelled for Southend in the second half. Clayton’s strike appeared to be enough but Chris Barker ensured a nervy final few minutes for the visitors when he headed Southend level on 88 minutes.
But Crewe, who won the first leg courtesy of Adam Dugdale’s goal, held out to book a place in next weekend’s final against Cheltenham or Torquay.
Crewe stunned the home crowd in the 24th minute thanks to a superb strike from Leitch-Smith. Ashley Westwood won the ball in midfield and fed Leitch-Smith, who still had plenty to do in the corner of Southend’s penalty area.
But the 22-year-old striker turned back inside Sean Clohessy, shifting the ball onto his right food before sending his shot arrowing across Shrimpers goalkeeper Cameron Belford and inside the far post.
Southend’s luck was out when they were denied by the woodwork twice in as many minutes.
First Michael Timlin’s shot from outside the box clipped the upright, and moments later Freddy Eastwood’s low drive thumped the inside of the opposite post and rolled agonisingly across the goal-line to safety.
The hosts did haul themselves back into the tie just after the hour mark, substitute Harris profiting from a Steve Phillips error to slide the ball home. But as Southend poured forward they were undone on the counter-attack, with Clayton holding the ball up before rolling it inside Phillips’ near post.
Barker immediately headed Southend level again three minutes from time but Crewe, who finished 11 points behind their opponents in seventh, are now just 90 minutes from promotion.
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Published: 16 May 2012 – 22:16:59
Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez appears to have no intention of apologising to Sir Alex Ferguson after holding a banner mocking the Manchester United manager.
Tevez displayed a sign bearing the words ‘RIP Fergie’ during the open-top bus parade through Manchester to celebrate City’s Barclays Premier League title win on Monday.
Back in his native Argentina, Tevez told www.ole.com.ar: “It seems like Ferguson is the president of England. Every time he speaks badly about a player or says terrible things about me, nobody says that he has to apologise. [But] when someone comes out with a joke or banter, you have to say sorry – but I don’t say sorry.”
The meaning behind the banner could well be in reference to Ferguson`s famous response to a 2009 question as to whether or not United would ever be underdogs against City.
“Not in my lifetime,” the Scot said.
City were quick to issue a statement on Monday expressing “sincerest apologies” to Ferguson and accepting that Tevez, in taking the placard from a fan, had made a “significant error of judgement”.
Tevez himself expressed regret in his own statement, saying he got “carried away in the excitement of the moment” and did not mean any disrespect to his former United boss.
The forward played under Ferguson for two years at Old Trafford before leaving for City in 2009.
In March Ferguson suggested City were desperate in recalling Tevez following the forward’s infamous stand-off with the club, which saw him spend more than three months in Argentina on unauthorised leave.
Ferguson was responding to remarks by City’s football development executive Patrick Vieira, who said Paul Scholes’ return from retirement for United seemed a sign of weakness.
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Published: 16 May 2012 – 22:16:57
Striker Carlos Tevez insisted Wednesday he would not apologise to Sir Alex Ferguson after waving a mocked-up tombstone of the Manchester United boss during Manchester City’s Premier League title celebrations.
“It seems that Ferguson is the president of England. Because each time that he speaks badly of a player or talks nonsense about me no-one comes out to say that he has to apologise.
“When you make a joke, you have to apologise. But I’m not apologising,” said Tevez on returning to Buenos Aires after helping City to their first title in 44 years.
The 28-year-old Argentina striker held up a banner designed to look like a gravestone and bearing the words ‘RIP Fergie’ as City celebrated their title triumph over Manchester United during an open-top bus parade.
Manchester City later released a statement apologising to Ferguson and criticised Tevez while the player – who it is believed took the banner from a fan – also said he “didn’t mean any disrespect”.
Argentina’s Pablo Zabaleta scored City’s opening goal in their 3-2 defeat of QPR with compatriot Sergio Aguero netting the winner.
“It was an honour to be with Pablo and ‘Kun’ (Aguero) and to walk away champions, more so with the problem that we have with England,” added Tevez, concerning the dispute between the two countries over the Falkland Islands.
Tevez revealed that he had just been about to go to the locker room when Edin Dzeko got the equaliser two minutes into extra time, explaining: “I stayed and then came Kun’s goal and the madness broke out”.
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Published: 16 May 2012 – 20:17:11
Controversial QPR midfielder Joey Barton accepted a charge of violent conduct on Wednesday but denied another one arising out of last Sunday’s Premier League clash with Manchester City.
The 29-year-old — who is also the subject of an internal investigation by his club over his behaviour in the match — accepted the charge over his kicking of Sergio Aguero after he had been already red carded for elbowing Carlos Tevez.
However, the hot-tempered Englishman, who has been involved in several unsavoury incidents throughout his career, denies trying to headbutt City captain Vincent Kompany.
“Joey Barton has accepted an FA charge against him for violent conduct against Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero,” the FA statement read.
“The Queens Park Rangers player has denied a second charge of alleged violent conduct against Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany.
“The player has requested a personal hearing, the date of which has yet to be set.
“Both charges against Barton are in relation to Sunday’s match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
“Following the player’s dismissal in the 54th minute of the fixture, there followed two incidents involving Aguero and Kompany.
“As Barton had already been dismissed, both of these incidents fell outside of the jurisdiction of the referee.”
Barton’s dismissal could have been extremely costly to QPR as they went into the game battling to avoid relegation and ended up losing the game 3-2 only to be saved from the drop when Stoke held Bolton to send the latter side down instead.
He will receive an automatic four-match ban for what was his second dismissal of the season, and could receive three-match suspensions for each of the violent conduct charges.
Furthermore, the FA’s regulatory panel can employ discretionary powers to increase the length of the suspension if charges are found to be proven.
Barton may also have created more trouble for himself because, as an inveterate user of Twitter, he went on to claim his violent actions were a cynical ploy to provoke a City player to be sent off.
Barton — who has three years remaining on his contract — later apologised for his behaviour, but QPR announced earlier Wednesday they had launched their own inquiry.
“Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm that a full investigation in relation to Joey Barton’s dismissal and subsequent events against Manchester City on Sunday will be carried out following the conclusion of his FA hearing.
“The club will be making no further comment at this stage.”
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Published: 16 May 2012 – 20:17:11
Goalkeeper Tom Starke has signed a three-year deal to switch from Hoffenheim to Champions League finalists Bayern Munich, his new club confirmed Wednesday.
Bayern host Chelsea in the Champions League final at Munich’s Allianz Arena on Saturday with Germany’s first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in goal, but 31-year-old Starke will be his reserve for next season.
“He is an experienced German league professional who radiates calm and with (reserve goalkeeper) Jorg Butt retiring, there was a hole to fill,” said Bayern’s director of sport Christian Nerlinger.
Having played for Hamburg, Duisburg and Bayer Leverkusen during his career, Starke has been Hoffenheim’s first-choice goalkeeper for the last two seasons, but Germany’s second-choice goalkeeper Tim Wiese arrives there next season.
“I am looking forward to this great challenge with Bayern,” said Starke.
“I think it’s awesome to once again have the chance in my career to win titles and play in the Champions League.”
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