Thursday's B*ll*x

[Chinners]

Manchester City failed with £4m deadline day bid for Gent winger Yassine El Ghanassy
Manchester City failed with a £4m deadline-day bid for Belgium international winger Yassine El Ghanassy.
The 20-year-old, who helped unfancied Gent finish league runners-up and win the Belgian Cup last season, can play on either flank and was seen as a stop-gap for Adam Johnson but with potential for the future. Gent turned down City and Villarreal but will listen to offers in the summer.
Mooted move: Manchester City failed with their bid for Yassine El Ghanassy (left)
City are also rivalling Barcelona with interest in £3million-rated Brazilian teenager Arthur Maia of Vitoria. The 18-year-old starred in a recent under-20 tournament in Germany, where he scored against Barca.

Meanwhile, Swedish side Djurgardens have expressed an interest in City's striking protege John Guidetti. The 18-year-old has been on loan at Burnley and is coveted by several Championship sides.
Djurgardens sporting director Stefan Alven said: 'I have made enquiries about John's situation.'

Manchester City will renew attempts to sign Ashley Young in summer after Aston Villa turned down late January enquiry
England winger could be part of Manchester tug-of-war in summer
Manchester City will lead the chase for Ashley Young in the summer after making a late enquiry for him in the January window, Goal.com UK can reveal.
City executives contacted Aston Villa a few days before the transfer deadline to ask about the potential availability of the England winger but were told he was not for sale.
However, the Midlands club recognise they will have to cash in on Young in the summer when he will have only 12 months remaining on his contract.
Young has told friends that he does not intend to sign a new deal at Villa Park and believes it is time to move on from the club he joined from Watford for £9.65 million in January 2007.
Liverpool’s director of strategy Damien Comolli recently confirmed the Merseysiders would be interested in Young if he was on the market, while Manchester United have also asked to be kept informed of developments.
Senior Villa officials were aware of the public relations ramifications if they cashed in on Young in the winter window only weeks after paying a club record £24m for Darren Bent.
“They didn’t want it to look like they needed to sell Young to afford Bent and only crazy money would have forced them to sell,” a source told Goal.com UK. “But they know Young wants to leave and they know they will have to cash in on him in the summer or he will be able to go on a free the following year.”
It is understood that Young would prefer a move to United of the three clubs pursuing him most vigorously. Unless he signs a new deal, they will be hopeful of buying a player who is valued at around £18m for no more than £14m.
Tottenham had a £19m bid rejected for him last summer but the Londoners’ interest has cooled following the development of Gareth Bale into a world-class wide player and last month’s signing of Steven Pienaar from Everton.

BACK PAGES BOLLOX
DAILY STAR: Liverpool’s £23m man Luis Suarez claimed his first goal for Liverpool on a dream debut last night. Also: Gary Neville stunned Manchester United fans last night by retiring from football with immediate effect.

DAILY EXPRESS: Cesc Fabregas has been caught up in a storm over his tunnel outburst on Tuesday night after he was accused of shouting that referee Lee Mason and his officials were being “paid”. Also: Manchester City’s hopes of catching United suffered a blow last night as a Craig Gardner penalty earned Birmingham a 2-2 draw at St Andrew’s.

DAILY MAIL: Kenny Dalglish saluted a scoring debut for £22.8million signing Luis Suarez last night as Liverpool began to forget Fernando Torres. Also: Cesc Fabregas launched a furious verbal attack on the match officials in the tunnel during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Everton on Tuesday, allegedly calling their integrity into question.

THE SUN: Kenny Dalglish saw Luis Suarez bag a debut goal then tipped his new-look Liverpool to frighten the Premier League again. Also: Micah Richards was left unconscious after a clash of heads with City team-mate Nigel de Jong...Cesc Fabregas escaped an FA charge over clams he accused Everton of bribing a referee.

DAILY MIRROR: Furious Cesc Fabregas enraged David Moyes by claiming Everton had bribed the referee, it can be revealed. Also: Roberto Mancini was seething as referee Kevin Friend became the Blue Moon’s No 1 foe.

DAILY TELEGRAPH: The England and Wales Cricket Board face the threat of legal action to return the $3.5million (£2.2million) it received from the ill-fated deal with the disgraced financier Sir Allen Stanford, the Daily Telegraph can disclose. Also: Life goes on. Life after Fernando Torres certainly goes on for Liverpool.

THE TIMES: Luis Suarez swiftly drew a line under the Fernando Torres era at Anfield by marking his Liverpool debut with a goal in a 2-0 win over Stoke City last night. Also: It was not with a heavy heart but a deep sense of gratitude that Gary Neville called time on his Manchester United career yesterday.

THE GUARDIAN: The scriptwriters guild joined the process of erasing Fernando Torres from Liverpool’s consciousness last night. Also: After making 602 appearances for Manchester United, winning eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups and one European Cup, as well as playing 85 times for England, Gary Neville last night announced his immediate retirement from football.

