Clubs face cap on squads under amended FFP rules March 24, 2014 SPOTLIGHT ON financial fair play in FOOTBALL CLUBS could be forced to enter weakened squads for the Champions League next season if they are deemed to have made excessive financial losses, after European chiefs Uefa made late changes to financial fair play (FFP) rules. The punishment can be levied on teams who have lost more [...]
Flagging Arsenal boosted by Ox’s red card reprieve March 24, 2014 ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger has predicted a positive response from his humbled team against Swansea tonight after receiving a double boost over the availability of Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Both players were spared suspensions yesterday when the Football Association transferred Gibbs’s red card to his midfield team-mate on the grounds of mistaken identity and [...]
Moyes: City win will show our strength March 24, 2014 MANCHESTER United boss David Moyes wants his side to prove they can still beat the top flight’s elite and record only their second win of the season against a top-nine team in tonight’s derby with title-chasing Manchester City. In 12 Premier League fixtures since Moyes succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s sole victory against sides around [...]
Partial stadium ban for Bayern March 24, 2014 BAYERN Munich’s Allianz Arena must be partially closed for the Champions League quarter-final with Manchester United on 9 April after governing body Uefa yesterday condemned fans’ “discriminatory behaviour” in the previous round against Arsenal. Bayern fans held aloft a banner saying “Gay Gunners” alongside a crude drawing of German playmaker Mesut Ozil, while the message [...]
Green light for plastic pitches March 24, 2014 PLASTIC pitches can return to mainstream English football next season after the Football Association ruled them permissible for use in the FA Cup. QPR were the first of several clubs to lay a synthetic surface in the 1980s, but they are currently banned from the first round of the FA Cup onwards and in the [...]
Warnock turns down Forest March 24, 2014 FORMER Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock pulled out of the race to become Nottingham Forest’s new manager yesterday after the club had earlier sacked Billy Davies. Forest, seventh in the Championship, have fallen to their lowest place in the league table since December and a 5-0 defeat to fierce rivals Derby on Saturday proved the [...]
Cellino’s Leeds takeover bid runs aground following yacht offence March 24, 2014 LEEDS United’s future was plunged back into doubt yesterday after the Football League blocked Italian businessman Massimo Cellino’s attempted takeover. The League said its board had unanimously voted to forbid Cellino from completing his purchase of 75 per cent of the second-tier club following his conviction last week of a tax offence. Leeds, who are [...]
Khan: My fight with Mayweather will still happen March 24, 2014 FORMER world champion Amir Khan is adamant his sought-after meeting with Floyd Mayweather will come to fruition after being added to the undercard of the American’s forthcoming fight with Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. Khan previously held titles at light-welterweight level, but will make the step up to welterweight for the first time on 3 [...]
Golf Comment: Old habits die hard for Scott despite Major breakthrough March 24, 2014 I THOUGHT that winning the Masters last year might have seen Adam Scott finally shake off his tendency to squander winning positions, but the latest signs are that it hasn’t. Scott was seven shots clear at the halfway point of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and carried a two-shot advantage into Sunday’s final round. Seeing out [...]
Holland humiliated by record low score March 24, 2014 NETHERLANDS set Sri Lanka a target of just 40 runs to win their World Twenty20 Group One match in Bangladesh yesterday, after posting the lowest score in international T20 history. Only Tim Cooper (16) reached double figures as all 10 Dutch wickets fell for 39 runs in 10.3 overs. Sri Lanka took just five overs [...]