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[TD] Page last updated at 23:49 GMT, Wednesday, 18 January 2012


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[TD="colspan: 2"] [h=1]Thursday's gossip column - transfers and rumours[/h]
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[TD="class: storybody"] For updated transfer news and gossip throughout the day, read our breaking news service Sportsday Live .

TRANSFER GOSSIP
Manchester United have been angered by Danny Welbeck's contract demands - with the England striker holding out for a new £60,000-a-week deal.
Full story: Daily Mail
Manchester United and Liverpool are set to miss out on Sao Paulo wonderkid Lucas, 19, as Inter Milan edge closer to a deal.
Full story: talkSPORT
But Liverpool have agreed a £1m deal to sign 19-year-old Sporting Lisbon star Joao Carlos Teixeira, dubbed 'the new Deco'.
Full story: Metro
Manchester City are willing to listen to summer offers for Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong.
Full story: The Guardian
Tottenham's Mexican attacking midfielder Giovani Dos Santos is a target for Spanish side Villarreal.
Full story: talkSPORT
Fulham have been told to match Fiorentina's £6.5m bid for Catania's former Barcelona striker Maxi Lopez, 27, or risk missing out.
Full story: Daily Mirror
West Brom boss Roy Hodgson has turned down a 'cheeky' loan bid for striker Peter Odemwingie.
Full story: Express and Star
Birmingham want to re-sign Craig Gardner on loan. The midfielder moved to Sunderland from Blues in the summer but is homesick for the Midlands.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is ready to make an £18m offer for Newcastle United striker Demba Ba.
Full story: caughtoffside.com
OTHER GOSSIP
QPR are beefing up security for their FA Cup tie against Chelsea, where Anton Ferdinand and John Terry are set to come face to face.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Andre Villas-Boas will take his Chelsea players on a five-day trip to Majorca next week to boost team morale.
Full story: Daily Mail
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been dealt a major blow ahead of Sunday's crunch clash with Manchester United, with Thierry Henry rated as 'doubtful'.
Full story: Metro
Former Arsenal midfielder Aleksandr Hleb admits he wasted his career after leaving the Emirates.
Full story: talkSPORT
England are ready to cap Swansea's on-loan Tottenham defender Steven Caulker - to stop Scotland getting their hands on him.
Full story: Daily Mirror
AND FINALLY
Former Celtic ace Shunsuke Nakamura proved he can still bend it like the best of them, by curling a free-kick through the window of a moving bus on Japanese television.
Full story: Metro
Manchester United, whose transfers are handled by chief executive David Gill, are tracking four Atletico Madrid starlets - including one named David Gil.
Full story: Daily Mirror
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[h=1]Friday's gossip column - transfers and rumours[/h]
For updated transfer news and gossip throughout the day, read our breaking news service. Sportsday Live

TRANSFER GOSSIP
Dimitar Berbatov's agent insists the Manchester United striker is not going anywhere in this month's transfer window.
Full story: the Mirror
Roma have enquired about Manchester United's 18-year-old midfielder Ravel Morrison, the subject of a failed bid from Newcastle recently. Full story: talkSPORT
Manchester United and Manchester City are set to do battle over Benfica midfielder Nicolas Gaitan.
Full story: Daily Mail
Shanghai Shenhua have confirmed talks are ongoing with Chelsea over a deal for striker Didier Drogba, and have admitted they are hopeful the transfer can be sealed by Monday.
Full story: Metro
Stoke chairman Peter Coates says striker Kenwyne Jones is not for sale, and denies reports of a £5m offer from Saudi Arabia side Al Hilal. Full story: Stoke Sentinel
Carlos Tevez's media advisor has said Inter Milan and AC Milan are not out of the race to sign the Manchester City striker. Full story: talkSPORT
OTHER GOSSIP
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea may need to undergo eye surgery before the end of the season.
Full story: the Guardian
Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers has hailed the "immense talent" of loan signing Josh McEachran.
Full story: the Sun
Former England captain David Beckham has revealed 'one or two' clubs tried to bring him back to the Premier League before he committed his future to LA Galaxy. Full story: skysports.com
Bolton chairman Phil Gartside believes the club would not be fighting relegation if he had persuaded Benfica to let him keep on-loan striker Rodrigo at the Reebok this season. Full story: Bolton News
Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic insists United don't fear City and believes the Reds are the only team in the city that will win trophies consistently. Full story: Manchester Evening News
AND FINALLY
After Juventus struggled to offload under-performing striker Amauri, an enterprising fan decided to try to sell the Brazilian-born star on eBay.
Full story: Metro

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[TD="class: contentheading, width: 100%"]Papic apata matumaini mapya [/TD]
[TD="class: buttonheading, width: 100%, align: right"] Send to a friend [/TD]
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[TD="class: createdate"] Thursday, 19 January 2012 20:25 [/TD]
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[TD] 0digg

Sweetbert Lukonge
KOCHA mkuu wa timu ya soka ya Yanga, Kostadin Papic amepata matumaini mapya baada ya wachezaji wake mahiri wa kikosi chake cha kwanza waliokuwa majeruhi kuanza mazoezi mepesi mepesi.

Wachezaji waliokuwa majeruhi ni kipa namba moja wa timu hiyo, Yaw Berko, beki wa kati Ibrahim Job, pamoja na Haruna Niyonzima ambao walikuwa nje ya uwanja kwa ajili ya kupata matibabu.

Hali hiyo ilimfanya Papic pamoja na mashabiki wa timu hiyo kuwa na hofu ya kuwakosa nyota hao katika baadhi ya mechi za mzunguko wa pili wa Ligi Kuu unaoanza kesho, pia Yanga inawahitaji wachezaji hao kwa ajili ya mashindano ya Klabu Bingwa Barani Afrika, ambapo Yanga itacheza na Zamalak mwezi ujao.

Ofisa Habari wa Yanga, Louis Sendeu alisema kuwa wachezaji hao jana wameanza mazoezi mepesi mepisi na baada ya muda wataungana na wenzao tayari kwa kujiweka fiti kwa ajili kuiwakilisha vema timu hiyo katika mashindano yote yaliyopo mbele yao.

"Tunaendelea vizuri na maandalizi yetu na kubwa zaidi tulilonalo sasa hivi ni kurejea kwa nyota wetu wote waliokuwa nje ya uwanja kufuatia kusumbuliwa na majeruhi.

"Hata hivyo Yaw Berko yeye atandelea kufanya mazoezi mepesi mepesi kwa muda mrefu kidogo hii ni kutokana na ushauri wa madaktari," alisema Sendeu.

Alisema kwa upande wa Niyonzima na Job wao wataungana na wenzao mara moja tayari kwa kujifua vilivyo ili kujiweka fiti zaidi kwa ajili ya mzunguko wa pili wa Ligi Kuu na mashindano ya kimataifa.

Katika mzunguko wa pili wa Ligi Kuu, Yanga itafungua kivumbi hicho kwa kupambana na Moro United ambayo inashika nafasi ya nane kwenye msimamo, wakati kwenye michuano ya Klabu Bingwa Afrika itacheza na Zamalek jijini Dar es Salaam kabla ya kurudiana nchini Misri. [/TD]
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Page last updated at 23:42 GMT, Thursday, 19 January 2012
FOOTBALL
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Warnock on role of Twitter

QPR 'very close' to signing Taiwo
QPR agree fee for Onuoha


KEY INFO: Transfers | Club news on mobile






Transfer list

A definitive list of all the January transfer window moves

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[h=3]Papic ataka moja kuivaa Zamaleki[/h]
Na Zahoro Mlanzi

KOCHA Mkuu wa mabingwa soka Tanzania Bara, Kostadin Papic ameutaka uongoza wa klabu
hiyo kumtafutia mechi moja ya kirafiki kabla hawajaumana na Zamaleki Februari, mwaka huu.
Katika kulifanikisha hilo, uongozi huo tayari imeshapata timu moja kongwe kutoka Afrika Kusini ambayo bado wanaendelea nayo kufanya mazungumzo ya mwisho.
Yanga itaumana na Zamaleki kati ya Februari 16,17 au 18 katika mashindano ya Kombe la Klabu Bingwa Afrika, mechi itakayopigwa Uwanja wa Taifa, Dar es Salaam na marudiano kati ya Machi 3, 4 au 5.
Akizungumza na gazeti hili Dar es Salaam jana, Mwenyekiti wa Kamati ya Mashindano ya timu hiyo, Salum Rupia Papic aliomba kupewa apate mechi moja ya kimataifa na hilo litafanikiwa kwani tayari kuna timu imeonesha nia ya kukubali.
"Mechi hiyo itafanyika hapa Dar es Salaam wiki moja kabla hatujacheza na Zamaleki, nimepata taarifa kwamba kuna timu ya moja ya Afrika kusini ambayo ni kongwe imekubali kucheza na sisi," alisema Rupia.
Mbali na hilo, alizungumzia maandalizi yao ya ligi kuu ambapo alisema timu iliingia kambini rasmi jana kwa ajili ya mechi hizo na kwamba baada ya muda fulani watahama na kwenda nje ya jiji au ikiwezekana nje ya nchi.
Alisema baada ya mashindano ya Kombe la Mapinduzi, timu yao ilipata majeruhi sita kitu ambacho kilirudisha nyuma programu ya mazoezi ya Papic na kumfanya aanza moja.
"Unajua kabla hatujaondoka, Papic alikataa kupeleka timu lakini ikachukuliwa tofauti na watu, sasa kile alichokisema kilikuwa cha msingi na sasa yupo katika kipindi cha kujenga timu kutokana na hali hiyo," alisema Rupia.
http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php...pre=http://www.majira-hall.blogspot.com/&tt=0 http://www.majira-hall.blogspot.com/2012/01/papic-ataka-moja-kuivaa-zamaleki.html# http://www.majira-hall.blogspot.com/2012/01/papic-ataka-moja-kuivaa-zamaleki.html# http://www.majira-hall.blogspot.com/2012/01/papic-ataka-moja-kuivaa-zamaleki.html# http://www.majira-hall.blogspot.com/2012/01/papic-ataka-moja-kuivaa-zamaleki.html# 0

[h=1]Aston Villa exploring plan to bring in safe standing areas[/h] • Safe standing areas could be introduced to Premier League
• Supporters of idea take lead from Bundesliga

• • reddit this

• David Conn
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 January 2012 14.29 GMT
• Article history

Villa Park could see an experiment with a standing area. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Getty Images

The campaign for safe standing areas to be incorporated into top-level football grounds has received a major boost, after Aston Villa said they are examining introducing a standing section at Villa Park.
Paul Faulkner, Villa's chief executive, told a supporters' consultation group that he recognises fans want to stand, that safe standing areas could help improve the match atmosphere, allow for some cheaper ticket prices, and therefore attract younger supporters currently priced out by the cost of seats.
Faulkner has met the Football Supporters' Federation, which has long campaigned for a relaxation of the law compulsory requiring clubs in the top two divisions to have all-seating in their grounds.
Villa have become the first Premier League club to break publicly with the orthodoxy which has lasted two decades, that standing is too associated with football's bleak period in the 1980s ever to return.
Lord Justice Taylor recommended compulsory all-seating for all football grounds, later confined to the top two divisions, in his final report after the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster. His recommendation was opposed by the then Football Supporters Association, which pointed out that terracing itself had not been a cause of the disaster, which happened due to mismanagement of the FA Cup semi-final crowd by the South Yorkshire police, Sheffield Wednesday's negligently unsafe ground, and the fences at the front of the Leppings Lane terrace.
The FSA argued that grounds, including standing areas, should be made safe, and that if seating was made compulsory, the clubs would raise prices so substantially that long-standing supporters would be priced out.
Taylor rejected that, saying: "It should be possible to plan a price structure which suits the cheapest seats to the pockets of those at present paying to stand," citing the cost of standing at Rangers' Ibrox ground then, of £4. With cumulative inflation of 77.1% since, the price of that ticket at the beginning of this season would have been £7. Yet prices at the bigger Premier League clubs mostly start at a minimum £30 and go much higher than that. At Liverpool, whose supporters were the victims at Hillsborough, standing on the Kop cost £4 in 1989-90; the price for a seat this season at category A games is £45.
Politicians have been reluctant even to discuss standing at football, because of the association with Hillsborough, but last year the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said he would look at the issue if presented with overwhelming agreement by the police and safety authorities. That remains a long way off, but the argument has shifted, with the authorities no longer able to argue that standing is in itself unsafe.
Awareness has grown of the standing areas in the German Bundesliga, between rails spaced closely enough to make a large crush physically impossible. The FSF points to the safety risk at Premier League grounds now, where many fans stand throughout matches, in seated areas not designed to accommodate standing.
One entrepreneurial supporter, Jon Darch, has been visiting clubs in the Championship, Premier League and Scotland with a sample Bundesliga-style rail structure, and says he has had an "enthusiastic response" from all clubs. The Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster, who has introduced a private members bill to remove the standing prohibition, is planning to bring Darch's exhibition to Parliament shortly.
Seating has never been compulsory in Scottish football, and last month the Scottish Premier League positively invited applications from clubs to introduce safe standing areas. All the SPL clubs, including Celtic and Rangers, have been positive about doing so, with Neil Doncaster, the SPL chief executive, saying: "I do expect to receive applications, including from Celtic and Rangers, as early as this summer, and the rail system has the most chance of being approved."
Peter Daykin, of the FSF, pointed to St Helens opening a new stadium for this 2012 Super League season, incorporating large standing areas, and said: "We hope football's status as a pariah sport is coming to an end. Our members have always been overwhelmingly in favour of safe standing areas."
A Premier League spokesman said it remains the league's position that stadiums should be all-seat, in line with government policy. "If Aston Villa want to explore safe standing and bring it forward as an issue, we welcome the debate around the table," he said.

