13 February 2006

Maradona Charged With 'Hit' and Run

Football legend Diego Maradona has been charged with injuring two young pedestrians in Buenos Aires on Friday at dawn. The victims, who were not seriously hurt, and another driver claims Maradona was driving an off roader (SUV/4x4)  :

"It came zig zagging along, went up on the sidewalk, knocked over the phone booth, and the shattered glass injured us."

It's alleged Maradona then abandoned the vehicle but the player insists the incident was a case of mistaken identity :

"I drive a coupe, never an SUV."

11 February 2006

Mayor Bans Ajax Fans

The mayor of The Hague has banned Ajax supporters from Sunday's league match against the city's club, Ado Den Haag, after hooligans attacked fans at the clubhouse on Friday. Police spokesman Jan van den Braak said :

Trap Sacked

Stuttgart have sacked 375 year old Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni after a disastrous eight months in charge. The team have only won five times in 20 matches and Trap has come in for criticism for the defensive nature of his football (what the hell where they expecting?). Trap's assistant, Andreas Brehme, was also fired.

Cosmi Sacked

To the surprise of absolutely no-one Udinese have sacked Sersi Cosmi after a dismal run of form which saw the team slip perilously close to the relegation zone. The unknown Loris Dominissini and club defender Nestor Sensi will replace him.

9 February 2006

Former England Coach Greenwood Dies

Former England coach Ron Greenwood has died at the age of 84. Greenwood spent 13 years at West Ham between 1961 - 1974 winning the FA Cup in 1964 and the Cup Winners Cup in 1965. Greenwood succeeded Don Review as England coach in 1977.

Under Greenwood England missed out on the 1978 World Cup but qualified for the 1980 European Championships when they were eliminated in the group stages and in the 1982 World Cup where they were effectively eliminated in the quarter-finals in the second group stage by Germany.

Roman Newspaper in DVD Giveaway to Combat Fascism

A newspaper for Roma supporters, imaginatively called Il Romanista, will give away 10,000 copies of Roberto Benigni's Oscar winning romantic comedy 'La Vita e bella' (Life is Beautiful) in a novel attempt to address the fascist views of a section of the clubs fans. Roma were ordered to play Wednesday's home match against Cagliari behind closed doors as punishment for fans displaying banners carrying Nazi symbols during last week's league match against Livorno. 11 supporters also face legal action over the banners. The newspapers editor, Riccardo Luna, said :

"At least this way one might grasp what happened in the death camps. At the stadium that day there was indifference but straight afterwards our newspaper was inundated by emails and letters from angry fans, who asked me how we could show our disapproval."

The film tells the story of Jewish book keeper's attempts to overcome the horrors of concentration camps after the Germans occupy Italy by pretending the Holocaust is a game and the prize at the end of this game is a tank.

Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves

Inter defender Sinisa Mihajlovic slapped a Fiorentina supporter while sitting in the stands during last night's defeat at Fiorentina. At half time Mihajlovic was signing an autograph when a Fiorentina fan started to hurl abuse at him. Mihajlovic said :

"He kept screaming 'gipsy, dirty gipsy!' so then I just said, 'Right, that's it (SLAP)'."

Pardew Hints At Big Club Bias

West Ham coach Alan Pardew has, in a roundabout way, accused England coach Sven Goran Eriksson of being a fanboy and overlooking players from 'smaller' clubs :

"I think there's a few players in the Premiership that get overlooked. Jimmy Bullard at Wigan should be looked at, in my opinion, and these names are new names to The Premiership but that doesn't mean to say they haven't performed to a very high level. We have ourselves Hayden Mullins. You look at that role, sitting in front of the back four, I would bet there's not been anyone as consistent as Hayden Mullins doing that role but he hardly gets a mention. One of the good things about the current England manager, of course, is that he comes to all games. He's always at a game and I know
he is aware of Hayden Mullins and I know he's appreciative of what he does for us."

Egypt Ban Mido for Six Months

Egypt striker Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam has been given a six month ban from the national team after swapping comedy insults with coach Hassan Shehata when being substituted during Tuesday's African Cup of Nations semi-final against Senegal :

Mido : Why are you taking me off?
Shehata : Because I am the coach
Mido : You are nothing but a donkey!
Shehata : No it is you who is the donkey

Mido's suspension takes effect immediately, ruling him out of tomorrow's final against
the Ivory Coast. In a supreme moment of irony Mido's substitute, Amr Zaki, scored
within two minutes of coming on.

Mido has since apologised for his outburst.