Jermain Defoe eager to take his England chance

Without quite bursting into song in the manner of Martine McCutcheon, his fellow Eastender, Jermain Defoe is keen to emphasise that this is his moment. After three successive starts in friendly internationals under Fabio Capello, the Portsmouth striker is preparing to line up for his first competitive match for England in exactly two years, against Andorra on Saturday, and is determined to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity.

For all his brash confidence, buoyed by two goals in Portsmouth’s 3-0 win over Everton last weekend, Defoe, 25, knows that he may not get another chance to establish himself at international level. Capello’s reservations about Michael Owen go beyond his lack of match fitness, but the England manager is not ready to end Owen’s international career and the Newcastle United striker is expected to return to the squad for next month’s World Cup qualifying matches against Kazakhstan and Belarus.

In what capacity may be largely down to Defoe, who has the chance to thrust England’s fourth-highest goalscorer firmly down the pecking order. He is fortunate to be facing Andorra, against whom he scored twice in a European Championship qualifier at Old Trafford two years ago, but the real test will come against Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday.

With only one of his five international goals coming in a competitive match, Defoe’s challenge is to prove that he is more than a flat-track bully.

“I feel ready, that this is my time,” he said yesterday. “It’s great when you get an opportunity. Everyone wants to play. It doesn’t matter what position you’re in. If a forward comes in and performs, why should I feel that I should have played? If someone has come in and scored and done well for the team and the team has got a result, then they deserve to play. Playing for your country is based on merit. If you play well, you deserve to play.”

Defoe puts his renaissance down to his decision to join Portsmouth in January, a move that has enabled him to play regularly after being reduced to the role of bit-part player by Martin Jol and Juande Ramos at Tottenham Hotspur.

“I do feel a lot sharper,” he said. “When I signed for Portsmouth, after a few games it was great. If you feel sharp, it’s normal to believe that if you get a chance you will take it. Confidence is a massive thing in football. You go into games and believe you are going to do well.”

Defoe admitted that his team-mates are already focusing on Croatia, who eliminated England in qualifying for this summer’s European Championship. “I suppose we owe Croatia one,” he said. “After that game at Wembley, you’re sitting in the dressing-room and it’s like a surreal moment. You can imagine what it was like, being on holiday in the summer and watching some of the games. Obviously you don’t want to get that feeling again.”

Rio Ferdinand missed training yesterday because of a sore back, but John Terry returned from a virus while Frank Lampard, Wes Brown and Ashley Cole completed sessions with Massimo Neri, the fitness coach, and are expected to return to full training today.

Highlights of England's crucial World Cup qualifying match against Croatia on September 10 will not be shown on free-to-air television after ITV and the BBC failed to reach agreement with Setanta Sports, which is transmitting the match live (Dan Sabbagh writes).

The dispute also applies to England's match away to Andorra on Saturday and it will be the first time that is has not been possible to watch a competitive England match either live, or in highlights form, without paying.

Setanta reiterated yesterday that it had not received an offer for the highlights rights that made commercial sense, although the BBC and ITV believe that Setanta is not negotiating seriously.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Kevin Keegan may quit football for good

Matt Dickinson and Times Online

Kevin Keegan is facing an acrimonious end to his long association with Newcastle United this morning and the prospect of a multi-million-pound wrangle over compensation. Perceived humiliation over the club’s transfer policy appears to have made the manager’s position untenable and, although Newcastle have again insisted that he remains in charge, the timing of his departure seems to be simply a matter for the lawyers to dispute.

In a statement released this morning, the club have reiterated that Keegan remains their manager and that negotiations between him and the board continue as both parties seek a resolution.

"Newcastle United Football Club can confirm that discussions are ongoing between the board and Kevin Keegan," a statement read. "Both the club and Kevin would like to reiterate that Kevin remains as manager.

"He has not resigned nor has he been sacked, as has been confirmed in respective statements made by Kevin and Newcastle United Football Club."

After farcical scenes that included bewildered fans demonstrating over the “sacking” of their hero, it is hard to believe that Keegan will stay for long — or want to — given his repeated clashes with the board. His departure could be confirmed today.

Keegan has been so at odds with the directors over transfers that some Newcastle players were among those to believe that club and manager had parted company yesterday lunchtime. It appears to have been only a reluctance to surrender the payoff on his three-year deal, worth up to £3 million a year, that stopped Keegan following through his threats to take his leave. Whether he jumps or is seen to be pushed, it seems highly unlikely that he will be seen in a dugout again.

The former England manager has been so impotent in recent days that, having angrily questioned the proposed sale of Joey Barton on Monday, it is believed he was told that every member of the first-team squad could be sold, irrespective of his opinion.

The directors have pushed their manager to the brink by dictating the buying and selling of players, but, bizarrely, they seem happy for him to continue for the time being. Perhaps they want to avoid more trouble from supporters who are in revolt over Mike Ashley’s stewardship. The crowd of 47,711 for the opening home Barclays Premier League match of the season, against Bolton Wanderers, was the lowest in more than a decade and there is talk of a boycott of the next fixture, against Hull City on Saturday week.

Suggestions that Dennis Wise and Gustavo Poyet — the Tottenham Hotspur first-team coach who worked under Wise at Leeds United — may take over from Keegan have led to further uproar on Tyneside.

Boardroom sources claimed last night that they had spent most of the day talking Keegan out of resigning, but there is no doubt who the fans will side with, even with mixed results since he took over from Sam Allardyce in January.

The humiliations heaped on him stretch back over several months, since Wise was brought in as executive director (football). Wise and Tony Jimenez, both London-based directors, were appointed by Ashley, the owner, to guide transfer policy, but their seizing of control has brought only conflict with the manager.

Those rows came to a head with the recruitment on Monday of Ignacio González, the Uruguay midfield player, and Xisco, the Spanish striker, even though Keegan had not scouted the players or approved their signings. He had been asking for a left back and Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich, but was given neither. At the same time the club tried to offload Barton for £4 million to Portsmouth, even though Keegan had fought hard to retain the midfield player after his six-month prison sentence for assault.

A deal to sell Alan Smith to Everton also fell through, while the board tried to sell Michael Owen to any takers, despite Keegan imploring club officials to give the Newcastle captain a new long-term contract. Keegan had also been undermined by the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa last week.

In the circumstances, it is a surprise that Keegan, 57, has lasted this long, particularly given his temperamental history. But at his age and with his faltering record, to quit now would probably be to leave management for good.

In response to reports that Keegan had been sacked, the club said that they “wanted him to continue to play an instrumental role as manager of the club”. Whether he can endure further embarrassment is another matter.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Sale of Liverpool likely to be sooner rather than later

The Arab invasion of the Barclays Premier League seems certain to continue, with Liverpool's American owners weakening in their resistance to selling the club to Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai. Tom Hicks vetoed an attempted sale by George Gillett Jr, his co-chairman at Anfield, this year, but the American tycoons are expected to return to the negotiating table as an unforgiving financial climate takes a toll on their ambitions for the club.

Hicks maintains that he will not sell Liverpool, but the Texan is known to be troubled by the financial storm that has engulfed him and Gillett in the past 12 months. Last week, they blamed the credit crunch for the postponement of building work on a proposed 60,000-capacity stadium in Stanley Park and, with the Premier League stakes raised further by the Abu Dhabi royal family's imminent takeover at Manchester City, Hicks and Gillett are close to conceding that they do not have the resources to fulfil the ambitions they had when they bought Liverpool in February 2007.

There remains a £400 million-plus offer on the table from Sheikh Mohammed, who is leading the bid that was being driven by Dubai International Capital, the private-equity investment arm of the Dubai Government, when Hicks blocked Gillett's attempted sale this year. Hicks is known to be more open to selling Liverpool, but the two sides remain some way apart in their valuation of the club.

Hicks and Gillett are aware that the £350 million refinancing deal they secured through the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia a little more than seven months ago is up for renewal on January 25 next year and that the banks are not certain to grant them the option of a six-month extension. They must decide by January whether to try to prop up their regime for a further six months, or to sell.

The takeover of City could have a knock-on effect, with Liverpool facing greater competition to qualify for next season's Champions League. The club have annual interest payments of £30 million, which last season's revenue of about £20 million from European competition went a long way towards clearing.

Increased competition from an opponents with seemingly unlimited financial resources is likely to heighten the anxiety of Liverpool's owners, who kept a tight hold of the purse strings this summer in the belief that Rafael Benítez's squad was good enough to compete for the Premier League title and at very least to secure the top-four finish that would lead to next season's Champions League. Liverpool's net spend this summer was approximately £18 million, but Benítez remains aggrieved that the board vetoed an £18 million deal to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Agent arrested after Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing lodges formal complaint

Stewart Downing’s former agent was arrested yesterday on suspicion of fraud after the Middlesbrough and England winger made a formal complaint to the police. Ian Elliott was being questioned by Cleveland Police’s Economic Crime Unit on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money-laundering.

Elliott was linked with the BBC’s Panorama programme on bungs and dodgy agents in September 2006, although there were no allegations of wrongdoing about him and he protested his innocence. Elliott was also warned two years ago by the FA as to his future conduct after a case involving Grant Leadbitter, the Sunderland midfield player.

This time he has been reported directly by a player he used to represent. Downing, 24, is thought to have terminated Elliott’s contract this year after negotiations with Middlesbrough over the terms of a new five-year deal became acrimonious. Steve Gibson, the club’s chairman, described Elliott as “a man who, in any other walk of life, you couldn’t imagine giving ten minutes of your time to”.

A Middlesbrough spokesman said yesterday: “We can confirm that the club was approached some time ago by Stewart with concerns regarding the way his and his company’s affairs have been handled. The club advised him to involve lawyers and accountants to investigate these concerns. Having established his position, Stewart made a formal complaint to Cleveland Police.”

