Football News: Review Of The Day 13th February 2023

Review of the Day

Contracts

Real Sociedad winger Mikel Oyarzabal has extended his contract until 2028.

Bournemouth have given Jaidon Anthony a new deal which will run out in 2027.

Thiago Silva has signed a 1-year contract extension with Chelsea to keep him at the Londoners until the end of next season.

New York Red Bulls full-back Yostin Salinas has signed up for another season with the Major League Soccer franchise.

Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie has signed an extension which will expire in 2027.

Transfers

Wycombe Wanderers have signed free agent defender Jordan Willis.

Janio Bikel has joined FK Khimki in the Russian Premier Liga on a free transfer from Vancouver Whitecaps.

The brother of Rangers midfielder Malik Tillman, Timothy Tillman has signed for Los Angeles FC for a fee of €500,000 from Greuther Furth.

Free agent former Stoke City, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain flop Jese has signed for Sampdoria.

Injury Round Up

Kylian Mbappe is back in training with PSG as they prepare to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Job Changes

Brazil's football federation have denied that Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has signed a deal to become the nation's next head coach.

Southampton have sacked Nathan Jones, the only surprise being that it took so long for them to realise what a stupid decision it was to appoint him in the first place. Jones, a long ball merchant put in charge of a team that had just recruited young players brought up to play passing football, lasted just 95 days and lost nine of the fourteen games he was in charge for, including 8 of the 9 Premier League games the Saints played in that period.

Former Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton has been appointed head coach of the Ghana national team. The 64 year old had been acting as a technical advisor for a year and replaces Otto Addo, who stepped down after the World Cup.

Motherwell have sacked their manager Steven Hammell after a poor run of results. The final nail in his coffin was a Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Raith Rovers on Saturday. The Lanarkshire club has not won in the league since October.

Partick Thistle have sacked their manager Ian McCall, along with his coaches Alan Archibald and Neil Scally following a 3-2 defeat to Rangers in the Scottish Cup on Sunday. Thistle had lost three of their last four league matches, but it seems that the catalyst for the decision was finding out that McCall had spoken to Motherwell about their vacancy.

Liverpool have promoted Will Spearman to Director of Research. He will take up the post at the end of the season, replacing Ian Graham. Spearman is currently the club's Lead Data Scientist.

Disciplinary Charges

Bristol Rovers midfielder Sam Finlay has been handed a 3-match ban for violent conduct. Finlay was booked for a tackle, but a further incident in the defeat to MK Dons was missed at the time by officials. Rovers are appealing against charges levelled against defender James Gibbons from the same game.

Both AFC Wimbledon and Stockport County have been fined after their players surrounded the referee during the League Two game between the two teams at the end of January. Dons received a £2,500 fine while Stockport were given £1,500 to pay.

Brentford have hit out after their striker Ivan Toney has once again received racist abuse to his social media account after the Bees drew 1-1 with Arsenal at the weekend. A club statement read: "How many times does this need to happen? We are disgusted and saddened that Ivan has had to deal with this yet again. We will not tolerate it and we will do everything we can to pursue the individuals involved." Arsenal also condemned the abuse and are looking to identify the perpetrators.

Manchester United and Leeds United have put out a joint statement to "strongly condemn" chants from both sets of fans about historic tragedies. The game between the two sides never even reached half-time before chants about the Munich Air Disaster and the murders of two Leeds fans in Istanbul were ehard. The statement read: "Both clubs strongly condemn chanting from both sets of fans regarding historic tragedies at today's game. Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will continue to work together with our respective fan groups and the Premier League and other authorities on eradicating it from football."

Preston North End striker Ched Evans has been banned for 4 games for violent conduct.

A spectator who ran on the pitch at Stevenage's Lamex Stadium and attempted to get at Bradford City's Andy Cook has been arrested. The spectator was stopped by a Stevenage player and has been banned from the ground.

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri got so fed up with a fan who was abusing his players during the match with Fiorentina that he confronted the man and told him to, "Shut up and come down here."

Olympique Lyonnais fans staged a protest ahead of their home match against Racing Lens. Lyon's two main supporter groups, Bad Gones and Lyon 1950, gathered in front of the stadium, thousands strong, to protest against what they see as a lack of ambition by the club. Head of recruitment, former Liverpool midfield flop Bruno Cheyrou, and sporting director Vincent Ponsot were the main targets of speeches given out, but the protest passed off peacefully and the fans took to their seats with no incidents. There they unfurled a number of banners criticising club management, such as: "Incompetent staff and management", "Lack of ambition" and "12 years of privileges".

According to Le Parisien newspaper, Neymar's wild party lifestyle is not just upsetting his teammates at PSG, where the dressing room has been split in recent weeks by the controversial Brazilian. According to the report, which was also reported by RMC Sport, the local mayor in Bougival has intervened to try to calm rifts with neighbours over his parties, following his 31st birthday party last week. Neighbours called the police over the noise emanating from Neymar's party and the mayor, Luc Watelle is reported to have contacted the landlord over the noise. Paris Saint-Germain have lost their last two games with Neymar being called upon to lead the line due to an injury to Kylian Mbappe and it has not been a happy time with the Brazilian losing allies fast within the club due to his attitude, lack of effort in training, party lifestyle and willingness to blame anyone but himself for the defeats, especially Hugo Ekitike and Vitinha.

Pointless List Of The Day

Today's list is again courtesy of speedsdb.com and is the list of Rangers' players' top speeds:
1. Rabbi Matondo - 33.9km/h
2. Leon King - 33.5km/h
3. John Lundstram - 33.4km/h
4. Fashion Sakala - 33.21km/h
5. Ryan Kent - 32.8km/h
6. Glen Kamara - 32.5km/h
7. Malik Tillman - 32.5km/h
8. Thomas Lawrence - 32.4km/h
9. James Tavernier - 32.21km/h
10. Borna Barisic - 31.8km/h
11. Antonio Colak - 31.3km/h
12. James Sands - 31.3km/h
13. Ryan Jack - 31.2km/h
14. Scott Arfield - 30.9km/h
15. Connor Goldson - 30.7km/h
16. Steven Davis - 30.3km/h
17. Leon Balogun - 30.2km/h
18 Scott Wright - 30.1km/h
19. Alfredo Morelos - 29.8km/h
20. Ianis Hagi - 29.6km/h
21. Filip Helander - 29.35km/h
22. Adam Devine - 29.3km/h
23. Nathan Patterson - 29km/h
24. Alex Lowry - 28.8km/h
25. Cedric Itten - 28.65km/h
26. Jack Simpson - 28.25km/h
27. Ridvan Yilmaz - 28.25km/h
28. Joe Aribo - 27.5km/h
29. Stephen Kelly - 27.05km/h
30. Allan McGregor - 25.3km/h
31. Jon McLaughlin - 22.7km/h
32. Jay Hogarth - 22.15km/h
33. Robby McCrorie - 21.3km/h

Bhoys Increase Revenue

Celtic have announced a 44.8% increase in revenue for the six months ending on 31st December 2022 over the previous year's figure. Direct qualification to the group stages of the Champions League, despite the team's struggle when there, was said to be one of "the key factors driving improvement in the underlying trading performance" by club chairman Peter Lawwell. The clubs were able to record a pre-tax profit of £33.9m, despite a dip in profit from player sales from £25.8m to just £1.8m.

Written by Tris Burke February 13 2023 05:41:27