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[h=1]Manchester United's error-prone David de Gea may need eye surgery[/h] • Goalkeeper is long-sighted and plays in contact lenses
• Spaniard has lost first-team place after string of mistakes

• • reddit this

• Daniel Taylor
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 January 2012 22.45 GMT
• Article history

David de Gea was bought for £18.3m by Manchester United last summer as a replacement for Edwin van der Sar. Photograph: Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images

David de Gea's erratic first season at Manchester United has taken place with the talented but error-prone goalkeeper suffering from an eyesight problem that may necessitate laser surgery at the end of the season.
De Gea, dropped from United's past three matches after making a succession of mistakes, is long-sighted and plays in contact lenses. United employ a full-time optometrist, based at their training ground, and the Spaniard has been recommended for treatment to restore his sight to normal as he tries to cut out the mistakes that have cost him his place as Sir Alex Ferguson's first-choice goalkeeper.
Having worn glasses for most of his life, De Gea was going to have laser surgery last March when he was at Atlético Madrid. At the time, however, the Atlético medical staff told him to wait at least another year because he needed a stable prescription.
United were aware of the issue when they signed him for £18.3m in the summer. De Gea has had regular check-ups since replacing Edwin van der Sar and held off the challenge of Anders Lindegaard until one mistake too many in the 3-2 home defeat against Blackburn Rovers on New Year's Eve.
De Gea has been at fault, to different degrees, for as many as six to nine goals in his first five months in the team and, though there have been times when his goalkeeping has been exceptional, his first season in England has been a difficult one. Whether there is any link to his vision is not clear, but wearers of contact lenses often find their eyesight is strained when watching football under artificial light, and the priority at Old Trafford is to make sure it is not even potentially a factor.
United still have high aspirations that De Gea, at 21, can demonstrate he was worth the money and become a great goalkeeper for the club.
The hope is that he can be booked in for laser treatment in June, when he could take advantage of the summer break to have the four-day period of rest that is advised. He is then expected to be selected for Spain's Olympics squad if, as expected, he misses out on Euro 2012 behind Iker Casillas, José Reina and Victor Valdés.

[h=1]Chelsea's Didier Drogba set for summer move to China on £270,000 a week[/h] • Shanghai Shenhua expect to get Drogba on three-year deal
• Chinese club signed Nicolas Anelka from Chelsea this month

• • reddit this

• Dominic Fifield
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 January 2012 20.40 GMT
• Article history

Shanghai Shenhua are confident of agreeing a deal to sign Chelsea's Didier Drogba next summer. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images

Shanghai Shenhua are increasingly confident of making Didier Drogba the latest eye-catching arrival in the Chinese Super League next summer under freedom of contract in a move that would end the Ivory Coast striker's glittering eight-year stay with Chelsea.
Talks between Drogba and Chelsea over a new deal have been at an impasse for some time, with the 33-year-old seeking a two-year package to remain at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, conscious of the player's age, had been willing to offer only a 12-month extension to his contract, which expires at the end of June. Although the club's manager, André Villas-Boas, intends to utilise the forward upon his return from the Africa Cup of Nations, a parting of the ways in the summer has long felt likely.
Chelsea will therefore resist any attempt by Shanghai Shenhua to secure the player in the midwinter transfer window but they are helpless to prevent Drogba negotiating terms with a foreign club over a move in the summer.
Asked whether he was concerned that Shanghai may be speaking with the player, Villas-Boas said: "It's not something that has crossed my mind. I count on Didier, on what he represents as a player and an icon, and I will rely upon him still [when he returns from the tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next month]."
Shenhua, who signed Drogba's former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka this month, are confident they will entice the Ivorian with a salary of around £270,000 a week and the promise of a three-year deal, with a pre-contract agreement between both parties edging ever closer. That salary would eclipse the reported offer of £200,000 a week made to Drogba by the Chinese Super League club Dalian Aerbin this month, a wage similar to that accepted by Anelka, and underlines Shenhua's desire to make Drogba a figurehead for an emerging and wealthy league.
Shenhua finished 11th out of 16 teams in the Chinese league last season but intend to recruit heavily under the former France international and Fulham manager Jean Tigana.
Shenhua have gone public with their interest in Drogba in recent days, with the club's chairman, Zhu Jun, claiming the talks with the striker's representatives were "like flirting with a girl: perhaps she will resist you at first, but if you continue to ask her out, it always ends well. Never give up."
Drogba's move would disappoint his former club Marseille, who hoped the forward would end his playing days at the Stade Vélodrome. The Abidjan-born forward moved to Chelsea from the French club for around £24m in 2004 and has won three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups with the Londoners. His goal against Aston Villa on New Year's Eve was his 150th for the club in 333 appearances.

[h=1]Chelsea's Didier Drogba set for summer move to China on £270,000 a week[/h] • Shanghai Shenhua expect to get Drogba on three-year deal
• Chinese club signed Nicolas Anelka from Chelsea this month

• • reddit this

• Dominic Fifield
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 January 2012 20.40 GMT
• Article history

Shanghai Shenhua are confident of agreeing a deal to sign Chelsea's Didier Drogba next summer. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images