THE INDEPENDENT: Chelsea will continue to spend lavishly in the summer as owner Roman Abramovich looks to strengthen his squad before Uefa's financial fair play rules kick in. The Blues are targeting Dutch right-back Gregory van der Wiel of Ajax, young Belgian internationals Eden Hazard from Lille and Romelu Lukaku of Anderlecht, Slovakia captain Marek Hamsik of Napoli and French winger Dimitri Payet of St Etienne. the Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 02411.html

Arsenal are planning to make a £12.8m bid for 20-year-old Paris Saint-Germain defender Mamadou Sakho in the summer. imscouting.com

Inter Milan goalkeeper Julio Cesar has ruled himself out of the running to become Edwin van der Sar's long-term replacement at Manchester United. Van der Sar announced in January he was going to retire from playing at the end of the season. talkSPORT

Reports in France claim Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is determined to come to an early arrangement to bring Hazard to the Emirates Stadium in the summer and avoid a bidding war with the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester United. footylatest.com

Liverpool are hoping to beat off the challenge of Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United to sign Werder Bremen winger Marko Marin. footylatest.com

Former Everton striker Francis Jeffers is being offered a surprise return to British football with Stuart McCall's Scottish Premier League side ­Motherwell after a spell in Australia with Newcastle Jets. Daily Mirror

Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has branded Fernando Torres a "fake and a fraud who has spat in the faces of the Liverpool supporters who idolised him" following the Spaniard's £50m move to Chelsea. Daily Mail

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny claims his team are the only genuine title challengers to Manchester United. Daily Mirror

Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing has urged the club to offer veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel a new deal. Daily Mirror

QPR manager Neil Warnock has claimed Adel Taarabt blew his chance of a potential big-money move to Manchester United after showing his petulant side during a recent match against Hull City. Metro

Wolves striker Steven Fletcher insists he does want his international career to continue, just 24 hours after he told Scotland manager Craig Levein he did not want to play in next week's Nations Cup clash against Northern Ireland. Daily Record

Manchester United defender Gary Neville, who announced his retirement from playing on Wednesday, will be offered a coaching role at the club but he is also rumoured to be wanted by Sky Sports as one of their pundits. Daily Mirror

Neville decided to retire after finding out he had been left out of United's 25-man Champions League squad. Daily Mail

more utter bollox later ...

[craigmcfc]

Not even a WAG to cheer us up....

[Chinners]

WAG service will resume in a couple of weeks Craig .... but with a twist, can't say more than that at the mo

However in the meantime ...

[craigmcfc]

Ahhhh that's better, I've almost forgotten last nights' result now

[Chinners]

MORE SKY BOLLOX
Premier League TV football choice 'upheld' by EU advice
Broadcasters cannot stop customers using cheaper foreign satellite TV equipment to watch Premier League football, an EU legal adviser has said.
A non-binding opinion from advocate Juliane Kokott of the European Court of Justice said a block breached EU laws.
Portsmouth pub landlady Karen Murphy, fined for using Greek decoders, had argued the EU single market should let her use any European provider.
Sky and ESPN have the broadcast rights to Premier League football in the UK.
The satellite broadcaster has pumped billions into top flight English football since the league was founded in 1992, with the money given to clubs allowing them to buy some of the top names in the world.

'Contrary to EU law'
The case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been about whether a rights holder such as the Premier League can license its content on a country-by-country basis.
Such a set-up has allowed the league to fully maximise the value of its rights.
TV money has helped bring top foreign names into English football Although Advocate General Kokott's opinion is not binding, judges usually follow the guidance from the advocate.
If they do, selling sport, movies, or any other content, on an exclusive territory-by-territory basis within the EU may no longer be possible.
"The exclusivity agreement relating to transmission of football matches are contrary to European Union law," she said in her opinion.
"(The) exclusivity rights in question have the effect of partitioning the internal market into quite separate national markets, something which constitutes a serious impairment of the freedom to provide services."
Karen Murphy on why she took her fight to Europe, speaking in October 2010
Ms Murphy had been convicted for using the cheaper Greek satellite receiver to show top flight football in her pub.
She used the Nova firm to show matches in the Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth as it was less expensive than Sky.
Enforcers working on behalf of Football Association Premier League Limited (FAPL) - the private company which represents the broadcasting interests of the 20 English Premier League clubs - brought the prosecution saying only Sky TV had exclusive rights to show its games in the UK.
She had to pay nearly £8,000 in fines and costs.

Brussels pressure
The Premier League's current deal with Sky is worth nearly £2bn - money the league argues is invested in maintaining the quality of the product.
Industry experts say satellite companies face having to reform - leading possibly to the creation of just a handful of pan-European broadcasters.
It was pressure from Brussels which forced the Premier League to offer its live matches to more then one broadcaster, rather then just renew the exclusive deals it traditionally had with Sky.
Packages were consequently taken up by Setanta, and when they went bust, by ESPN.