| Rangers v Bursaspor: match preview Follow match preview of the Champions League Group C match between Rangers and Bursaspor at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow on Wednesday Sept 29 2010, kick-off 19.45 BST. telegraph.co.uk |
Wasteful Barcelona Held In Kazan Again KAZAN, Russia (Reuters) - Barcelona paid the price for wayward finishing as they were held to a 1-1 draw by their bogey-team Rubin Kazan in Champions League Group D on Wednesday. feeds.nytimes.com |
Roy Hodgson speaks of relief at end of Liverpool takeover saga • Hodgson has spoken to John W Henry about future• Liverpool sale – live coverageThe Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has welcomed the takeover by New England Sports Ventures, admitting it is a relief a "bad time" has come to an end.The club have confirmed that they have been bought by NESV, owners of the Boston Red Sox, after Tom Hicks and George Gillett were defeated in their legal battle to stop the takeover. Hicks and Gillet have, however, claimed they will sue for £1bn in damages because, they believe, the sale to NESV is "illegal" and have threatened to launch another destabilising legal action.But having seen his two-and-a-half-month reign dominated by takeover talk Hodgson is pleased there is light at the end of the tunnel."It is a very positive situation, and a very good day for the club – a day everyone at the club will welcome and the new owners will welcome," said the Liverpool manager, ahead of Sunday's derby at Everton. "It is a relief. It has been a very difficult couple of weeks."For this long drawn-out court battle to take place and Liverpool's name to be on the television screens and in the newspapers every day for anything other than positive reasons has been a bad time."We've had to live through that bad time but hopefully now, if NESV are going to take over, that would be very good news for us going into the important match at the weekend."Hodgson has spoken to John W Henry, the head of NESV, on the phone but said there was no discussion about his own position at the club or what transfer funds would be available should the takeover go through."There hasn't been any talk about my position at the club," he said. "He called me and his message was that he was hoping the deal would go through, he was very much looking forward to becoming the new owner and he was looking forward to working with me and the people who were here, but we didn't talk about investment."Hodgson said after months of uncertainty he was optimistic NESV could bring a more stable environment at Anfield."All people and clubs need stability, all managers and players need stability and it is becoming a very hard thing to find," he said. "We live in a world where you are either on top or at the bottom and the middle line is not appreciated by the mass media."I am hoping the new owners coming in will stabilise the situation and give us a chance to concentrate on the football and, most importantly of all, will wipe out debts. That will mean in future we can invest in players in a different way to what has happened in the last transfer window, when money was in short supply and we weren't even certain there would be any money to spend or even if the club would be there."The mere fact the club will be taken over and the debts wiped off immediately puts us into a different financial position to the one we have been in."LiverpoolRoy HodgsonJohn W Henryguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Toronto FC: When did it all go wrong? Toronto FC's 2010 MLS season was doomed for failure after the club's owners gave former GM Mo Johnston a two-year contract extension last summer. cbc.ca |
Fulham 1-2 Tottenham Tottenham Hotspur limbered up in positive fashion for their Champions League trip to Internazionale on Wednesday night while Fulham surrendered their unbeaten Premier League record under Mark Hughes. The devil, however, was in the detail here in west London and for Fulham it positively reeked of sulphur.When Tom Huddlestone pulled the trigger on a shot from 25 yards in the 64thminute, from Gareth Bale's corner, with a gripping game finely poised, his Tottenham team-mate William Gallas appeared to be in an offside position in front of goal. Up went the linesman Martin Yerby's flag and, when the ball fizzed past Mark Schwarzer into the far corner of the net, the referee Mike Dean disallowed the goal.But that was just the beginning. Dean, who had overruled Yerby in the first half over an offside call, decided to go over to him to check. It was unclear whether Tottenham's vociferous protests had motivated him to do so.Huddlestone's shot had deflected slightly off Chris Baird but not off Gallas, despite him lunging for the ball, and suddenly there was Dean pointing to the centre circle, overruling the decision and reinstating the goal.Whether Gallas had been interfering with play or, at the very least, distracting the goalkeeper had supporters chuntering well after full time. The pity was that the controversy diverted attention from Rafael van der Vaart's brilliance for Tottenham and a decent performance from Fulham. But such decisions unavoidably demand attention.Redknapp's team selection had left no room for doubt regarding where his priorities lay. Starting with Ledley King meant that the central defender would have no chance of playing in Milan – as it happened, he limped off anyway in the 44th minute, after looking to pull a groin muscle as he stretched to clear – while it was something of a surprise to see Gallas pressed in alongside him.Sandro was given his full Premier League debut in place of Jermaine Jenas but there was an argument to say that this was Redknapp's strongest available line-up. Fulham was more important than Inter, which is not a sentence that gets written too regularly.Hughes had entered the game with a quirky statistic behind him. Only once in his past 19 league games as a manager had he tasted defeat – and it was at the hands of Tottenham when he was in charge of Manchester City in December 2009. His solid start at Craven Cottage has been built on organisation, discipline and hard work yet his team has also shown itself to be capable of playing slick, possession football.After Tottenham had started the brighter, and Roman Pavlyuchenko had dragged a shot just past the far post, Fulham began to hint at the opening goal.Diomansy Kamara, starting his first game of the season after injury, glanced wide from a Simon Davies corner; Aaron Hughes also erred with a header when well-placed and Carlos Salcido flashed past the angle from 30 yards.Fulham seemed to have credit in the bank and they cashed it in when Clint Dempsey leapt to bring down a Davies ball. His cross-cum-shot flew through two pairs of Tottenham legs and it fell perfectly for Kamara to crash home.The lead, however, was gone in 60 seconds. Van der Vaart had already showcased his wonderful touch but his role in the equaliser was from a higher plane. The way that he pulled down Bale's ball carried shades of his fellow Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp and the execution of the subsequent impish chip drew gasps.Mark Schwarzer, the giant Fulham goalkeeper, could only watch as it sailed over his head and rebounded off the crossbar. Pavlyuchenko, in front of goal, managed to keep his jaw from the floor, while others were dropping all around him, to tuck away the gift-wrapped opportunity.It was an entertaining, end-to-end contest and both goalkeepers were worked.Schwarzer saved smartly from Van der Vaart and Alan Hutton; Heurelho Gomes acrobatically from Kamara and Chris Baird. In the end, though, a decision from the officials provided the talking point.Premier LeagueFulhamTottenham HotspurDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |