Football News: Review Of The Day 14th May 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Czech goalkeeper Tomas Cerny has signed a new one year deal with Aberdeen.

Fulham have given trio Neeskens Kebano, Floyd Ayite and the utterly abysmal Denis Odoi, who was one of the most outstandingly poor players in the Premier League last season, one year extensions.

Transfers

MK Dons (or Franchise FC) have announced the release of midfielder Ousseynou Cisse and forward Brandon Thomas-Asante.

Nottingham Forest's Greek midfielder Panagiotis Tachtsidis is to move to Lecce in the summer. They are also releasing Jamie Ward and Stephen Henderson.

Joe Martin, former Tottenham Hotspur youngster, has signed for Northampton Town for next season on a 2 year deal. The 30 year old has been released by Stevenage.

Court Battle For Blades Ownership

In the middle of the euphoria surrounding Sheffield United's promotion, a battle for the future of the club is taking place in the High Court. The Blades are currently owned 50-50 between Kevin McCabe and Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, with a dispute now surrounding the terms of the Prince's buyout of McCabe's half. McCabe originally owned all of Sheff Utd but needed fresh investment in 2013 when the Prince stepped in to buy half for £10m. The pair fell out in 2017 and now McCabe is alleging "conspiracy" and "unfairly prejudicial conduct" and is looking for damages. The Prince denies the allegations and wants the rights of his ownership company protected by an investment and shareholders' agreement.

McPake Takes Temporary Dundee Change

Former club captain James McPake will take caretaker charge of Dundee for their final SPFL game of the season on Saturday. 34 year old McPake is the club's under-18s coach but will cover while the club continues its search for a replacement for the outgoing Jim mcIntyre.

Dispute Over Keeper Sacking

Cameroon international keeper Amour Patrick Tingyemb has denied he was sacked over his "attitude" as South African club Bloemfontein Celtic have announced. Tingyemb has said it was because he stood up, as club captain, for himself and his team-mates over unpaid wages. Tingyemb said: "I'm only 33, I know I have some years ahead of me. I want to continue playing and making fans happy. I've had several offers but I want to reflect on these before making a decision. Celtic owes me some money and I expect them to pay. Also the player's union is aware of what happened. I've also spoken to my lawyers. Despite recent events, I'm grateful to Celtic fans. They've been supportive and made me feel at home. I rejected offers to move to Europe because I felt I was with people who genuinely loved and cared about me. As a captain I have to protect my team. The players decided to strike because the club owed us outstanding bonuses but I convinced them to train. We were able to get 10,000 Rand (US$700) and the club had promised to pay 15000 Rand (US$1,050) later. We held talks with club officials and everything was getting back to normal until the players were threatened with pay cuts and contract terminations if they didn't train. I told the club's CEO that if things weren't settled as agreed, we wouldn't train or play our last league game. Barely an hour later, my contract was cancelled. I have served this club for 11 years. I was also the captain. It's shocking to see this happen. I feel disrespected but I have no regrets because I was doing the right thing for my mates." Bloemfontein Celtic's CEO Khumbulani Konco denied Tingyemb's version of events and claimed: "We didn't terminate Tignyemb's contract because of the players' strike or the current situation. He came to see me and was cursing and saying terrible things. We are a respected club and we couldn't condone such an attitude. He's the club's captain and has to be a model for the younger players. We felt that his attitude didn't represent the values of the club and we decided to part ways with him." Konco did admit that the club had faced financial difficulties.

Drinkwater Fails To Follow His Name

Chelsea's non-playing midfielder Danny Drinkwater has been banned from driving after crashing his car through a wall while more than twice over the legal limit for blood alcohol levels. Drinkwater admitted he is nothing like his name and that he had driven while under the influence, which netted him a ban of 20 months and a 12-month community service order, as well as £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

Scunnie Appoint Hurst

Relegated Scunthorpe United, who dropped in to League Two on the final day of the season, with a caretaker manager in place. Now they have chosen Paul Hurst as the permanent man to replace Stuart McCall. Hurst had previously led Shrewsbury Town to the League One play-off final and lifted the Checkatrade Trophy in 2017-18 with the Shrews.

Grasshoppers Game Abandoned Again

Grasshoppers Zurich potential relegation from the top tier in Switzerland is descending into farce as their second match in 2 months has been abandoned. This time the game was stopped in the second half as Grasshoppers' players handed over their shirts to fans of the club after they demanded players do so as they were not worthy to wear the shirt. The club admitted that the players did hand over shirts to fans "because the situation threatened to escalate".
"The decision does not mean that we approve of unsportsmanlike and humanly questionable behaviour. It is is shameful and simply unacceptable. The endangerment of spectators, stadium personnel and players is not accepted by Grasshoppers. Rioters break football in this way. They once again prevented the regular course of a championship game and thus hurt Grasshoppers and Lucerne."

Trotters Go Into Admin

As expected Bolton Wanderers have gone into administration meaning they will start next season in League One with a 12-point deduction, to become the first team in the English Football League to enter admin since ALdershot Town back in 2013. Administrator David Rubin & Partners said: "This has obviously been a long-running situation and it is vitally important that we quickly establish the position of both the football club and the holding company. It has got to the stage where the Trust could not sit back and allow the club to go into liquidation. Decisive action had to be taken and the Trust believes the decision is in the best interests of Bolton Wanderers. Everybody at the club as well as the supporters need a sense of clarity and that is what I will be seeking to provide as quickly as possible." The club faces a return to the High Court on 22nd May over an unpaid tax bill. Laurence Bassini is still claiming he will be buying the club.

Hughton Sacked By Seagulls

Brighton & Hove Albion have sacked manager Chris Hughton after they finished 17th with just 3 wins in their last 23 matches. Hughton took charge of Brighton in December 2014, with them fighting against a drop into League One, taking the club into the Premier League in 2017 and keeping them in the top flight for 2 seasons. Chairman Tony Bloom said: "Our run of three wins from 23 Premier League matches put our status at significant risk. It is with that in mind, and the performances during that period, that I now feel it's the right time for a change. Undoubtedly, this has been one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as chairman of Brighton, but ultimately one I have made due to how we struggled in the second half of the season."

Cologne Appoint New Coach

Promoted Bundesliga side Cologne have appointed Achim Beierlorzer as their new head coach. Beierlorzer joins from Bundesliga 2 side Jahn Regensburg, who he had led to a 5th place finish following their promotion.

Palermo Relegated To Serie C

Palermo, who were relegated from Serie A last season and finished 3rd in Serie B this season, were due to take part in promotion play-offs next week but have instead been relegated by an FIGC tribunal. A tribunal statement said: "The club was sanctioned for a series of management irregularities by some former managers."

Rakitic Attempts To Backtrack From Previous Comments

Barcelona's Croatian international midfielder Ivan Rakitic has faced a backlash after comments he made in a 2012 interview returned to haunt him on social media. A football journalist posted up comments Rakitic made to Offside Mag in response to a question about Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic being fined for saying that: "in no way could a gay man play in the national football team" and that "unfortunately, football is only played by healthy people." Rakitic said in response: "I respect homosexuals, but I do not want those people in the locker room. I would not leave a team for that, because I respect a homosexual equal to a black, a fat or a dwarf, but if possible I prefer not to have gays in my life." Rakitic has since said that the comments were a misunderstanding and that he has "no problems with gay players".

R.I.P. Gittens

Former Southampton and Portsmouth defender Jon Gittens has passed away. The 55 year old also played for Swindon Town, Torquay United and Exeter City, but is mostly famous for being the subject of Soton's first ever transfer tribunal in 1987. He went into coaching and was FA national coach developer before sadly passing away.

Written by Tris Burke May 14 2019 07:08:39