Football News: Review Of The Day 5th October 2018

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Review of the Day

Oldham Hit By Strike Threat

Oldham Athletic were hoping for better after being taken over by Moroccan businessman Abdallah Lemsagam in January following 3 years of being presented, on an annual basis, a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs. However the League Two club, who were relegated last season, are now facing up to a strike threat from their players over unpaid wages. Oldham are refusing to comment on the matter.

UEFA's Latest Charges

UEFA have announced a set of charges following the second round of Champions League games. Napoli face charges for setting off fireworks and blocking stairways during their victory over Liverpool. Paris Saint-Germain face charges for setting off fireworks and crowd disturbances. Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) were charge with crowd disturbances and illicit chants. The cases are to be heard on the 18th of October.

Southgate Given New England Deal

For some bizarre reason, as expected England manager Gareth Southgate has been awarded an extended contract with a large pay rise after leading England to victory over teams he should have beaten and lost to any half-decent side he faced, all while playing dreadful football. I suppose I should not be surprised as FA chief executive Martin Glenn is clearly deluded judging by his comments: "Securing Gareth on a longer-term contract was always a priority for us. He has performed remarkably well and has given everyone the belief that England can compete on a world stage again. We have great ambition. We will win a World Cup, we are going to win a Euros. You can't say when as it's so competitive. We both want to see progress and we can feel progress - the public can sense it and feel it, the media can." I really do not know what people saw in the summer, if they think a reliance on deadballs to create any kind of chances was anything like progress and that England are all set to win a World Cup! Unreal.

Giggs Backs Bale As Future Wales Captain

As he is the man who chooses the Wales' captain currently, you would like to think Ryan Giggs would know who will be the long term captain of the country, so when he says Bale could be the man to replace Ashley Williams there is every chance he could be right. I am not sure why anyone (including me) is even bothering to report it at all. The only bit that is news worthy is that Ashley Williams is still getting into the side, despite being ducking awful for years now. In fact pretty much since he signed for Everton from Swansea City. Not that I am suggesting that the two facts are connected. Though they could be.

La Liga US Game Organisers Not Confident

Media company Relevent are the company behind the proposal to play a Spanish top-flight league game in the USA. Their chairman Charlie Stillitano has admitted to the BBC that they are not confident of the game ever taking place, despite his completely false claims that the players have agreed to play in the game, in direct contradiction to the comments on Wednesday from the Association of Spanish Footballers (RFEF) president David Aganzo. Aganzo said: "We have said it 200 million times, the players will not go to those games." Meanwhile Stillitano said: "I don't know if it's going to happen because we have to get all the appropriate authorisation. I figured we got the hard part done. We got Barcelona and Girona to say yes, we got the players to say yes, we resolved all the issues within the players' association and the clubs." Maybe he should tell the RFEF's president this!

Cazorla Nets!

Following his horrendous injury problems which led to bacteria eating 8cm of his ankle tendon and requiring a skin graft from his left arm, including tattoos, to his right ankle, former Arsenal midfield general Santi Cazorla has scored his first goal. The Spanish star scored a penalty for current club Valencia against Spartak Moscow.

Ronaldo Left Out By Portugal

With major sponsors Nike expressing serious concerns over the rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugese forward has now found himself left out of the Portugese squad for the internationals against Poland and Scotland this month. Nike, which reportedly has a $1bn contract with Ronaldo, has said it would "continue to closely monitor the situation" and is "deeply concerned" by the allegations. Another of his sponsors, EA Sports have also expressed concern and said that they "expect cover athletes and ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA's values." EA's values being to wring as much money out of people for as little as possible in return. Ronaldo has defended himself against the allegations, producing a statement on social media that read: "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense. My clear conscious will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations."

Southgate Names Six Uncapped Players

England manager Gareth Southgate has celebrated his obscene new contract by calling up six new players for his England squad. There was still no place for Connor Coady, despite him being a regular for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, despite Southgate saying last season that he just needed to become a regular in a Premier League side to get a call up. Oddly he did call up Chelsea's Mason Mount, despite the midfielder being a regular in the Championship while on-loan with Derby County. So clearly he is just another of those with a forked tongue who lacks the honesty to admit when he does not rate a player. The other new players, along with Mount, are Leicester City's James Maddison, Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho, Southampton keeper Alex McCarthy, Watford midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah (who is not a regular this season) and the Fulham keeper Marcus Bettinelli, who has failed to impress at all this season. There have also been recalls for Ross Barkley of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur fringe player Harry Winks.
England squad
Goalkeepers: Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham), Jack Butland (Stoke City), Alex McCarthy (Southampton), Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Harry Maguire (Leicester City), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Chelsea), Nathaniel Chalobah (Watford), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (on loan at Derby County from Chelsea), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur)
Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), James Maddison (Leicester City), Marcus Rashford, (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal)

Napoli Striker Robbed At Gunpoint On Way Home From Champions League Victory

Two men on motorbike have robbed Napoli's misfiring striker Arkadiusz Milik of a Rolex watch on his way home from the win over Liverpool. Though he had obviously taken a slight 'detour' on the trip home, as it was 2am, but he is the 3rd Napoli player in the current squad to suffer. Lorenzo Insigne and his wife were mugged in a similar robbery, with the robbers reportedly telling Insigne to score a goal for them in his next match. I am sure being robbed at gunpoint really made him feel like doing so for them! Marek Hamsik has also been a victim, back in 2013, as was his wife a couple of years before that.

Written by Tris Burke October 05 2018 06:37:43