Football News: Review Of The Day 23rd February 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

Egypt international Mohamed Elneny has extended his Arsenal contract by a year to end in 2024.

Sunderland captain Corry Evans has signed up until the end of next season despite the midfielder having an anterior cruciate ligament injury he picked up in January.

Tommy Smith has a new contract with Middlesbrough which will keep him in the north east until 2025.

1. FC Koln forward Tim Lemperle has signed a deal which runs until 2025.

Veteran former Everton and Brentford goalkeeper Jonas Lossl has a new deal which will run out in 2026 with the Bees' sister club Midtjylland.

Alfie Whiteman is another goalkeeper to get a new contract. The 24 year old has agreed to stay with Spurs until 2025.

Werder Bremen have announced that defender Anthony Jung has extended his contract with them but did not reveal how long the new deal will run for.

Transfers

Gillingham midfielder Olly Lee has hung up his boots due to having psoriatic arthritis and Raynaud's condition. The 31-year-old had tried for a year, following the diagnosis, to find a way to manage them so that he could continue to play but said: "I can no longer perform to the levels I know I am capable of, my body no longer allows it. I have tried many medications over the last year, and many comebacks, but to no avail."

Injury Round Up

Neymar suffered a "sprained ankle" and "some ligament damage" according to Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian, who usually finds an excuse to have a holiday in Brazil at this time of year, suffered the injury playing for PSG against LOSC Lille at the weekend.

Bristol City defender Rob Atkinson will miss the rest of the season after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament.

Job Changes

Leeds United have finally appointed their new manager in the shape of former Watford head coach Javi Gracia. Leeds sacked Jesse Marsch on the 6th February but had struggled to find a replacement, eventually settling on Gracia with it clear that interim boss Michael Skubala was not up to the job of keeping them in the Premier League.

The Republic of Ireland national team has appointed a new assistant coach in the shape of former Manchester United utility man John O'Shea. In his time at United as a player O'Shea played every possible position on the pitch, even having to play in goal after a sending off left the Red Devils without a keeper. Since retiring from playing, O'Shea has become a first-team coach at Stoke City and completed his Pro License course in December. He is expected to continue coaching at Stoke as well.

Libya have sacked their national team's head coach Corentin Martins. French coach Martins' contract would have expired in April anyway.

Motherwell have confirmed interim boss Stuart Kettlewell as permanent boss after he won the two games he was in caretaker charge for. Kettlewell's previous experience consists of a spell as joint boss of Ross County alongside Steven Ferguson, before taking sole charge after Ferguson was promoted to CEO but was sacked in December 2020. He has since been working in Motherwell's academy before stepping up to the head coach role after Steven Hammell was sacked following a run of one win in 13 games.

Gareth Ainsworth has quit Wycombe Wanderers after over 10 years of helping them punch above their weight. The 49-year-old has taken the head coach role at Queens Park Rangers, replacing Neil Critchley. Ainsworth played for both Wycombe and QPR during his playing days. His assistant Richard Dobson and analyst Josh Hart will also be moving to QPR with him.

Following Gareth Ainsworth's decision to quit Wycombe and take up the QPR job, Wycombe have turned to Matt Bloomfield to take his place. Bloomfield has returned to the Chairboys, who he only left in September to take charge of Colchester United. Bloomfield was signed as a player for Wycombe by Ainsworth. Richard Thomas has come with him from Colchester as his assistant manager. Lee Harrison is also returning from Colchester as head of goalkeeping.

League Two strugglers Hartlepool United have sacked Keith Curle. Curle was only given a permanent contract in December after initially arriving as caretaker boss in September. His assistant Colin West has also been sacked.

Disciplinary Charges

Liverpool and Everton have both been fined for a "mass confrontation" during the Merseyside derby this month. Everton were fined £40,000 as it was their second such offence this season, while Liverpool were fined £25,000.

Former Barcelona full-back Dani Alves has had his bail request denied by a Spanish court. Alves was arrested last month over an alleged sexual assault in a Barcelona night club in December. His request was rejected as he is considered a flight risk and Brazil refuses to extradite its nationals, no matter what crime they may be accused or even convicted of.

Nigerian football club Shooting Stars have been fined £900 after a club official was pictured urinating on the pitch just before they were due to play Akwa United. The official, Auwal Mohammed, has been suspended for a year from any activities related to the league.

Kyle Vassell has now been handed a 2-match ban after an appeal by Kilmarnock against his red card, shown to him in Saturday's defeat to Hibernian, failed.

Sheffield United head coach Paul Heckingbottom has been charged with "improper and/or violent" behaviour after an exchange with the referee during a defeat by Middlesbrough, which saw Heckingbottom shown a red card by Andre Marriner.

