Balogate Bollox
Mario Balotelli takes Manchester City to league tribunal over fine
Striker fined two weeks' wages for on-field ill-discipline • City may listen to offers for Balotelli in transfer window
Mario Balotelli, below, was fined two weeks' wages, around £350,000, after a series of red and yellow cards led to him missing about a fifth of City's games last season.
Mario Balotelli will take Manchester City to an appeals tribunal this week over a hefty fine imposed for persistent on-field ill-discipline amid signs that Roberto Mancini's patience with his volatile striker may be close to breaking point.
The 22-year-old was fined two weeks' wages, around £350,000, after a series of red and yellow cards led to him missing about a fifth of City's games last season when they won the league title. His appeal against the fine was rejected by City and Balotelli will put his case to a Premier League tribunal on Wednesday.
Mancini has had mixed success with his tough love towards a player he bought from Internazionale in 2010 for £24m. He has praised Balotelli's skill and potential while frequently criticising him for his behaviour. Balotelli did not travel to Newcastle for Saturday's 3-1 win at St James' Park, instead staying in Manchester to train alone.
His manager insisted "Mario still has a big part to play this season" but added: "To get back into the team he needs to work in training and, when he plays, he needs to play well." The striker's peripheral performances this season and his continuing problems with authority increase the chances that City will try to offload him in the January transfer window.
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Garcia confident City will overhaul United
JAVI Garcia claims Manchester City will overhaul Manchester United at the top of the table provided they maintain the standards they set in Saturday's 3-1 win at Newcastle.
Garcia headed home his second goal as a City player to help Roberto Mancini's side remain within six points of their local rivals despite this month's derby defeat.
Last season, they overhauled an eight-point deficit in the final six weeks of the campaign, and with Saturday's first-half display in particular having represented one of their best performances for quite some time, Garcia feels City are more than capable of retaining their crown.
“If we maintain those standards I think we can chase down Manchester United,” said the Spaniard. “I don't know if it's the best half we have played, but we definitely played very well.
“If we play as well as that then we are going to be very difficult to stop. If we continue to have that attitude, we will be very hard to beat.
“The good thing about the Premier League is that anyone can pull off a surprise and there are other teams who can push up the league and challenge for the title. But if we finish above United, I think we will win the league.”
Robin van Persie's last-minute derby winner was a major blow to City's hopes of ending 2012 in pole position, but Saturday's success has boosted morale ahead of the Christmas programme.
City face Reading, Sunderland and Norwich before the turn of the year and will be confident of claiming maximum points.
“It's normal to be feeling down after a result like that (against Manchester United),” said Garcia. “But we had to lift our heads up. We had to continue to believe in ourselves and remain positive, and I think we have shown that against Newcastle.
“It was an important game after what happened against United. We had to show we could continue to have a winning mentality.”
City lawyer warns top football clubs.
A LEADING City lawyer and adviser has warned that European chiefs are gearing up to take a hard line on financial fair play (FFP) rules.
The warning comes days after Premier League champions Manchester City announced a £97.9m loss for 2011-12, raising fears they could breach governing body Uefa’s regulations.
Uefa’s FFP rules allow clubs to make a maximum €45m (£36.6m) loss between 2011 and 2013 or risk exclusion from European competitions starting with the 2014-15 season.
Doubts have been raised over Uefa president Michel Platini’s preparedness to actually ban teams, given their financial resources and ability to seek legal redress, but Slaughter and May’s Nigel Boardman believes clubs should be wary.
“Everything we have seen and heard thus far suggests that Uefa will continue to pursue the rigorous enforcement of financial fair play,” Boardman, who has advised several Premier League and Football League clubs, writes in today’s City A.M.
“Uefa is bolstering its legal department and making friends in high places at the European Commission in order to pave the way for successful enforcement of the break-even requirement from 2013/14. Uefa has displayed a level of commitment to the cause which does not bode well for clubs intending to push boundaries.”
City could escape a ban even if they exceed Uefa’s threshold by arguing that they have displayed a positive trend by cutting their losses from £197.5m in 2010-11.
But there is pressure on Uefa to heavily scrutinise Abu Dhabi-backed City’s record-breaking £400m sponsorship deal with the kingdom’s carrier Etihad Airways.
“Was their deal at arm’s length or a phoney deal? That needs to be looked at,” Boardman said.
“From the outside it’s hard to answer those questions. They are trending in the right direction and are likely to be treated with leniency.”
City appear the most at-risk of England’s top flight, with Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all recording a profit in their latest accounts.
Premier League clubs have held talks about implementing their own version of FFP, although there remains some disagreement over what measures to apply.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are all broadly in favour of financial fair play, whereas Fulham’s Mohammed Al Fayed is widely believed to be an opponent.
Manchester City Mancini order players not to wear club tracksuit
Superstitious [strike]soccer[/strike] it's fucking FOOTBALL :) boss Roberto Mancini has banned his Premier League stars from wearing any PURPLE after a run of poor results.
The wacky move has baffled players and fans and threatened to breach the rules of competitions.
Mancini, 48, is reported to have ordered Manchester City players not to travel to games in the club’s official tracksuit because parts of it are purple.
So City have a pile of useless gear and have had to order outfits with no trace of the forbidden hue.
The club boss also risked a fine from organisers after he refused to let his players wear Uefa warm-up bibs at a Champions League tie against Ajax. He noticed the garments had some purple.
A source close to the club said: “Roberto is well known for his crazy superstitions, like not meeting at a time with an even number such as 2pm. It has to be 1.59. Thing is, it doesn’t seem to be doing much good.
“There are all sorts of problems at the club but banning colours isn’t going to solve anything.”
City are out of the Champions League and trailing title rivals Manchester United by six points.
Northumbria Police release flare statement
A statement has been released by Northumbria Police confirming their investigation into Saturday's incident in which a flare was thrown at St James' Park.
The flare was seen to be thrown from the Manchester City end to the Newcastle section, and a statement by the police has confirmed this.
"A flare was thrown from the section containing Manchester City fans into a section of Newcastle United fans, no one was injured and it was quickly extinguished," BBC Sport quotes the statement as saying.
"A second flare was set off in the section containing Manchester City fans."
There have so far been no arrests made.
Thieves! Kompany and Aguero get their hands on Wiggo's treasures
Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero borrowed two famous pieces of sports memorabilia at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.
As they entered the stage with last season's Premier League trophy. the city duo were met with the entire audience, including eventual runner-up Jessica Ennis, doing the 'Poznan'.
The Manchester City pair posted a snap on Twitter posing with eventual winner Bradley Wiggins' yellow jersey and his Olympic Medal, although the Belgian defender's grip on the mannequin's neck was a cause for concern.
Kompany, who had earlier brought last season's Premier League trophy on stage with the Argentine striker posted on his twitter page @VincentKompany: 'Me & @aguerosergiokun borrowed something backstage. Let’s hope Mr. Wiggins won’t mind.’ DSSC
BBC POZNAN VIDEO: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/sports-per ... y/20749871
Meanwhile back in Manchester the rest of the squad attended James Milner’s inaugural charity ball which also featured an appearence of the Premiership trophy! ...
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/20 ... nd-gallery
MANCHESTER TITLE RACE BOLLOX
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LEGENDS LOUNGE UPDATE
viewtopic.php?f=119&t=44570&p=484450#p484450[/spoiler]
Football review 2012: [strike]Tweets[/strike] Twats of the year
The saying too many tweets make a twat has never been more applicable than in 2012 with Ashley Cole, Nicklas Bendtner, Rio Ferdinand, and of course, Joey Barton featuring in our rundown of the best tweets of the year.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... on=gallery
Uwe Rösler puts one over Notts County once again as Brentford manager
Former Manchester City striker who has battled cancer is leading a brave team towards League One promotion
Uwe Rosler is getting up a head of steam as he guides his Brentford side towards the top of League One.
Uwe Rösler holds fond memories of Notts County and now he has another. In 1995, playing for Manchester City, he scored four in a 5-2 FA Cup victory at Maine Road. On Saturday, as manager of Brentford, he saw his side grab an 88th-minute winner at Meadow Lane that took them to second in League One, level on points with the leaders, Tranmere Rovers. It was their fourth win in four, all against top-eight teams.
Next Saturday they face a fifth, Stevenage, lying sixth. There is no let-up nor scarcely room to breathe. Six points cover the top 10. And first they must play Bradford City, killers of once-giant Arsenal in the League Cup last week, in what Rösler called "an unexpected FA Cup tie waiting on Tuesday". Brentford were initially put through by the Football Association's disqualification of City for fielding an ineligible player in the 1-1 draw. But the FA changed its mind and punishment on Thursday and, as Rösler implied, in terms of mindset punished Brentford instead.
The carrot is a tie at Southend United, who this month dispatched them from the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. "When you see my budget, we need a Cup run," he said, "to get money in for players and wages." Gates average 5,623 and on Saturday they are trying a "Pay What You Can" scheme in the hope of showing a wider audience how good things are at Griffin Park before temptation comes through the window in January. Brentford have the youngest squad in League One at an average age of 22½, though who would leave a swarm enjoying the current buzz of the Bees?
