Football News: Review Of The Day 9th February 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan has signed a new deal tying him down to 2027, despite media speculation linking him with a return to Leeds United, where he has previously worked as an assistant to Marcelo Bielsa.

Sochaux full-back Abdallah Ndour has extended his deal until 2025.

Celta de Vigo youngster Lautaro de Leon has been tied to the club until 2027.

Juventus have given Manuel Locatelli a new contract which will expire in 2026.

Philadelphia Union's teenage midfielder Jack McGlynn will now be with the club until the end of 2025, with a club option for another 2 years after that.

Girona winger Valery Fernandez has extended his deal until 2026.

Transfers

Former Barcelona forward Rey Manaj has been released by Watford.

Major League Soccer's Atlanta United have signed Giorgos Giakoumakis from Celtic for €4m.

Salernitana have released veteran midfielder Ivan Radovanovic.

Galatasaray have paid €15m for Nicolo Zaniolo from AS Roma.

Free agent former Rangers forward Kyle Lafferty has signed for Linfield.

Injury Round Up

Tottenham Hotspur's captain, veteran French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has been ruled out of action for at least 6 weeks due to a knee injury.

Hungarian defender Willi Orban is likely to miss the weekend's match against Union Berlin as the RB Leipzig centre-back is donating blood stem cells after being found to be a match to someone with blood cancer. Orban said: "I might of course miss the Union game but even with my sporting ambitions, football is of secondary importance. Those who know me know that I will do everything I can in order to rejoin the team as soon as possible. I hope this inspires more people to register. The process was really simple and I feel like I've been very well looked after. My example shows that it makes total sense to register. Of course I was surprised when I received the info that I was a match. I without a doubt wanted to make the donation as soon as possible. I have the chance to potentially save another person's life with very little effort. It was a no brainer. I hope my donation will help the recipient to recover from their illness."

Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Michael Cooper has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament ruling him out for the rest of the season.

Job Changes

Belgium have chosen Italian/German coach Domenico Tedesco as their new national team head coach. The 37-year-old has had a mixed coaching career so far, after bursting on to the scene leading Schalke 04 to a second place finish in the Bundesliga in his first season in charge of them.

The Qatari national team have apponted former Portugal, South Africa, Colombia, Iran and Egypt head coach Carlos Queiroz as their new head coach.

Gilbert Enoka, the former New Zealand rugby team's leadership manager and mental skills coach, has been appointed to work for Chelsea in a short-term consultancy role. His job will be to develop team culture and help integrate the new signings to the squad.

Alan Burrows is to take up the role of Chief Executive at Aberdeen. Burrows resigned the same position at fellow SPFL side Motherwell last month.

Birmingham City have appointed Frank McParland as Head of Recruitment and Joe Carnall as Chief Scout. McParland has worked as Chief Scout at Liverpool before spells as Director of Recruitment at Rangers and then Director of Football at Brentford, Burnley and Nottingham Forest. He has been working as a consultant since leaving Forest in 2017. Carnall is returning for his third spell with the Blues.

Everton have appointed former MK Dons manager Dan Micciche to a newly created post of Player Development Lead Coach to help aid the transition of youngsters from the youth teams into the first team. They have also brought in Lee Sargeson from Brighton & Hove Albion to be the Manager of Scouting Operations.

Huddersfield Town have sacked their head coach Mark Fotheringham after just four months in charge. Fotheringham had won just 5 of his 21 games leading the Terriers and his assistant, former Celtic and Rangers forward Kenny Miller, has also been sacked. The sacking comes on the back of Fotheringham publicly criticising his players for "unacceptable lapses in concentration defensively" in a draw against ten-man Blackpool.

Disciplinary Charges

Dundee United's appeal against Ryan Edwards red card against Heart of Midlothian has been rejected.

Pointless List Of The Day

South American Quartet Make World Cup Bid

Four South American nations have officially submitted a bid for joint-hosting rights to the 2030 World Cup. Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay have joined forces in an attempt to hold the tournament, which will take place 100 years after the first, which was held in Uruguay. So far the only other bidders are a joint bid from Spain and Portugal. Argentina are the current holders, their third time winning it and Uruguay have won it twice before, including the first tournament in 1930.

