Football News: Review Of The Day 19th February 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

New York RB have agreed a contract extension with American defender Aaron Long to keep him until 2021.

St Johnstone have given midfielder David Wotherspoon a 2 year contract extension. The 29 year old is now tied down until 2021.

Transfers

Former Manchester United winger Nani has moved to Major League Soccer after signing for Orlando City on a free transfer from Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Leeds Suffer Roofe Damage

Leeds United will almost certainly have to make do without all-action forward Kemar Roofe, who has suffered damaged knee ligaments. The 26 year old striker picked up the injury in the win over Swansea City just under a week ago and looks set to miss at least 2 months out.

Harvey Pushed Out The Door

In some good news for English Football League fans, the utterly inept Shaun Harvey is to leave his role as chief executive of the league after running out of competitions to destroy. Having turned the Johnstone Paints Trophy into a joke of a cup, sold TV and streaming rights for the EFL against the wishes of a large portion of clubs, it seems he ran out of ideas for ways to make a mess of the league. Harvey spent his time fiddling with things like that, while refusing to act in the best interests of clubs like Blackpool, where he could have enforced the fit and proper persons test to force the Oystons to sell, as a convicted rapist is not a fit and proper person to own a community club. Still I am sure he has made himself a very wealthy man while failing the league miserably.

Celtic Fans To Be Investigated

After Kilmarnock's former Rangers striker Kris Boyd was hit by a coin thrown by Celtic fans and seats were damaged at Kilmarnock's Rugby Park ground, Celtic fans are to be investigated by Celtic, Kilmarnock and Police Scotland. There were also flares and pitch invasions from the Celtic end.

Zimbabwe Pull Out Of Hosting Cosafa Cup

Less than a month after being awarded the hosting rights for the annual southern African championship, the Cosafa Senior Men's Challenge Cup, Zimbabwe has pulled out of hosting it. Zimbabwe's sports minister Kirsty Coventry said: "Zimbabwe will not be hosting Cosafa this year, the deal was not good for Zimbabwe or for Zifa [Zimbabwe's Football Association]. We want to make sure that when we do host an event of this magnitude, that we are fully prepared, we have good timing. We just do not feel that that was really given to us this time around."

Davis Facing Jail In Singapore

Fulham youth player Ben Davis is currently staying overseas without a valid Exit Permit and has avoided his required national service after his application to have it deferred is denied, according to Singapore's Ministry of Defence. Davis was the first player from Singapore to sign a professional contract in the Premier League and has been a regular for Fulham's Under-18s.

Berahino Arrested

Stoke City's misfiring striker Saido Berahino (who fits at least 2 definitions of the word striker) has been arrested in London on suspicion of drink-driving. A Metropolitan Police statement read: "When officers arrived on scene a car was seen to drive away at speed. The car was stopped in Bedford Square and a 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving." Berahino alleged his car had been surrounded by a group of men who attacked him and stole his watch.

PSG Get Desperate For Legacy

Paris Saint-Germain are desperately trying to build some kind of history to make themselves seem relevant, now they have sunk to a new low by commemorating goals scored in training! They presented Kylian Mbappe with a commemorative shirts for scoring 100 goals....in training. Seriously embarrassing. That is up there in the embarrassment stakes with Scott Wagstaff's beard, which he died especially blue and white for the FA Cup and then never got off the AFC Wimbledon bench as they lost to Millwall.

Finally Spygate Put To Bed

Shaun Harvey topped up his retirement pot with a £200,000 fine for Leeds United after they broke no rules or laws in having opposing teams watched in training prior to facing them in the league. The EFL decided Leeds had breached the 'good faith' section of the league's charter in a new precedent set to try and deter other clubs from not breaking any rules or laws of the game.

Saudis Dismiss Man Utd Takeover Reports

Saudi Arabia have denied that they were intent on buying Manchester United from the current owners, the Glazer family. As usual, British newspapers made up rubbish after finding out Man Utd were to meet with the Saudi investment fund over a sponsorship deal. Despite it being public knowledge that the meeting was about sponsorship, the usual fake reports were circulated in order to get page views. I have no idea why people continue to fall for this click bait nonsense when the actual situation was well known.

Pro Piacenza Thrown Out Of League

After failing to fulfil three successive fixtures, before losing 20-0 after only being able to field 8 players, and the team physio who came on as sub, Pro Piacenza have been kicked out of Serie C. Despite the fact that the team were struggling due to financial problems, the league also fined them 20,000 euros.

Dortmund Game Halted Twice

Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund were held to a 0-0 draw by Nuremberg in a game which had to be stopped twice by fan protests. Bundesliga fans have been mounting protests against these Monday night kick-offs, which will be abolished for the 2021-22 season. This time out they bombarded the pitch with black tennis balls, which required clearing up twice during the game.

FA Cup Draw

The FA Cup quarter-final draw has been done, in the least interesting FA Cup I can remember:
Swansea City v Manchester City
Watford v Crystal Palace
Wolves v Manchester United
Millwall v Brighton

Written by Tris Burke February 19 2019 05:15:04