Shanghai Shenhua are increasingly confident of making Didier Drogba the latest eye-catching arrival in the Chinese Super League next summer under freedom of contract in a move that would end the Ivory Coast striker's glittering eight-year stay with Chelsea.
Talks between Drogba and Chelsea over a new deal have been at an impasse for some time, with the 33-year-old seeking a two-year package to remain at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, conscious of the player's age, had been willing to offer only a 12-month extension to his contract, which expires at the end of June. Although the club's manager, André Villas-Boas, intends to utilise the forward upon his return from the Africa Cup of Nations, a parting of the ways in the summer has long felt likely.
Chelsea will therefore resist any attempt by Shanghai Shenhua to secure the player in the midwinter transfer window but they are helpless to prevent Drogba negotiating terms with a foreign club over a move in the summer.
Asked whether he was concerned that Shanghai may be speaking with the player, Villas-Boas said: "It's not something that has crossed my mind. I count on Didier, on what he represents as a player and an icon, and I will rely upon him still [when he returns from the tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next month]."
Shenhua, who signed Drogba's former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka this month, are confident they will entice the Ivorian with a salary of around £270,000 a week and the promise of a three-year deal, with a pre-contract agreement between both parties edging ever closer. That salary would eclipse the reported offer of £200,000 a week made to Drogba by the Chinese Super League club Dalian Aerbin this month, a wage similar to that accepted by Anelka, and underlines Shenhua's desire to make Drogba a figurehead for an emerging and wealthy league.
Shenhua finished 11th out of 16 teams in the Chinese league last season but intend to recruit heavily under the former France international and Fulham manager Jean Tigana.
Shenhua have gone public with their interest in Drogba in recent days, with the club's chairman, Zhu Jun, claiming the talks with the striker's representatives were "like flirting with a girl: perhaps she will resist you at first, but if you continue to ask her out, it always ends well. Never give up."
Drogba's move would disappoint his former club Marseille, who hoped the forward would end his playing days at the Stade Vélodrome. The Abidjan-born forward moved to Chelsea from the French club for around £24m in 2004 and has won three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups with the Londoners. His goal against Aston Villa on New Year's Eve was his 150th for the club in 333 appearances.

[h=1]Liverpool expect to earn £300m from new kit deal with Warrior Sports[/h] • Liverpool's six-year agreement is not performance-related
• Club deny Adidas deal cancelled due to poor performance

• • reddit this

• Andy Hunter
  
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 January 2012 22.30 GMT
• Article history

Liverpool's managing director, Ian Ayre, says the deal with Warrior Sports gives the club 'a much wider opportunity' to generate money. Photograph: Nick Potts/Press Association

Liverpool say they expect to earn a staggering £300m through their new six-year deal with the US sportswear company Warrior Sports, and have denied accusations that underachievement on the pitch led to the collapse of their current kit deal with Adidas.
Warrior, owned by New Balance, will become the club's kit supplier from June having agreed a £25m-a-year deal to enter the football industry for the first time. The £25m per year is a guaranteed figure for Liverpool, not performance-related, and eclipses the £23.5m-a-year deal that Manchester United have with Nike but are currently renegotiating.
With Warrior, Liverpool will control all non-branded merchandising – products outside the usual kit range – and are free to open club stores wherever they choose. That is not the case under Adidas, who control Liverpool's kit supply and the sale of non-branded merchandise, and the club believe they can double the £25m a year from Warrior when the current restrictions are lifted this summer.
Liverpool's managing director, Ian Ayre, explained: "Our business is split in two. We have what you call kit, the branded products, the stuff the players wear, and that's the part of the business that the deal with Warrior covers. In our existing deal, there have been some restrictions on that in terms of the other unbranded products we sell, general retail. That sat within our deal with Adidas in certain lines and in certain markets.
"In our new deal, we have complete control of that. We will still work with Warrior, but we will have a much wider opportunity. That area of business currently represents 50% of everything we generate. The new deal represents half of what we currently generate, so we still have another opportunity to develop similar kind of revenues and that's what encouraged us."
Herbert Hainer, chief executive of Adidas, claimed the German company withdrew from negotiations to extend its six-year contract with Liverpool as: "We thought that what Liverpool were asking and what they were delivering was not in the right balance." Liverpool have, however, secured a £25m-a-year deal despite not qualifying for the Champions League for the past two years and Ayre insists the club's global appeal ensured Adidas's requirements were met.
"I'm happy that we delivered absolute value for a partner like Adidas and we will continue to deliver that value for Warrior," Ayre said. "We shared all the numbers with everybody we spoke to and I don't think it would surprise anyone to know that Liverpool are one of the biggest merchandising businesses in football and we wouldn't have had so many people interested if we didn't have a great business. We ran a very exciting process over 12 months. We worked very hard to speak to every major manufacturer in the sportswear category and we had winners and losers. Some people are very disappointed and some people are very happy."
Rather than taking a risk with a company unknown in football – Michigan-based Warrior were synonymous with lacrosse and hockey before last year becoming supplier to the Boston Red Sox, the baseball club that shares owners with Liverpool – Ayre believes the club will benefit as the company's main priority. That, it is suspected at Liverpool, has not always been the case with Adidas. Liverpool's MD added: "What really encouraged us is that this is their first foray into football and so we are their only customer and they will be very focused on Liverpool Football Club and promoting this opportunity around the world."

[h=1]Real Madrid's Pepe sparks controversy for stamp against Barcelona[/h] • Pepe appeared to stamp on hand of Barça's Lionel Messi
• Madrid fall to 2-1 defeat in Copa del Rey first leg
• Jacob Steinberg's minute-by-minute report

• • reddit this

• Sid Lowe at Santiago Bernabéu
  
• The Guardian, Thursday 19 January 2012
• Article history

Pepe appears to stamp on the hand of Lionel Messi Link to this video Barcelona and Real Madrid were mired in fresh controversy last night after Pepe appeared to stamp on the hand of Lionel Messi during a 2-1 home defeat for José Mourinho's team.
The incident, in the 68th minute of their Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg, is the latest to scar the meetings between the two teams. Episodes over the past year include Mourinho poking a Barcelona coach in the eye, a sending-off for Pepe in last season's Champions League semi-final, extraordinary outbursts from both managers and allegations of racism, dirty tricks and diving.
Messi was on the ground after being fouled by José Callejón when Pepe appeared to deliberately tread on the left hand of the world player of the year. The referee booked Callejón but took no action against Pepe, who was on a yellow card.
Both managers claimed not to have witnessed the flashpoint and the Spanish football federation will be able to take retrospective action only if a mention is included in the referee's report.
"I didn't see it but of course if it happened it would be worthy of censure," said Mourinho. His opposite number, Pep Guardiola, said: "The players told me about it but I haven't seen it on the television. You lot saw it on television and you have to decide what you think."
The Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, who had been following the match on television, tweeted: "Pepe. What an idiot."
That drew a response from the retired former Real Madrid player Guti, who wrote: "I laugh at Rooney. There are plenty of saints – in heaven. If he wants to be a saint, he should set an example. Making mistakes is human."
Goals from Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal won the match for Barcelona after Cristiano Ronaldo had given Madrid the lead. Mourinho was angry at the ease with which Puyol equalised with a header from a corner.
"We had not even sat down on the bench when that went in," Mourinho said. "You cannot concede a goal like that from a dead ball when you are 1-0 up."
This was Barcelona's ninth victory in 13 matches against their arch rivals. "To come and win so often is not normal," said Guardiola. Mourinho accepted the blame. "Victory has many fathers, defeat has just one – and that's me," he said.

[h=1]Real Madrid damage image, reputation and status in defeat to Barcelona[/h] Madrid's ill-tempered one-dimensional showing in the clásico was evidence of regression, not progression under Mourinho

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Pepe appears to stamp on the hand of Lionel Messi Link to this video As José Mourinho prepared to leave the Santiago Bernabéu press room and the clock ticked towards one in the morning, he had one last message to deliver. "Victory," he said for the third time, "has many fathers; defeat has only one and that is me. That's the way football is and I am used to it." Then he added a request: "Hit me, not my players – leave them alone." In part, he got what he wanted but only in part. They did indeed hit Mourinho but they hit his players too.
Players? Player. Two things dominated the post-match agenda: Mourinho's Madrid losing the game and Pepe losing his head. There was a familiar feel to both of them. Pepe is a repeat offender and so are Madrid. They lost another clásico; Pep Guardiola is unbeaten in seven trips to the Santiago Bernabéu, winning five of them. Since Mourinho took over at Madrid, he has not once been able to defeat Barcelona in 90 minutes. The solitary victory came via an extra-time winner in last season's Copa del Rey final. Madrid also lost something less tangible. Image, reputation, status.
When Madrid won the Copa del Rey, it appeared to be a stepping stone towards a real challenge on Barcelona. Defeat in the Champions League last season was justified with Mourinho's conspiratorial discourse – and Pepe's supposedly unlucky red card. The Spanish Super Copa at the start of this season offered up a Madrid side closer than ever to Barcelona, despite a 5-4 aggregate defeat. But now the sensation is one of regression not progression.
Defeated in the league last month, defeated here, Madrid offered virtually nothing. A midfield designed only to stop Barcelona – in which Xabi Alonso was nudged right, away from the area where he could truly influence the game – that did not stop Barcelona and certainly did not attack them. It was built around Pepe. If he defined Madrid's approach, most did not like what they saw. "Pepe returned to the midfield and brought out his entire repertoire of misdemeanours," said AS. One in particular would stand out, when he deliberately trod on Messi's hand. It was not as if, assault aside, he had helped much, either.
Mourinho complained about one of the goals his side conceded, describing it as "not normal". He also contradicted his 'blame me' message to snap: "Some players who normally play well played badly." And yet he admitted that part of his plan consisted simply of running the clock down. By the final whistle Barcelona's superiority was overwhelming. Madrid had 28% of the possession in their own stadium and just one shot on target.
And, asked the media, for what? For what Marca's cover described as "the never-ending story". "Mou," it added, "still hasn't found the right key and he is left without excuses." AS saw Mourinho "coming up against the wall". Its cover was clear: "Madrid offered dirtiness; Barcelona offered football."
Santiago Segurola wrote: "Madrid committed treason against their own history. Mourinho threw away all Madrid's history and instead insisted on a lamentable match from which he got no benefit for Madrid. It was all bad: the result, the play, the violence." In Público, Kike Marín saw the white flags by fans before the game as the perfect metaphor for Mourinho's management. El País led on "Madrid sully themselves for nothing". AS's editor Alfredo Relaño asked: "If you're just going to keep losing what's the need to lose your decorum too?"
The lasting image of this game was not so much defeat but Pepe's apparently calculated and cowardly stamp on Leo Messi. He was booked for a bad challenge on Sergio Busquets in the 17th minute and the surprise was that it was the only yellow card he saw. Ricardo Carvalho was fortunate to escape greater punishment too, for a wild hack at Messi. Xavi Hernández described Pepe's stamp as "senseless" and "lamentable". Carles Puyol called it "not normal" and insisted that something "has to be done". Mourinho hid behind the fact that he had not seen the incident but, pushed on the issue, admitted that if Pepe had deliberately trodden on Messi's hand that would be "censorable".
If Mourinho did not see it, everyone else did – except the referee, César Muñiz Fernández. TV cameras showed the incident clearly and Pepe is on the cover of all four sports dailies. Marca called it "unacceptable" and "shameful", its editorial admitting: "The episode with [Getafe midfielder Javi] Casquero cannot be seen as isolated, but the sad reality. Pepe is not worthy of Real Madrid."
As for the Catalan daily El Mundo Deportivo, there was indignation and enjoyment. Its cover talked of "Heroes and villains: Barcelona imposed their football on Madrid's violence". "Pepe, a danger to the public," the paper added, "was the greatest expression of a Madrid side that was impotent and out of control." Inside, Fernando Polo insisted: "Good had beaten evil." And that, he said, "is not melodrama, it is the truth: Barcelona wanted the ball and attacked and beat a Madrid side that has a complex, a violent team lost in its own lack of control and adrift thanks to Mourinho – the man that was supposed to end Barcelona's hegemony."

[h=1]Real Madrid damage image, reputation and status in defeat to Barcelona[/h] Madrid's ill-tempered one-dimensional showing in the clásico was evidence of regression, not progression under Mourinho

