TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Sunderland's Turner banned for four games Sunderland defender Michael Turner will now serve a four-game ban for his sending-off against Manchester City after the Football Association (FA) added an extra match to the usual suspension. foxsports.com.au |
Portsmouth fire-fighter says club is poised to pay off debt of £40m • Financial mess worse than owners thought - Daniel Azougy• Statement to be issued later today 'explaining everything'Daniel Azougy, the Israeli lawyer hired by Portsmouth to alleviate the club's dire financial position, has claimed that the owner Ali al-Faraj will have paid £40m to creditors by 10 January, when he hopes the embargo on registering new players will be lifted.Speaking publicly for the first time, Azougy also told the Guardian that he understands the fans' frustration at the lack of precise information offered by the Faraj regime and that a statement will be released later today which will "explain everything".Club officials have also stated that the players will be paid today, having missed the due date for a third time this season.Azougy, who is on a short-term contract with Portsmouth, claimed that the problems are the fault of the previous owners, Sulaiman al-Fahim and Sacha Gaydamak, and that the full scale of the situation is still unknown.Gaydamak, though, says he is owed £28m by the club and last week demanded clarity relating to who is the "ultimate beneficial owner" of Portsmouth. Fahim, the non-executive chairman, has stated he plans to give his 10% share in the club to the recently formed Pompey Supporters' Trust."First of all I hope we are going to pay the players' salaries as promised," said Azougy. "But nobody knows how much [the club] is a mess. When people and the fans of Portsmouth know how big they will appreciate what we trying to do."We thought the mess was just £5m or £10m. It is more than £40m, so the figures are not as is assumed. But I can tell you that from the day that the new owners come [5 October] until the 10 January the creditors of Portsmouth football club will be paid £40m. It's not a small amount, and we didn't finish yet."We didn't realise how big the problems were - many mistakes were made before the takeover and now we are trying to put piece-by-piece everything back in order, and I hope we will succeed. We are working seven days, all day long to make it good. But it's not easy."You will have all these figures later, all the details of how the £40m was paid. Mark Jacob [the club's executive director] will give a statement this afternoon regarding all the situation of the club. We have answers to everything but we didn't give it the right way to newspapers until now, so you will have all the answers there and you can check everything."The chief executive, Peter Storrie, stated in October – before Faraj's takeover – that £35m had gone to Standard Bank and Gaydamak claimed he paid off £2.5m to Barclays the same month. It is not clear what Jacob's statement about the £40m debt will include.Although Portsmouth are estimated to owe around £10m to English clubs [the amount required to lift the embargo], previous instalments owed for transfers plus other debts to HMRC — which served a winding-up petition on the club on 23 December — plus the missing salaries of the previous two months may factor in the amount.Azougy also claimed that despite their difficulties, Portsmouth have some advantages over other clubs. "All the other clubs are very stressed now, they all need money – it's not just our problem," he said. "The good thing is Portsmouth has no bank facility, nothing, zero, not even one penny. There is no club in the Premier League that [doesn't] have [a] bank facility."Following Saturday's 1-1 draw with Coventry City in the FA Cup third round, around 150 fans gathered outside the directors' entrance to protest the lack of information from Faraj's regime. "We are frustrated also," added Azougy.PortsmouthPremier LeagueJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Felipe Caicedo joins Málaga on loan from Manchester City • Ecuador striker agrees loan deal for remainder of season• Caicedo currently on loan with Sporting LisbonMálaga have reached an agreement with Manchester City to take the Ecuador striker Felipe Caicedo on loan for the remainder of the season, the Primera División club announced today.The 21-year-old Caicedo, who has already passed his medical with Málaga, had been on loan from City at the Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon since the start of this season.Málaga are currently third from bottom in the Primera División standings and two points adrift of safety ahead of tomorrow's home match with Athletic Bilbao.Caicedo joined City from the Swiss side Basle in January 2008 and made 25 appearances in all competitions last season for the Premier League club, scoring seven goals.However, with the arrivals of Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz last summer, Caicedo's opportunities for first-team football at Eastlands were limited and he agreed to join Sporting on a season-long loan.Caicedo made seven league appearances for Sporting and a further three in the Europa League.Manchester CityMalagaSporting Lisbonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Hannover parts ways with coach Andreas Bergmann German club Hannover has fired coach Andreas Bergmann after a seven-game stretch without a win left the club in danger of relegation. cbc.ca |
Said & Done | David Hills Fifa's healthy reserves; Harry's straightest moments; Ken Bates on freeloaders; plus Guti's hand-thigh co-ordinationPR News: compassion, generosity2009: Fifa accounts reveal they made a £114m single year surplus, boosted by hedge-fund trading, taking total Fifa reserves up to a new high of £559m. "Having healthy reserves," explained Fifa, "is of great importance to our ability to react to unexpected events. This is particularly vital in times of crisis."2010: Fifa back Haiti; vice-president Jack Warner praises the body's "compassion and generosity" after 30 members of Haiti's Football Federation were killed. "This gesture is a true representation of Fifa's principles," says Jack. "I explained the urgency and the gravity of the situation which has befallen our Caribbean brothers and sisters. As they face their darkest hour, we let them know Fifa is with them." Fifa donation: £150,000. Transfer window: highlights so far• Man of the week: Harry Redknapp – reassuring journalists asking him about links with Ruud van Nistelrooy that he'll be straight with them: "It could be of interest but that's as far as it goes. I don't want to say 'No, definitely not' then two weeks later go and sign him – I wouldn't do that to you." Last year's best straight Harry moments: - 23 July: "I like Crouchy but he's not a priority. I just feel that for that type of money it is an awful lot - no disrespect, but Peter's 28 years old and his salary is high. There's no return when you pay that type of money." - 27 July: Signs him. - 2 Aug: "Signing Bassong? It's not true. He's a player that I was interested in. He's a young player with a good future but the chairman has not made an offer." - 6 Aug: Signs him. - 31 Jan: Attacks Rafa Benítez for claiming he'd publicly unsettled Robbie Keane: "The comments I made, there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. I don't know why the manager of Liverpool gets upset about everything - it's strange. I just said Robbie's a terrific player and a good lad, but he belongs to Liverpool so it's not a possibility anyway. It's crazy. I never mentioned I was interested in him. It was never a goer." - 2 Feb: Signs him.• Best loyalty pledge:6 Jan: Matthew Kilgallon is "fully committed" to Sheffield United, says agent Paul Masterton: "We've spoken to Kevin Blackwell to say Matthew is fully committed to Sheffield United until the end of the season. Matthew is keen to win promotion with Sheffield United, and if that happens we'll reassess the options in the summer." 22 Jan: Joins Sunderland• Best fresh start:24: Number of hours between David Sullivan attacking West Ham's old board ("the club has enormous problems ... It was a crazy way that wages were paid by the Icelandics: they brought the club to its knees. You pay good wages, not crazy wages. I'm sure some fans will be fearful that we'll be like them and decimate the club. We won't") – and offering Van Nistelrooy £100,000 a week. Image rightsApril 2009: Sol Campbell says his image still hasn't recovered from accusations of greed and disloyalty when he joined Arsenal from Spurs: "It's nearly a decade ago now. Some of the criticism was so far over the top. It's a shame people don't want to see the real you, that you're proper, that you've got no hidden agendas." Sol says Portsmouth has restored his faith in the game. "It must be something to do with the sea air. This club has been fantastic."Jan 2010: Sues them for £1.7m.Quote of the week"When I went to Leeds they were losing £120,000 a week: there were too many freebies, too many freeloaders, too many people having a jolly good time at the club's expense. It had to change."Ken Bates, attacking freeloaders for taking money out without contributing anything in return. (90: maximum number of days Bates spends in the UK each year to maintain tax-exile status.)Number crunching £77,000: Unpaid tax bill that resulted in the closure of 130-year-old Kings Lynn FC in November despite efforts from fans.5: Number of hours it takes Manchester United to spend £77,000 on player wages (total bill in 2009: £123,000,000).Leak: foulPeruvian model Melissa García says suggestions that she leaked photos of herself with Real Madrid's Guti are "foul". "Goodness, I don't need the publicity. I didn't leak them, and it wasn't a set-up: I didn't put a gun to his head and tell him to put his hand up my thigh. It was sexy times. If I wanted publicity, I'd try harder than this."MeanwhileSpanish model Amaia Salamanca – who last week denied "sentimental links" with Guti – has an "intimate eye" on keeper Iker Casillas, say Spanish press. Soap star Salamanca says "I like footballers ... but I must be left to enjoy my private things."Premier LeagueDavid Hillsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |