| England 'right' to draft Arsenal starlet Jack Wilshere into U21s, says Stuart Pearce Manager insists he was right to call up Arsenal star, despite reservations from Arsene Wenger. telegraph.co.uk |
Nigel Reed blog: Making Canada matter I walk a fine line. I am both a journalist and a fan but I am neither a cynic nor a cheerleader. I am a close observer but I am not interested in getting too close. To do so would risk forfeiting my objectivity. Thus, I choose to keep it, respectfully, at arm's length. cbc.ca |
Ian Holloway rages at authorities over Wayne Rooney • Blackpool manager rages at Bosman ruling• 'The game is wrong. The people in charge are wrong.'Blackpool's manager Ian Holloway today blasted the football authorities for allowing the situation involving Wayne Rooney to develop.Holloway believes the Bosman ruling of 1995, which allows players over the age of 24 to move for free at the end of their contracts, unfairly penalises clubs.The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson this week confirmed Rooney has told the club he will not sign a new contract, meaning he can walk away for nothing when his current deal expires in the summer of 2012.An impassioned Holloway said: "I've got big problems with the people who are running football. I know the reasons I not have a Bosman ruling they've got at the moment."Manchester United have helped Wayne Rooney's career massively on and off the field. The manager, the club itself has invested in him. They bought him for massive amounts of money as a young man and they're helping him blossom into the player that he is."He's one of the best centre-forwards in the world. And if he sees his contract out he's going to be able to walk out of there for nothing. That's the people at the very top of the game's fault."Our rules were brilliant. If he was offered the same amount of money again, they could hold his registration and someone would have to pay the fair amount of money for him."Just because you're 24, what on earth has that got to do with it? It's just ludicrous. They have the power to change this straight away."What if he sits there for 18 months, throws tantrums, doesn't try, doesn't play, and someone's already said to him: 'We'll take you and we'll pay you some of that money we should have paid Manchester United because you can walk out on a free'?"Do you want to sign a person like that? Do you want to play for a club that says that to you? How do we know it hasn't already happened? The game is wrong. The people in charge of the game are wrong. They are so wrong this is frightening."If Alex Ferguson is being bullied by a player and his agent, how wrong is the game? When are you [Fifa and Uefa] going to listen to the people who are involved in the game?"They say it's not fair on the player. Rubbish. The player has had his wages every week. They bought him, they worked with him, he belongs to them. It's so obvious. The world should change if it's wrong and football should look at itself."I'm looking at Alex Ferguson and thinking: 'What a magnificent manager. How can he handle this?' How he feels about Manchester United, how proud he is. Yet Wayne Rooney or his agent can now manufacture a situation like this."It was Holloway's second rant about the rules of the game in a week after the Tangerines manager used his post-match press conference on Sunday to call for the introduction of video technology.Holloway, who was serving a touchline ban and watched the game from the stand, was unhappy with a number of decisions in the 3-2 defeat by Manchester City that went against his side.But he praised Phil Dowd after revealing the referee had phoned him on Monday to discuss the decisions involved."The conversation I had with him, I've got so much respect for him now," said Holloway. "But, at the time, it's affected the result. I'm not against them [referees], I'm against the people who are deciding they're not allowed to use the technology."Wayne RooneyBlackpoolguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
L.A. goes international: Galaxy to play friendly Down Under The Los Angeles Galaxy will play an international friendly in Newcastle, Australia, on Nov. 27. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Hodgson insistent he will never resign • Speculation had been rife before goalless draw away to Napoli• 'I have never considered resigning and I never will'Roy Hodgson said he would never resign as Liverpool manager after his makeshift team drew with Napoli in a performance that proved, he claimed, "this club is not dead". The Liverpool manager also expressed concern for supporters attacked by Ultras before the Europa League tie in Italy.Speculation that Hodgson had contemplated quitting Anfield three months into his reign was rife before the goalless stalemate in Naples. The 63-year-old has had a torrid start on Merseyside but, despite last week's change of ownership, the departure of Christian Purslow as managing director and the club being 19th in the Premier League, Hodgson remained defiant. "I've heard the ridiculous rumours but I can tell you there is not an iota of truth in any of them," the Liverpool manager said. "The simple answer is I have never considered resigning and I never will."A greater concern was the violence that led to six people having to go to hospital before the game and other Liverpool supporters being attacked outside the stadium. "I must say I am faintly amused to have been asked by Italian journalists yesterday about whether I was worried about drunken English supporters causing trouble in Naples," Hodgson said. "They are peaceful people who have come here to watch the game and have ended up in hospital having been stabbed."These supporters have done a fantastic job. It is always tough knowing they are coming to a potentially dangerous situation and I just want to say how grateful we are for their support. It is very sad that some were attacked and some of them seriously and I can only offer them our sympathy and hope that they recover soon."Liverpool's performance was a marked improvement on recent displays, despite several star names being left at home, giving Hodgson welcome respite ahead of Sunday's league game with Blackburn Rovers. "There are a lot of positives," he added. "It is a good point, a point people did not think we would be capable of getting with the team we put out. But the team proved people wrong. The players stepped up to the plate and it was a performance that showed the club is not dead."Frank Rijkaard's agent, meanwhile, has admitted his client is in the market for a quick return to the game following his departure from Galatasaray. Perry Overeem, whose client was a 5-2 favourite to succeed Hodgson today, said: "He will return into football that is for sure. The question is when and where and that will not be answered now. It was only on Wednesday that the situation changed at Galatasaray and we are working on making sure that everything is sorted out there."We haven't been approached by anybody official [at Liverpool] yet and to me the current coach is still working with the support of Liverpool. Let us all wait and see what happens."Roy HodgsonLiverpoolEuropa LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |