TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Ferguson denies 'tap-up' claims before Posh exit • Ferguson: No truth at all to Barry Fry's claims• Change in transfer policy created differencesThe former Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson says he was disappointed with Barry Fry's claims that he had been "tapped up" in the aftermath of his departure from London Road.Fry, Peterborough's director of football, made the claim in a press conference following Ferguson's departure in November, but Ferguson says there was no truth in the claim at all. Ferguson told Sky Sports: "I left six weeks ago and I'm still out of work so there is obviously no truth in it at all. The first thing I did was go on holiday. I made a statement thanking the club for giving me an opportunity and left it at that."The club should maybe have done the same but I am not in control of what Barry Fry does or says. It was disappointing that he came out with that but I was not tapped up at all. The situation was clear to me, the club had lost confidence in me and you can call it mutual consent or whatever you want but we all know what it was."Ferguson has been linked with a return to the Championship at Hillsborough and admitted that the job interests him. He said: "Since I left there has been some interest but I decided to have a bit of a break and spend some time with my wife. But I am having itchy feet now and I want to get back involved and I would be interested in talking to Sheffield Wednesday."Ferguson revealed that a change in his transfer policy contributed to his departure from London Road. Confusion surrounded Ferguson's exit in November but he has now claimed that he left the Coca-Cola Championship club after he asked to bring in some experienced players to aid his young squad.Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony and Fry helped Ferguson win back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship with a strict policy of signing young players from non-league clubs. But after a slow start to the season, Ferguson was keen to supplement his squad with some veteran heads – a view not shared by MacAnthony or Fry.Ferguson said: "I felt that given time I could turn it round and the most important thing for me was to get some more experienced Championship players into the squad. There was a difference in opinion on that and the people in charge lost confidence in me."I'm not bitter about it, that's football, but I never wanted to leave the football club. I felt the players needed a bit of help. They had done fantastically well but we were in a league that was a massive leap forward and we needed help."The average age was around 22 which was the policy of the football club but when we got to the Championship that needed to change. In a lot of games we lost goals quickly after each other – which they did again on Boxing Day at West Brom – and a few older heads could have maybe stopped that."PeterboroughChampionshipSheffield Wednesdayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Rangers lose appeal over Kenny Miller's red card • Striker sent off during victory over Dundee United• Lee McCulloch picks up suspensionRangers have lost their appeal against Kenny Miller's red card, which will rule the player out of Sunday's Old Firm derby. Miller was sent off in Wednesday night's 7-1 SPL thrashing of Dundee United for kicking out at Darren Dods after the pair tangled on the floor.Rangers hoped video replays would show Miller was innocent and asked referee Willie Collum to look at the incident again.Meanwhile, the yellow card shown to Lee McCulloch in the same game means he is suspended for the 16 January trip to Hamilton. It was the midfielder's sixth booking of the season and earns him a one-match ban.RangersScottish Premier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Everton discuss new stadium 'in the city' • Club hold 'positive' talks over new plans to leave Goodison• Follows collapse of controversial Kirkby plan in NovemberEverton have held "positive" talks with Liverpool City Council over plans for a new stadium within the city.The two sides met yesterday following the Government's decision last year to reject a planning application for a controversial new stadium in nearby Kirkby.The £400m development for a 50,000-seater stadium, in partnership with Tesco, collapsed in November with Liverpool City Council one of the opponents to Destination Kirkby.A joint statement read: "A positive meeting took place between Everton FC and Liverpool City Council about future stadium options within the city boundary, and more discussions have been scheduled for the near future."EvertonPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Atletico in Copa del Rey quarter-finals Simao Sabrosa scored twice to lead Atletico Madrid to a 5-1 victory over Recreativo Huelva and into the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Thursday. cbc.ca |
Villa live the American dream with Lerner Unlike Malcom Glazer, Aston Villa's US owner has not loaded his club with debt and is loved by the fansWhen Manchester United had Cristiano Ronaldo, the Premier League title and a plane booked to the Champions League final last May, nobody, surely, would have predicted that qualifying for this season's Carling Cup final would be more important to the Reds than to the buffed-up Blues from across the city. If Sir Alex Ferguson's team fail tonight to overturn City's 2-1 first-leg lead, the Old Trafford crowd, growling with resentment at the £716m debt mountain imposed on the club by the Glazer family, will erupt into renewed revolt.A benign contrast to United's wretched, leveraged US takeover is already at Wembley, waiting quietly for the outcome: Aston Villa, through to their first major final for a decade. Whereas United fans have been unfurling "Love United, Hate Glazer" banners and calling for action from a reluctant government, or silent Football Association, the Villa fans who swarmed on to the pitch in celebration after their club's second-leg romp against Blackburn have elevated their US owner to a status approaching love.One of Randy Lerner's many shrewd touches, less-heralded than supporting