Football News: Review Of The Day 27th February 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has extended his deal until 2027.

Newcastle United have given Miguel Almiron a new contract which expires in 2026.

Emmanuel Boateng has a new 1-year deal with club option for a further year with New England Revolution.

Transfers

Adam Lewis's loan to Newport County has been ended early due to the 23-year-old picking up a season-ending injury. The full-back has returned to parent club Liverpool.

Former Real Madrid left-back Marcelo has signed for Fluminese on a free transfer after leaving Olympiacos.

Former Manchester United youngster Kieran Gibbs has been released by Inter Miami.

Former Barcelona full-back Moussa Wague has been released by HNK Gorica.

Free agent former Newcastle United left-back Jetro Willems has signed for Groningen.

Real Sociedad's French defender Robin Le Normand has begun the process of switching his international allegiance to Spain.

Nicolas Seiwald will switch Red Bulls in the summer. The 21-year-old will join RB Leipzig from Red Bull Salzburg to replace Konrad Laimer.

Injury Round Up

Norwich City midfielder Kieran Dowell has suffered a knee injury which has put him out of action until at least mid-April.

Blackburn Rovers former Liverpool youngster Daniel Ayala has been sidelined for two months with a hamstring injury.

Teddy Jenks will not play again this season. The Crawley Town midfielder, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion, has suffered a long-term hamstring injury.

Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has been ruled out for 2 months with a hamstring injury.

Atletico Madrid's Reinildo Mandava's season is over after he underwent knee surgery. The 29-year-old Mozambique international suffered cruciate knee ligament damage and is expected to be out for 6 months.

PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe's season is over after he suffered a recurrence of his ankle tendon problems. The centre-back has suffered an Achilles tendon tear which will require surgery.

Job Changes

South Korea have appointed former Germany and United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann as their new national head coach. Klinsmann replaces Paulo Bento, who stepped down after the World Cup in Qatar, where he led the Koreans to the last 16. Klinsmann has not managed any team since stepping down at Hertha Berlin after just 10 weeks in charge over 3 years ago.

The VAR chief of the Premier League, Neil Swarbrick, is to leave at the end of the season. The 57-year-old led the implementation of the video assistant referee into the Premier League, something which is still mired in controversy and ineptitude. The question is whether Swarbrick genuinely decided to retire or was, as he should have been years ago, pushed out of the door for being incompetent?

Just five months into his reign, Liam Fox has left Dundee United by mutual consent following a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Ross County. Fox was promoted from assistant in September when Jack Ross left seven games into the season.

Karl Robinson has been sacked by Oxford United after a run of just one point in 8 matches. Robinson had been in charge for nearly 5 years and leaves with them sat 17th in the League One table, five points clear of the relegation zone.

Hartlepool United have brought in John Askey to replace Keith Curle as manager. Curle was sacked on Wednesday after just 8 wins in 29 games.

Newport County sporting director Darren Kelly is leaving, according to the club "for a new opportunity closer to home".

Colchester United have appointed Ross Embleton, their Head of Recruitment, as caretaker manager following Matt Bloomfield's resignation to return to former club Wycombe Wanderers.

Leeds United have confirmed that caretaker manager Michael Skubala will stay part of the first-team coaching set-up following the appointment of Javi Gracia. Skubala had been Under-21s Head Coach, prior to stepping in to take over the first team following the sacking of Jesse Marsch. Paco Gallardo has taken over Skubala's former role with the under-21s. Gracia has also brought three staff members with him. Zigor Aranalde, Juan Jose Solla and Mikel Antia will be Gracia's other assistants. Leaving the club is Ewan Sharp, who had worked as an assistant to Marsch, following a spell as an analyst at Manchester United last season under Ralf Rangnick. Sharp and Chris Armas were the only assistants to stay when Marsch left, though Armas's new role has yet to be defined.

Kenny Brown has been appointed as permanent Academy Manager at West Ham United. Pro-license holder Brown had stepped up to the position on a caretaker basis following previous incumbent Ricky Martin leaving to become Technical Director at Stoke City. Brown is now confirmed in the role for the long term.

Manchester City have signed Sean Murphy and Bradley Wall from Wolverhampton Wanderers, the pair have a remit to find and develop English talents in City's academy. Murphy was a senior academy scout for Wolves and Wall was senior UK coordinator and lead technical scout. The pair also had offers from Newcastle United according to reports.

AS Monaco's Vice-president, Oleg Petrov, has stepped down and resigned from his position as the club's representative at the European Club Association (ECA). Sunderland co-owner Juan Sartori (the son-in-law of Monaco owner Dmitry Rybolovlev) will take Petrov's place as Monaco's representative at the ECA. Sartori's wife, Ekaterina Sartori Rybolovleva will take the role of vice-president.

Disciplinary Charges

In Italy police were called after a pig's head was sent to the headquarters of Sampdoria with a note which warned that "the next heads will be yours". The package was addressed to former club president Massimo Ferrero and current vice-president Antonio Romei. This follows on the heels of a bullet being delivered to the club's offices last month. Ferrero's unwillingness to sell the club, despite resigning as club president following his arrest on financial charges in 2021, has caused serious unrest and anger against him amongst the fanbase, who have been trying to force him out.

Accrington Stanley midfielder Tommy Leigh has been given a 3-match ban for violent conduct after failing in an appeal against the ban, which he claimed was harsh.

Also given a 3-game ban for violent conduct is Sheffield Wednesday's Marvin Johnson.

Hartlepool United have been fined £1,000 and Sutton United £5,000 following a confrontation between the two sets of players earlier this month.

A five-match ban has been slapped on Swindon Town midfielder Saidou Khan, due to this being his third sending off this season. Khan's red card was Swindon's 9th of the season, their highest total in 20 seasons.

Former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid winger Arda Turan is the latest footballer to be accused of tax fraud by the Spanish authorities. Turan is accused of owing €499,000 in 2015 and €328,000 in 2016. The 36-year-old retired from playing in September, but had been on his Barca contract up until 2020, despite last playing for the Catalans in 2017.

Sevilla's former Manchester City midfielder Fernando Reges looks likely to face a ban after his rant directed at the referee following a sending off was recorded in the match report. After the referee sent him off, Reges raged at the referee shouting "Bastard, you son of a bitch, bastard, bastard." Sevilla officials tried to drag him away and shut him up but were unsuccessful.

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Christophe Galtier had to be restrained after he tried to wade into Olympique Marseille fans during a 3-0 PSG win at Marseille's Orange Velodrome stadium at the weekend. Shouts from the crowd riled Galtier who stormed over to the home fans and began to shout back. At that point both Marseille fans and Galtier tried to reach other, with Galtier being held back by his coaching staff before eventually being pulled away.

Pointless List Of The Day

Today's list is the majority owners of the 20 Premier League clubs:
Arsenal - Stan Kroenke (USA) - Took over in 2018.
Aston Villa - Wes Edens (USA) & Nassef Sawiris (Egypt) - Took over in 2018.
Bournemouth - Bill Foley (USA) - Took over in 2022.
Brentford - Matthew Benham (UK) - Took over in 2011.
Brighton & Hove Albion - Tony Bloom (UK) - Took over in 2011.
Chelsea - Todd Boehly (USA) & Clearlake Capital (USA) & Hansjorg Wyss (Switzerland) & Mark Walter (USA) - Took over in 2022.
Crystal Palace - Steve Parish (UK) - Took over in 2011.
Everton - Alisher Usmanov (R.... oops I mean Farhad Moshiri (Iran) - Took over in 2016.
Fulham - Shahid Khan (Pakistan/USA) - Took over in 2013.
Leeds United - Andrea Radrizzani (Italy) - Took over in 2017.
Leicester City - Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha - Took over (Inherited) in 2019.
Liverpool - Fenway Sports Group (USA) - Took over in 2010.
Manchester City - Mansour Al-Nahyan (UAE) - Took over in 2008.
Manchester United - Glazer Family (USA) - Took over in 2003.
Newcastle United - Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (KSA) - Took over in 2021.
Nottingham Forest - Evangelos Marinakis (Greece) - Took over in 2017.
Southampton - Dragan Solak (Serbia) - Took over in 2022.
Tottenham Hotspur - Joe Lewis (Bahamas/UK) - Took over in 2000
West Ham United - David Sullivan (UK) & David Gold (UK) (still awaiting confirmation of who inherits his 25.1% share) & Daniel Kretinsky (Czech) & Pavel Horsky (Czech) - Took over in 2010 (Sullivan and Gold) 2021 (Kretinsky and Horsky)
Wolverhampton Wanderers - Guo Guangchang (China) - Took over in 2016.

Besiktas Make Toy Gesture

In the Turkish Super Lig, Besiktas fans showed their softer side as they took part in an event, organised by the fans, called 'This toy is my friend' during the match against Antalyaspor. The game was stopped after four minutes and seventeen seconds to mark the time of the earthquake which devastated both Turkey and Syria, which hit at 4:17am on 6th February killing more than 50,000 people. While the match was halted, fans threw gifts onto the pitch to be donated to children in the affected areas. Besiktas stated: "Our fans organised a meaningful event called 'This toy is my friend' during the match in order to give morale to the children affected by the earthquake. The fans threw scarves, berets and plush toys to be given as a gift to the children in the earthquake region." Gaziantep and Hatayspor have both withdrawn from the Super Lig this season following the earthquake, with Hatayspor's former Chelsea, Newcastle United and Everton winger Christian Atsu among the victims.

Written by Tris Burke February 27 2023 15:18:55