Football News: Review Of The Day 12th October 2018

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Review of the Day

Vertonghen Ruled Out For 2 Months

Tottenham Hotspur's Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen's hamstring injury has ruled him out until December. Spurs' boss Mauricio Pochettino had been annoyed by Belgium boss Roberto Martinez, who had already revealed that Vertonghen was out of the internationals this month and next month, claiming that the extent of the injury was not yet known. However a Spurs' statement admitted: "The Belgium international defender will now continue his recovery with a view to returning to full training by December."

Davies Returns To The Tangerines

Blackpool have re-signed striker Steven Davies on a short-term contract which runs until January. The 30 year old was at Bloomfield Road between 2013 and 2015, managing 8 goals in 45 appearances. He scored in the Checkatrade Trophy loss to West Bromwich Albion as a non-contract player on Tuesday.

Sky Blues Look To Extend Ricoh Deal

Coventry City are looking to extend their tenancy at the Ricoh Arena, with the current deal expiring at the end of the season. The stadium is currently the subject of a court case as Coventry's owners Sisu have challenged the sale by Coventry City Council to Wasps for a price Sisu believe to have massively undervalued.

R.I.P. Doug Ellis

The long-time chairman and owner of Aston Villa, 'Deadly' Doug Ellis, has passed away at the age of 94. Ellis had 2 spells as Villa chairman, spanning 35 years and was a regular at Villa Park on matchdays. Ellis was well known for his charity work, being knighted in 2012 for his services to charity and has buildings named after him at both Birmingham and Aston University after his sizeable donations to both institutions. He also has a stand at Villa Park renamed in his honour. A minute's silence will be held in his honour at Villa's next home game.

Corruption Investigation Looks At Relegation Match-Fixing

The corruption investigation in Belgium football is looking into possible match-fixing of games involving teams involved in the relegation battle. Two games are under suspicion, involving Mechelen, who were relegated on goal difference and Eupen who survived. Belgium prosecutors have released a statement confirming some of the details:
Searches were carried out at RSC Anderlecht, Club Brugge, KRC Genk, KV Kortrijk, KV Mechelen, KV Oostende, Sporting Lokeren, AA Ghent and Standard Liege.
In addition, there were searches at the homes of six football club board members, four agents in the football players' market, two referees, one former lawyer, an accountancy bureau, two jewellers, two journalists, a trainer and "some possible accomplices".
Luxury watches, empty deluxe watch boxes, jewels and cash have been seized.
Agent Dejan Veljkovic, who has been charged, is alleged to have set up financial schemes with clubs - including KV Mechelen, KRC Genk, Sporting Lokeren, Club Brugge and Standard Liege.
Referee Sebastien Delferiere and officials of KV Mechelen and Waasland-Beveren are also among the five people charged.
Mogi Bayat, another agent, is suspected of having manipulated the transfer of various players in order to maximize his own fees at the expense of other parties.

Gazza Withdrawn From Running For Scottish HoF

Paul Gascoigne was set to be inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame this month, but his nomination has now been withdrawn, with a statement from the Hall of Fame citing various factors. The statement read: "Further to consultation with the chair and members of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame committee, due to a number of factors including ongoing enquiries, and concerns over the state of Paul's health, it has been decided to withdraw the nomination of Paul Gascoigne at this time from this year's nomination process."

Hazard Rules Out January Move

Chelsea attacker Eden Hazard has said during a press conference that he is the best player in the world on form right now but he would not be leaving Chelsea in January. This is despite him hinting at a desire to move to Real Madrid, talking up his dream of a move to the Spanish giants and also admitting he would probably have to join them to win the top individual awards in the game. Hazard currently has as many goals this season as the whole of Real Madrid's team have managed in La Liga this season.

Turan Questioned By Police

Barcelona's Turkish midfielder Arda Turan, currently on loan at Istanbul Basaksehir, has been questioned by police in Turkey over claims by Turkish singer Berkay and his wife that the footballer broke Berkay's nose during an attack in a night club. Berkay's wife, Ozlem Ada Sahin, claims that Turan had tied to chat her up before attacking her husband, leading to Berkay requiring surgery on his nose.

Der Spiegel Deny Documents Were Fabricated

After lawyers representing Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo claimed that documents released by investigative journal Der Spiegel were "completely fabricated", the magazine has hit back denying the claims. Der Spiegel said in a statement: "We have hundreds of documents from different sources that substantiate our reporting. We stand by our reporting. We have no reason to believe that those documents are not authentic. Furthermore, as always and before publishing every single article in Der Spiegel, we have meticulously fact-checked our information and had it legally reviewed. The statement that was issued by [Ronaldo's lawyer] Peter Christiansen on behalf of Cristiano Ronaldo presents the usual path that Mr Ronaldo and his lawyers have taken in the past when unsuccessfully fighting our investigative work. In our article, we quote two versions of a document with statements by Mr Ronaldo. It's a questionnaire that comes from his lawyers and describes the course of the night, in which the alleged rape occurred. The first version of this questionnaire, in which Ronaldo is quoted as saying that Ms Mayorga said 'no' and 'stop', is consistent with many details of Ms Mayorga's description of the incident. Both also state that he apologised to her afterwards. In a later version of this questionnaire, Mr Ronaldo denies the accusation of rape and denies apologising to Ms Mayorga." Lawyers representing Ronaldo's accuser Kathryn Mayorga have called for the documents to be handed over to law enforcement agencies so that their authenticity can be established. Der Spiegel also point out that Ronaldo's lawyers have already changed their stance regarding an out-of-court settlement Ronaldo paid to Mayorga: "When we published an article about the settlement agreement between Ms Mayorga and Mr Ronaldo in 2017, his advisors called it 'nothing but a piece of journalistic fiction'. Now, Mr Ronaldo admits that he agreed to that settlement. Before publishing our story about the rape accusations, we gave Mr Ronaldo and his lawyers the opportunity to respond to the allegations. They could have disputed the facts that we presented to them. They did not do that. In no way did they claim that parts of our information were 'pure inventions'. One of his lawyers threatened to sue us for publishing because he said that we infringed Mr Ronaldo's personal rights. So far, we have not received anything in this regard. Only Kathryn Mayorga and Cristiano Ronaldo know the truth about the incident that occurred on June 13, 2009. It's not our job to judge. What we do is to report. We tell both sides of the story. The responsible authorities of Nevada will determine the following steps in this process. So far, of course the presumption of innocence applies to Mr Ronaldo."

Ziyech's Agent Dismisses Everton

The agent of Ajax starlet Hakim Ziyech is trying to drum up interest from Liverpool in his client and his latest pronouncement will have ensured the fans will be on side if Ziyech does join. Rene van der Gijp said: "I hope that there will be a better club than Roma - an Arsenal or Liverpool. [Everton] would be crazy for that boy, he should not go to Everton."

Ampadu Suffers Knee Injury

Chelsea's young defender/midfielder Ethan Ampadu is set to have a knee injury assessed after the 18 year old was taken off with the injury during Wales' thrashing at the hands of Spain. Wales manager Ryan Giggs is hopeful the knee injury is not serious and the player could be available for Tuesday's Nations League battle against Republic of Ireland.

Written by Tris Burke October 12 2018 06:20:38