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Pepe appears to stamp on the hand of Lionel Messi Link to this video As José Mourinho prepared to leave the Santiago Bernabéu press room and the clock ticked towards one in the morning, he had one last message to deliver. "Victory," he said for the third time, "has many fathers; defeat has only one and that is me. That's the way football is and I am used to it." Then he added a request: "Hit me, not my players – leave them alone." In part, he got what he wanted but only in part. They did indeed hit Mourinho but they hit his players too.
Players? Player. Two things dominated the post-match agenda: Mourinho's Madrid losing the game and Pepe losing his head. There was a familiar feel to both of them. Pepe is a repeat offender and so are Madrid. They lost another clásico; Pep Guardiola is unbeaten in seven trips to the Santiago Bernabéu, winning five of them. Since Mourinho took over at Madrid, he has not once been able to defeat Barcelona in 90 minutes. The solitary victory came via an extra-time winner in last season's Copa del Rey final. Madrid also lost something less tangible. Image, reputation, status.
When Madrid won the Copa del Rey, it appeared to be a stepping stone towards a real challenge on Barcelona. Defeat in the Champions League last season was justified with Mourinho's conspiratorial discourse – and Pepe's supposedly unlucky red card. The Spanish Super Copa at the start of this season offered up a Madrid side closer than ever to Barcelona, despite a 5-4 aggregate defeat. But now the sensation is one of regression not progression.
Defeated in the league last month, defeated here, Madrid offered virtually nothing. A midfield designed only to stop Barcelona – in which Xabi Alonso was nudged right, away from the area where he could truly influence the game – that did not stop Barcelona and certainly did not attack them. It was built around Pepe. If he defined Madrid's approach, most did not like what they saw. "Pepe returned to the midfield and brought out his entire repertoire of misdemeanours," said AS. One in particular would stand out, when he deliberately trod on Messi's hand. It was not as if, assault aside, he had helped much, either.
Mourinho complained about one of the goals his side conceded, describing it as "not normal". He also contradicted his 'blame me' message to snap: "Some players who normally play well played badly." And yet he admitted that part of his plan consisted simply of running the clock down. By the final whistle Barcelona's superiority was overwhelming. Madrid had 28% of the possession in their own stadium and just one shot on target.
And, asked the media, for what? For what Marca's cover described as "the never-ending story". "Mou," it added, "still hasn't found the right key and he is left without excuses." AS saw Mourinho "coming up against the wall". Its cover was clear: "Madrid offered dirtiness; Barcelona offered football."
Santiago Segurola wrote: "Madrid committed treason against their own history. Mourinho threw away all Madrid's history and instead insisted on a lamentable match from which he got no benefit for Madrid. It was all bad: the result, the play, the violence." In Público, Kike Marín saw the white flags by fans before the game as the perfect metaphor for Mourinho's management. El País led on "Madrid sully themselves for nothing". AS's editor Alfredo Relaño asked: "If you're just going to keep losing what's the need to lose your decorum too?"
The lasting image of this game was not so much defeat but Pepe's apparently calculated and cowardly stamp on Leo Messi. He was booked for a bad challenge on Sergio Busquets in the 17th minute and the surprise was that it was the only yellow card he saw. Ricardo Carvalho was fortunate to escape greater punishment too, for a wild hack at Messi. Xavi Hernández described Pepe's stamp as "senseless" and "lamentable". Carles Puyol called it "not normal" and insisted that something "has to be done". Mourinho hid behind the fact that he had not seen the incident but, pushed on the issue, admitted that if Pepe had deliberately trodden on Messi's hand that would be "censorable".
If Mourinho did not see it, everyone else did – except the referee, César Muñiz Fernández. TV cameras showed the incident clearly and Pepe is on the cover of all four sports dailies. Marca called it "unacceptable" and "shameful", its editorial admitting: "The episode with [Getafe midfielder Javi] Casquero cannot be seen as isolated, but the sad reality. Pepe is not worthy of Real Madrid."
As for the Catalan daily El Mundo Deportivo, there was indignation and enjoyment. Its cover talked of "Heroes and villains: Barcelona imposed their football on Madrid's violence". "Pepe, a danger to the public," the paper added, "was the greatest expression of a Madrid side that was impotent and out of control." Inside, Fernando Polo insisted: "Good had beaten evil." And that, he said, "is not melodrama, it is the truth: Barcelona wanted the ball and attacked and beat a Madrid side that has a complex, a violent team lost in its own lack of control and adrift thanks to Mourinho – the man that was supposed to end Barcelona's hegemony."

[h=2]Arsenal v Manchester United, Premier League, 4pm Sunday 22 January[/h] [h=1]Arsenal's Arsène Wenger says missing out on top four would be disaster[/h] • Wenger wants to 'play with the best' in Champions League
• Thomas Vermaelen may be fit to face Manchester United

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 23.03 GMT
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Reflecting on Arsenal's 8-2 defeat by Manchester United in August, Arsène Wenger says 'big scores have no meaning … I am on earth to try and win games'. Photograph: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

Arsène Wenger is going mad. At least, that was the conclusion he reached when asked how Premier League managers kept their sanity. "I don't stay sane," he said, with a smile.
There is plenty to trouble Arsenal's enduringly quotable manager as he prepares to face Manchester United for the first time since the 8-2 defeat at the start of the season and it goes beyond the terrifying image he raised of Sir Alex Ferguson, aged 100, still chewing gum and pointing at his watch in the Old Trafford dug-out. "He will manage until he dies," Wenger said. "And I think he will be 100."
Wenger was not looking forward to his pre-match press conference. Never mind the inevitable and painful rewind of the humbling in August, there was also the matter of the back-to-back league defeats at Fulham and Swansea City, which have left his team four points off the Champions League pace.
"For me, not making the top four would be a disaster," Wenger admitted. "Because I want to play with the best. We want to play in the Champions League and anything else would not be good enough." The thought occurred that Wenger had said, last November, that he would consider his position at the end of the season if he felt he had failed to get the maximum out of the team.
Wenger sounded embattled and, at times, paranoid as he chronicled his gripes. He suggested he would miss 12 players for United's visit, six of them members of what may be considered his best XI: Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, André Santos, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere and Gervinho. Vermaelen, though, could yet feature. "We are in a worse situation than anyone on the injury front," Wenger said, although he insisted that he would not be active in the January market.
He repeated his criticisms of the referees from the Fulham and Swansea games and there was another mention for the Swedish academic whose report on last season concluded that Arsenal had been wronged by more bad decisions than any other team. "In the last six months of last season, what happened to us was unbelievable," Wenger said. "I think if one team has been done badly recently, it's Arsenal.
"If [Robert] Pires once dived against Portsmouth ... OK, for six months, it was a story in the newspapers. [Nathan] Dyer dived on Sunday to win a penalty for Swansea and nobody said a word. If it doesn't matter when Dyer dives, why does it matter when Pires dives?"
It has taken Wenger eight years and four months to admit Pires dived to win the penalty that earned the 1-1 home draw with Portsmouth at the beginning of the Invincibles season. Only joking, Arsène. But the pesky press are getting under his skin. "In the press," he said, "you are educated to see everything in black. You reflect the fans' fear but you create it as well."
Wenger said he had no thoughts of revenge for the 8-2, even if his players consider there is a score to be settled, and he argued, once again, that "big scores have no meaning" due to their intrinsic freakishness. Arsenal, he recalled, had played for their lives in 33C heat away to Udinese, in the Champions League play-off, four days before facing United, and a patched-up squad had been "dead" at Old Trafford.
"When young managers ask for advice, it is always to survive big disappointments," Wenger said. "Our job is up and down. The ups are easier but you have to go, as well, to some big hits and disappointments."
Wenger has taken plenty of them this season and, from the back foot, he hopes that his players can punch past United. "I am on earth to try and win games," Wenger said. He sorely needs a tonic on Sunday.

