| Ryan Giggs is the Mr Consistency of Manchester United and one of the truly greats Consistency marks Ryan Giggs out as a true great, says Jason Burt. telegraph.co.uk |
McDonald still happpy at Celtic Scott McDonald's agent has dismissed reports the Australia striker is keen on a move away from Scottish giant Celtic. foxsports.com.au |
Van Persie case could mean trouble After Arsenal's Dutch striker Robin van Persie was injured in a friendly with Italy in November, Arsene Wenger's dislike for national teams reached a new level. cbc.cacbc.ca |
Rafael BenÃtez one of world's 'top five managers', says George Gillett • Liverpool co-owner backs 'unlucky' manager • Blames injuries for disruption to sideLiverpool's co-owner George Gillett believes Rafael BenÃtez is one of the top five managers in the world and that this season's disappointing results are just a "blip".The club have endured a torrid season so far and have fallen off the pace in the Premier League, compounded by early exits from the Champions League and FA Cup. BenÃtez has been unmoved in his belief that he will turn things around and now he has received the backing of Gillett. That is significant as Gillett has always been seen as less enthusiastic in his support for the Spaniard than fellow co-owner Tom Hicks, who has been behind BenÃtez from the moment the two Americans' relationship began to become strained."We believe if you were to put a list together of the top five coaches, managers in the world, he would definitely be on that list for us," said Gillett, who was united in his agreement with Hicks to give BenÃtez an improved five-year contract towards the end of last season."And we think he's been tossed a curve ball by circumstance, injuries and so forth. I think that's been a real challenge to the coach. He's had to really make some innovations and play some players out of position and so forth. I really believes it's a blip."Injuries have certainly compounded Liverpool's problems with striker Fernando Torres, captain Steven Gerrard, right-back Glen Johnson and midfielder Yossi Benayoun all currently sidelined.But they have also been unlucky in other areas, such as when a beach ball on the pitch at Sunderland back in October contributed to the only goal of the game."That was a real low blow," Gillett told Canadian radio station Prime Time Sports. "He has had a struggle getting the morale of the boys back up but we've got a great group of young men."Rafael BenÃtezLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
County in race to find £2m by Wednesday • Club concerned about creditors 'turning up on the court steps' • Executive chairman confident of securing long-term investmentNotts County are searching desperately for investment after discovering that they need £2m by Wednesday in order for the club to survive.The Magpies are due in the high court after the club's owners, Blenheim 1862, were served a winding-up petition from HM Revenue & Customs over an unpaid £600,000 tax bill.The executive chairman Peter Trembling still hopes to pay off the debt and avoid going to court, despite failing to secure any funds by the end of last week.Since completing a management buyout of the League One club at Meadow Lane last month, Trembling and the director of football Sven-Goran Eriksson have scoured Europe for suitable investors.He told the Evening Post: "We hope to be able to satisfy the winding-up petition before Wednesday by paying off our debts. The critical thing is to get £2million into our bank account before then."It's a challenge but that is what we have been working towards for the last few weeks and I'm ever hopeful we can do that."It will give us a bit of room to play with. We could actually go to court and pay off our tax bill of £600,000. But the danger with a winding-up petition is that we could have all of our creditors turning up on the court steps and jumping on the back of the petition."In which case, we have to satisfy the judge that we have got the funds to pay everybody."If we haven't got that in our bank account our next course of action is to show proof of funds committed to pay these creditors off and that we just need a bit more time, and really plead our case."Trembling added: "We have been speaking to a number of investors for a few weeks now and we have got two investors who are very close to the line."Sven and I have met them and we have presented our vision to them. They are very enthusiastic and they have got the funds – we have seen the proof of that."The two investors want to work together, and we have got a couple of back-up plans as well. I think the two we are talking to are best for the future of the club because they can invest the sort of funds that will take the club further forward, of £25m to £50m over five years."They want a long-term return on the investment but the important thing is that they are football fans and they love this idea – the project of taking Notts County through the leagues."The idea of putting £25m in to get us in the Championship and having Sven at the helm to lead us on, that appeals to them enormously."Notts CountyLeague OneSven-Goran Erikssonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |