TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Sunderland open to offers for Kenwyne Jones Aston Villa favourites to land striker with Manchester United and Liverpool also interested. telegraph.co.uk |
Barton: 'Most footballers are knobs' • Midfielder says Sporting Chance made him 'a man'• Criticises lifestyles of top-flight professionalsJoey Barton has been blamed for many things but the Newcastle United midfielder cannot be accused of a lack of candour."Most footballers are knobs," said Barton today in a radio interview which is unlikely to prove popular with his fellow professionals. "I meet a lot of them and they are so detached from real life it's untrue. But there was a stage when I was like that."The 27-year-old, who says he is a changed man since giving up drinking two years ago, expressed dismay at footballers' isolation from the wider world and the rampant materialism of many of his peers."Driving around in flash cars and changing them like you change your socks, wearing stupid diamond watches and spending money like it's going out of fashion in the middle of a recession when some people are struggling to put food on the table for the kids – it's not the way to do it," he said.Interviewed on an edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme which was guest-edited by his mentor, Tony Adams, Barton said that he was only jolted out of the game's "Peter Pan" world – in which agents organise players' lives, taking care of such mundane basics as bank accounts, bills, mortgages and car insurance – by his addiction to alcohol and inability to control his anger.A series of unsavoury incidents led him to the Sporting Chance Clinic, which was founded by Adams, the former Arsenal captain. Barton, who served time in prison for his part in an assault in Liverpool city centre two years ago, said the clinic "gave me the tools to understand myself, basically. It helped me grow into a man".The gulf between Barton's upbringing in Huyton, Merseyside and life as a young player at Manchester City was obvious."I was earning £20,000 a week and yet I didn't even know how to behave, I was just a child," he said. "You grow up in an environment where, as long as you're a good player, you're told that you're the best all the time. But whether you're the best footballer in the world or the best golfer or the best cricketer, you're a human being. You might be good at that [sport] but you might be crap at life."Barton's misdemeanours included stubbing a lit cigarette into the eye of a City team-mate; slapping a fan; assaulting a former City colleague, Ousmane Dabo; and the aforementioned attack on a 16-year-old outside a branch of McDonald's in Liverpool."My last night out probably cost me £500,000 plus my reputation," he said. "I must have been as close as you can get to self-destruct. I had two choices, basically. Either you carry on what you're doing and your career's gone, or you address it."Barton, who is close to full recovery from a serious foot injury, says the British media helped to change his character."I am very thankful to the media of this country," he said, suggesting that regular vilification in print and broadcast media forced him to confront several issues.He also said: "There's stuff I got away with. But I'm very fortunate, because of my profile and the job I do and the fact that I'm in the public eye, it got addressed. And it's only the fact that I'm grounded by the trouble I've been in that's forced me away from being in the football world."After counselling and introspection, Barton has decided that he is, essentially, "a simple bloke"."I don't want to be famous," he said. "It was never for me about the cars, the women, the money – whatever people perceive to come with it. I love football, I want to play football."Joey BartonNewcastle UnitedChampionshipRadio 4Louise Taylorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Togo's request to return to Cup of Nations turned down • Confederation confirms Togo will not be allowed back• Request from sports minister to return to Angola deniedTogo's request to play in the Africa Cup of Nations has been turned down by the tournament's organisers.Flags flew at half-mast in the west African nation today as the country began three days of national mourning. The squad flew home yesterday in the wake of Friday's gun attack, which killed three people; the side's assistant coach, its press officer and the Angolan bus driver.The country's sports minister had asked the Confederation of African Football to allow the team to take part after the mourning. But CAF, which initially wanted Togo to remain in Angola, has turned down the request and will officially disqualify the team tonight.Togo's prime minister Gilbert Huongbo has hit out at the organisers over their stance. "Management did not give us enough assurance," he said. "We would leave our team being exposed to similar risks. Therefore we decided to pull our team out of the competition against our will."We will have hoped that one can have serene discussion with the host country, with the Confederation, to assess what has happened, assess what one has to do. We received no co-operation from the Confederation in terms of any kind of assessment."Our analysis is that they want it [the shooting] to be seen as a non-event and the show must go on as planned; there mustn't be an official change and Togo is causing problems to the festival."But a CAF official told reporters that Togo had been warned that they would be thrown out of the tournament unless they honoured tonight's scheduled fixture against Ghana."Togo have not taken official steps to come back and play the African Nations Cup," the official said. "The referee has received the order to blow the starting whistle and if the Togolese players are not there, they will have lost the match and will be disqualified."Meanwhile, the heads of government of South Africa, Namibia, Congo-Brazzaville and Zambia expressed a message of solidarity and support for Angola after meeting with the Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos this morning.The South African president, Jacob Zuma, was in Luanda to attend Sunday's opening ceremony, and while dismissing what he termed "Afro-pessimism" that failed to recognise the profound differences between African countries, he acknowledged South Africa would be seeking to learn security lessons form Angola before the World Cup, which begins in June.Antonio Nito, the provincial prosecutor, has described how Angola security forced searched the jungle area in Massiba, near where Friday's attack took place, before arresting two men suspected of belonging to FLEC, the separatist body that claimed responsibility for the ambush.TogoAfrica Cup of Nationsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Milson released by United Injury-plagued Brazilian striker Milson has been released by Gold Coast United. foxsports.com.au |
