SPORT | IN BRIEF May 11, 2010 Saints and Sarries stars named RUGBY UNION: Northampton Saints and Saracens have swept the board in this year’s nominations for the Guinness Premiership Player of the Year award. Top try-scorer Chris Ashton is joined in the final five by Saints team-mates Phil Dowson and Soane Tonga’uiha, who ironically sparked a war of words between the [...]
MEN IN THE FRAME FOR THE HAMMERS HOTSEAT May 11, 2010 WEST HAM fans were last night calling for club favourite Slaven Bilic to fill the Upton Park hotseat – although the Croatia boss faces plenty of competition. Portsmouth chief Avram Grant, ex-Tottenham boss Martin Jol, and former Man City manager Mark Hughes are also in the running. Slaven Bilic Martin Jol Avram Grant Mark Hughes
Ancelotti to resist calls for overhaul May 10, 2010 IT is almost two years since Sir Alex Ferguson suggested Chelsea’s squad was too old to challenge the dominance of his Manchester United team. Carlo Ancelotti irrefutably proved that wrong on Sunday when his men reclaimed the title, and, even though he has been told cash is available, the Italian is set to resist calls [...]
Capello admits to World Cup selection ‘problems’ May 10, 2010 ENGLAND coach Fabio Capello last night admitted he has encountered “some problems” in settling on a provisional squad to carry the hopes of a nation at this summer’s World Cup. Capello will today confirm the 30 players he will take to Austria for two training camps this month, before then whittling his squad down to [...]
Imperious England march on May 10, 2010 ANOTHER batting masterclass from specialist Eoin Morgan helped England cruise into the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 last night with a three-wicket victory over New Zealand in St Lucia. Irish-born Morgan top scored for England for the third time in this tournament with a quickfire 40 off 34 balls as his 52-run partnership with all-rounder [...]
Relief for Fulham supporters as club’s battle for extra final tickets bears fruit May 10, 2010 FULHAM fans have until 5pm this afternoon to snap up the last few tickets for tomorrow’s Europa League final after the club succeeded in increasing its allocation. Supporters besieged the Cottagers with complaints after the initial supply of tickets sold out within hours of going on sale last week. Fans were unhappy that the club [...]
Mancini set to kick off summer spree with £11m Boateng deal May 10, 2010 MANCHESTER CITY boss Roberto Mancini is to kick off his summer spending spree with the signing of German international Jerome Boateng in an estimated £11m deal. Mancini has been tracking the 21-year-old Hamburg star for some time and now looks set to finally get his man now that the English and German domestic seasons are [...]
Saints chief Mallinder eager to silence Saracens in play-off grudge match May 10, 2010 NORTHAMPTON boss Jim Mallinder admits his team have special motivation for getting one over on Saracens when the two teams collide in the Premiership play-offs. The two teams have been involved in some full-blooded clashes already this season, with Sarries prevailing in both league clashes and Saints beating them twice in the LV= Cup. If [...]
Lee has plenty to be positive about May 10, 2010 IT may not have worked out for Lee Westwood in the Players’ Championship at Sawgrass at the weekend but despite the obvious comparisons to his US Masters plight, I’d still be feeling pretty positive about life right now if I were him. In the end, a bogey on 14 and double-bogey on 17 ended Lee’s [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF May 10, 2010 Bath’s Maddock is on his way RUGBY UNION: Winger Joe Maddock has confirmed he is to leave Bath at the end of the season – with Italy his likely destination. The 31-year-old New Zealander, who has scored 233 points in 129 matches for Bath, has been linked with a move to Magners League new boys [...]