[h=1]Manchester City's Carlos Tevez highly unlikely to join PSG[/h] • Player's adviser Kia Joorabchian holds talks in France
• Internazionale and Milan may reignite interest in striker

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 22.56 GMT
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Kia Joorabchian, Carlos Tevez's adviser, talked with Paris St-Germain executives about their vision of the club's future. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Carlos Tevez is highly unlikely to move to Paris St-Germain from Manchester City after his adviser Kia Joorabchian spent the day meeting Leonardo, the director of football, and other PSG executives in France. Internazionale and Milan may now re-enter the market to sign the Argentinian forward.
Joorabchian's talks with PSG were the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides and it is understood that the probable breaking point in the deal is that PSG's vision of how they wish to move forward differs from how Tevez wants to progress his career, rather than any financial differences.
The Milan clubs retain an interest in Tevez despite appearing to drop out of the bidding to sign him. Until last week Inter and Milan appeared to be the favourites to land the 27-year-old, with Massimo Moratti, the Inter president, offering City around £21m for Tevez, whose career has stalled since he refused to warm up for a Champions League group game at Bayern Munich in late September. That bid fell short of City's valuation, which is thought to be closer to £25m, though this could drop as the transfer window nears closing at the end of the month.
City and Tevez have only 10 days to resolve the situation, with Roberto Mancini, the manager, confirming that there is no way back for the player at Eastlands. "This is impossible. Carlos doesn't want to stay. It is important for him to start to play because he is a football player. It is now three months that he hasn't played and this is not good for him. I hope this will finish very quickly. I don't know [the latest]. I hope for him everything can finish very quickly."
Beyond the Milan clubs, Tottenham Hotspur's manager, Harry Redknap, is an admirer of the forward. But he has stated that Tevez's £200,000 a-week salary is unviable for Spurs, saying: "He is a special player, the type of player who could make the difference, but I wouldn't think that's a real possibility." It is also likely that City would be reluctant to consider selling Tevez to one of their main title rivals.

[h=1]Manchester City's Carlos Tevez highly unlikely to join PSG[/h] • Player's adviser Kia Joorabchian holds talks in France
• Internazionale and Milan may reignite interest in striker

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 22.56 GMT
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Kia Joorabchian, Carlos Tevez's adviser, talked with Paris St-Germain executives about their vision of the club's future. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Carlos Tevez is highly unlikely to move to Paris St-Germain from Manchester City after his adviser Kia Joorabchian spent the day meeting Leonardo, the director of football, and other PSG executives in France. Internazionale and Milan may now re-enter the market to sign the Argentinian forward.
Joorabchian's talks with PSG were the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides and it is understood that the probable breaking point in the deal is that PSG's vision of how they wish to move forward differs from how Tevez wants to progress his career, rather than any financial differences.
The Milan clubs retain an interest in Tevez despite appearing to drop out of the bidding to sign him. Until last week Inter and Milan appeared to be the favourites to land the 27-year-old, with Massimo Moratti, the Inter president, offering City around £21m for Tevez, whose career has stalled since he refused to warm up for a Champions League group game at Bayern Munich in late September. That bid fell short of City's valuation, which is thought to be closer to £25m, though this could drop as the transfer window nears closing at the end of the month.
City and Tevez have only 10 days to resolve the situation, with Roberto Mancini, the manager, confirming that there is no way back for the player at Eastlands. "This is impossible. Carlos doesn't want to stay. It is important for him to start to play because he is a football player. It is now three months that he hasn't played and this is not good for him. I hope this will finish very quickly. I don't know [the latest]. I hope for him everything can finish very quickly."
Beyond the Milan clubs, Tottenham Hotspur's manager, Harry Redknap, is an admirer of the forward. But he has stated that Tevez's £200,000 a-week salary is unviable for Spurs, saying: "He is a special player, the type of player who could make the difference, but I wouldn't think that's a real possibility." It is also likely that City would be reluctant to consider selling Tevez to one of their main title rivals.

[h=2]Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool, Premier League, 5.30pm Saturday 21 January[/h] [h=1]Liverpool's Kenny Dalglish: Stewart Downing is better than I thought[/h] • Kenny Dalglish admits position changes have made not helped
• Stewart Downing still searching for first Liverpool goal or assist

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 22.30 GMT
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Stewart Downing needs to be given time to settle at Liverpool, his manager, Kenny Dalglish, said. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Kenny Dalglish has defended Stewart Downing, describing him as a better player than he envisaged when paying £20m to sign the England international from Aston Villa, despite the winger's subdued start to his Liverpool career.
Downing has yet to score or create one league goal for Liverpool since his big money move from the Midlands, although he did register his first goal for the club in the FA Cup third-round win over Oldham Athletic, and growing criticism of the 27-year-old's performances has prompted Dalglish to defend his summer signing. The Liverpool manager, who has been offered the Serbian striker Milos Krasic by Juventus, believes Downing is still adjusting to life at a higher-profile club and that it has been unfair to play the former Middlesbrough winger in several positions during his debut season at Anfield.
"Stewart is a better player than I thought he was going to be," the Liverpool manager claimed. "I don't think it has been too comfortable for him either because we have played him in three or four positions, so maybe we need to look at ourselves and say we have to be fair to him as well. He is better than what I thought he was. He is quicker than what I thought he was and he is quicker than Carra [Jamie Carragher] thought he was as well."
Downing was replaced by Andy Carroll during Liverpool's dour goalless draw against Stoke City last weekend as Dalglish persisted with three central defenders against Peter Crouch and withdrew a supply line to the £35m forward. The pair have started only 11 games together for Liverpool this season. Dalglish added: "You have to be patient with every new player who comes in. You have to be patient with the older ones at times as well, like we did with Stevie [Gerrard] coming back. Patience is important but the most important thing is having the ability to play and everyone in our squad has the ability to play."
The woodwork has denied Downing a first league goal for Liverpool on four occasions this season while poor finishing from team-mates also accounts for his lack of assists. Dalglish does admit the £20m midfielder has still to adapt to the transition from Villa Park to Anfield.
"Stewart is a fantastic footballer," he added. "He is an England international, he made a big move in the summer to come here, as a few of them did, and with all due respect to the other clubs that he's been at, it is a massive club. He is going to need a little bit of time to get used to his new surroundings, which is only natural. He's put more crosses in than anybody else according to the stats and it is part of his job to put crosses in. It is another part of his job to put them in somewhere where we are going to score goals and it is another job for the team to get in there and put them in the back of the net."
Liverpool face Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok on Saturday evening and Dalglish has questioned the wisdom of Bolton's decision to sell Gary Cahill for £7m to Chelsea as they fight to stay in the Premier League. The Liverpool manager said: "It has been difficult for Owen Coyle and Bolton this year but I am sure they will buckle down and get themselves out of the mire. Although financially it might have been a good deal for Gary Cahill, I don't know whether it was the best one as a football decision for Owen, unless he has got someone lined up to replace him."
By the same token Dalglish does accept that Cahill's contractual position, with only six months remaining on his deal at the Reebok before he moved to Stamford Bridge, left Bolton in an unenviable situation. He added: "It is pretty obvious that the players are the ones with the strength nowadays, far more so than the clubs, but then there was a long time when the clubs had all the strength. I think it would be better for everyone if it was shared out more evenly.
"Everybody knows what the position is though if a player is running out of contract and if you cannot afford to keep them, you cannot afford to keep them. I think you would be more in the wrong if you tried to keep a player who you couldn't afford. A football club does not belong to any one individual, it is for the people and the community and no one wants to see it go to the wall. If you dig your heels in and don't allow a player to leave until his contract is up then, for me, I don't think that's the right approach."

[h=1]Everton's David Moyes admits bid to field reserve team in Conference[/h] • Everton manager sought non-league place for second string
• Conference football 'would have been better' for players

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 16.32 GMT
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David Moyes said fielding a second team any higher than the Conference would be 'unfair'. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

David Moyes has revealed he once applied to register an Everton reserve team to play in the Conference in an attempt to enhance the development of the club's young players.
The Chelsea manager, André Villas-Boas, restarted the debate over producing more homegrown talent this week when claiming England should follow Spain's example of allowing top-flight clubs to field second teams in the lower leagues. That avenue, Moyes admitted on Friday, was explored by Everton several years ago but was deemed a non-starter following discussions with the Football Association.
Moyes said: "Four or five years ago I tried to put an Everton reserve team into the Conference because it would have been better football for them. My plan was to use Widnes's stadium as the home ground and that when Everton were playing away the B team would have played in the Conference there. I thought the games would have been better, more competitive and more realistic for the players. But we would have had to have gone into division nine of the North-west Outer Counties League or whatever you want to call it and it would have taken 10 or 11 years to get through."
The Everton manager believes the Conference would have benefited from increased crowds and that to field a second team any higher would be "unfair" and against the tradition of the game in this country. His motivation was to move young players into a routine that mirrored that of the first team, rather than the current schedule of midweek reserve fixtures.
"Because the games would tend to be on a Saturday or a Sunday the young players would be able to follow the same programme as the senior ones. The training week is similar and the players can do similar work," Moyes explained. "When your reserve games are Tuesday or Wednesday night it makes it difficult to follow programmes and your weekends become difficult because the younger players may have to come with the first team but not play. Before you know it you have young boys missing training sessions and, first and foremost, we have to make sure their development is right."
Moyes is considering a deal for the United States international Edson Buddle after the striker, who currently plays for Ingolstadt in the German second division, spent this week on trial at Everton. "We will talk about it over the weekend," added the Everton manager. "I would like to add if I can. We are certainly short at centre-half right now and I have always said that if we can get a centre-forward in then that would be great."

[h=1]Joey Barton uses Twitter account to launch attack on Neil Warnock[/h] • Barton tells Warnock to 'shut it' and 'look in the mirror'
• Warnock had hinted Barton played role in his downfall at QPR

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• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 19.53 GMT
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Joey Barton, the Queens Park Rangers midfielder, has hit out in a public outburst against Neil Warnock, his former manager. Photograph: Jon Buckle/PA

Joey Barton has told Neil Warnock to "shut it" and "look in the mirror" to see the reason why he was sacked as Queens Park Rangers manager last week after the 63-year-old hinted that his captain led to his downfall.
In a series of tweets Barton said of the man who signed him and made him the club's highest paid player: "Lost his job and the guy is blaming everyone but himself! Embarrassing, time to look in the mirror mate. Last thing we need right. Big week. Looking forward to the game against Wigan tomo. 1st time in a while we actually have a plan and seem organised.
"Not a big fan of people that try to make scapegoats out of others. If u live by the sword, u die by it. If I talked about Neil, he'd do well to get another job. Twitter cost him his job???? I can think of a million other things! #shutitwarnock Neil Warnock saying I talk to much." Making reference to the comedy about a struggling England manager, Barton added: "Now that is funny #mikebassett."
While Mike Bassett is a fictional manager who is portrayed as bumbling in an eponymous film, Barton's outburst refers to Warnock's reaction when asked about the midfielder. He said: "I don't think I want to get into talking about Joey Barton. Joey talks about himself enough and I think we'll let Joey talk about Joey. I just want to talk about positive things at the club."
Warnock claimed that Twitter had allowed players to influence Tony Fernandes, QPR's majority shareholder, when he made the decision to sack him and hire Mark Hughes. He said: "When you have a run of results like we had and you're not involved in football and you get people in your ear – agents, for example – tweeting him and speaking to him and talking about players ... there's some clever and manipulative people. I've no bitterness towards it. It's just how things go. I think you get used to a certain way of doing things but he is so far away, all over the world. I'm not a communicator by tweet, I'm afraid, so I was always going to be the last to know."
Hughes has said he has no problem with any of his players tweeting, but he may not be pleased at Barton's public outburst the day before his 18th-placed team meet Wigan Athletic at Loftus Road. Barton returns after a three-game suspension for being sent off against Norwich City in Warnock's final league game in charge.

[h=1]Saturday's gossip column - transfers and rumours[/h]

TRANSFER GOSSIP
Juventus are hoping to offload out-of-favour Serbian winger Milos Krasic, 27, to Liverpool.
Full story: the Daily Mirror
Chelsea have launched a £20m bid for Shakhtar Donetsk's 23-year-old Brazilian forward Willian.
Full story: the Daily Mail
Bolton boss Owen Coyle may make a move for 28-year-old French striker Sebastien Le Toux, who currently plays for Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer.
Full story: talkSPORT
Arsene Wenger says Russian forward Andrei Arshavin, 30, will not be sold in the January transfer window.
Full story: Metro
Nedum Onuoha's representative - his mother - has said a deal with Queens Park Rangers for the 25-year-old will not be completed this weekend.
Full story: Metro
Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers says it would take a £30m bid for him to part with any of his stars.
Full story: South Wales Evening Post
OTHER GOSSIP
David Moyes has admitted he tried to register an Everton 'B' side in the Conference in an attempt to enhance the development of the club's young players.
Full story: the Guardian
Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny insists "there are no scars from the Manchester United mauling" as the sides prepare to meet for the first time since the Gunners' 8-2 drubbing at Old Trafford.
Full story: London Evening Standard
United could go into Sunday's game at the Emirates without defender Rio Ferdinand. The 33-year-old defender is a major doubt for the game after breaking down in training with a recurrence of an old back injury.
Full story: Goal.com
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini admits he could have done with Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor still at the club.
Full story: Manchester Evening News
Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp says his side will go on the offensive at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, insisting Premier League leaders Manchester City are not invincible.
Full story: London Evening Standard
Reading chairman Sir John Madejski has agreed a £40m takeover of the club by a Russian tycoon.
Full story: the Daily Mail
AND FINALLY
New Bolton loan signing Tim Ream has already shown his devotion to the Trotters. The 24-year-old American cancelled his honeymoon in order to complete the move.
Full story: Metro