Wayne Rooney revels in his role as Manchester United's main man | Paul Hayward Wayne Rooney is hitting new levels as the focus of Manchester United's attack following the departure of Cristiano RonaldoNo longer the Ernie Wise to Cristiano ÂRonaldo's Eric Morecambe, Wayne Rooney has taken his real job back. Manchester United's management always acknowledged Ronaldo would want to head back to ÂIberia some sorry day but Rooney was bought to build an age around. He was the tough native talent who exemplified the English game's best virtues and would preserve the club's religion of shaping youth in its own image."He is extraordinary, very, very good," Real Madrid's general manager, Jorge Valdano, told Spanish radio yesterday but only as a disavowal of interest in United's main goalscoring weapon before tonight's Carling Cup semi-final second leg at home to Manchester City. On the field and off, Rooney is the story, as his contract negotiations become a test of United's capacity to attract and keep world-class talent in the shadow of the Glazer debt mountain. On the pitch, away from which he is so hard to drag, the Premier League's top scorer is tipped by Sir Alex Ferguson "to get above 30" as he learns to do his hunting in the opposition penalty box."Rooney is English, we all know they find it difficult to adapt to another type of competition other than the Premier League. He is a very interesting player but we have not ever been interested," Valdano sniffed, hours after the potential target had waved away reported interest from Real and Barcelona with a statement intended to soothe supporter anxiety. "I live near the training ground, life's good and I just want to play for Manchester United because the manager has given me so much and I want to repay his faith in me," Rooney said yesterday.He has entered his finest goal-scoring form in red just as the thought of losing him (he has two and a half years left on his contract) is exerting maximum dread among fans who worry that corporate debt will ultimately destroy their team.The lone negative byproduct of his 19 Premier League goals is that United are being called a one-man team. The fear is that the little Hercules could injure himself and derail the quest for a record fourth consecutive English title. Extreme star quality prompts accusations of dependence. Alan Shearer, who rescued a few teams in his playing days, is among those diagnosing over-reliance on the former EvertonÂian's goals: "I think he has carried United on his own at times. That's saying something for the size of that particular club. People were saying he has to step up his performance after the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo and boy, has he done that!"Behind last season's party line Rooney is known to have felt competitive agitation about the senior role assigned to Ronaldo by virtue of the Madeiran's superior artistry. This suppressed jealousy never manifested itself as moodiness butintensified his desire to be the fulcrum of the team again. Before Real Madrid finally snared their man, one senior United player (not Rooney) complained that "it's become all about him [Ronaldo]". Now it is all about Rooney, in a more healthy way, for England and United."Wayne has 20 goals and the crucial part of the season is coming up. He could easily get above 30. His ratio at the moment suggests that," Ferguson said. "Wayne has become more aware of the penalty box. Giving him the direct role has given him an appetite to be in the box all the time. He still has moments when he goes into other areas of the pitch but he is choosing those moments more maturely. The main reason he is scoring the goals is because he is in the right place at the right time.""The difference is I've consciously been getting in the box more to put myself in goal-scoring situations," Rooney agreed. Each of his four against Hull City on Saturday was finished from inside the penalty area and Michael Owen told the Guardian on Saturday: "The manager has said he wants Wayne playing further forward and getting goals and that's what he's been doing. A few years ago when I was playing for England with Wayne he used to drop in [to a more withdrawn position] and enjoyed that role. But people evolve and Wayne is a better all-round player. If you can get his services nearer [to the net] he's going to get a lot of goals.""I've just matured and been given a lot more responsibility. I still have that passion and hunger. Hopefully I can have a good run in the side now and keep scoring goals. We've got ourselves into a good position in the league. We've dealt with defensive setbacks very well. The way we played last season has given us a lot of confidence and we will get there."Rooney's hyper-active handyman routine has now been contained. Ferguson has abandoned the policy of starting him on the left. Before last season's Champions League final Marcel Desailly, the European Cup- and World Cup-winning defender, praised Rooney's willing versatility. "He has impressed me so much, the way he has accepted that," Desailly said. "For me what Rooney did against Arsenal in the [Champions League] semi-final and other times has been amazing. Against Arsenal he played on the left so he could help the team close down Theo Walcott. That, to me, is the sign of a special player."The volatile street kid who stalked into Old Trafford with an air that suggested every incoming tackle was a personal affront has matured into a father with cunning and self-control. His last dismissal was against Fulham on 21 March last year and even the disciplinary system is working in his favour. Rooney's five yellow cards this season would have brought him a one-match suspension but for a change in how the cycle is defined.Shearer says of Rooney's influence on United post-Ronaldo: "[Without him] they would not be where they are in the league. I think his performances have been spectacular and I hope he's not peaking too soon, as an England fan. As important as he is to Manchester United, he is just as important to England, and I don't think anyone should forget that."United will. They will not consider it their responsibility to protect him on behalf of Fabio Capello, of whom Rooney told an Italian newspaper: "He scares us, like a strict father." Working for managerial aristocrats at club and country has Âhastened his development. Seeing the back of one on the pitch – Ronaldo – restored his primacy as the man who can win a game on his own.Wayne RooneyManchester UnitedPremier LeaguePaul Haywardguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |