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Review of the day
Murray to mentor Hibs players
Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will become a mentor at Hibs Academy after his management company took on two young Hibs rising stars Ryan Porteous and Fraser Murray as clients. Murray said: “My family have supported the club since my grandfather played for Hibs in the 1950s.
Simon withdraws from World Cup
Nigeria will miss the World Cup after KAA Gent’s Moses Simon limped out of training on Thursday. Scans revealed the winger’s injury is serious and he will be sidelined for around a month. Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr said: “Yes, Moses is injured and our medical staff told me he will be out for at least three or four weeks. This confirms that he will not be with us at the World Cup. It is unfortunate because he was an important player for us in our qualifying campaign.”
shrew boss in tractor boy talk
Shrewsbury Town have allowed manager Paul Hurst to enter talks with Ipswich Town after they failed to advance through the play-offs. Ipswich are still looking for a replacement for Mick McCarthy and have agreed a compensation package with the Vixens.
RIP Neil Cooper
Former Aberdeen, Aston Villa, Rangers, Reading, Dunfermline and Ross County player Neil Cooper has died aged 54. Cooper was a member of Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side that won the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup and is an Aberdeen legend.
Potter confirms Swansea talks
Ostersund manager Graham Potter has confirmed he is in talks with Swansea City to fill their managerial vacancy. Ostersund also confirmed Porter has been given permission to speak to the Swans. Ostersund appointed Port in December 2010, when they were still in Sweden’s fourth tier. Under Porter’s leadership, the team was promoted to the second division for two consecutive years and entered the top league in 2016. Since becoming the first manager to lead the team into the top flight, Porter has also become the first manager to lead the club into the European competition.
Barcelona ranked first in Europe
Another list has been released, ranked according to the data sets that clubs believe will bring them the most visibility. This time, a company called Gracenote has ranked clubs based on results, using a metric whereby clubs that beat higher-ranked clubs over the past 4 years receive more points. If one of the clubs in each league performs well in Europe, it also receives bonus points for the entire league. So, in other words, it’s trash, but no less interesting.
1. Barcelona 4333 points
2. Real Madrid 4190 points
3. Bayern Munich 4053 points
4. Juventus 4037 points
5. Manchester City 3852 points
6. Paris Saint-Germain 3850 points
7. Atletico Madrid 3798 points
8. Naples 3542 points
9. Tottenham Hotspur 3540 points
10. Manchester United 3528 points
11. Liverpool 3487 points
12. Chelsea 3478 points
13. Rome 3429 points
14. Sevilla 3239 points
15. Arsenal 3233 points
16. Shakhtar Donetsk 3219 points
17. Monaco 3178 points
18. Porto 3162 points
19. Dortmund 3100 points
20. Valencia 3082 points
Transfer rounding
Stefan de Vrij has revealed he will join Inter Milan in the summer after signing a five-year deal with the Serie A giants. The Dutch defender’s contract with Lazio expires this summer.
Liverpool have agreed a deal with Monaco for their utility Brazilian Fabinho. The 24-year-old, who can play as a midfielder or right-back, is due to arrive at Anfield on July 1.
Chapecoense, a Brazilian club that had suffered heavy losses from a plane crash a few years earlier, signed Douglas. The 28-year-old centre-back arrived on a free transfer from Sao Paulo.
Borussia Dortmund have signed midfielder Marius Wolff from Eintracht Frankfurt for around £4.5m.
Frankfurt also released forward Alexander Maier.
Chievo Verona have signed Polish striker Mayusz Stepinski from Nantes FC for around £2.25 million.
Blackburn Rovers have released Liam Feeney.
Scotland winger Ross Wallace has been sacked by Sheffield Wednesday.
Messi ‘increasingly certain’ he will never play for another European club
Barcelona’s Argentine striker Lionel Messi says he could one day play in Argentina, but only for Newell’s Old Boys. Messi told Argentinian TV station El Trece, “I always said that one day I would like to play in Argentina. I don’t know if it will happen, but I have the idea in my mind. It would be at Newell’s and nowhere else. I want to do this for at least six months, but you never know what will happen. I am increasingly convinced that in Europe, Barcelona will be my only club.”
Draxler tells German players to move abroad
Paris Saint-Germain’s Julian Draxler has told other German players they should move abroad to improve their football education and see the world. Draxler told reporters: “Only playing abroad is an advantage. There is a new language, a new environment, a new mentality. You have to overcome huge challenges. I can understand (German players) who want to go abroad, and I can only advise them to do so. Everyone has the experience of playing abroad, and you can learn from different coaches from different countries and different systems. All these experiences can be integrated into the national team.”
German police investigate Klan-style promotion celebrations
Germany’s lower leagues have been under scrutiny due to the rise of right-wing white supremacists and a lack of action from officials involved. Nazi symbolism has been prevalent among supporters for some time. After Energia Cottbus was promoted to Germany’s third tier, police decided to investigate an incident in which a group of fans wearing Ku Klux Klan-style turbans marched with a red banner emblazoned with “The Evil One Rises”. Cottbus called the fans’ behavior “inhumane, disgusting and absolutely intolerable” and said they would ban any fan found to be involved for life. This comes after Cottbus fans chanted “Gypsies, ticks and Jews” at fans of another lower league team, Babelsberg, an incident that almost led to Babelsberg being expelled from the league after their fans chanted “Nazi pigs out” and they refused to pay the fine levied on them. While Cottbus claimed that the KKK hoods damaged their reputation, unfortunately for them, their reputation was that they were a problematic team, which only reinforced that perception and did not damage their already poor reputation.
Written by Tris Burke May 29, 2018 12:23:03