Football News: Review Of The Day 27th March 2018

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Review of the Day

Kiltie Gets New Deal

Kilmarnock winger Greg Kiltie has signed a new contract. The 21 year old is a Killie youth academy graduate and is now tied to the club until 2020.

Scunthorpe Chairman Blames Players For Alexander's Sacking

Scunthorpe United sacked manager Graham Alexander with the team fifth in League One, though struggling for form. Now chairman Peter Swann has pointed the finger of blame at the players, despite him being the one who pulled the trigger, saying they should feel guilty for Alexander's sacking. Swann said: "I think our run of games and the fact we only had five points from our last eight made me feel it was the right time. It's been difficult but I thought it was the right time. We gave Graham every chance to succeed but I felt a change was needed to maybe get us over the line. I live and die by these decisions. I always try and give managers as long as I can. Certain players have not performed to their standards and have let the manager down. Hopefully a few of them will feel a bit guilty and it is down to them to turn it around."

Marinakis Cleared Of Match Fixing

The owner of Nottingham Forest and Olympiakos Evangelos Marinakis seems to spend most of his time in the news of late, as he faces a number of charges over the find of 2.1 tonnes of heroin on a tanker that investigators allege traced back to Marinakis. There has finally been a bit of good news for the shipping magnate as he is cleared of match-fixing in his home country of Greece. The Supreme Court in Greece have dismissed charges that he formed a match-fixing ring and related blackmail and fraud charges have now been dropped.

Sullivan Uses Hammers To Avoid £700,000 In Tax

West Ham United's co-owner David Sullivan has been found guilty of using the club to avoid paying £700,000 in tax. Sullivan has been ordered to pay the that money back. Sullivan was found guilty of using his family business to buy £2m in shares in West Ham's holding company, then, later that same day, converting those shares to 'deferred shares' which were deemed useless and immediately sold back to the holding company for £1. That £2m loss was used by the Sullivan family business, Conegate, to reduce its tax bill by £700,000. The tribunal acknowledged that it was also used as a way of providing funds for the football club, but that there were other ways to do so without the tax advantages, which the judge believed was the reasoning behind using this method. Judge Jane Bailey said: "It is clear from our findings of fact that there was more than one way to provide funding to the football club and that one of the reasons that Mr Sullivan chose to provide funds to the football club in the specific way that transpired was so that the appellant (Sullivan) could claim a capital loss. Therefore we consider securing a tax advantage to have been 'one of the main purposes' of the arrangements."

Transfers

There have been a slew of loan moves in MLS, as the teams look to organise their squads for the 2018 season. Philadelphia Union sent German winger Fabian Herbers to USL side Bethlehem Steel. Also going to the USL is keeper Jeff Attinella, who is going from Portland Timbers to the imaginatively named Portland Timbers 2. Real Salt Lake have sent two out on loan, Adam Henley went to Real Monarchs, another USL side, and Yura Mosisyan broke with the USL tradition and headed to Djurgarden in Sweden.

South Korean side Daejeon Citizen have signed Aurelian Chitu, a Romanian winger, from Romanian side FC Viitorul.

Another player moving to Sweden's Allsvenskan on loan is Moestafa El Kabir, who is joining Hacken from Antalyaspor.

Eskilstuna of Sweden's second tier Superettan have signed South African forward Kermit Erasmus from Stade Rennais of France on a free transfer. Long way to go to escape Miss Piggy that is!

Morocco Point Out Low Gun Circulation In Their World Cup Bid

With the USA embroiled in increasingly widespread arguments over gun control and beset with a murder rate that is astonishingly high, especially when compared to neighbours Canada, Morocco's bid for the hosting rights to the 2026 World Cup has taken a not-so-subtle dig at them. Morocco's official proposal has highlighted the country's low murder rate and very low gun circulation as reasons to choose the North African country.

Masuaku Walks Out Of DR Congo Training Camp

It seems his pride at being called up by his nation has not lasted long as Arthur Masuaku is one of four to walk out of a training camp just days after speaking about how proud he was to get a call up. Masuaku, who was set to make his debut for Congo, Paul-Jose Mpoku, Gael Kakuta and Jordan Ikoko have all left the training camp saying they "deplored certain organisational aspects of the course." The DR Congo's FA, the Fecofa, has accused the four of sulking.

UEFA Joins Forces With ESSA To Combat Match Fixing

UEFA have signed an information-sharing deal with the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) in an attempt to identify attempts to fix matches. UEFA's managing director of integrity (who knew they even had one of those?) Emilio Garcia said: "We're delighted that ESSA will be teaming up with UEFA in our mission to eradicate manipulation of matches from football. The exchange of information between trusted partners is a key milestone in this fight. ESSA has played a key role in coordinating and focusing the licensed, regulated betting industry's zero-tolerance approach to the threat of betting-related match-fixing in sport."

Wenger Blames Age Discrimination For Criticism

Bizarrely, despite Arsenal's fall from winning league titles to league also rans who are battling merely to qualify for Europe this season, Arsene Wenger has claimed the criticism he gets is purely down to his age. Wenger is quoted by Marca as saying: "I'm getting older, that's why they criticise me - the older you get, the more it becomes age discrimination. I can accept that if the results are not good enough and I can take full responsibility for that and maybe I am naive enough to believe that with the time going on, the perspective, the emotional context going, it will stand out what I've done for my club, not so much the last result of the last game."

Doucoure Admits Anfield Dream In Come And Get Me Plea

Watford's driving force in midfield has issued a come and get me plea to Premier League rivals Liverpool in an interview with Canal+. The French midfielder said: "Liverpool is a club that needs no introduction. I was impatient to play there at Anfield, I wanted to feel the atmosphere. For me it would be a dream to play in a club like this. If there is an offer, we will discuss to find the best solution. Everyone wants to play in the Champions League, the big competitions."

Zorc Extends Contract

Long serving Borussia Dortmund man Michael Zorc, who has been with the club since he was a teenage player, has signed a new contract with his childhood team. Now sporting director of Dortmund, Zorc made 557 appearances for the club in his playing days and will be with the club until the summer of 2021.

Written by Tris Burke March 27 2018 06:08:16