| Charlie Davies' license suspended over speeding incident in France Davies has been fined $1,040 and had his driving license suspended by French police over the speeding violation for which the American forward ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Simon Burnton on the rise of Newport County The former Wimbledon forward 'loved the game too much' to walk away and is now making waves with Newport CountyIt is easy to assume that former Premier League players retire to a life largely spent swigging Château Lafite straight from the bottle while lounging poolside at one of their 18 palatial properties with their former-Hollyoaks-babe third wife, but there are exceptions. Some stay in football, and not just to take up position on Sky Soccer Saturday or be parachuted into a Premier League hotseat. For a small percentage, the call of the non-league game proves irresistible.Some, no longer fit enough to compete at the top level or not really good enough in the first place, are still playing. OK, I put this paragraph in just so I could tell you about Stefan Moore, who Aston Villa fans may remember as a graduate from their youth scheme who made 22 Premier League appearances between 2002 and 2004. Still only 27, at the start of this month he joined St Neots Town of the United Counties Premier Division in what the Saints chairman called "probably the most audacious and biggest transfer deal in the whole of non-league football this season".On his debut last Saturday he scored four in an 11-0 FA Vase rout of Felixstowe & Walton United, then after missing a potentially match-winning penalty in his second appearance midweek he grabbed another hat-trick this weekend in a 13-0 away tonking of Yaxley. St Neots have drawn three of their 11 games so far and won another two by the steadfastly standard scoreline of 1-0, but the other six have been so one-sided that they lead their league with a goal difference of +40.Anyway, more familiar names are currently trying to establish a reputation in management. With Paul Gascoigne's headline-grabbing appointment by Garforth still on hold, those currently managing in non-league still include Andy Sinton at Telford United, Garry Flitcroft at Chorley and Neil Cox, the former Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough defender, who was last week named as the new manager of Leek Town, his first appointment after "six or seven" failed applications.But the current star in this field is – perhaps surprisingly, for those who remember his bustling attacking play for Brentford, Wimbledon and Bolton, and habit of earning occasional far-from-flattering tabloid headlines – Dean Holdsworth. Now 41, as long as a decade ago Holdsworth had finished his coaching badges and was admitting that "I love the game so much that I don't want to leave it". And he's been true to his word.Holdsworth's playing career ended with a short spell at Newport County in 2007, and that summer he got his first managerial position at Redbridge. In his only season there they reached the Ryman North play-offs before losing to Canvey Island in the final on penalties. "What he did with little money was nothing but spectacular," one fan, writing on the website nln24.com, wrote this weekend, with a nostalgia fuelled by the team's current travails.In 2008 he returned to Newport, this time as manager. After a first season that begun unimpressively but improved (at one point he was, he says, "30 seconds away" from resigning before being talked around), his second was stellar. County didn't so much win the Blue Square South as destroy it, finishing 28 points clear of second-placed Dover Athletic with more wins and more points than any other side in Conference history. And the good times have continued: though they won just one of their first seven league games in the Blue Square Bet Premier, they also lost just one, 1-0 to Darlington on the first day of the season. Having thrashed managerless York City 4-0 on Saturday, their 32nd home league game without defeat, they've now lost only one of the 14 league matches since.As a result they have rocketed from 20th in the league after four games to sit third today. Though they may struggle to overhaul the leaders, Crawley Town, whose budget dwarfs all others in the division, Newport have certainly never been closer to returning to the league since they left it in disarray 22 years ago.A few years back, Holdsworth was asked about his future. "If I get the chance to go into management, I would model my club on the Crazy Gang ethic," he said. But he now seems far from the testosterone-fuelled immaturity of those days, and his positive impact has not been confined to Newport: last year he founded the Non-League Footballers' Association, and last week he launched a training and education scheme for its members. Impressive, in many ways, and Holdsworth's promotion to league football, one way or another, seems inevitable.Simon Burntonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
United points finger at agent for Rooney fiasco Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told reporters that striker Wayne Rooney wasn't to blame for last week's uncertainty over his future with the Premier League franchise. cbc.ca |
Paul, the WCup Predicting Octopus, Dies at 2½ Paul the Octopus, the tentacled tipster who fascinated soccer fans by predicting results at the World Cup, died Tuesday. feeds.nytimes.com |
Portsmouth eye return to Premier League after escaping administration Portsmouth have held their first board meeting since coming out of administration and are eyeing a return to the Premier League. telegraph.co.uk |