Football News: Review Of The Day 9th March 2019

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Review of the Day

Contracts

Mexican winger Jesus Corona has signed a new contract with FC Porto which runs until 2022.

Rangers Colombian international striker Alfredo Morelos has signed a new long term deal which will expire in 2023. It is his 3rd new contract in less than 12 months as the club look to hang on to him.

Transfers

Goalkeeper Mark Hurst has left St Johnstone. Manager Tommy Wright said: "He has just walked out. I can't butter it up any other way. He can't sign for another club as he is still under contract. What I want to say and what I can say is two different things. He just basically just said he is leaving. I think he has a girlfriend out there. We tried to persuade him to stay but it didn't happen. It's disappointing because he was someone we had faith in that could go on and make a great career. He has let his team-mates down and let the the club down that have looked after him very well. You could say it's the modern player but I didn't think it was something that would have happened in Perth."

Nantes have released Icelandic forward Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.

French midfielder Arnaud Lusamba has returned to Nice at the end of his loan spell with Cercle Brugge.

PSG Upset With Rabiot Partying

Despite being suspended for the season by current club Paris Saint-Germain, the club has hit out at the French midfielder for partying in a Parisian night club while his team was knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United. After footage of the night spread around social media, PSG sporting director Antero Henrique said: "I find this is unacceptable behavior and an unprofessional attitude from a player like Adrien Rabiot towards the club, his team-mates and supporters. I want to remind you that he is contracted to us until 30 June 2019." Is it any more unprofessional than suspending a player and sidelining him for turning down a new contract though? At least he is not trying to bully anyone. I am not sure what they expect him to do when they have made it clear it would not matter how hard he works in training or how well he does, they will no longer be picking him for matches.

Motherwell Deny Rangers Rumours

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson has denied that teenage winger Jake Hastie has agreed to sign for Rangers in the summer. The 19 year old has been heavily linked with a move to Ibrox, when he is out of contract at the end of the season. Robinson said: "Jake's got a decision to make," said Robinson. "We do our very best with it. We can't pull money out of nowhere. What we do is try and convince him. No decision has been made at this moment in time. We are very honest with people and Jake's very appreciative of that. It's up to him, it's tough decisions for young boys. But we are doing our very best with it. We are giving him game time and he's doing very well for the club at this moment in time, so that has to be our main focus - the game coming up [against Hamilton] and the next nine or 10 games of the season."

Gerrard Concedes Title

After his Rangers side blew a lead against Hibernian to draw at Hibs, manager Steven Gerrard has conceded the title is lost with reigning champions now 7 points clear. Gerrard said: "It damages [Rangers' title aspirations] even more. Maybe [the title] was already out of reach. I don't know. You can get away with a performance like this once a season, twice if you're lucky. When you are chasing a team who have won seven trophies out of the last seven, you can't have five or six like this. It's happened three times against Hibs, once against St Johnstone and away to Dundee. Five or six times a season, good teams don't let you get away with that. We're leaving here very frustrated but we've got ourselves to blame. We were very excellent first 45 minutes, very dominant, created chance after chance, but we weren't clinical and ruthless enough. We only managed to get one goal but the game should have been done."

Hibs Furious After Fan Confronts Opposing Player

Hibernian's chief executive Leeann Dempster is to personally apologise to James Tavernier and ban the fan for life who confronted Tavernier during the club's 1-1 draw with Rangers. Tavernier was picking a ball up to take a throw in when the Hibs supporter tried to kick it away, leading to a confrontation between the two. Police Scotland have confirmed that a 21 year old man has been arrested. This is less than a week after a glass bottle was thrown at Celtic's Scott Sinclair from the Hibs end during a Scottish Cup tie. Dempster told the BBC: "They've embarrassed this club tonight again, it's completely and utterly unacceptable. What are we going to be talking about tomorrow? What is going to be on the back pages of the paper? What are you going to be asking me about? You're going to be asking me about this utter idiot. There is a big debate, a healthy debate going on in the Scottish game. But I'm going to bring it back to personal responsibility. Who thought it was okay to come in here with a glass bottle and throw it? Who thinks it's alright to jump over an advertising hoarding? Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the people in here don't think it's okay and we ought to remember not to tarnish these guys as well. This individual will be banned for life. He's in custody at the minute and that's where he should remain as far as I'm concerned. This person and people like him are going to feel the full weight of what we, and hopefully Police Scotland, can deliver."

