Man City owner will pay Mancini's legal bill, if City boss is sued by Tevez

Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour has told manager Roberto Mancini he will personally pay his legal bills if he is sued by his former captain Carlos Tevez.

City are involved in an increasingly ugly dispute with Tevez over Mancini’s claims that the 27-year-old refused to come on as a substitute in Munich in the Champions League four weeks ago.

The Barclays Premier League leaders revealed on Tuesday that they were fining Tevez four weeks’ wages — in the region of £1million — after finding him guilty of five charges in relation to the incident at the Allianz Arena.

 

Tevez has immediately struck back by claiming he will sue Mancini for defamation, maintaining that the Italian’s suggestion that he had refused to play was untrue and therefore slanderous.

However, it is understood that Sheik Mansour is so furious at Tevez’s conduct over recent weeks that he has told Mancini he will foot any legal bills out of his own personal fortune.

City do not privately believe that Tevez will take Mancini to court. Such a move would risk harming the South American’s reputation even further.
 

Yet the club are ready for anything and have told Mancini they are fully behind him. Mancini spoke with City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak by telephone on Tuesday night moments after City announced that their internal inquiry had found Tevez guilty.
It is understood that City’s Arab owners are totally serious when they say Tevez will be banished to the sidelines for two years rather than be sold for a penny less than his £40m value when the transfer window opens in January.

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ and eurosport.yahoo.com
 

Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger want their stars to snub Olympics

ALEX FERGUSON and Arsene Wenger last night told Stuart Pearce: We do not want our players in the Olympics.

GB boss Pearce hopes to call up Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs from Manchester United plus Arsenal's Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott.

But he got short shrift from the Premier League's top managerial duo, who insisted London 2012 was a tournament too far. 

Fergie warned Olympic organisers: "Players need their rest, they need their pre-season training. 

"They need their recovery and recuperation from small injuries that they get throughout the season.

"The intensity of the English game is second to none. It is an exhausting, exacting season.

"I don't see how they can possibly get the players up to raise the bar after the season they have had in our game."

Wenger declared: "For me, it is not a real football tournament. The Olympics is for track and field basically.

"If you look at the organisation of the whole summer, it makes life impossible for the clubs and especially the players.

"I would say there is already no real break because of the European Championship and the Olympic tournament."

Wenger then joked: "Why not organise another tournament behind that, so we lose the players again?"

The Olympics is an Under-23 format.

But Pearce can include three over-age stars — possibly Rooney, Giggs and David Beckham, who by next summer will be 37.

For the Olympics, FIFA cannot force clubs to release players. It is up to the stars to seek to play.

Wenger added: "The worst thing is to leave that decision to the players."

The FA have vowed to open 'sensible dialogue' with England's senior clubs and Chelsea chief Andre Villas-Boas and Tottenham's Harry Redknapp appear more sympathetic to Olympic calls.

Villas-Boas said: "Stuart has to decide freely on what he wants."

Redknapp would allow his Wales star Gareth Bale to play for the GB team if the Welsh FA give the OK.

source: Thesun.co.uk, www.bettingexpert.com

Wenger tells Robin van Persie: Please sign new contract

Arsene Wenger last night urged Robin van Persie to sign a new deal after the Dutch superstar insisted he is 'committed' to Arsenal.

Van Persie hit the Gunners' fastest Premier League goal after 29 seconds and won the game with a 25-yard free-kick. 

He has 19 months left on his contract and has so far refused to discuss a new deal.  Fans fear that, come next summer, Van Persie will follow Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri out of the club.  The Dutchman, however, does not appear likely to sign a new contract, leaving Arsene Wenger with another of those agonising choices looming in the not too distant future. Does he sell his captain as he did when Samir Nasri hit the same point last summer? Or does he dig in and insist that his  captain honours the final year of his contract before leaving on a free transfer? The saga has already started.