Elliott, 50, who is based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, was arrested along with a 43-year-old woman.

Leeds United have pleaded guilty to an FA charge of using an unlicensed agent, relating to the transfer of Anthony Elding from Stockport County in January. Elding has since left the club. “We would like to reiterate that no payment has been made or is alleged to have been made to the agent,” a club statement read.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Robinho tops Sky poll on transfer deadline day

Bafta in the bag, surely. If the big broadcasting awards don't flow for the coverage of transfer deadline night by Sky Sports News, Martin Cranie hasn't joined Charlton Athletic on a year-long loan and Sone Aluko is still a Birmingham City player as we speak. Incredible doesn't begin to describe the energy, imagination and sheer viewer-engrossing vim that the channel brought to what is, let's face it, an evening during which nothing really happens apart from a few men in shirtsleeves faxing sheets of paper to each other behind closed doors.

Yes, obviously, there was a digital clock counting down to midnight in a strip across the screen. Did you really think for one second that they wouldn't have one of those? But, much more than that, there were the shots of London's most famous clock face marking time's inexorable march towards the witching hour and, with it, Jason Shackell's inexorable march to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Hands up if you thought that Big Ben was a useful Croatian centre back attracting the attention of Hull City. Wrong, it's the emphatic timepiece that announces the end of a frantic night for Sky Sports News - although not, sadly, with the bongs. Maybe those are contracted to ITV.

“Even though it's nowhere near that time,” Jim White, the newscaster, said, “I feel like wishing everyone a happy new year.” There were moments throughout the evening when one thought that White might be about to cry with the emotion of it all. Ditto his partner, Sam Matterface, whose name, if it didn't exist, would have to be invented by Chris Morris and The Day Today team.

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Feeding them the breaking stories was Andy “Three Mobiles” Burton. His triple-ply electronic arsenal was lined up on the desk in front of him. If you can't get him on the mobile, try him on the other mobile. Or the other mobile. Is he ever on all three at once? You'd like to see him have a go. He's potentially the only man in Britain who can phone out for a pizza, a Chinese and an Indian at the same time.

Peter Snow, eat your heart out. General election nights wish they could be half as exciting as this. Robinho looked a certainty to be voted in at Chelsea, but an unexpectedly high turnout of cash in the Eastlands constituency of Manchester brought about a massive swing to the north for the tearful Brazilian. Alan Myers was live in the borough, improvising the part of a returning officer, while a group of about 40 City fans pogoed on top of him, honking: “We've got Robinho, we've got Robinho.”

“It was never like this for David Dimbleby,” Myers must have muttered to himself as he briefly became the filling in a replica-shirt sandwich.

Back in the comfort of the studio, White dryly remarked: “Good to see Alan and so many members of the Myers family out so late at night.” It's easy for him to talk, though. On these occasions, all that White has to look out for over his shoulders is a thick plate of glass, screening what appears to be Mission Control in Houston - rank upon rank of monitors. Amazing the amount of technology required to keep tabs on Antoine Sibierski's situation at Norwich City.

Yet, for all Myers's physical discomfort, he had it easy by comparison with the reporter dispatched to stand outside the Tottenham Hotspur training ground in Chigwell. It looked pretty closed, as training grounds tend to at that sort of hour, and the only source of light was the one falling on our reporter's face, making it appear that he had just levered himself out of an escape tunnel at the request of a guard with a torch.

“I've been joined by a few Tottenham fans,” our reporter said. Two, to be precise. Neither of them seemed to be in a party mood (“I just feel disappointed, in the main”), but nor would you be in the circumstances. You've lost your best player to Manchester United and you're being questioned at the bottom of an abandoned lane in Essex at midnight. Those kinds of things can bring a person low.

Who will forget, though, the sight of Sir Alex Ferguson and Dimitar Berbatov looming chillingly behind frosted glass at Old Trafford and David Gill, the United chief executive, closing his blind (finally)? Or Rob Dorset, in Stoke, insisting that, somewhere behind him, “Tony Pulis is running from one office to the next” - a memorable image.

Or David Craig in Gateshead, in a room full of old television parts. What was he doing indoors? Are you telling me there were no Newcastle United fans standing outside St James' Park becoming photogenically angry or happy about something? If so, it was the only night of the year on which this could have been the case.

Unless, of course, they were at home, watching it on the telly. Good move, if so.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

US midfielder Bradley signs with Moenchengladbach

MOENCHENGLADBACH, Germany (AP)—Borussia Moenchengladbach signed United States midfielder Michael Bradley from Dutch club SC Heerenveen to a four-year contract on Monday.

The deal was completed when Bradley passed his medical exam. He briefly spoke to reporters before flying to join the U.S. team, which plays at Cuba in a World Cup qualifier Saturday.

“Borussia is a club with a great history and great fans,” Bradley said on the Bundesliga club’s Web site.

Bradley also spoke to the team’s Canadian striker, Rob Friend, who also played for Heerenveen.

“I asked Rob lots of questions about the players, the fans and the club as a whole and I only got positive answers,” he said.

The 21-year-old Bradley, the son of U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley, scored 15 goals in 33 Dutch league appearances last season.

“Michael’s an accomplished passer of the ball and an excellent linkup player who also does a lot of running off the ball. He’s also a threat with shots from outside the penalty area,” Borussia coach Jos Luhukay said.

Bradley has played 22 games for the U.S. national team.

After playing Cuba, the Americans meet Trinidad and Tobago four days later.

FROM: YAHOO

Underdog Charleston aims for US Open Cup title

WASHINGTON (AP)—Two days before his chance to play for an improbable national title, Dusty Hudock was cutting some tile with his wife as they remodeled their kids’ bathroom in the South Carolina coastal city of Charleston.

Hudock likes it there. He’s called the city home more or less since 1999, playing goalkeeper for the Charleston Battery before crowds of 4,000 or so at Blackbaud Stadium and coaching during the offseason to boost the family income.

On Wednesday, at least for a few hours, Hudock will leave the minor league life behind. He and the Battery will face D.C. United at RFK Stadium in the championship game of soccer’s U.S. Open Cup—the equivalent of a Triple-A baseball team getting to face the Boston Red Sox for the title of top club in America.

“This is undoubtedly the biggest game in the club’s history,” Hudock said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity.”

It’s one of those classic underdog vs. top-dog games. The 95-year-old Open Cup, the oldest annual team tournament in American sports history, is open to any amateur and professional soccer team affiliated with U.S. Soccer, much like the FA Cup in England and similar single-elimination tournaments around the world.

Of course, since MLS came into existence in 1996, a team from the top league has usually won. The exception was in 1999, when the Rochester Raging Rhinos stunned the Colorado Rapids 2-0 in the final.

The Battery have been around since 1993. They’re regularly one of the top teams in the United Soccer League’s First Division—essentially the second tier of American soccer behind MLS—and they’ve faced MLS teams before in exhibition games and in the U.S. Open Cup. They’ve already knocked out FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo this year to earn their way to their first Open Cup final.

But a win over United would mark new territory. Charleston, which has a population of a little more than 100,000, would have a national professional championship team. The winner also gets an automatic berth in next year’s CONCACAF Champions League, which determines the best club in North America. For a team that jostles for attention with minor league baseball and hockey teams and College of Charleston sports, the accomplishment would be worth more than just the trophy.

“Soccer is always a tough draw anywhere in America,” said Hudock, who had fans chanting his name after making two saves during the shootout in the home semifinal win over fellow USL team Seattle. “And down here in the South it’s more so. Anything that would boost the club around here locally is always going to help us.”

The players have been so anxious about the trip to Washington that coach Mike Anhaeuser has had trouble keeping them focused. They are on a seven-game winless streak in the USL.

“We’ve taken our foot off the pedal in our league games,” Anhaeuser said, “so we do know it’s a big game.”

Anhaeuser is realistic enough to know the task won’t be easy. United are hungry for a trophy themselves, having won the last of their four MLS Cups in 2004. United’s only U.S. Open Cup title came on their first try in 1996.

But if the Battery win? Oh, the joy that will ensue for the minor leaguers from South Carolina.

“I can tell you the celebration will go into the wee hours, and will happen on the field right after,” Anhaeuser said. “I’m sure the disappointment will be there if we don’t win it. We’re not coming there just to play a game. We’re coming to win.”

FROM: YAHOO

Minor league Sounders edge MLS Earthquakes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP)—Kenji Treschuk and Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar scored second-half goals to give the minor league Seattle Sounders a 2-1 exhibition victory Tuesday night over the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS.

Jamil Roberts scored the only goal for San Jose, which rested many of its regular starters. Goalkeeper Joe Cannon and recent additions Darren Huckerby, Scott Sealy and Francisco Lima, who have contributed heavily to the Earthquakes’ seven-game unbeaten streak in MLS play, didn’t play.

The game was still a good test for the Sounders, defending champion of the United Soccer League’s First Division. Seattle players will be made available to the Seattle Sounders FC expansion franchise when it joins MLS next season.

Treschuk got the Sounders even 1-1 in the 50th minute, converting a point-blank, right-footed shot after receiving a flicked header from Roger Levesque.

Seattle, which outshot San Jose 8-3 in the second half, kept the pressure on in the latter stages, culminating in a pretty sequence of three passes inside the Earthquakes’ penalty box in the 85th minute. The final pass, from Sebastien Le Toux, led to an open 12-yard blast from Alcaraz-Cuellar that San Jose goalkeeper Michael Gustavson could only watch.

The Earthquakes took a 1-0 lead when Jovan Kirovski’s perfectly curled corner kick from the left side was powered in off a header by Roberts in the 40th minute.

