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Football News: Review Of The Day 10th October 2018

Review Of The Day 10th October 2018
Image from: screwfix.com

Review of the Day

 

Ireland Joins Bolton

Stephen Ireland, a man who has been semi-retired for about 10 years now, has signed a short-term deal with Bolton Wanderers. The former Irish international was a free agent after being released by Stoke City in the summer. The 32 year old made just 5 appearances last season, having missed the entirety of the season before.

 

Former French Youth Keeper Switches To Benin

After representing France at under-18, 19, and 20 levels Montpellier goalkeeper Jonathan Ligali has switched his international allegiance to Benin. The 27 year old's mother is from the African nation.

 

Wigan Takeover Is Close To Completion

Wigan Athletic's takeover by International Entertainment Corporation (IEC) is set to be completed next month. The deal between current Wigan majority owners David Sharpe and his family agreed a £22m sale for the Championship club back in May. A Wigan statement read: "The change of ownership is expected to complete within the next six weeks subject to, and upon the fulfilment of, certain conditions including the approval by the shareholders of IEC of the relevant transactions for the change of ownership. We would like to stress our appreciation once more for your patience and continued loyal support throughout this process."

 

Pellegrini Has Roundabout Named After Him

West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini is so highly thought of at former club Malaga, who he took to the Champions League quarter finals during his 3 years at the club, that a roundabout in the city centre has been named after the Chilean. Pellegrini joined Malaga after his sacking by Real Madrid in 2010 and left to take charge at Manchester City in 2013 having taken them to a 4th place finish in La Liga.

 

Russian Internationals Under Investigation For Attack On Civil Servant

Trade ministry official Denis Pak needed medical treatment on Monday after an attack on him by two Russian international footballers. Zenit St Petersburg forward Aleksandr Kokorin and Krasnodar's Pavel Mamaev are alleged to have attacked the official in a cafe in Moscow. A Russian Premier League statement read: "The Russian Premier League expresses its outrage and strongly condemns their rowdy behaviour. This act not only casts a shadow over the glorious names of FC Zenit and FC Krasnodar, but all of Russian football. We believe that those responsible should be punished in the most severe way. There is no place for hooligans in football." A member of the Russian Football Union's executive committee, Igor Lebedev, told TV: "I think law enforcement agencies will qualify this as hooliganism and punishment for this is quite severe, up to five years in prison." Zenit also condemned the attack: "What happened yesterday in Moscow involving Aleksandr Kokorin has caused great disgust and indignation at the club. We don't think it's necessary to speak of a club punishment for the player - it will come, but right now the management of Zenit and the fans feel nothing but dismay, that one of the country's most talented footballers has behaved disgustingly. We await the legal assessment by the relevant bodies, but from the human and emotional viewpoint such an incident only arouses shame." Krasnodar have gone even further by saying they are looking to terminate Mamaev's contract: "We are currently looking into how to terminate a contract with the player. Unfortunately, contracts are drawn up in such a way that they protect professional athletes to the greatest possible extent. But we will do everything to get it done."

 

Leno And Gnabry Get Germany Call Ups

Joachim Low's Germany plans have been disrupted even further as two more withdrawals have seen him need to look further afield for more players to add to the squad. With Kevin Trapp and Leon Goretzka out, Low has looked to two players with an Arsenal connection to fill the gap. Current Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno and former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry have been called up.

 

Mastosas Gets Costa Rica Job

Former Uruguayan international Gustavo Matosas has been handed the job of trying to get Costa Rica to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Matosas has worked as far afield as Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia and Argentina, winning the 2015 CONCACAF Champions League with Mexican side America. Matosas said: "This is a great honour for me, to represent through the national team, a country like Costa Rica. It's a wonderful challenge that I'm very excited about. I've talked to all the people in my family because it's a wonderful opportunity, so I'm going to take it as if it were my own country."

 

Chievo Verona And Genoa Sack Manager

Chievo Verona have announced the sacking of manager Lorenzo D'Anna from his role of manager of the club. D'Anna only took charge of the club with 3 games left to play at the end of last season. 11th placed Genoa also sacked manager Davide Ballardini just 2 days after losing 3-1 to Juventus. Genoa president Enrico Preziosi (who appointed Ballardini in the first place) admitted he sacked Ballardini for being a terrible coach: "I consider him to be a terrible Coach, as in his career he was fired 13 times in 14 seasons. Only at Sambenedettese in Serie C did he manage to see out the season. I won't deny that last year he earned credit by helping us on the road to safety, but he remains only a caretaker for complicated situations. He is not capable of training a team from the start, he never makes that step up in quality. I am not interested in the points we have so far, because we need more. We've got Krzysztof Piatek, the Serie A top scorer, four strikers and 25 players in total, so it's the bare minimum to do well. We have already conceded 13 goals in seven games and on Sunday we lost 3-1 at home to Parma, a team that I consider to be inferior to Genoa. Ballardini is a wonderful person, but he doesn't know how to put his players on the pitch, he can't do anything. Juric is a positive Coach and it was my mistake to confirm Ballardini at the end of the last season. As I've already said, he can handle negative results and is good at rescuing bad situations, but we cannot continue a project with a Coach who provides such a terrible spectacle on the field. I don't enjoy firing him, but the decision was inevitable. We had a meeting for an hour-and-a-half, but he didn't give me the response I wanted. He's a terrible Coach!"

Written by Tris Burke October 10 2018 06:21:44

 

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