Taylor slams Wembley pitch April 12, 2010 PLAYERS’ chief Gordon Taylor has added to the wave of discontent surrounding the state of the Wembley pitch, branding it an “embarrassment”. The surface was slammed by both Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth boss Avram Grant after Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final where players complained that excessive watering had made it too skiddy. The national [...]
Adebayor quits Togo after Angola gun attack April 12, 2010 MANCHESTER CITY striker Emmanuel Adebayor last night announced his decision to retire from international football in the wake of the gun attack on the Togo team bus earlier this year. The 26-year-old admitted he couldn’t come to terms with the attack at this year’s African Nations Cup, which killed three people. In a statement, Adebayor [...]
Murray factor earns Smith Davis role April 12, 2010 GREAT Britain’s new Davis Cup captain Leon Smith insists his good relations with the country’s top players will help him reverse the team’s humiliating slide. Britain must beat Turkey in July to avoid relegation to Europe/Africa Zone Group III – the lowest tier of the competition. And Smith, who used to be Andy Murray’s coach, [...]
Five-star ten Doeschate gets Essex off to a flier April 12, 2010 PART-TIME bowler Ryan ten Doeschate claimed a match-winning 5-13 to help Essex claim victory in their season opener with Hampshire at Chelmsford. The Dutch medium-pacer tore through the Hampshire tail to skittle the visitors out for just 185 – 63 runs short of their victory target. Meanwhile, a six-wicket stand of 153 between Jacques Rudolph [...]
Klitschko makes Haye call April 12, 2010 BOXING: Wladimir Klitschko has laid down the gauntlet to Britain’s WBA world heavyweight champion David Haye to agree to a unification showdown this year. Klitschko, the IBF and WBO title holder, withdrew from a fight with Haye last June with injury but now claims Haye is “running away”. “I am officially calling you out to [...]
Walsh out for up to 10 weeks April 12, 2010 RACING: Top jockey Ruby Walsh could be out for up to 10 weeks after breaking his arm at Aintree on Saturday. Walsh missed riding Big Fella Thanks in the Grand National after falling on Celestial Halo in the Aintree Hurdle.
Italian on brink of outdoing Mourinho April 12, 2010 JUST a few weeks ago the scandals surrounding the alleged extra-marital activities of John Terry and Ashley Cole looked like being the most memorable things to happen to Chelsea this season. Struggling for form in the Premier League and then dumped out of Europe by Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan, the Blues’ campaign was in danger [...]
Asda chief Bond to step down April 12, 2010 ANDY Bond is stepping down as chief executive of Asda in a shock move ahead of his unveiling of the company’s five-year plan. Bond is stepping into a new role of chairman on the board of Asda – a subsidiary of US-giant Walmart – the company said yesterday. The role will start off full-time to [...]
Henderson confirms bid talks for Ridgeworth April 12, 2010 ANGLO-Australian fund manager Henderson Group has confirmed it is in preliminary talks to buy parts of US-based Ridgeworth Capital Management. The group – which has not made a formal bid – could expect to pay around $300m (£194.5m) for the assets. Henderson said in statement to the markets it was “discussions regarding a potential acquisition [...]
Ladbrokes quits Italian market April 12, 2010 LADBROKES has agreed to sell its Italian retail betting and gaming business Itali for €5.25m (£4.61m). Italian gaming group Cogetech will take over the business after its cash offer. In 2009 the Italian retail business made a loss of £9.9m and at 31 December 2009 the carrying value of the business was £26.7m. The Italian [...]