Seattle came close to answering 90 seconds later when Taylor Graham got a head to a corner kick from Leughton O’Brien. But Graham’s shot ricocheted off the crossbar.

The Earthquakes found some similar luck in the second half. Forward Mikel Arce got behind the Seattle defense for a 60th-minute breakaway, but a shot caromed off the left post and out of bounds.

FROM: YAHOO

Jamaica’s qualifier moved due to Gustav damage

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP)—The World Cup qualifying match between Jamaica and Mexico scheduled for Saturday has been moved because of damage caused in the Caribbean by Hurricane Gustav, FIFA said Tuesday.

The two countries will play at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City instead of the Jamaican capital of Kingston.

The return match scheduled for Oct. 11 in Mexico City will now be played at Jamaica’s National Stadium.

Jamaica and Mexico are drawn with Canada and Honduras in Group 2 of the third stage of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The winner and runner-up in each group will go forward to the fourth stage.

FROM: YAHOO

US men’s soccer prepares for historic game in Cuba

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (AP)—Landon Donovan took off his shirt and soaked in the South Florida sun as he walked off the field Monday, chuckling at the dozen or so college girls photographing his every move.

Don’t expect Donovan and the United States men’s soccer team to get such a friendly reception at their next stop: The national team’s first match in Cuba in 61 years.

And don’t expect the U.S. to focus on anything but soccer, either.

“We’re not going there to be political,” Donovan said Monday. “I’m not going there to make any political statements. I’m going there to play and try to win. That (political) part of it is real, but the reason we’re there is to play soccer. And that’s what we have to remember.”

The U.S. team held the first of four practices in this north Miami suburb as it prepared to play Cuba in a World Cup qualifier in Havana on Saturday. The Americans are coming off a 1-0 win over Guatemala and are heavily favored against a Cuban squad that lost to Trinidad and Tobago 3-1 in its opening semifinal qualifier on Aug. 20.

The U.S. national team has traveled to Cuba only once, losing 5-2 in 1947, although the under-20 team played in Havana in 1991 during the Pan American Games.

Most U.S. fans won’t be able to attend the game because of the government’s restrictions on travel to the communist nation, leaving the U.S. team unsure of what kind of reception it will receive.

“I’m hoping it will be good,” midfielder Eddie Lewis said. “But certainly with the political situation between our two countries, we might hear a little more jeers. Not that most guys on our team understand Spanish.”

Though baseball-crazy Cuba would need to score a major upset to bolster its chances of qualifying for the nation’s first World Cup since 1938, goalkeeper Dany Luis Quintero said “our motivation is always greater against a rival like the United States.”

“Cubans don’t like to lose to the United States,” he said. “The fans are more motivated and we are hoping for a full stadium.”

The U.S. knows it needs a win to stay on track to qualify for the World Cup. The Americans play Trinidad and Tobago on Sept. 10 in Bridgeview, Ill., and wins against both countries would all but assure a berth in the final round of qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

U.S. coach Bob Bradley said it’s important his team doesn’t lose focus with the distractions that could surround the game in Havana.

“It’s been a real long time so I think for our team, our players, it’s a tremendous opportunity,” Bradley said of the trip. “It’s certainly a unique experience and one everybody is looking forward to. We just need to make sure we keep our concentration on the importance of the game with qualifying for the World Cup.”

Luis Hernandez, president of the Cuban Soccer Association, downplayed the political significance of the game, which is being televised on cable in the United States.

“The political aspect has nothing to do with it,” Hernandez said Monday outside Havana’s Pedro Marero Stadium, the small and crumbling concrete venue of Saturday’s game. “The U.S. players are just athletes, soccer players, and we are too.”

Associated Press Writer Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana contributed to this report.

FROM: YAHOO

Brazil’s Viera agrees to coach Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP)—Jorvan Viera is returning to coach Iraq a year after leading the country to an improbable Asian title.

The Brazilian will sign a one-year contract in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraq federation head Ahmed Abbas said Monday.

Viera stepped down after Iraq unexpectedly won the Asian Cup by defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0—a feat that gave the Brazilian instant hero status here.

Iraqi Adnan Hamad was fired in June after Iraq lost to Qatar in a World Cup qualifier, ending the soccer-mad country’s dream of attending the 2010 finals in South Africa.

Iraq has not played a home game in nearly two decades because of wars and internal strife. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the national squad has been training mostly in neighboring Jordan, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Iraq last reached the World Cup in Mexico in 1986.

FROM: YAHOO

Chelsea, Liverpool end perfect starts with draws

LONDON (AP)—Darren Bent delivered Tottenham’s first point of the season in a hard-fought 1-1 draw Sunday at Chelsea, while Liverpool tied 0-0 at Villa to end its perfect start to the season.

Juliano Belletti capped Chelsea’s early domination with a 28th-minute opener at Stamford Bridge, only to see it canceled out in first-half injury time by Bent’s first goal of the season.

Chelsea, like Liverpool, had won its first two Premier League matches. But Spurs manager Juande Ramos was under pressure after two defeats and the uncertainty surrounding Dimitar Berbatov.

“We needed something to kickstart the season to lift the season and give the players some confidence,” Ramos said through a translator.

Bent operated as the lone striker while Berbatov looks likely to wrap up his bitter move to Manchester United before the transfer window closes Monday night. Spurs completed the signing of Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko as Berbatov’s replacement over the weekend.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was taunted at Villa Park for his part in the failed pursuit of Villa captain Gareth Barry.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres pulled up sharply when chasing a pass and summer recruit David Ngog made his debut.

Three days after leaving Chelsea, winger Shaun Wright-Phillips immediately reignited his career by scoring twice on his return to Manchester City in a 3-0 victory at Sunderland.

Stephen Ireland put the visitors ahead in first-half injury time. Wright-Phillips, who left City in 2005, scored in the 50th and 58th.

MADRID, Spain (AP)—FC Barcelona lost at promoted Numancia 1-0 in its opening game of the Spanish league season in a major disappointment for new coach Pep Guardiola.

Numancia midfielder Mario Martinez decided the game in the 13th minute at Los Pajaritos Stadium with a fierce shot past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Villarreal, last season’s runner-up, drew its first match at Osasuna 1-1 in an encounter in which both teams ended with 10 men.

Midfielder Marcos Senna gave Villarreal the lead in the 54th minute with a free kick from the edge of the area.

Villarreal defender Diego Godin was ejected for fouling Osasuna’s Masoud Shojaei, and Javad Nekounam converted the resulting penalty in the 68th. Osasuna then had defender Miguel Flano ejected for a 77th-minute foul.

In other games, it was: Atletico Madrid 4, Malaga 0; Sporting Gijon 1, Getafe 2; Racing Santander 1, Sevilla 1; Athletic Bilbao 1, Almeria 3; and Real Betis 0, Recreativo Huelva 1.

Later Sunday, Real Madrid was to begin its bid for a third straight title at Deportivo La Coruna, where it hasn’t won since 1991.

MILAN, Italy (AP)—Newly promoted Bologna beat AC Milan 2-1 to spoil Ronaldinho’s debut in the opening round of Serie A.

Ronaldinho set up Milan’s equalizer with a cross headed in by Massimo Ambrosini in the 41st minute, after Marco Di Vaio had put Bologna ahead in the 18th. Francesco Valiani sealed the win in the 79th.

AS Roma could only manage a 1-1 tie with Napoli, which had 10 men for most of the second half.

Roma pulled ahead in the 29th, but Marek Hamsik drew Napoli level a minute after Fabiano Santacroce’s expulsion.

Lazio beat Cagliari 4-1, coming back with four goals in 30 minutes after going behind 1-0.

Chievo rallied to defeat Reggina 2-1 with a goal in the 88th by Vincenzo Italiano after the teams traded penalty kicks to make it 1-1. Reggina has never won in 11 meetings between the two teams at Chievo’s home stadium in Verona.

In other games, it was: Torino 3, Lecce 0; Catania 1, Genoa 0; and Atalanta 1, Siena 0.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)—Luca Toni scored his first goal of the season and Juergen Klinsmann earned his first Bundesliga victory in charge of Bayern when the defending champion routed Hertha Berlin 4-1.

Stuttgart won 2-0 at Hannover, which remained winless.

Toni opened the scoring in the 12th minute, but Bayern could not score again until Philipp Lahm broke through after a pass from Ze Roberto and beat Berlin’s goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny in the 54th.

Bayern got its third 2 minutes later when Schweinsteiger converted a penalty he had earned.

Berlin defender Steven von Bergen gave away his second penalty when he downed Ze Roberto and Miroslav Klose scored from the spot in the 70th.

In Stuttgart, striker Mario Gomez scored in the 18th after his Germany teammate, Hannover goalkeeper Robert Enke, deflected a shot after a corner. Gomez volleyed in the rebound and notched his sixth goal in six games.

Pavel Pardo converted a penalty in the 40th to seal Stuttgart’s second win of the season.

PARIS (AP)—Ludovic Obraniak’s second-half goal gave Lille a surprise 2-1 win over Bordeaux in the French league.

The midfielder sent a powerful shot from the edge of the box into the top corner in the 76th minute, as Lille rallied from a goal down for its first win of the season.

Argentina forward Fernando Cavenaghi had given Bordeaux the lead with a semi-volley from 25 yards under the crossbar in the 28th. Brazilian midfielder Michel Bastos then beat the offside trap to level for Lille in the 31st, placing the ball out of goalkeeper Ulrich Rame’s reach.

Rennes held Toulouse to a scoreless draw in a game with few scoring chances.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Striker Kenny Miller scored two goals against his former team to give Rangers a 4-2 win over Celtic in the Old Firm derby.

Miller scored his first goals since an offseason move from Derby made him the first player to rejoin Rangers after a spell at Glasgow rival Celtic.

