Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Barclays Bank, which sponsors the English Premier League, plans to review its worldwide sports deals, casting doubt upon its future backing of the league once the current contract runs out in 2010. The U.K.'s third largest bank has sponsored the league since 2001, with the latest three-year deal worth $99 million. "There will be a […]

AC Milan will offer David Beckham a two-year contract if his loan spell at the Serie A club works out, reports Christopher Davies, citing no sources. The L.A. Galaxy midfielder is set to start his loan spell next month and is due to return to the MLS team in March for the 2009 season, but […]

The English Football League, which governs the three professional divisions directly below the Premier league, has voted to bring in a new rule where four out of the 16 players on game-day rosters squads will have to be 'home grown.' Chairmen of the league's 72 member clubs voted on the measure Thursday, and it will […]

Former Brazil and Roma defender Cafu has agreed a deal to play for English non-league side Garforth Town for a few games at the end of the 2008-09 season. "He's likely to be coming in April and just playing a few games for us," said Garforth's owner Simon Clifford, who runs the Brazilian Soccer Schools […]

"Lady Nina [Bracewell-Smith] is no longer representing the club. … I don't know for certain what she wants to do with her shares. We hope that she would remain a shareholder but she has not spoken to me about it lately." Arsenal FC Chairman Peter Hill-Wood on the board row that has caused businesswoman Nina […]

"A Colognish heart that doesn't beat when abroad/That yearns to return to Cologne." Just some of the profoundly moving lyrics sung by a Cologne church and its 80-strong choir begging FC Cologne's former striker Lukas Podolski to return to the city from Bayern Munich. Rumors that Johann Sebastian Bach was spotted turning in his grave […]

"Do you think I would get into a contract with them? They've got no chance. There's no agreement whatsoever between the clubs. I wouldn't sell them a virus. It can be annoying but the best thing for us is to ignore it." Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, speaking after United's 5-3 win over Gamba Osaka […]

"It's hard for us to comment on players who are currently under contract by another team, so we can't address the specific discussions that we've had with his representation or club." Houston Dynamo Chief Operating Officer Chris Canetti sort of comments on the club's talks with striker Luis Angel Landin of Mexican club Morelia Monarcas. […]

AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi has said his team will not win the Italian Serie A next year now that it is nine points behind city rival Inter. The team must focus on qualification for the Champions League instead. "Has the Scudetto slipped from our grasp?" he asked. "Well, nine points is a lot. In […]

Let's start this one rolling all over again. According to Spanish daily El Mundo, Manchester United and Real Madrid have come to a gentleman's agreement over the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo next summer. The Spanish newspaper said that after Real's 2-0 loss at Barcelona Saturday, Real club director Pedro Trapote told "a confidant" that a […]

Former Bolton and Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has been named the new man in charge at Blackburn Rovers, which sacked Paul Ince Tuesday. He has signed a three-year contract.    

"We have always said we would only allow our players to leave if we received an exceptional bid. We could not stand in the way of a move such as this for Lassana." Portsmouth FC spokesman on a reported $36 milllion bid for the French midfielder Lasanna Diarra from Real Madrid.    

"We talk about our future because we have got so many good young players, but I don't know if we need any more good young players. I think we need established players, players with experience who can help our young players grow." FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman after returning form a scouting trip to South […]

"He has been suspended for two weeks. That's not the same thing as never playing for the club again." David Holbrook, agent to Glasgow Celtic midfielder Aiden McGeady, says the player wants to stay at the club despite appealing a two-week ban and a fine of two weeks' wages following a falling out with manager […]

Rejoice! The United States climbed two positions to 22nd spot in the latest FIFA world rankings. The next highest placed Concacaf team is Mexico, which dropped one place to 26th. Spain remains top, with Germany in second.

The English Premier League will launch its own TV channel in 2010 if the value of bids for live television rights falls during the coming auction for the period 2010-13, writes Nick Harris. He said the move would be to make the clubs "recession-proof" and safeguard its most important source of income. However, the newspaper […]

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari "is facing a growing challenge to his authority" in the locker room in the wake of the team's recent patchy form, writes Matt Hughes. He said Scolari "was asked to explain his substitutions by several senior players after the 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United" on Sunday. Players […]

The Seattle Sounders FC "struck gold" by hiring Sigi Schmid as coach, writes Steve Kelley. "Short of stealing Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United, they couldn't have done much better." For how many expansion teams get to hire their league's reigning coach of the year? "He's got good ideas about the game, solid ideas, but […]

Christian Ziege, assistant coach at Michael Bradley's Bundesliga team Borussia Moenchengladbach, has resigned just days after the team finished bottom of the German league at the season's halfway point. The former Liverpool and Bayern Munich player was reportedly unhappy at having too little say in team matters. Also, his head coach Hans Meyer, appointed in […]

The question is not so much whether Blackburn Rovers was right to sack manager Paul Ince on Tuesday, writes Paul Wilson. Rather, should the club have appointed him in the first place? Like the appointment of Roy Keane at Sunderland, Ince's recruitment was "risky," he says, because "in both cases the club boards seemed to […]

The Houston Dynamo let Dwayne De Rosario leave for Toronto FC last week because it knew his ideal replacement was already on the roster, writes Bernardo Fallas. That player is Stuart Holden, "the Scotland native and Houston-area product who has turned heads since his rookie season." "I've been waiting three years to earn a starting […]

"It is cheering to hear the boos" that have been greeting the home performances of league-leading Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, writes Kevin McCarra. Although the EPL's Big Four' occupy four of the top five spots, their faltering form and the threat of financial insecurity that hangs over their debt-carrying heads are good news […]

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has dismissed renewed interest in proposals to play a 39th Premier League game abroad. "I don't think there will ever be a 39th game and I don't believe there should be," Ferguson told reporters Tuesday after his team's arrival in Japan for the Club World Cup. "Certainly I'm not in […]

“FIFA’s rulers are set to formally approve a Great Britain football team for the London 2012 Olympics later this week despite opposition from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,” writes Martyn Ziegler. The three smaller countries fear that taking part in a unified British team would eventually threaten their independent status.

"My feeling is, it may come to a point where the team comes first and it's, 'Kenny, you're here no matter what. You've had this opportunity, but this has gone on a little too long. We don't want to lose you, but we've given you that chance to find something else and it hasn't worked […]