Football News: Review Of The Day 23rd March 2019

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Review of the Day

Transfers

Former Netherlands international defender Gregory van der Wiel has been released by MLS side Toronto FC.

Man Jailed

A Bristol man has been jailed for 12 weeks for taking part in the violence that erupted between Bristol City and Swansea City fans in February. There was trouble during the game, with objects being thrown by both sets of fans, and again after the game, with 3 police officers requiring medical attention and a dog being injured. Ryan Greenslade is the first to be punished for his part in the violence, with a 6 year banning order from attending football matches in England also part of his sentence after he pleaded guilty of causing fear or provocation of violence.

Walters Channels Alanis Morisette As He Misunderstands What Irony Is

Burnley striker Jonathan Walters, who has been on loan at Ipswich Town this season, but managed just 3 appearances this season after suffering an ankle injury, has retired. Walters announced on social media, in a complete misuse of the word irony and failure to understand Latin either for that matter: "It's been epic. I am now retired from playing football. Isn't it ironic...my Achilles heel has literally been my Achilles heel and finished me off! Veni vidi vici." That is not ironic at all, it is quite the opposite! And what on earth has he conquered? That would require winning titles, when his career best was a runners-up medal in the FA Cup! At least Germany's social media team (yes the German national team) got it correct in their summing up of him, when they said simply: "Prisoners taken: 0".

Iheanacho's Commitment Questioned

Nigeria's head coach Gernot Rohr has cast doubt on striker Kelechi Iheahancho's professionalism. The Leicester City forward has been left out of the current Nigeria squad, after failing to impress since leaving Manchester City, after being massively overhyped in his youth. Rohr said: "I think he must be more professional. We're not satisfied with his performances the last time he was with us. There's a new coach at Leicester City (Brendan Rodgers) and it (his omission) will be an opportunity for Iheanacho to show during this international window that he wants to get back into the starting team of Leicester. Personally, I think it's a good thing for him to stay back at his club to prove this. It's not good enough to be funny all the time. You must show that you are serious by working hard every day in the training sessions. And show that you seriously want to come back into the team at the club and also with us."

Brum Gets 9 Point Deduction

Birmingham City have dropped from 13th to 18th in the Championship after being deducted 9 points for breaching the EFL's version of FFP rules. Birmingham lost £10m more than the allowable amount over 3 years, less than half the amount that was splashed on transfer fees by Harry Redknapp during his unsuccessful short stint at the club during this period. For some reason they have not been punished for their signing of Kristian Pedersen, despite being under a registration embargo at the time.

Frey Reveals He Nearly Died

Former France keeper Sebastien Frey has revealed that he came close to death following a virus. Frey, who played for Cannes, Inter Milan, Verona, Parma, Fiorentina and Genoa before moving to Turkey to play for Bursaspor, was hospitalised. Frey said on social media: "I was hospitalised in an emergency with a fever of 40 degrees and it would not come down. They found a virus that debilitated me completely bit by bit and could have left me far from you all. Luck would have it that I overcame this test. I will get back on my feet as I have always done. I always played to win and now, with determination and strength, I will also win this battle." Frey has not played at the top level since 2015.

PSG Lose The Plot

Despite a group of their supporters being turned away from a women's Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea after being found carrying knuckledusters, fireworks and class A drugs, PSG have denied their is any evidence of wrongdoing by their fans. The fans, a number of whom were banned from attending men's and youth football due to repeated violent incidents, were turned away from the game after police were called due to vandalism at the ground, where a door had been broken open and pro-PSG graffiti was daubed over parts of it. Despite all this, PSG insist their fans were innocent and said: "We express our fullest support to fans of Paris Saint-Germain. The local authorities have not provided any evidence of wrongdoing, at the least no facts that would justify such a ban to attend the match. All of our supporters have been searched, and if any of these searches or facts had been under criminal law, we can imagine that the concerned supporters would not have been able to leave British territory without being worried. Surprisingly, we note that Chelsea, on the morning of the match, did not want the presence of our supporters, arguing that the alleged damage to the stadium which are, according to local testimonies, prior to the arrival of our fans in London." What is the surprise? I would not want PSG fans attending, as they are known to make Millwall at its worst seem like a friendly inviting bunch. I am just waiting for the next statement, which will no doubt blame Adrien Rabiot in some way. Still it is nice to see UEFA have acted swiftly on this matter, by confirming immediately that they will not be acting.

Beardsley Charged Over Racist Language

Former Newcastle United player and Under-23s coach Peter Beardsley has "categorically denied" that he used racist language following the FA charging him with 3 counts of racist language to players while working as a coach. The FA said: "It is alleged Mr Beardsley used abusive and/or insulting words towards Newcastle United FC Under 23 players, which were contrary to FA Rule E3(1), whilst employed as their coach. It is further alleged these words also constituted an 'aggravated breach', which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as they included reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race and/or nationality." Beardsley left Newcastle suddenly in recent weeks, after the club's investigation into multiple accusations of bullying and racism were made against him, not for the first time either, having faced Premier League investigation back in 2003 over bullying allegations made by young players. Those charges were dismissed but Newcastle's recent investigation revealed no findings much to the chagrin of Kick It Out, who repeatedly asked for the club to be transparent with regard to their findings.

Neymar Charged By UEFA

I am sure Paris Saint-Germain will claim there is no evidence of any wrongdoing on his part, but their star gimp Neymar Jr has been charged with making "insulting acts against a match official" over comments the Brazilian crybaby made on social media after Manchester United knocked PSG out of the Champions League. Neymar missed the matches because he was on holiday, er sorry I mean injured, and hit out at the decision to award Man Utd a penalty, because he has never received one in his career he did not deserve of course, calling it "a disgrace", and that "there is no penalty. How can it be a handball when it hits his back! Go f*** yourselves!" As well as describing VAR as "four guys who know nothing about football watch a slow-motion replay in front of the television". He probably does have a point with that last bit to be fair, though I do wonder who had said it to him in the first place, as he clearly is not intelligent enough to think of it for himself! Come to think of it, I think I have PSG's defence there, they will no doubt present evidence Adrien Rabiot hijacked Neymar's account and posted those things and should now be banned for life from playing. Neymar's innocence will be proved by the fact he could not see the screen through his tears to type anything after the game....

Dier Out With Injury

Eric Dier has left the England camp after picking up a knock in the win over the Czech Republic on Friday. Dier had to be taken off after 26 minutes after treatment failed to fix the injury. He has now returned to Tottenham Hotspur to begin recovery work and will not be available to face Montenegro on Monday.

3 Turn Themselves In Over Racial Abuse

A German journalist highlighted racial abuse being directed to Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan by 3 men during a Germany game in Wolfsburg on Wednesday night. That account has led to three men turning themselves in after being identified by seat numbers.

Juve Deny Rape Allegations Made Any Difference To Their Pre-Season Plans

After successive summers visiting the USA in pre-season to play in the International Champions Cup, Juventus have denied that the decision to play their games in Asia instead this summer were affected by the rape allegations made against Cristiano Ronaldo in Las Vegas. Reports had claimed that the tournament organisers, who had hosted 3 of the last 4 of Juve's games in the competition in the USA, decided to avoid any risk of Ronaldo being detained by keeping the club out of the country. Juve claim that the decision was taken purely to increase their exposure in the Far East and was not impacted by the potential for bad publicity due to the allegations.

Written by Tris Burke March 23 2019 05:45:16