Daniel Cousin and Pedro Mendes added the other goals to send Rangers to the top of the Scottish Premier League ahead of Kilmarnock on goal difference. Celtic, which had goals from Georgios Samaras and Shunsuke Nakamura, is three points behind in fourth place.

FROM: YAHOO

We'd pay 135 million pounds for Cristiano Ronaldo say City owners

LONDON (AFP) - Manchester City's new billionaire Arab owners say they are willing to pay 135 million pounds (210 million dollars) to land Cristiano Ronaldo from the Red side of the city.

"Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world, so we will see in January if he is serious," the Guardian newspaper quoted Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, of City's new owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, as saying on their website.

According to the report Tuesday, Al-Fahim also wants to track down other major stars, including Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and Valencia's David Villa as City, one of England's perennial under-achievers in recent decades, head for the footballing stratosphere.

Al-Fahim says he wants to build a "dream team" which can compete in the Champions League within the coming three years.

City have already stunned fellow moneybags club Chelsea in landing Robinho from Real Madrid in a British record 32.5 million-pound move on deadline day late Monday.

And now Ronaldo, linked with Real for much of the summer, is seen as the potential jewel in the crown.

"Real Madrid were estimating his value at 160 million dollars but for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more; I would think 240 million (dollars) (135 million pounds).

"But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United.

"We want a team who can win the Champions League," the Guardian quoted Al-Fahim as saying.

Were such a mega-deal to materialise it would be three times bigger than the current world record which Real paid Juventus for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

"If we can get the biggest players in the world, and of course if the manager wants them, then we will get them," said Al-Fahim, who has agreed to acquire a majority stake in City, subject to due diligence, from former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Al-Fahim has not disclosed the amount he is paying for City when he made the purchase on Monday on behalf of the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, of which he is a board member.

The National, an English-language Abu Dhabi daily, earlier Tuesday estimated the value of the buy-out at 177 million dollars.

Robinho, 24, will earn a reported 300,000 dollars a week at City, which would make him the highest-paid footballer ever.

On Ronaldo, a United spokesman said curtly: "We have made it clear all summer that Cristiano is not for sale."

Ronaldo is currently on the sidelines as he recovers from July ankle surgery.

Last season he scored 42 goals to help United retain their Premier League title and also win the Champions League, the Portuguese wideman scoring in the final win over Chelsea.

FROM: YAHOO

Bologna stun Milan on Ronaldinho’s debut

ROME, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Francesco Valiani scored a stunning goal as promoted Bologna beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro on Sunday to spoil Ronaldinho’s Serie A debut.

Midfielder Valiani blasted the ball home from outside the box in the 79th minute after Massimo Ambrosini had cancelled out Marco Di Vaio’s goal for Bologna in the first half.

Last year’s runners-up AS Roma drew 1-1 with Napoli, who had defender Fabiano Santacroce sent off for a second yellow card in the 54th minute.

Champions Inter Milan were held 1-1 at Sampdoria on Saturday in new coach Jose Mourinho’s league debut, while Juventus kick off their campaign at fierce rivals Fiorentina later on Sunday.

Former Italy forward Di Vaio, a close-season signing from Genoa, dented the San Siro’s excitement at Ronaldinho’s debut in the 18th minute with a fine diagonal strike.

The Brazilian had a hand in the equaliser, floating a cross into the area four minutes before the break for Ambrosini to head home.

Ronaldinho went on to create a string of chances that his team mates failed to put away.

One fell to Andriy Shevchenko, who could not find the net with only the keeper to beat at the start of the second half after coming off the bench to mark his return to Milan after two troubled seasons at Chelsea.

At Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Alberto Aquilani nudged the ball home for the hosts just before the half hour after fellow Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi had picked him out in the area.

Marek Hamsik knocked in the rebound of his own header on to the crossbar to level for Napoli shortly after Santacroce’s sending off.

In Sunday’s other matches, Torino beat Lecce 3-0 in Turin, Lazio came from behind to beat 10-man Cagliari 4-1 in Sardinia, Atalanta and Catania secured 1-0 home wins over Siena and Genoa, and Chievo beat Reggina 2-1 in Verona.

Those teams join Bologna and Udinese, who beat Palermo 3-1 in their opening game on Saturday, at the top of Serie A. (Reporting by Paul Virgo; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

FROM: YAHOO

Ball in the Face

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Inter seeks 4th straight Italian A title

MILAN, Italy (AP)—Inter Milan is coming off three straight Serie A titles and new coach Jose Mourinho will be keen to live up to his nickname the “Special One.”

“When this team has had time to work together we will win games 2-0 and 3-0 not 1-0,” Mourinho said of this weekend’s league openers. “I have only worked with the team for one month so we will get much better.”

Though unable to lure Frank Lampard from Chelsea, Mourinho should get midfield help with the acquisition of Amantino Mancini from Roma. Inter also is hoping for another impressive season from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had 17 goals last season. And Adriano is back for Inter after a six-month spell in Brazil.

Mourinho led Chelsea to English Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, then was fired early last season. Fans and owner Massimo Moratti want the Portuguese coach to deliver Inter’s first European Cup title since 1965.

“I don’t know our rivals sufficiently to say what our chances are, but the Champions League is a rather difficult competition,” Moratti said. “Mourinho is an expert and the players have gained experience. This could be our year.”

Roma, which finished second the past two seasons, must hope coach Luciano Spalletti can once again get the best out of a perennially weak bench and that forward Francesco Totti can stay healthy. Even if that happens, it will still struggle to overcome the loss of Mancini’s fancy footwork in midfield.

“Roma is very strong and has experience and you need to put them at the top of the list (of contenders) because they also have an excellent coach,” Moratti said.

Help in attack arrived with the newly signed Julio Baptista who gives Spalletti another option up front besides Totti and Montenegro’s Mirko Vucinic. The midfield will again include Italy stars Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Aquilani and Simone Perrotta.

Milan, which will be in the UEFA Cup following a fifth-place Serie A finish, has an all-Brazilian attack of Kaka, Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho, obtained from Barcelona following a disappointing season. Milan lost striker Alberto Gilardino to Fiorentina, but added Marco Borriello, who scored 19 goals for Genoa last year, and Andriy Shevchenko, who returns after two unsuccessful seasons at Chelsea.

While the midfield looks solid with the return of Italy midfielders Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini, the defense is cause for concern for coach Carlo Ancelotti. Paolo Maldini is 40 years old and Alessandro Nesta has had injury problems, although they will be helped with the arrival of Gianluca Zambrotta.

Christian Abbiati, Dida and Zeljko Kalac are competing to start in goal.

“The (league) championship is Milan’s primary objective,” said Filippo Inzaghi, who scored 10 goals in Milan’s final seven games last season.

In its quest for its 28th Serie A title, Juventus has an attack of Alessandro Del Piero (21 goals last season) and David Trezeguet (20). The club’s offseason signings include Brazilian forward Amauri, who scored 15 goals last season for Palermo, and Sweden defender Olof Mellberg.

Fiorentina spent more than $58 million on players during the offseason and rejected Roma’s $29 million offer for Romania striker Adrian Mutu.

“For years I just got by, but this time I really spent,” said Pantaleo Corvino, Fiorentina’s sporting director. “The big teams are no longer in another galaxy. Inter, Milan, Juve and Roma are still far away, skyscrapers, but we are now a big house.”

Sampdoria may struggle to repeat its sixth-place finish from last season, though the creative Antonio Cassano is back to lead the attack.

Napoli finished a surprising eighth last season following its promotion from Serie B. The team might do even better this season with the return of the speedy Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi in attack, supported in midfield by Slovak Marek Hamsik.

“Napoli has improved a lot and will continue to improve,” Ancelotti said.

Genoa may struggle after selling Borriello to Milan and concentrating its efforts on a crop of young players, including Raffaele Palladino, who played for Juventus last season.

Palermo shed several key players, including Amauri, and will likely struggle. The same fate probably awaits Atalanta and Lazio.

Siena, Cagliari, Reggina, Torino and Catania may well repeat last season’s battle to avoid relegation. The three additions from Serie B are Chievo, Bologna and Lecce.

But the focus will be at the top of the standings.

“Mourinho is the man to beat,” Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri said. “Inter is to be feared.”

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Robinho's going nowhere, insists Real president

MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon insisted Saturday that Brazilian winger Robinho would be staying with the Spanish side, despite the player saying he is still in talks with English club Chelsea.

"He's going to stay here, I'm saying that," Calderon told the daily ABC, adding that the Brazilian was "a good boy, badly advised" by his entourage.

Robinho, 24, said in an interview with Brazilian television Globoesporte on Friday that he wanted to leave, adding that "negotiations were ongoing" for his eventual transfer to the English club.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted on Friday he was in the dark over his club's bid to sign Robinho.

Scolari made Robinho his top transfer target when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in July but Chelsea have been unable to seal the deal.

The Premier League club have had a bid turned down by Real, who are adamant Robinho will remain at the Bernabeu even though the player is keen to move.

Meanwhile, Calderon boasted that Real were the "best team" in Europe and would be bidding to win everything - the Primera Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Cup - this season.

"We don't have any need to sign (new players). I challenge anyone to tell me that there is a better team in Europe!"

Real failed in bids to sign Valencia striker David Villa, Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

FROM: TIMESONLINE

West Ham make returning Paul Ince suffer

Crisis? What crisis? West Ham’s manager Alan Curbishley was a satisfied man after this very timely triumph. With first-choice players seemingly leaving Upton Park in procession, a gruesome 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last weekend, a very uneasy 4-1 League Cup win in midweek over humble Macclesfield, the Hammers indeed seemed in potential turmoil.

A few days earlier they had been obliged to sell their promising young centre-back Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland, looming on the horizon is a court case, the result of all that controversy over the signing of Carlos Tevez two seasons ago, in which the Hammers are being sued by Sheffield United, plus rumours that Carlton Cole, who hammered the last nail into Blackburn’s coffin here, may himself be on the way out of the club.

The wonder of it was that Blackburn, who had reduced a 2-0 lead to 2-1 and missed a penalty that could have levelled matters, capitulated pitifully during second-half stoppage time when first Craig Bellamy, on as a 67th-minute substitute for his first match of the season, then Cole, drove home two more West Ham goals to humiliate Paul Ince’s team.

Ince, as was generally expected, not least by himself, was greeted by a hostile chorus of “Stand up if you hate Paul Ince”. West Ham fans seem never to forget that distant moment when Ince, on his way out of Upton Park, where he had begun as a 10-year-old, was photographed posing in the jersey of Manchester United, whom he was just about to join. But, by the end of this curious affair, even the most vindictive West Ham fan must have been all but assuaged.

What collapsed in those closing minutes was the whole left flank of the Blackburn defence, the more surprising as, in Stephen Warnock, they have a left-back who, at times, has shown international class. However, for the second half, someone, perhaps his partner Ryan Nelsen, should have called on him to move out towards the left flank, rather than leave super-abundant spaces that West Ham gleefully exploited.

For the first of those two late goals, Warnock was culpably out of position and Bellamy exploited the consequent lightning cross to smash his shot past Paul Robinson. Then, again on the right, Valon Behrami had moved forward from right-back after the effective French winger, Julien Faubert, had been forced off after a heavy fall, he sent the ball across as Lucas Neill previously had. When Scott Parker, lively, industrious and effective in midfield together with Mark Noble, flicked on, there was Cole to crack in West Ham’s fourth goal.

It has to be said that West Ham’s defence hardly looked concrete, even though it was not so prone to give second chances as was Blackburn’s central rearguard pairing. But up front it was one of West Ham’s centre-backs, in the shape of Calum Davenport, who forcefully headed in a left-wing corner by Faubert after just 12 minutes to give the home side the lead.

Eight minutes later, West Ham scored something of a fortunate goal when Faubert crossed, Noble got in a shot, Christopher Samba, the Blackburn central defender, tried unsuccessfully to deal with it and the ball found its way past Robinson into the net, with Dean Ashton following it up. Blackburn protested angrily, but in vain that the goal was offside.

Just two minutes later Jason Roberts, always vigorous and sometimes excessively so, brought the score to 2-1 after an attempted clearance by Behrami found the Rovers striker, who swiftly and skilfully turned Davenport on the left and scored.

On 31 minutes Warnock, looking rather better in attack than defence, sent over a cross which Roberts got his head to and Matt Derbyshire seemed to touch over the line. Was the goal offside? Mike Riley, the referee, thought so; Blackburn did not.

Throughout the game West Ham’s Matthew Etherington was playing as a classical left winger, with plenty of pace and a fine left foot, putting over searching crosses in double-quick time. One of them, on 37 minutes, gave Cole a clear chance, but his header flew well over the top.

After a couple of minutes of the second half, Morten Gamst Pedersen sent in a free kick, a hand — courtesy of Cole — went up, a penalty was given, but Roberts took it inadequately, enabling Robert Green to go full length and turn the ball away. The West Ham goalkeeper has a habit of doing so, after three successful spot-kick saves last season.

After that, chances were at a premium until the 63rd minute, when Derbyshire — a lively substitute for Blackburn’s leading scorer Roque Santa Cruz — beat Green to the ball on the edge of the West Ham box, only to shoot over the bar.

Curbishley was predictably delighted: “Blackburn demonstrated what they are: a very good side. We raced into a 2-0 lead but they were always in the game, forcing the issue.” He had particular praise for Green, his goalkeeper, who made “a fantastic save”.

As for Paul Ince, he said: “We took the game to them in the second half and had enough chances but it wasn’t to be.”

West Ham: Green 7, Behrami 6, Upson 6, Davenport 6, Neill 6, Faubert 7 (McCartney 59min, 6), Parker 7, Noble 7 (Mullins 81min), Etherington 7, Cole 7, Ashton 7 (Bellamy 67min)

Blackburn: Robinson 6, Ooijer 6, Samba 6, Nelsen 5, Warnock 5, Emerton 7, Reid 7, Grella 5 (Andrews h-t, 6), Pedersen 7 (Treacy 65min), Santa Cruz 6 (Derbyshire 28min, 7), Roberts 7

Star man: Mark Noble (West Ham)

Yellow cards: West Ham: Bellamy. Blackburn: Ooijer, Emerton, Grella, Roberts, Nelsen

Referee: M Riley

Attendance: 32,905

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Jermain Defoe brace lifts Portsmouth off bottom

The big screen at the gable end of the Bullens Road stand kept flashing up adverts for Goodison Park’s next league match, the Merseyside derby on September 27. Everton spent much of last season with hope of finishing higher than Liverpool. This time they look further than ever from their neigh-bours and the rest of the Big Four and maintaining the status of being “best of the rest” in the Premier League is going to be a struggle.

Portsmouth, beaten by Chel-sea and Manchester United in their opening games, may feel their season only began in earnest yesterday and this was impressive stuff. Fifth place is theirs if Harry Redknapp’s players can continue in this manner. Pompey were solid, slick and penetrative, all shield and rapier against Everton’s lumpen thrusts.

Alas, Fabio Capello, the England coach, was elsewhere. At Goodison he would have witnessed Glen Johnson, still not quite free of immaturity, but developing in a direction that could see him become England’s best football-playing right-back. He would have also seen Jermain Defoe suggest a solution to Capello’s striker problems. Playing off a big man - say Dean Ashton or yesterday’s accomplice, Peter Crouch - Defoe can be deadly and using such a combination for England could set Wayne Rooney free.

At the very least a place in the squad Capello will name today for World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia, must be guaranteed. Defoe put Portsmouth ahead by producing an electric piece of play and lobbed Tim Howard contemp-tously for 3-0. Sandwiched between was a canny assist for Johnson’s goal. “I’m not sure what Mr Capello will do, he’s got Rooney there,” said Redknapp, “but Jermain’s a fantastic little player, a scorer with good ability. He’ll be in the squad, I’m sure.”

Redknapp changed his system yesterday, playing with three centre-halves and Johnson and Armand Traore as wing backs. It worked handsomely. Sol Campbell was protected from Yakubu’s pace and Johnson and Traore used their speed to dominate the flanks. Portsmouth’s shape suited the counter-attacking game Redknapp likes playing, giving them outlets going forward while rein-forcing their defensive core.

Everton were allowed plenty of ball but when they went upfield found goalkeeper David James shielded by six men, the centre-backs, Lassana Diarra doing a passable Claude Makele-le impression, and Johnson and Traore who tucked in. Everton did not have the guile to pass their way through the roadblocks Redknapp erected. They would huff their way over halfway and puff into the final third, where their moves would wither.

Yakubu did have the chance to score from a penalty when Johnson, daftly, blocked James Vaughan’s run, but the Nigeri-an, off a lazy run-up, spooned the ball straight at James.

Everton’s main problem was in centre midfield where they had Jack Rodwell, an impressive athlete and accomplished player at the age of 17, but educated in their academy as a centre-back. Alongside Rodwell was Phil Jagielka, another defender. Neither could pierce Pompey with passing.

You pitied the earnest Jagielka, cast as Everton’s playmaker, which was a bit like asking a banjo player to perform a violin concerto. Moyes is perfectly aware of the imbalances in his squad and his desire for a central, creative player has led to a long pursuit of Joao Moutinho. Unable to meet Sporting Lisbon’s £16m asking price, Moyes may look elsewhere.

“I’m going to try (to make a signing before the transfer window closes),” said Moyes. “We are lacking quality at the moment and we’re probably not ready to win Premier League games. We had Jagielka, a centre-back, and a 17-year-old, in the central area and that’s where we’re short. We had another youngster, James Vaughan, up front. That said, I don’t think these are necessarily the players letting us down. There are big players in the team who are not performing.”

Moyes may have had in mind Yakubu, Mikel Arteta and his centre-backs, Joleon Lescott and Joseph Yobo. Defoe’s opening goal disgusted him. It delighted the neutral. Crouch flicked on a long throw and Defoe gathered possession eight yards out, his back to Lescott and with Neville and Jagielka closing in. Switching the ball from instep to heel to instep once more, he maintained control of it in the tightest space then, just as the tackles were arriving, swivelled to tuck a shot past Howard.

James made a fine stop when Yakubu crossed and Arteta, arriving late, smashed a half-volley towards a large tract of unprotected net from close range. Portsmouth’s goalkeeper flew across and pushed it onto the post. Vaughan and Yakubu could not connect with good centres from Leighton Baines and Everton’s play began deteriorating. Johnson passed to Defoe and darted in from the right wing to receive the return ball and place the ball past Howard. 2-0.

For Pompey it got better, for Everton worse. Yakubu missed his penalty then Shaun Davis backheeled to Defoe who noted Howard was out of position and lofted the ball over the American who, falling back, managed to tip it against the underside of the bar. It bounced down and over the line.