ESL Bid Relaunched

The company behind the original European Super League bid, A22 Sports Management, has put forward a fresh proposal for a revamped European League. This time the format has been extended, though not completely explained how, to encompass 80 teams and has dropped the plan for permanent members. The new plans involve teams qualifying based on sporting performances and will guarantee those involved a minimum of 14 games per season, while also allowing them to continue to compete in their domestic leagues. A22's Chief Executive Bernd Reichart told Die Welt: "The foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing. It's time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football. But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them. Our talks have also made it clear that clubs often find it impossible to speak out publicly against a system that uses the threat of sanctions to thwart opposition. Our dialogue was open, honest, constructive and resulted in clear ideas about what changes are needed and how they could be implemented. There is a lot to do and we will continue our dialogue." UEFA had proposed changes to their European competitions in response to the initial ESL proposals which are very similar to a European Super League in all but name. A22 have also published the 10 principles they say the competition would be based upon:
I. Broad Based and Meritocratic Competitions
A European football league should be an open, multi-divisional competition with 60 to 80 teams, allowing
for sustainable distribution of revenues across the pyramid. Participation should be based on annual
sporting merit and there should be no permanent members. Open qualification based on domestic
performance would grant rising clubs access to the competition while maintaining competitive dynamics
at domestic level.
II. Domestic Tournaments: the Foundation of Football
Participating clubs should remain fully committed to domestic tournaments as they are today. At the same
time, the critical need to strengthen and make more competitive domestic tournaments across the
continent must be addressed. European competitions should play a pivotal role in helping to achieve this
goal by generating and allocating additional resources throughout the system.
III. Improve Competitiveness with Stable and Sustainable Resources
Improving the competitiveness of European clubs requires additional financial resources to be shared
across the pyramid and strictly enforced Financial Sustainability rules. Clubs also need greater stability
and predictability in annual revenues so they can make sensible, long-term commitments to player and
infrastructure expenditures. Substantial improvements in the format and attractiveness of the current
European competitions would generate additional resources. Stability and predictability in revenues
would be dramatically improved by offering clubs a minimum of 14 guaranteed European matches each
season.
IV. Player Health Must Be at the Centre of the Game
The health of players must be a key component in determining the number of matches each year. The
number of European club competition match days should not be increased beyond those in currently
planned competition calendars. Player organisations should be involved to safeguard players' health and
social dialogue across the EU should be promoted. Importantly European clubs and players should not
be obliged to participate in expanded or new tournaments imposed by third parties.
V. Club Run Competitions with Transparent, Well Enforced Financial Sustainability Rules
European club competitions should be governed by the clubs as they are domestically, not by third parties
who benefit without taking any risk. The governance structure must be fully compliant with EU law. To
improve sustainability, spending should be based only on resources generated, not from competitiondistorting capital injections. Financial Sustainability rules should allow clubs to only spend a fixed
percentage of their annual football-related revenue on player salaries and net transfers with appropriate
provisions for smaller clubs and transition rules.
VI. The World's Best Football Competition
In developing a pan-European competition, the aspiration must be to create the most exciting sporting
event in the world. Football fans deserve the best matches, and the best experience. It is also critical that
younger generations, attracted by globally expanding US sports and digital entertainment, continue to
embrace football as the most loved sport in the world. This can only be achieved with competitions that
enable the world's best players to compete throughout the entire season with exciting matches from
beginning to end.
VII. Improved Fan Experience
Football is the people's game and dialogue with fans and independent fan groups is essential to discover
ideas which can improve the fan experience. Additional measures should be taken to facilitate fan
attendance at away games. There should also be standards for infrastructure to bring football stadiums
up to consistent, high levels of quality, enhancing the live football experience.
VIII. Develop and Finance Women's Football
Football stakeholders should promote and develop the women's game by putting it "centre stage" sideby-side with men's competitions. To achieve this goal, financing should be significantly expanded beyond
existing contributions from women's European club competitions. Investments should be provided at both
professional and grass roots level.
IX. Significant Increase in Solidarity
Grass roots solidarity is an essential pillar of European football and should be increased far beyond
current levels. As previously announced, a minimum of €400 million per year to non-participating clubs,
social causes, and investment in grass roots - more than two times the contribution from existing
European Club Competitions - should achieve this objective. Transparency should be ensured via the
supervision of independent authorities with clear annual reporting on spending and its impact.
X. Respect For European Union Law and Values
European football and its stakeholders must embrace the values, laws and fundamental freedoms of the
EU. Further, no European club should be forced to dispute resolution systems outside the EU rule of law.
The jurisdiction of sport arbitration should be strictly limited to matters of sport. Any other disputes should
be addressed to the appropriate forum. All cases should be under the ultimate supervision of the judicial
system of the EU.

Messi Rant Video Deleted

Lionel Messi's brother Matias has deleted a video he posted up on social media where he hit out at Barcelona, claiming they were a small club until his brother joined them. Lionel Messi was quick to distance himself from the comments and say they were not indicative of his opinions and Matias has been quick to delete the video. Matias is now claiming it was meant to be a joke with his son and friends. Matias had said on the video on Twitch: "I have a SPORT clipping that says 'Messi should return to Barça' and I said "Hahahaha, we are not going back to Barcelona and even if we do, we are going to do a good cleaning. Among them would be to kick out Laporta. People [in Barcelona] did not support him. They should have gone out for a protest or something. Let Laporta leave and Messi stay. The Spanish are traitors. I'm telling you this because I want you to hear it from us, not somewhere else." Not much of a joke there that I can see personally. Matias was answering fan questions while using his son's account on Twitch and went on what felt very much like a rant, rather than an attempt at humour, even labelling Barca's museum 'Messi's Museum'. Matias put an apology on social media which read: "I want to apologize for what I said on social media, I was just joking with my son and friends. How can I think like that about a club as great as Barcelona, which has given so much to my family and Leo. I want to say sorry to everyone, specifically to all Barcelona fans."

Written by Tris Burke February 09 2023 12:20:34