La Liga has filed 3 more legal complaints over racist abuse of its players. Two are against a Real Mallorca supporter who has abused both Villareal's Samu Chukwueze and Real Madrid's Vinicius. The third complaint is against an Osasuna supporter who has yet to be identified, but was also aimed at Vinicius. La Liga have now filed 8 complaints about racist abuse against Vinicius, 3 of which were dismissed for ridiculous reasons, including not being considered abuse because it only lasted a few seconds! Three previous complaints, including one where a mannequin wearing a Vinicius shirt was hung from a bridge outside Madrid's training ground before the derby against Atletico Madrid, are still being processed. Sadly the government and media in Spain seem to be doing their level best to blame Vinicius for being the victim of abuse, including claiming he is bringing it on himself by celebrating goals by dancing. Atleti striker Alvaro Morata has backed Vinicius, calling for the abusers to be automatically banned for life from football grounds. The latest to point the finger is MediaPro President Jaume Roures (MediaPro being the company that owns the rights to showing La Liga matches in Spain), who told RadioMarca that Vinicius is provoking the abuse: "He is a great player, but let's not go too far. Sometimes he's a bit like Neymar, who looks for a confrontation...For the benefit of the club, they should give him some advice. There are reactions out of order. He should know how to control himself in the game." While he did say that does not justify abusing him, that has been lost as it is clear that he is blatantly trying to justify the racist abuse. Real Mallorca themselves have confirmed that they will at least act and will ban the fan who abused Chukwueze and Vinicius.

A plaque unveiled in Rome, dedicated to deceased former Lazio president Umberto Lenizini did not even last 12 hours before being defaced, presumably by AS Roma fans as it was sprayed yellow and red. The colours of Roma.

Bayern Munich's head coach Julian Nagelsmann has been fined €50,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct after he called the match officials a "soft-washed pack" over the sending off of Dayot Upamecano in the 3-2 defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday. The defender was sent off in the 6th minute of the Bundesliga game. Three clubs are now joint at the top on 43 points after 21 games as Union Berlin were held to a scoreless draw by Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund beat Hertha Berlin. What is a soft-washed pack?

Former Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has told Corriere dello Sport that he was not surprised Barcelona were up to no good with referees: "I laughed when I read the news, but I am not surprised...Every time we played in Spain I had a strange feeling. These are unacceptable things that do not only concern the domestic competition and even the refereeing issue must be faced with seriousness and respect." Barcelona have been caught out making hidden payments to former head referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira for over 20 years, through multiple presidencies, including the first term of current incumbent Joan Laporta. It was discovered during a tax inspection that Negreria's company had received over €7m in those 20 years after initial discovery of three payments of €532,728, €541752 and €318,200 made between 2016 and 2018 led to a deeper investigation. Negreira is vice-president of the CTA, the Spanish referees' committee between 1994 and 2018, 'coincidentally' when the final payment was made. The investigation has centred on corruption on the grounds that there was no evidence of the services mentioned on the invoices ever being rendered. Laporta has since confirmed that the payments were made but claims that Negreira merely worked as an 'advisor', preparing reports and guiding players on refereeing issues. Negreira, when called to testify, could provide no evidence of providing any services to Barca as he claimed that he provided "verbal consultancy", which seems at odds with Laporta's claims of him preparing reports. Since then, various former Barca presidents have spoken out about the scandal, Joan Gaspart denied any knowledge of it and Bartomeu said that Laporta had increased the amount paid to Negreira. The payments were being managed via a company owned by a now deceased club director. Bartomeu claims that he cancelled the payments in 2018 because of the club's financial crisis and that Negreira wrote to him, telling him that he took it as a personal insult and demanded over €200,000 in outstanding payments or he would reveal all the "irregularities" he saw.

Borussia Dortmund forward Youssoufa Moukoko's attempts to block reporting of doubts about his age have failed in a regional court in Frankfurt, though he can appeal the decision. The court ruled: "Der Spiegel was and is allowed to express everything that concerns the suspicion of a possibly wrong age and origin. This is legitimate reporting of suspicions. There is enough evidence that this can possibly be the case."

Pointless List Of The Day

Football To Get Regulator

The UK government have announced that they will be setting up an independent football regulator with a mandate to protect the sport and "targeted powers". While the full details have not been confirmed, the regulator is to be given powers to resolve disputes about the way money flows down from the Premier League to the English Football League and non-league football. It will also be able to block clubs from joining a breakaway league, such as the European Super League. Its main purpose is set to be overseeing a licensing system that ensures football clubs are run sustainably and to stop more collapsing the way of Bury and Macclesfield Town in the future. The licensing system will also give fans a power of veto over matters such as changing a club's name, badge or kit without supporter input.

Written by Tris Burke February 23 2023 12:07:53