Before the match Paul Hayes, a veteran of 29 in this company, said: "Our goal is obviously promotion but we know it is going to be hard to get into the top two. We are starting to have an understanding of each other as players, as a team and our structure. We've got a manager who believes in us. He is bonkers but he is passionate." He is also significantly canny.
County took the lead after 20 minutes. Rösler blamed lack of awareness at a throw, leading to Tony Craig slicing Julian Kelly's cross into his own goal. More importantly he identified the source of the Magpies' early control in midfield and altered his 4-1-4-1 to 4-2-3-1, pulling Jonathan Douglas deeper beside Rob Kiernan, putting Adam Forshaw behind the striker Marcello Trotta and raiding from the flanks through Clayton Donaldson and Harry Forrester.
By half-time Trotta had sent Forshaw clear on the right for an angled shot too hot for Bartosz Bialkowski and the momentum was set firm as Brentford trusted their defensive unity and the aerial dominance of Craig and Harlee Dean to play a remarkably high line behind approach work full of flicks and feints and deft surprises. Ultimately they caught County napping at a corner and Donaldson forced the ball into the net, where it lodged with the keeper and Neal Bishop for his fifth goal in four league games and 12th this season.
"I don't know how many times we have scored in the last minutes," Rösler said. "Not many strikers would go in for such a ball with the post there. It was very brave." The manager would appreciate that. His playing career ended in Norway with diagnosis of lung cancer. In remission after chemotherapy he got his coaching badges. Brentford is his first position here. In 2010 he saved Molde from relegation before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over.
For the moment he looks to have the club going places – not just to the second tier for the first time in 20 years but, thanks to the purchase of a 7.6-acre site at Lionel Road in June, to a new stadium projected for 2016-17. This victory ended an eight-match stalemate of draws between the sides and was Brentford's first at Meadow Lane this century. County, managed by Keith Curle, a team-mate of Rösler in that 1995 cup match, are celebrating their 150th anniversary as the world's oldest professional club with hapless home form – one win since September – while being unbeaten away in 21 since his arrival.
At the end the away fans could fairly celebrate in the stand named after Jimmy Sirrel, first into County's Hall of Fame, who started his managerial career at Brentford. But the Magpies were more like mince pies.
Barcelona want Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan at Atletico Madrid. Chelsea bought the 20-year-old Belgian for £8m from Genk in 2011 and immediately sent him out on loan to the Spanish side. Sun
Birmingham manager Lee Clark has said Liverpool and Everton will have to pay more than £6m to buy 19-year-old England goalkeeper Jack Butland. Daily Mirror
Brazil midfielder Paulinho has pledged to stay at Corinthians rather than move back to Europe. The 24-year-old has previously been linked with Club World Cup final opponents Chelsea as well as Manchester City. Esporte iG
Norwich hope to buy striker Craig Mackail-Smith, 28, and midfielder Liam Bridcutt, 23, from Championship side Brighton. Daily Mirror
Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini's likely lengthy suspension, after his clashes with Ryan Shawcross during the weekend draw with Stoke, has increased his chances of being sold in the January transfer window. Chelsea and Paris St Germain have been linked with a £30m move. Guardian
AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has admitted that striker Robinho is looking to return to Brazil. Sao Paulo, Flamengo and Santos have all shown interest in bringing Robinho home, although the 10m Euro price tag, which Allegri is insisting on, may get in the way. Futbol.as
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon will stay at Juventus for at least two more seasons in a compromise agreement, according to Tuttosport. The Italian number one, 34, wanted to commit to just one season, while the club wanted him to sign for three more years. Tuttosport.com
Fellaini, 25, could be punished with a nine-game ban following three separate incidents at the Britannia Stadium. Daily Mirror
The Belgian midfielder faces a club fine of two weeks' wages - up to £150,000 - from furious manager David Moyes but the Football Association is likely to ban him for three games. DSSC
Newcastle are set to be without injured playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa, 25, for the Christmas period.
Winger Pilkington has scored three goals in 14 league games for Norwich this season. Evening Chronicle
Norwich's Blackburn-born winger Anthony Pilkington, 24, is set to play for the Republic of Ireland rather than the country of his birth. DSSC
Reading manager Brian McDermott has no plans to bring Wally Downes back to the club, despite the former Brentford boss leaving his job as first-team coach at West Ham. Reading Post
Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has wasted no time in endearing himself to his new supporters by singing "Glory Glory Man United" in front of his team-mates at the club's Christmas party. Metro
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