Martin O'Neill to build a fine young team, was to match the Aston Villa Supporters Trust's fund-raising and commission a statue of William McGregor, the Villa chairman who in 1888 conceived the idea of the Football League. In the hearts and minds of many Villa fans in 2010, Lerner, in contrast to Doug Ellis who preceded him, is already worthy of comparison with a founding father of football.Lerner has demonstrated sensitivity and intelligence in stewarding Villa since he took the club over from Ellis for £62.6m in 2006, but the principal reason for his popularity lies in direct contradiction to the Glazers' conduct, which has earned them vilification. Whereas they have taken near unfathomable millions out of their club – £344m in interest, £120m in fees and other costs, £22.9m for themselves in "management fees" and personal loans – Lerner bought Villa with his own cash, and has since poured very significant money in.While the Glazers were earlier this month releasing their 322-page prospectus to raise a £500m debt on United for the third time since their 2005 takeover, Aston Villa were filing an official document at Companies House setting out the total of Lerner's investment. In the three and a half years between his takeover and 14 October last year, Lerner, via his company registered in Berea, Ohio, has invested £138.6m in Aston Villa.The twist, though, in this tale of benefaction is that the influx of cash has apparently come in loans from Lerner's US company, on which the club themselves are paying the interest. Yet, nonetheless, the money has brought all the benefits which United fans are protesting the Glazers' debts have drained from United: investment in the team, reasonable ticket prices, good relations with fans. Lerner has, too, demonstrated care for Villa's heritage, by funding the McGregor statue and refurbishing the historic Holte Hotel, and won friends by turning away sponsorship in favour of advertising Acorns Hospice across the Villa shirts."He is adored by most Villa fans," says Dave Woodhall, editor of the 20-year strong Heroes and Villains fanzine and a supporters trust board member. "The club has a very open, welcoming approach to the fans, a feeling that we're all in this together, whereas before there was massive mistrust."A long-term fans campaigner, no sucker-up to the boardroom, Woodhall describes his season ticket, £340 for a good seat in the North Stand, as "ridiculously good value"; it is almost £200 less than the cheapest at Old Trafford."As much as anyone can feel part of a modern Premier League club, I think fans do, at the Villa."Lerner has invested the money in nine steady stages since he put £25m into the club on 4 July 2007. A further £18m was paid in from Lerner's UK holding company, Reform Acquisitions, in 2007, then between October 2008 and August last year, the most recent, when £10m was invested, Lerner brought the fortune poured into Villa to that total, £138.6m.It is a curious feature of the Premier League's "sugar daddy" era that the takeovers by billionaires have happened after the grounds were rebuilt, so there has been no major money required except for escalating players' wages. At Villa, clearly, the money has gone principally to furnishing O'Neill with the funds to sign what amounts to a new squad, and to subsidise those players' substantially increased earnings."Randy Lerner has allowed Martin O'Neill great control," the former Villa manager, Graham Taylor, says. "All us managers become control freaks to some extent and Martin has that in him; he runs the football side. Lerner, of all the foreign buyers, seems to understand not to interfere; he lets his manager manage."In their most recent accounts, for the year to 31 May 2008, Villa posted a £7.3m loss, which would have been much worse had the club not recorded a £12m profit from selling players. The wage bill more than doubled in a year, to £50m, and the 2009 accounts, due to be published next month, will surely show more substantial losses, underpinned by Lerner's investment.That may be a formula which has Villa fans singing the name of their chairman in approval, but it still puts Villa the wrong side of Uefa's forthcoming insistence that clubs live within their means. Since Michel Platini, Uefa's president, first announced the "financial fair play initiative," which will come into force for clubs in European competitions from 2012-13, Uefa has emphasised that it does not only apply to clubs carrying large debts."It is to stop clubs making losses consistently, and having a backer to pay them off," a Uefa source says. "That way of funding clubs, from outside owners, inflates players' wages, and too often an owner finds he cannot fund the losses any more and the club is in crisis. Only the English Premier League clubs, and clubs in Italy, have this sugar daddy model, and it is not sustainable for football."Lerner has kept a deliberately low profile since becoming Villa's owner, allowing O'Neill and the players to do Villa's talking, and the club did not want to comment on their financial details or whether there is a plan for them to break even. It requires a close reading of Lerner's company structure to see how the investment is made, coming in loans, at least for the year to 31 May 2008, with Villa themselves paying off the interest.The money to Villa is routed from Reform Acquisitions, which borrows it from Lerner's holding company in Ohio. Interest is charged, at 2% above inter-bank lending rates, amounting to £4m in that accounting year. Next month's accounts will reveal more recent figures. The £4m came from Villa's income, which means that fans buying tickets, however reasonably priced, are paying the interest on Lerner's loans.His approach, then, is harder-nosed than the sporting indulgence most Villa fans believe it to be. Yet they are happy, while United fans are in uproar, because their American buyer has put substantial money in, and treated them with respect. Villa's is an enviable outcome compared to the money-sucking operation orchestrated on United, from the Glazers' home in Tampa Bay.Aston VillaPremier LeagueBusinessDavid Connguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |