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| BLOG: De Vos: Landon Donovan making the right move? Last week, English Premier League side Everton finally completed their protracted loan move for Landon Donovan, who will join the Toffees until mid-March, when he will rejoin his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates for their MLS season opener on March 27th. cbc.cacbc.ca |
Hibernian's John Hughes is early candidate to replace Owen Coyle • Burnley seeking an up-and-coming manager• Coyle recommends his former colleague for Turf Moor post Burnley have begun the hunt for the "new Owen Coyle" after the original re-affirmed his determination to defect to Bolton Wanderers.As the two clubs thrashed out a compensation deal and Coyle waited to start work at The Reebok, sources at Turf Moor indicated that, ideally, the club is seeking a bright, young "up and coming" replacement very much in the mould of the out-going manager. Previous Premier League experience is not regarded as essential.While that clearly opens the door to candidates such as Darren Ferguson, currently also interesting Preston North End, John Hughes is likely to loom high on the shortlist after being recommended by Coyle. Hughes has impressed as the manager of Hibernian this season and previously worked with his Coyle as joint-manager at Falkirk. The pair share similar football philosophies and values and the 45-year-old Hughes – who is believed to be earning in the region of £200,000 – would have no problems with working within Turf Moor's tight budget. There may, though, be concerns that he remains largely a stranger to the English game. The former centre-half spent most of his playing career in Scotland – although Hughes did have one spell in the English League with Swansea City.Coincidentally Paulo Sousa, the Swansea manager who succeeded Roberto MartÃnez during the summer, is also understood to be on Burnley's radar as they search for a man who will preserve the team's sweet-passing, purist style cultivated under Coyle. At 39, Sousa is the right age to appeal to Burnley's chairman Barry Kilby and, as a celebrated former Portugal international, he would bring a dash of glamour to East Lancashire.Ferguson would also want his team to play passing football and is very much available after being sacked by Peterborough United – who he earlier led to two successive promotions – last November. Mike Phelan, Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United, could also be a dark horse.In the short term, Steve Davis will temporarily shift from his coaching job at Turf Moor to become Burnley's caretaker manager, having previously filled that role just over two years ago as the club waited for the then relatively little-known Coyle to arrive from St Johnstone.A club statement effectively signalled the end of the 43-year-old's Turf Moor tenure. "Owen Coyle has today re-affirmed his desire to leave Burnley FC and join Bolton Wanderers," it read. "Burnley will now enter discussions with Bolton due to the fact that compensation has yet to be agreed."Coyle set his heart on re-joining the club where he enjoyed two-and-a-half seasons as a striker playing under Bruce Rioch during the mid 1990s, after meeting Phil Gartside, Bolton's chairman, for talks in Scotland over the weekend.On Monday evening Coyle – who led Burnley into the Premier League last spring before signing a 12-month extension to his existing three-year deal after being courted by Celtic – flew back to the north west for a meeting with Kilby. Refusing to be persuaded into an 11th-hour volte-face, he instead made it clear his heart was set on re-locating to the Reebok, where Bolton's budget for player wages alone is understood to be £40m as against £15m at Turf Moor.While the Premier League game at Arsenal may now come too early for Coyle to be in Bolton's dug-out, he is expected to take charge of his new team for Saturday's vital trip to Sunderland.As tensions between Burnley and Bolton heightened over the former's compensation demands – Burnley want around £3m, Bolton would prefer to pay nearer £1m – the irony of Gartside's involvement in Coyle's appointment in 2007 became harder to resist. The Bolton chairman recommended Coyle to Kilby after the Scot had been narrowly beaten to the Bolton post by Gary Megson, the man who he now seems certain to replace.BurnleyBolton WanderersPremier LeagueHibernianScottish Premier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
BenÃtez keen to keep Babel as he plans for summer • 'I will fight on until the end,' says Liverpool manager • BenÃtez admits he is working on limited meansRafael BenÃtez has reinforced his desire to remain at Liverpool by revealing he has commenced his transfer strategy for next summer, even though a lack of spending power at Anfield lies behind his reluctance to sell Ryan Babel this month.The Liverpool manager yesterday confirmed he is working on limited means during this transfer window, despite selling Andrea Dossena to Napoli for £4.4m and agreeing a fee of almost £2m with Dynamo Moscow for Andriy Voronin, and he may struggle to improve his options beyond the impending £1.5m arrival of Maxi RodrÃguez from Atlético Madrid. Liverpool rejected an offer in excess of £8m this week for Babel from Birmingham City, despite the £11.5m capture from Ajax falling short of expectations at Anfield.Liverpool's hierarchy are confident the interest of several European clubs can produce an auction for the Holland attacker but BenÃtez, acutely aware there is no guarantee he can reinvest any fee for Babel in January, has admitted the depth of his squad is also a factor. "If I do not find any good replacements, I will try to keep him," the Liverpool manager said."He said that he wants to stay. We will try to train with him in the right way and, if he can give something to us, I will be really pleased. We signed a player with talent, with pace and ability and we want to see the best from him. So we will try to push him and hopefully he can play well. He has the potential and he has shown this a lot of times but we want to see him playing at this level more frequently."BenÃtez claimed Liverpool's reticence in this month's transfer market was due not solely to a lack of funds but to a dearth of available talent. "At this moment we have to do the best for the club and this means accepting the situation," he said. "There aren't too many good players in the market now that you could bring here because the majority of them are with top sides or in the Champions League and they want to stay until the end of the season."But he refused to deny claims he will offer the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh – a long-time Arsenal target – a pre-contract agreement this month, merely revealing that work on potential recruits was under way. BenÃtez said: "I have to plan for the summer. When I decided to stay it was because I wanted to stay. I gave my word and I want to fight, so I will fight until the end. Always you have to be ready and you have to know the market."LiverpoolRafael BenÃtezTransfer windowPremier LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
10 on the bubble for World Cup For players such as Ronaldinho and David Beckham, a World Cup roster spot is anything but assured, and they have a lot to do to earn a seat on the plane to South Africa. cbc.ca |
Manchester derby security to be increased in wake of Tevez-Neville row • Extra police to be deployed at Carling Cup second leg• Carlos Tevez's agent Kia Joorabchian defends playerPolicing at next week's Carling Cup semi-final second leg between Manchester United and Manchester City is to be increased amid fears that the spat between Carlos Tevez and Gary Neville could lead to issues with security.An extra 75 police will be on duty on Wednesday and spot checks will be made at pubs around the ground in what is described as "the highest risk" game at Old Trafford this season.The first leg, which City won 2-1, saw Tevez and the United substitute Neville exchange gestures and later Tevez called his former team-mate "a moron" and "a boot-licker". The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, also claimed that Tevez should have been sent off during the match at Eastlands.Tevez's agent, Kia Joorabchian, admitted the frosty relations between the two, which arose from Neville's insistence that Ferguson was right not to keep Tevez at Old Trafford, could spill over into Wednesday's encounter."Carlos played two years at Manchester United and he has very good relationships with a lot of the players," Joorabchian told BBC Radio 5 Live. "He admires and likes Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra and Ryan Giggs and he considers a lot of them friends of his."I don't think he will expect to have any atmosphere in relation to the players. But I guess he and Gary Neville are not going to be very good friends any time shortly."Police made 18 arrests at last week's match and expect to make more before Wednesday's return after viewing video cameras. Ian Hopkins, the assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester police, revealed talks would take place tomorrow with United and City officials and the Football Association in a bid to prevent any trouble.Hopkins said he would also be reminding the players they have a responsibility not to provoke unrest in the stands."I will be meeting with both the clubs again along with the FA tomorrow to discuss the general crowd behaviour and making sure that they understand their responsibility not to do anything that's likely to incite the crowd," he said."We will be making the points very strongly that the players are professionals, they need to recognise the impact they can have on the crowd and it's going to be really passionate again on Wednesday. There's a lot at stake for both teams and for the fans."Joorabchian, meanwhile, insisted that Tevez is not bitter at leaving United and his dispute is with Neville alone.Joorabchian said: "If you don't have respect and class you have to accept that [Tevez is] entitled to say something back. Gary Neville stepped into something that maybe he shouldn't have done and since he didn't have that respect Carlos felt he had to answer."I don't think he [Tevez] has ever been bitter to Manchester United. I don't think Carlos came anywhere near hitting his peak at Manchester United. In the next three or four years he has a lot more to offer."The player's advisor also believes the feud with Neville has only increased the anticipation around the match. "When I went to the City match I saw an atmosphere which was absolutely unbelievable, a great vibe, so much passion in it," he said. "This little bitter matter has done nothing but improve this passion and it will give us an even greater build-up and a greater excitement."Manchester UnitedManchester CityCarling Cupguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |