March 3, 2010
AHEAD OF THE GAME
The alpha mail that lets you set the agenda
The News: Capello blames money for off-field problems
Fabio Capello has blamed
the off-field problems that have threatened to undermine England’s
World Cup hopes on the vast wealth accumulated by many of his players. "They
have to be an example to the children, for all the fans," he said. "For
that reason they have to stay careful and sacrifice something in their lives."
England have moved
up a place to eighth in the latest Fifa world rankings. Capello's team,
who play Egypt in a friendly at Wembley tonight, have swapped places with
Argentina.
Keith Alexander, the Macclesfield manager, has
died at the age of 53. "It is our sad duty to report that Keith
passed away today after arriving home from Macclesfield Town's game at Notts
County last night," a club statement read. "He was a splendid man
and he will be sorely missed at the Moss Rose and by everyone involved in
football."
James McFadden has been ruled out of Scotland's friendly against Czech
Republic tonight. The Birmingham midfielder has been struggling with
a groin strain but was named in Craig Levein's starting XI for the match at
Hampden. He will be replaced by West Brom's Graham Dorrans.
Rafael Benitez expects Fabio Aurelio to be sidelined for three weeks with a
thigh problem after the defender strained the quadriceps in his right leg
against Blackburn. "It all began at the start of the season, when he
suffered the injury during the summer and it's like there has been something
every month since then," the Liverpool manager said.
Speculators have begun
to buy bonds in Manchester United in a gamble that the Red
Knights will be able to launch an offer to buy the club from the Glazer
family.
Balram Chainrai, the Portsmouth owner, has pledged
£15 million to keep the club alive until the end of the season in
the hope that administrators will find a buyer in the meantime.
Ask the expert: Palace will keep squad together for relegation fight
We ask: Paul Hart has said no Crystal Palace players will follow Neil
Warnock to Queens Park Rangers this season. Do you believe this will be the
case?
Gary Jacob, our transfer expert, responds: "Yes, an overbearing
wage bill has never been the problem at Selhurst Park and it’s very unlikely
that any players will leave Palace until they have successfully avoided
relegation.
"Firstly, Warnock would only want the better players such as Nathaniel
Clyne and Neil Danns, and that would impact on Palace’s ability to avoid
relegation, which would reduce the value of a club in administration.
"Secondly, even if survival was not an issue, selling players would send
the wrong message to fans and prospective buyers of the club. The latter
would want to buy a club that has retained its best assets.
"Thirdly, players have to want to move. There were deals on the table for
Clyne and Danns to leave in January. Clyne rejected a move because his agent
has other irons in the fire. Southampton’s offer for Danns was too low for
Palace, plus the player believes that he can find another Championship club
this summer.
"The administrator at Palace faces the unenviable task of raising cash to
repay Agilo, the hedge fund who lent £4.5 million to the club, while trying
to protect the club’s value by helping them stay in the Championship. Jose
Fonte and Victor Moses were sold for a combined £3 million fee in January to
help fund the club until the end of the season as well as repaying some of
the debt owed to Agilo.
"There is also an added angle to all of this. QPR paid compensation of up
to £600,000 for Warnock and there may be additional sums payable for the two
assistants that followed him to Loftus Road. Palace might hope to receive
further compensation from several other backroom staff who will want to join
Warnock. Some of these people will gamble that Palace’s next permanent
manager will want his own staff and therefore they may be able to negotiate
a pay-off from Selhurst Park. Warnock might take a similar view, or he may
want these people quickly and Palace may receive a small sum.
"On Warnock’s departure, let’s be clear. He claims that he left Palace
because they entered administration, but the facts say otherwise. Only one
player, Fonte, was directly sold because of administration, although his
loss has been significantly felt at the heart of Palace's defence. Moses was
leaving anyway.
"Warnock complained that the team had been told to travel by coach to
away matches to save money, but the administrator relented and they
continued to travel by train. Palace are in a relegation fight, but only
because of the ten-point penalty given to them for entering administration.
QPR are in a similar position in the league table. Warnock earned
£750,000-a-year at Palace, making him the highest paid manager in the
division. His contract at QPR until 2011 is worth £1.2 million a season."
You can set the agenda by sending in a question for one of our experts to
answer. E-mail aotg@thetimes.co.uk
Meddling managers = road rage
Gabriele Marcotti is not impressed by tales that players have
kicked up a stink for having to drive to and from training during the
rush hour: "Is it really such a burden to deal with the things mere
mortals must deal with, like traffic?"
Our European expert would be interested to see the offside
rule abolished in the middle third of the pitch. "Doing so would
prevent teams from obsessively playing the offside trap and squeezing the
midfield, which would open up the game," he writes.
Ashley still has a long way to go
George Caulkin argues that Newcastle's success on the pitch and stability off
it this season is unlikely
to melt the ice between the club's owner and the fans. "These
things are not the stuff of garlands and triumph," he writes. "it
is what any sensible board should be doing."
March madness
Martin O'Neill will be looking to put an end to an unwanted record when Aston
Villa take on Reading in the FA Cup quarter-finals this weekend - by
claiming his first win in the month of March since taking charge of the club
in the summer of 2006. Villa failed to register a single victory in March
2007, 2008 and 2009 - a total of 12 matches.
Modesty prevails
We don't know if the meaning was lost in translation but Iker Casillas, the
Real Madrid goalkeeper, has made it plain that he and his Spain team-mates
are not going to be tempting fate at the World Cup finals in the summer. "We
will go there full of hope but also full of prudence," he said. "The
team is seasoned, experienced, what we have to try and do is to translate
the success of these last few years into good results." That means they
are coming out to play.
'Er indoors
Steven Gerrard has
no plans to invite his wife to the World Cup in South Africa until at
least the semi-finals, should England make it that far. "I don’t know
whether having the WAGs there [for the 2006 World Cup in Germany] affected
our performance, but my wife won’t be there," he said. Alex Curren - a
symbol of success. Well, we knew that already.
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