Frimpong Retires

Former Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong has been forced to retire from professional football due to knee problems at the age of 27. The once-capped Ghanian international said on social media (where he spent most of his career anyway): "It is with great sadness I have decided to retire from professional football. I have had problems with my knee for the last five years or so and have got back to playing at a professional level. But since November 2017 I haven't been in action as I had a tear in my knee ligament. I decided with my own will that I will not opt for the operation since I was not enjoying football playing through pain. I would love to thank all the clubs I have represented, Arsenal, Charlton, Barnsley, Fulham, Ufa, AFC Eskilstuna and Ermis for the love and support they have given and to the fans who always supported me. Thank you and let's see what the future holds. Spending time with my daughter and family the last year has made me realise I'm blessed."

Monchi Follows EDF Out Of The Exit Door

As Roma's sporting director Monchi has left the club following the sacking of Eusebio di Francesco. The Spaniard had filled the same role very successfully for 17 years with Sevilla before being headhunted to take charge of Roma's recruitment. However the Spaniard was given less than 2 years to recruit unpolished diamonds for the team to turn into stars. Certainly not enough time to judge if he had been successful, as it is not an instant route to glory, as the president, James Pallotta, seems to mistakenly believe. But then Pallotta's knowledge of how to run a football club could fit on the back of a postage stamp if you used a large marker pen to write it all down.

Maradona Accepts Paternity

Diego Maradona has accepted that he is the father of 3 children in Cuba, reportedly of two different mothers. The 58 year old spent a lengthy period of time in the country for treatment of his cocaine addiction. He will now return there for paternity tests and to publicly recognise the children as his. That would take his children to 8, officially at least.

City Pair Win Monthly Awards

Manchester City duo Sergio Aguero and Pep Guardiola have won the February monthly Premier League awards. Aguero was named player of the month, while Guardiola won the manager of the month equivalend. City won all 4 of their league matches in February, in large part due to Aguero's 7 goals. Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar won goal of the month for his long-range finish against Burnley.

Ranieri Back In Management

Claudio Ranieri returns to the manager hotseat with former club AS Roma just 8 days after his sacking by Fulham. The 67 year old had a previous spell managing the club he supports between 2009 and 2011. Ranieri said: "I'm delighted to be coming back home. When Roma call you, it's impossible to say no." It is Ranieri's first job in Serie A since he was sacked by Inter Milan in 2012.

Spurs Finally Move Into New Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur are set to move into their new White Hart Lane ground next month, so long as all goes well with two test events at the end of this month. Spurs will face Southampton in an U18s match on 24th March and then there will be a legends match on 30th March to test the venue out before they receive their safety certificate. All being well, Spurs first home Premier League match in April will be played at the venue.

Chelsea Denied Ban Freeze

Despite Chelsea's transfer ban being subject to an appeals process, FIFA have denied a request to have the punishment frozen until after the appeal has been completed. This is contrary to previous occasions, famously in the case of Barcelona, where the ban was suspended until after the appeals process had finished. Chelsea said: "Chelsea Football Club is astonished by the Fifa appeal committee's decision not to suspend its sanction pending completion of the appeal process. So far as the club is aware, in all previous cases where a registration ban has been imposed by Fifa, a decision has also been made to suspend the sanction until the appeal process has been completed. In this case, Chelsea considers that it is being treated inconsistently in comparison with other European clubs." It does beg the question of why have they been denied? Surely for it to be a legal process under European law there is the right to be considered innocent until after all proceedings have taken place? Chelsea are to be punished now, regardless of whether or not they are eventually exonerated or not. An organisation that is famously corrupt is now running kangaroo courts where innocence and guilt matter not at all, as punishment is given out and served before the case is decided!

Written by Tris Burke March 09 2019 05:43:53