| Birmingham City v Everton: Live Follow live commentary of the Premier League game between Birmingham City and Everton at St Andrews on Saturday Oct 2 2010. telegraph.co.uk |
The Netherlands Drops de Jong The hard-tackling midfielder Nigel de Jong was dropped from the Dutch national team for two Euro 2012 qualifiers by Coach Bert van Marwijk after his tackle resulted in an opposing player breaking his leg in an English Premier League game over the weekend. feeds.nytimes.com |
FIFA officials sell World Cup votes: report Two FIFA officials have offered to sell their votes on which country will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, according to a newspaper report. foxsports.com.au |
BenÃtez makes cryptic attack on owners • BenÃtez also criticises managing director Christian Purslow• 'We have a saying: White liquid in a bottle has to be milk'Rafael BenÃtez today launched a cryptic attack on Liverpool's ousted owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, as well as the current managing director Christian Purslow.BenÃtez, whose six-year reign as manager ended in the summer, was responding to Hicks's claim that he was largely to blame for Liverpool's worst ever start to a Premier League season. Hicks had accused BenÃtez of wasting much of the money he was given to spend during the latter half of his tenure.But a clearly irked BenÃtez this afternoon insisted the Americans were to blame, citing their of appointment Purslow in the summer of last year as the beginning of a downward spiral that ended in the Spaniard's exit. In an outburst reminiscent of Eric Cantona's famous quote featuring seagulls and trawlers, the Internazionale manager compared the events leading up to his departure to a bottle of milk."I prefer not to talk too much about Liverpool," said BenÃtez, who watched the Merseyside derby defeat on Sunday which left his former club second bottom of the table. "I prefer not to talk about this because I feel really sorry for the fans."I was watching the fans and I was really sad after the defeat the other day. We have a saying in Spanish, which is: 'White liquid in a bottle has to be milk.'"BenÃtez, who led Liverpool to second place in the Premier League in 2009 but could manage only seventh last term, added: "What does this mean? It means that after 86 points and finishing second in the league, what changed? The Americans, they chose a new managing director and everything changed."So, what changed? The managing director is involved in all the decisions: new lawyer, new chief of press, new manager, nine new players, new medical staff, new fitness coaches – they changed everything. At the beginning, they changed the managing director who was talking with some players, and they changed everything that we were doing in the past."So, if you want to ask again what was going on, it's simple: they changed something and, at the end, they changed everything. So, white liquid in a bottle: milk. You will know who is to blame."Pressed further on the matter, BenÃtez would only say: "White liquid in a bottle. If I see John the milkman in the Wirral, where I was living, with this bottle, I'd say, 'It's milk, sure.'"Rafael BenÃtezLiverpoolInternazionaleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez attacks former owner and Anfield hierarchy Rafael Benítez has launched a cryptic attack on Liverpool's ousted owners and current managing director Christian Purslow. telegraph.co.uk |