Everton: Howard 6, Neville 6, Yobo 6, Lescott 6, Baines 7, Arteta 6, Jagielka 5, Rodwell 6, Osman 6 (Baxter 71min), Yakubu 5, Vaughan 6 (Anichebe 58min, 6)

Portsmouth: James 7, Johnson 7, Campbell 6, Kaboul 7, Distin 6, Diarra 6, Davis 6 (Mvuemba 90min), Diop 5, Traore 7 (Hreidarsson 77min), Crouch 7, Defoe 9 (Utaka 76min)

Star man: Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth)

Yellow card: Everton: Baines

Referee: M Halsey

Attendance: 34,418

FROM:TIMESONLINE

Tuncay late strike defies ten-man Stoke

With five minutes of this pulsating encounter remaining, Stoke City’s 10 men appeared to have eked out the point their doughty contribution warranted. Then, Stewart Downing’s cross was cleared to Didier Digard, whose feeble attempted shot bobbled to Tuncay Sanli. As Andy Wilkinson foolishly appealed for offside rather than attending to the Turk, Tuncay swivelled and fired the winner past Thomas Sorensen.

For Middlesbrough, three desperately hard-earned points. For Stoke, another reminder that the top flight is the harshest of mistresses. Both teams, however, could take much from their afternoon’s toil. “These things happen,” sighed Stoke manager Tony Pulis. “We’ve just got to take it on the chin.”

Last week’s trip to Anfield may have been pointless in a literal sense, but another lambent Middlesbrough performance underlined the notion that manager Gareth Southgate’s mix of local youth and international sparkle might be on the cusp of something more substantial than their habitual half-hearted tussle with relegation.

“A few of us weren’t at our best today,” admitted Southgate. “We should have run the legs off them but, although I wanted seven points from the first three games and we’ve only got six, it’s been a good start.”

Stoke arrived with some fizz after their win over Aston Villa last weekend. Pulis’s signing of central defender Ibrahima Sonko on Friday suggests he knows where his problems lie. If not, he was reminded after 14 minutes when Afonso Alves rose unchallenged to nod Gary O’Neil’s cross down, but inches past Sorensen’s post.

Stoke were not without hope in a most entertaining first period. As if discovering colour television after a lifetime of black and white, they have added brain to go with their brawn.

Certainly, Rory Delap still hurled long throws towards Middlesbrough’s young goalkeeper Ross Turnbull, who the tricky Liam Lawrence forced into a dramatic claw aside from a 20-yard free kick but, when Stoke swept forward, they looked the Premier League part. Ricardo Fuller might have had two first-half penalties and led Robert Huth and David Wheater a most merry dance.

“Yes Rory does his long throws,” admitted Pulis, “But we played good football today.”

Then, in the 38th minute, the light at the end of Stoke’s tunnel turned out to be an oncoming train. First, Amdy Faye got himself sent off for a two-footed lunge at Mohamed Shawky 20 yards out. The Egyptian made the most of it and was soon gambolling around the pitch like an excited faun, but even Pulis accepted a straight red card was the correct decision. “It changed the game, though. We were enjoying ourselves until then.”

If being a man down was insufficiently punishment, City were immediately a goal adrift too, when Alves gloriously curled the subsequent free kick past a transfixed Sorensen. It could have been worse for Stoke, when only Leon Cort’s heroic block denied Tuncay’s fierce drive.

For the second half, Stoke switched Delap into central midfield and to 4-3-2. If the 10 men had no choice but to attack whenever possible, Middlesbrough’s 11 did so because they know no other way.

Downing went close with another free kick; Tuncay, playing like a man who feels Mido’s restless breath on his neck every time he squanders a goal chance, ran himself and Abdoulaye Faye into the ground. When, unmarked nine yards out, he ballooned Alves’s low 56th-minute cross into the stands, his personal fat lady was surely clearing her throat. As it was, she never got to sing.

The break that Stoke were so desperately seeking came in the 64th minute when Alves took a gymnastic tumble inside the penalty area after the lightest of touches from Seyi Olofinjana. Downing blasted the penalty at Sorensen’s bar and Stoke lived to fight another 25 minutes.

If fortune had smiled benignly on the visitors vis-a-vis the penalty and immediately afterwards when Tuncay and O’Neil went close, it was positively grinning for the equaliser. Lawrence ambled down the right and put over a low cross to the back post. Sensing Kitson behind him but not his own peril, Justin Hoyte — starting his first league game for his new club, unaccountably bundled home the third own goal Middlesbrough have conceded in three games. “I wouldn’t blame him for the goal,” said Southgate generously.

Middlesbrough roared but Stoke seemed to have weathered Hurricane Boro until the 85th minute, when fortune went into hiding once more and Tuncay achieved the redemption he so deserved.

Middlesbrough: Turnbull 5, Hoyte 5 (Taylor 71min), Huth 5, Wheater 5, Pogatetz 6, Aliadiere 5, O'Neil 7, Shawky 5 (Digard 61min), Downing 7, Tuncay 7, Alves 8 (Mido 76min).

Stoke: Sorensen 7, Griffin 6, Cort 6, Abdoulaye Faye 5, Dickinson 5 (Wilkinson 67min), Lawrence 7, Olofinjana 7, Amdy Faye 5, Delap 6, Kitson 7 (Cresswell 83min), Fuller 7 (Sidibe 74min).

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Time to stop talking and start winning

Like Robert De Niro, Fabio Capello is waiting, talking Italian. Nearly nine months after his appointment, England’s second foreign coach is struggling to master the lingo, and if communication is as big a problem for him in the dressing room as it is in his dealings with the press, there could be a few more of those Czech Republic performances to be endured yet.

Capello is still heavily reliant on an interpreter and his media aides at the FA, and it is not only the nuances but the true meaning of his words that is often lost in translation. It is worrying with phoney war friendlies now over and the World Cup qualifying campaign about to begin. The latest misunderstanding was both typical and illustrative. Discussing David Beckham’s efforts against the Czechs, Capello said: “He ran as much as the others, in some cases more,” then resorted to his native tongue for further explanation. The interpreter relayed: “He [Beckham] didn’t do anything amazing,” and was promptly corrected by the correspondent from Gazzetta dello Sport, who barked: “Fabio didn’t say amazing, he said dangerous.”

It may appear to be a semantic point, but there is an important distinction here. Beckham hasn’t done anything “amazing” for seven years, since getting England to the 2002 World Cup with his heroics against Greece at Old Trafford. He could still command a place in the team without ever replicating that stellar performance, but the truth is he hasn’t done anything “dangerous” for a long time either, unless you count stray showboating long passes.

The difference between amazing and dangerous is significant in this context and these misconstructions are becoming routine. Before naming his squad for the Czechs’ visit, Capello said he was keen to see more of Peter Crouch, the impression conveyed that he meant playing for England. The following day, Crouch was left out and it transpired the coach wanted to see Crouch playing regularly at club level.

If journalists and managers who have spent half a lifetime analysing such things can misconstrue Capello’s statements, can the players be expected to fare any better? It has emerged that Steven Gerrard thought he had been briefed to play on the left against the Czechs, whereas Capello intended him to have a free role behind Jermain Defoe. Houston, we have a problem.

It is unfortunate that the coach has surrounded himself with a staff of compatriots – Franco Baldini, Ita-lo Galbiati, Franco Tancredi and Massimo Neri. If he was working exclusively with Englishmen, it is reasonable to expect he would be more conversant by now. Some will say this is the price to be paid for appointing a foreigner, but nobody ever had a problem understanding Arsène Wenger, Gerard Houllier or even Sven-Göran Eriksson.

What is easily grasped is that nitty-gritty time is upon us, the end of Capello’s honeymoon period and the onset of The Real Thing. After five near-meaningless friendlies we are into World Cup qualifiers away to Andorra on Saturday and Croatia the following Wednesday. England will not be at full strength, which is unlikely to seriously undermine them in Barcelona next weekend, but might do in Zagreb four days later. Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick will be absent, injured or convalescing, which weakens the midfield, especially when it comes to screening the back four. There is no pressing need for an anchor man against Andorra, but the defence would appreciate all the help it can get against Croatian opponents who embarrassed them at Wembley last November.

Given that goal difference could prove decisive in a tight group, England need not only to win, but by a good margin next Saturday. Eighteen months ago, in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, it was only 3-0, courtesy of two goals from Gerrard and a bur-gled tap-in from the one-cap wonder that was David Nugent. The strikers need to be more productive than Wayne Rooney and Andy Johnson were then and no time should be wasted in recalling Michael Owen.

Will Capello do it? He is no great admirer of the injury-plagued striker, and left him on the bench throughout the one match for which he had him available, in France last March. Shortly before taking up the job, the Italian was asked what sort of role he envisaged for Owen, and replied: “Number 12.” Before checking on the Newcastle striker at Arsenal yesterday, the coach called him “a sniffer” – or at least that’s what the interpreter came up with – and likened him to Paolo Rossi, whose goals helped Italy to win the 1982 World Cup.

“Owen is a good player who has always scored a lot of goals, although not so many at Real Madrid,” Capello said. So was the man with 40 in 89 international appearances back in favour? “He is not completely fit and we need fit players at this moment.” England have nobody as reliable in front of goal and it is no coincidence that the last time the attack functioned effectively, in defeating Russia 3-0 at home, Owen scored twice. He is still only 28 and, even if all those injuries have cost him a yard of pace, he remains more of a potential match-winner than any of the alternatives.

The same cannot be said of Beckham, who should be dropped and David Bentley given 90 minutes to prove his worth. A change would be welcome, too, in defence, where Micah Richards is a better, more adventurous right-back than Wes Brown, and a place needs to be found, probably on the left, for Joe Cole, who is the one England midfielder with the tricks to beat an opponent. The two matches are very different and, under normal circumstances, would warrant different formations, with 4-3-3 appropriate for Andorra and 4-2-3-1 against the Croats. However, such has been England’s difficulty mastering even one configuration under Capello that changes should be kept to a minimum.

The club versus country conflict raised its head again on Friday when Capello complained he had been kept in the dark by Liverpool over Gerrard’s need for surgery. Manchester United’s talk about playing Hargreaves in the Super Cup while declaring him unfit for England eight days later also angered Capello. It was ever thus, the problem with Sir Alex Ferguson dating back to the days when Paul Ince suffered dubious injuries when England came calling.

Capello, clearly irked, is making the time-honoured demands for cooperation and consideration. “Respect is important,” he said, tacitly implying he was not getting it. He had also not been happy about Harry Redknapp’s comments after the Czech match when the Portsmouth manager described England’s performance as “awful” and accused Capello of “killing” Gerrard’s effectiveness by playing him on the left. “I’ve spoken with him about what he said,” Capello said. “In Italy and Spain, managers don’t speak about the national team, here it is different. Everyone has got an opinion.”

It comes with the job, Fabio, along with that £6m a year wage.

England v Andorra: how hard can it be?

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Sept 2 2006 Euro qualifier England 5 Andorra 0
Mar 28 2007 Euro qualifier Andorra 0 England 3

Andorra had never even played an international match until 1996 and have so far managed only three victories, all at home. Only one of these has been in a competitive match, Marc Bernaus, giving them a 1-0 win over Macedonia in a World Cup qualifier in October 2004

They have already begun their World Cup campaign, losing 3-0 to Kazakhstan

Andorra are ranked 182nd in the Fifa world rankings, while England are 14th

ENGLAND WORLD CUP DATES

Sep 6 Andorra (a)
Sep 10 Croatia (a)
Oct 11 Kazakhstan (h)
Oct 15 Belarus (a)
Apr 1 2009 Ukraine (h)
Jun 6 Kazakhstan (a)
Jun 10 Andorra (h)
Sep 9 Croatia (h)

FROM: TIMESONLINE

Robin Van Persie conducts Arsenal masterclass

Not long before the end, Setanta TV caught Fabio Capello picking his nose, which was excusable in the circumstances. There was not much else for the England coach to pick here.

Enduring a frustration that will be familiar for any England manager of recent vintage, Capello was at the Emirates yesterday to check on Michael Owen, but was left admiring the classy football of an Arsenal team featuring 11 foreigners, Theo Walcott not getting on until 72 minutes had ticked by.

If England could call on Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie, World Cup qualification would be a doddle. Instead, when Capello names his squad today, he has a difficult decision to make about Owen, whose international scoring record warrants his return, but who looked understandably rusty on his first start of the season.

He had one gilt-edged chance but shot wide when, in fairness, his partner, Shola Ameobi, got in his way. Owen also tested Manuel Almunia with a header, but from an off-side position. In truth, the England striker was a bit part player, forced by circumstances to do too much of his work in midfield.

With the peerless Fabregas back to orchestrate Arsenal’s midfield and Van Persie intelligence personified in attack, the Gunners are no longer firing blanks. The scoreline should have been doubled, Van Persie scoring twice, a penalty after 18 minutes and an emphatic finish close in after 41, before hitting the crossbar. A third goal came eventually from Denilson after 59 minutes.

For Newcastle, after their promising start in the Premier League against Manchester United and Bolton, it was two steps forward, one step back. They were outplayed throughout. Newcastle were deprived by injury of Geremi, Obafemi Martins, Damien Duff, Mark Viduka and Claudio Cacapa. With these absences, their bench was largely a case of “Who’s he?”, with the exception of the reprobate they call Joey Barton, roundly booed when he was introduced after 89 minutes, to chants of: “You’re supposed to be in jail.”

On for only three minutes, including stoppage time, Barton was still at the centre of controversy, when an exchange of unpleasantries with Samir Nasri brought a booking for the Frenchman and left Kevin Keegan infuriated and pointing an accusing finger at Nasri and William Gallas as the players came off the pitch at the end. On entering the fray, the fractious Barton, who faces a Football Association charge of violent conduct next Friday, had disposseed Nasri with an aggressive, but legitimate tackle to which Nasri took exception. Almost immediately, when Barton advanced through the middle, Nasri brought him down with an obvious foul, for which he was booked. Keegan claimed afterwards that Nasri should have been sent off for “slicing down” his man. He was wrong but found it necessary to remonstrate at the end when Gallas, the Arsenal captain, stepped in on behalf of his teammate.

To his credit, Keegan saw sense later and said the incident should not detract form “an excellent game of football.”

Arsenal almost scored twice before the match was six minutes old. After only two they had a penalty appeal rejected when Van Persie went down under challenge by Fabricio Coloccini and, moments later, Gallas, contrived to shoot over from three yards. Arsenal were soon back, Kolo Toure’s 25-yarder demanding a plunging save from Shay Given. Van Persie brought a similar response from 20 yards, and the pressure had its reward in the shape of Van Persie’s penalty.

It was an easy decision for the referee, Adebayor’s cross from the right being cut out by Charles N’Zogbia’s arm. Van Persie drilled the kick low into Given’s left-hand corner.

With the interval looming, it was 2-0. Abedayor’s centre from the right was backheeled by Eboue, creating the space for Van Persie to shoot into the roof of the net from six yards.

Denilson rattled in Arsenal’s third after clever play by Nasri and Adebayo. Ten minutes from the end, Nasri would have made it 4-0 but for a top-notch save from Given.

- ARSENAL are attempting to beat tomorrow’s transfer deadline by signing Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso to bolster their midfield. Alonso, who won Euro 2008 with Spain two months ago, has fallen out with Rafael Benitez and would welcome the move. Wenger said last night: “We are trying to bring in somebody who is at least as good, or maybe better, than what we have.”

Star man: Robin Van Persie (Arsenal)

Yellow cards: Arsenal: Fabregas. Newcastle: Given, Coloccini, Nasri

Referee: R Styles

Attendance: 60,007

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue (Walcott 72min), Fabregas, Denilson (Song Billong 69min), Nasri, Van Persie (Vela 63min), Adebayor

Newcastle: Given, Beye (Edgar 89min), Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique (Bassong 44min), Gutierrez (Barton 89min), Butt, Guthrie, N'Zogbia, Ameobi, Owen

FROM: YAHOO

I am no prince, says Shevchenko

MILAN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Andriy Shevchenko has rejected former coach Jose Mourinho’s assertion that he failed at Chelsea because he was too used to being treated like a prince at AC Milan.

The Ukraine striker has just returned to Milan, where he spent seven successful seasons, after struggling for form during two torrid years in London.

Mourinho, now Inter Milan coach, was in charge of Chelsea when they signed Shevchenko in 2006 for a club record fee of around 30 million pounds.

“It’s been said that I was treated like a prince, but that is not how it was,” Shevchenko told a news conference on Saturday.

“Here I had difficult moments as well, which I overcame with work and sacrifice. Now I’m very optimistic because returning to Milan is like returning home.”

Shevchenko also compared the Chelsea set-up unfavourably with Milan’s.

“When I was at Chelsea what I missed most was the organization, the preparation and the atmosphere of this club, lots of little things that are nevertheless important,” the 31-year-old said.

Swiss defender Philippe Senderos also said he was confident he had moved on to better things after his transfer from Arsenal this week.

“Arsenal are a great team, but Milan are the greatest in the world,” Senderos was quoted as saying by Milan’s website (www.acmilan.com).

“I’ve seen that players work more here in the Italian championship than in the English championship.”

(Writing by Paul Virgo in Rome, editing by Justin Palmer)

From: YAHOO

Robinho's going nowhere, insists Real president

MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon insisted Saturday that Brazilian winger Robinho would be staying with the Spanish side, despite the player saying he is still in talks with English club Chelsea.

"He's going to stay here, I'm saying that," Calderon told the daily ABC, adding that the Brazilian was "a good boy, badly advised" by his entourage.

Robinho, 24, said in an interview with Brazilian television Globoesporte on Friday that he wanted to leave, adding that "negotiations were ongoing" for his eventual transfer to the English club.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted on Friday he was in the dark over his club's bid to sign Robinho.

Scolari made Robinho his top transfer target when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in July but Chelsea have been unable to seal the deal.

The Premier League club have had a bid turned down by Real, who are adamant Robinho will remain at the Bernabeu even though the player is keen to move.

Meanwhile, Calderon boasted that Real were the "best team" in Europe and would be bidding to win everything - the Primera Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Cup - this season.

"We don't have any need to sign (new players). I challenge anyone to tell me that there is a better team in Europe!"

Real failed in bids to sign Valencia striker David Villa, Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

From: YAHOO

Kevin Pietersen finds heroes all around for England

If Kevin Pietersen were a commodity on the London Stock Exchange, economists could stop all this talk of a recession. Everything the England captain touches turns to gold, it seems, and his stock rose again yesterday as England's third one-day victory against South Africa this summer gave Pietersen his first trophy.

The job is not yet over, however. If England can win the final two matches in the NatWest Series, at Lord's tomorrow and in Cardiff on Wednesday, they will - brace yourself - rise to second place in the ICC's Reliance Mobile world rankings. There are still a lot of balls to pass under the bat before then, but Pietersen is not a man to do things by half-measures.

“We've hit our straps in every department,” he said after the match. “The boys have been magnificent. But we want to improve and try to win it 5-0 if we can.” England's ascent from mediocrity to something better than competence has been astounding. At the start of the summer, their one-day ranking was seventh. South Africa, who could have replaced Australia as the best one-day side had they won this series 4-1, could now slip to third.

Pietersen's personal contribution yesterday was minimal. He made only five runs before being struck on the pad in front of off stump by Jacques Kallis, standing in as captain while Graeme Smith nurses his tennis elbow, and chose not to give his part-time off spin another outing.

Instead it was Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison and Samit Patel who shared the hero's role. The foundation for a winning score was laid with aggressive brilliance by Bell, who took only 77 balls in making 73, and then, after a mid-innings wobble, Flintoff made 78 runs of his own to see England to the threshold of 300.

To think that there were questions not so long ago about whether Flintoff had lost his batting mojo. It was his second score of 78 in a row, having done the same at Headingley Carnegie a week earlier, and the final scampered single off the last ball of the innings took him to 1,000 runs in his 37th NatWest Series match.

After two watchful overs, Bell and Matt Prior had set off at a gallop, reaching 100 off the first ball of the sixteenth over. Makhaya Ntini came in for particular punishment: his first over was a maiden but the next four went for 47. When Prior departed, caught at short extra cover off a top edge, England stuttered, but from 182 for five, Flintoff was able to take them to 296 with able assistance from Patel, making 31 in his first innings for England, and Luke Wright.

Patel, 23, made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire as long ago as 2002, when he outscored a certain KP Pietersen against West Indies A, and he has been quick to impress his former county team-mate in this series, even if he earned a trademark Pietersen glare early in South Africa's reply for failing to back up his captain's throw. A splendid catch over his shoulder by Patel, running backwards from mid-wicket, made up for it, sending Kallis back to the pavilion for nine off the bowling of Flintoff.

South Africa were 77 for three and only Hashim Amla had looked in control but he got a faint bottom edge when slashing at a ball from Harmison and walked for 46. Harmison also claimed the fourth wicket when his throw from square leg ran out A.B. de Villiers, and then it was over to Patel and his left-arm spin to finish the job.

Mark Boucher went first, stepping back to cut and playing on to his leg stump. Johan Botha also went in odd fashion, the ball ricocheting from bat to foot and backwards on to his wicket. The Morkel brothers, Albie and Morne, were both caught slogging and Patel claimed his first five-wicket haul for England when Ntini edged behind.

Only four England spin bowlers have taken a five-fer in a one-day international, Patel joining Ashley Giles, Graeme Hick and Vic Marks (twice). Has Pietersen's Midas touch now unearthed a spinning all-rounder?

England

I R Bell lbw b Botha 73

†M J Prior c Gibbs b J A Morkel 33

O A Shah b Kallis 23

*K P Pietersen lbw b Kallis 5

A Flintoff not out 78

P D Collingwood c Boucher b Botha 14

S R Patel b Ntini 31

L J Wright c Gibbs b Steyn 17

S C J Broad not out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 16, nb 3) 22

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 296

S J Harmison and J M Anderson did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-144, 3-146, 4-155, 5-182, 6-256, 7-295.

Bowling: Steyn 10-0-67-1; Ntini 9-1-68-1; M Morkel 10-1-51-0; J A Morkel 5-0-30-1; Botha 9-0-35-2; Kallis 7-0-42-2.

South Africa

H M Amla c Prior b Harmison 46

H H Gibbs c Shah b Anderson 12

*J H Kallis c Patel b Flintoff 9

A B de Villiers run out 12

J P Duminy c Prior b Flintoff 18

†M V Boucher b Patel 19

J A Morkel c and b Patel 16

J Botha b Patel 17

M Morkel c Broad b Patel 6

D W Steyn not out 5

M Ntini c Prior b Patel 0

Extras (b 5, lb 4, w 1) 10

Total (42.4 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-67, 3-77, 4-82, 5-114, 6-134, 7-142, 8-160, 9-170.

Bowling: Anderson 7-0-17-1; Broad 6-1-28-0; Harmison 9-1-28-1; Flintoff 7-0-33-2; Patel 9.4-2-41-5; Collingwood 4-0-14-0.

Umpires: N J Llong and S J A Taufel (Australia).

TV umpire: P J Hartley.

Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Reserve umpire: I J Gould.

Series details: First (Headingley Carnegie): England won by 20 runs. Second (Trent Bridge): England won by ten wickets. To come: Tomorrow: Fourth (Lord's). Wednesday: Fifth (Cardiff).

FROM:TIMESONLINES

Thaksin Shinawatra offers to resign as pressure grows

“The term 'fit and proper' is a pretty broad one. I mean, is he a nice guy? Yes. Is he a great guy to play golf with? Yes. Has he got the finances to run a football club? Yes. I really care about those three things. Whether he is guilty of something over there, I can't worry too much about that.”
The man in question is Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, who is holed up in Surrey, seeking political asylum in Britain, after refusing to face corruption charges in his homeland earlier this month. The man doing the talking and, one suspects, the caddying, is Garry Cook, appointed by Thaksin as executive chairman of Manchester City with the mission of delivering his vision of a club that is the equal of its neighbour.
First things first: according to Cook, Thaksin is “embarrassed” about the damage that his legal, political and financial circumstances have inflicted upon City of late; Thaksin has offered to resign from the club's board in order to alleviate growing pressure from the Premier League, whose “fit and proper person” test he no longer seems to satisfy; Thaksin is close to selling a significant minority stake in City to another Asian tycoon who will help to bankroll the club while £800million of his own assets remain frozen in Thailand.
The financial picture at City is far healthier than it appears from the outside, despite a recent flurry of borrowing from the banks and from John Wardle, the former chairman. Thaksin recognises that he made mistakes last summer and is prepared to be realistic, rather than ruthless, with Mark Hughes, the new manager. Even if no outside investment is forthcoming before the transfer window closes in nine days, Hughes has money to spend on new players.
Cook's intention was to assure the media and, by extension, the club's supporters, and holding court at the City of Manchester Stadium this week, he did that. But he also talked about the pressing need to sign a superstar in order to satisfy his and Thaksin's global ambitions and expressed disapproval of a City veteran team's use of the club's “intellectual property” in a Masters tournament.
He also predicted that the club not only could, but would, become as big as Manchester United and, to the horror of the traditionalists among us, declared that, in order to embrace the challenges of globalisation, he would favour a 14-club breakaway Premier League with no promotion and no relegation. With City in it, presumably.
Football is changing and, in Cook, an intelligent, dynamic executive who was born in Birmingham but has spent much of his working life in the United States as a creative force behind the expansion of the Nike brand, Thaksin has found a man to help City embrace those changes.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Put it this way, Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, has found a kindred spirit. Where he and Scudamore differ is on the subject of Thaksin, but Cook and the owner are in constant discussion with the league to try to find ways around the “fit and proper” hurdle.
“Dr Thaksin has been really open about this,” Cook said. “The man is embarrassed about the indignity brought on the club and on the league. He never intended for this to be the case. He has said to me: ‘If you need me to resign as a director to serve the needs of the Premier League, I'm fine with that as long as it doesn't change anything else.' There is this fit and proper person's test and that's one of the reasons why we would maybe look to take him off the board as a director.
“We're talking about a lot of things. We've talked about restructuring the board and selling part of his stake to an equity partner, who could come in and take some of the pressure away.
“Three months ago, the situation was very different and then it took a turn [the corruption charges and Thaksin's refusal to face them] that changed the whole aspect of it. We've talked about many different options. One thing we're adamant about is not giving up the majority stake-holding. And we're not looking at [selling to] institutions. It's a friend of a friend.”
Cook suggested that investment could be secured within days, giving Hughes further room for manoeuvre before the transfer window closes on September 1. Hughes would be forgiven for regretting his decision to leave the comfort of Ewood Park for the madness of City, but Cook said that he did not mislead the manager about the situation that he was coming into.
“I actually painted a picture of instability for Mark,” he said. “We told him there was plenty of money to spend on players, but that we had taken in some players that weren't right for the club. Our acquisition and disposal strategy was wrong and it is still coming back to bite us a little bit.
“We have talked about the need to sign a superstar, a global franchise entity. We went after Ronaldinho and we nearly got him. We told Mark not to come here if he thought we didn't need a superstar. I know people are going to say: ‘Here we go again, another guy from America telling us how it should be'.
“But in the intellectual property world of running a football club, when you have 3.7 billion people looking at you, you have to move away from football the way it is. It's reality. China and India, 30 per cent of the world's population, are gagging for football content to watch and we want to try to tell them that Manchester City is their content.”
These grandiose plans invite the inevitable question: can City ever become the equal, in global terms, of Manchester United? “We will,” Cook said. “If I didn't have that goal, I wouldn't be here. Can we? Yes. Will we? It might take a bit longer. At Nike you don't sit around saying, 'Can we?' you say, 'We will'. I've got to change that here. I call it the cultural cascade.
“I talk to my employees and I get: 'This is England, not America, you know,' 'This is Manchester, not London, you know,' 'This is Manchester City, not Man United, you know.' We have to change that culture.”
Before they can even think about that, City must change the culture of self-harm that has hindered the club for about four decades. Things seemed to be changing under the previous board until Thaksin came along last summer with his plans for global domination.
Time will tell whether he is the long-awaited saviour of Manchester City or whether the club, with a megalomaniac owner at the wheel, is hurtling towards oblivion in a golf kart.
Blue Moon with stars in its eyes: big names who would fit the bill
Ronaldo (AC Milan and Brazil, aged 31): No longer the force he was but still a marketing man's dream, despite the goofy teeth and the spare tyre around the waist. Manchester City have inquired about him in the past and will no doubt do so again. Cook's associations with Nike, the player's sponsor, could help.
Thierry Henry (Barcelona and France, 31): Another Nike client and another who, as he finds himself on the wrong side of the hill, might return to the Premier League for one final pay day.
Carlos Tévez (Manchester United and Argentina, 24): A long shot, but not quite as outlandish as it might sound. United are not guaranteed to pay the £32million required to buy out his contract from the businessmen, such as Kia Joorabchian, who “own” him. Joorabchian has close links with Thaksin Shinawatra, the City owner.
Ronaldinho (AC Milan and Brazil, 28): A persistent chase may have ended in predictable failure this summer, but at least he now knows there are two clubs in Manchester. A realistic option if things do not work out in Milan.
FROM:TIMESONLINE