However, Sunday's Robin van  Persie show the key word was ‘commitment’. He started it by devoting a section of programme notes to his housing situation. He wanted to point out that just because he was selling his house didn’t mean he was about to move to Manchester City.
His house in Hertfordshire is up for sale, he explained, but he has moved into a new one in Hampstead.

Van Persie said: "I am committed to Arsenal and that's how it is. I can see how frustrating it is from the fans' point of view but I am committed.

"This is my eighth year here and if you can say about one player that he is committed, it's me."

 Wenger said: "The ideal situation is he extends the contract. He knows we are ready to talk about it. If he doesn't, you have to respect that.

"What is important is that he plays like he plays.

"We are all here to see special football players and he's a special football player."

More urgently for Wenger, the win hauls Arsenal up to 10th in the Premier League and eases the pressure. Unfortunately for Steve Bruce, it leaves Sunderland in bother, languishing near the  relegation zone.

source: www.thesun.co.uk, www.dailymail.co.uk

Real Madrid's Ronaldo: Those who like football like watching me play

The Santiago Bernabeu star has shrugged off recent jeers and claims that football enthusiasts enjoy his style of play, even fans of his rival from the Camp Nou outfit.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo believes football fans around the globe love watching him in action as he responds to recent criticism.
 

Ronaldo was jeered and hissed in September's 4-0 Euro 2012 qualifying win over Cyprus in which a number of fans shouted the name 'Messi,' referring to Lionel Messi, the Barcelona striker. 

"These things [the Cyprus jeers] are abnormal things. And, I don't care about them," Ronaldo is quoted as saying by AS.com.

The former Manchester United man shrugged shoulders at the whole affair and insisted he was not affected by it. In fact, he feels everyone loves his game - his message coming just days after former Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said Ronaldo is less selfish now.


"I think that all those who like football are happy when Cristiano Ronaldo is playing," he boasted.

It is an issue which had gone quiet in recent weeks, but following Portugal's 5-3 Group H win over Iceland on Friday, Ronaldo has returned to talk about what happened against Cyprus.
 

Ronaldo could be in action when Portugal play Denmark on Tuesday. His side need just a point from their final group game to secure a place at Euro 2012.  

source: www.Goal.com

No Rio or Gerrard for England

England will head into their Euro 2012 showdown with Montenegro without two of their most experienced players after Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard were both left out ofFabio Capello's squad.

England need a draw in Podgorica on Friday to book their place at next summer's European Championship finals. And Capello has decided they can achieve that mission without two men who have amassed a combined total of 167 caps.

Gerrard had already said he did not believe he was fit enough to be involved after only just recovering from a groin injury. However, Ferdinand was expected to be included after shaking off the hamstring strain he suffered at West Brom in August. 

Jermain Defoe and Joleon Lescott have lost their places, with Bobby Zamora  and Scott Carson recalled to a 24-man squad.

Zamora's only cap came in a friendly against Hungary in August last year, after which he was sidelined after suffering a broken leg the following month. He did return as a substitute for the June qualifier with Switzerland but did not play.

Now 30, Zamora was bizarrely cited by Capello as one of the young players on which England's future rested following their woeful World Cup performance.

Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker is recalled after impressing England coach Fabio Capello with a wholehearted display in Sunday's north London derby, culiminating in a 25-yard drive for the winning goal in a 2-1 victory for Spurs.

Capello has promised that his side will not look for a draw in Montenegro, but aim to take all three points.

"If you play for a draw it is a big mistake, you are defending a result and it is easy then to make silly or stupid mistakes," he told FATV.

"We need to go to win in Montenegro and not to play for a draw."

England squad: Scott Carson (Bursaspor), Joe Hart (Man City), David Stockdale (Ipswich); Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Phil Jones (Man Utd), Micah Richards (Man City), John Terry (captain, Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Tottenham); Gareth Barry (Man City), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Man City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Man City), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Man Utd); Darren Bent (Aston Villa), Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Danny Welbeck (Man Utd), Bobby Zamora (Fulham)

source: www.bbc.co.uk, ESPN (www.soccernet.com)