Friday's 'See ya' B*ll*x
Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:07 amGarry Cook's Manchester City future in doubt after failed boast
Chief executive guaranteed Carling Cup victory over United
Manchester City's owners in Abu Dhabi are starting to give serious consideration to the position of the chief executive, Garry Cook, at the end of the season after becoming increasingly perturbed about his leadership style and the frequency with which he has attracted bad publicity.
Cook has developed a reputation as one of the game's more derided figures after a series of personal embarrassments in which his fondness for speaking his mind has come back to haunt him. The latest came in the build-up to the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United when he was filmed telling supporters in New York's Mad Hatter Saloon that City would get to Wembley "not if, but when, we beat United again".
Cook also proclaimed that City were on course to supersede United, Real Madrid and Barcelona as the "biggest and best club in the world". He later claimed that he thought it was a closed event, despite the presence of television cameras as he took the microphone. Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have cited Cook's remarks to his players ahead of Wednesday's 3-1 win which took United into the final with a 4-3 aggregate victory.
The sense at Old Trafford is that Cook committed one of the oldest mistakes in the book and, after the match, the midfielder Darren Fletcher pointedly referred to United "doing their talking on the pitch". However, the concerns about Cook go back much further and are more elaborate than just his habit of talking himself into trouble. City have had a mixed record in the transfer market, overpaying for several players and missing out on several key targets, most notably the attempt to smash the world transfer record by persuading Kaká to sign for the club from Milan for £91m in January 2009. In one of Cook's more infamous outbursts, the former Nike marketing executive accused Milan of "bottling it".
More recently, Cook came under scrutiny when City sacked their manager, Mark Hughes, and it subsequently emerged that his successor, Roberto Mancini, had been approached three weeks earlier. Cook tried to pass off meeting the former Internazionale coach as "general football talks" but the episode reflected badly on the club when the Abu Dhabi United Group has been trying to project an image of being different and more noble than other football club owners. Cook later revealed that he had actually started to identify possible replacements for Hughes as long ago as last summer, despite having repeatedly insisted that the club would be patient with their manager.
The sacking demonstrated the ruthlessness of the club's owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and the chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, during a period of significant change at every level of the club. Cook was paid £1.5m last year and has admitted being brought to tears during parts of a 20-month tenure in which, in effect, he ousted Alistair Mackintosh from the job.
Cook was appointed by the previous owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed prime minister of Thailand who had been charged with corruption offences in his home country. In Cook's first major interview, he defended Thaksin's reputation, saying: "Is he a nice guy? Yes. Is he a great guy to play golf with? Yes. Has he got the finances to run a club? Yes. Whether he's guilty of something over there, I can't worry too much about. Morally, I feel comfortable in this environment."
He subsequently admitted after Thaksin's conviction that he felt "dreadful" about making those comments. "I have made some mistakes in my life," Cook said, "but I deeply regretted my failure to do proper research on Thaksin."
That particular episode was not under ADUG's watch, but Cook's propensity for saying the wrong thing has started to jar with his employers and also affect the way the supporters consider him. His public gaffes include welcoming former striker Uwe Rösler to the "Manchester United Hall of Fame" at a supporters' event, a mistake that led to him being booed. Cook later wrote an apology for the mistake.
Cook also vehemently denied reports that Robinho would leave the club in January but was proved wrong yesterday.
MCF THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=29965
GORDON Strachan's hopes of hanging on to Adam Johnson were fading last night after Middlesbrough’s prize asset asked to be allowed to speak to Manchester City.
Roberto Mancini leads the chasing pack for Johnson but may have to table a £9million bid for him before Monday’s
transfer deadline.
Winger Johnson scored twice in Boro’s Tuesday’s 4-1 win at Doncaster and is a target for Chelsea and Sunderland as well. Former England Under-21 international Johnson’s contract runs out this summer and although his suitors have each made a £5m offer for him – and finances at the Riverside are tight – that is not enough to tempt Boro to sell.
Gordon Strachan would let Johnson go for £9m but has told chairman Steve Gibson that any hopes of making an immediate return to the Premier League this season would be dashed without his top scorer.
However, any money coming in would fund a move for £4m-rated Celtic striker Scott McDonald. Strachan said: “There is no club who can turn down the right money for a player. But the perfect scenario would be if he stays.”
Sunderland make £1.5m move for Manchester City striker Benjani
Sunderland have made a cut-price move for Manchester City striker Benjani.
The Zimbabwe centre forward is due to hold talks today over a £1.5million move after looking poised to join West Ham earlier this week.
The 31-year-old was also wanted by Blackburn, Galatasaray and Birmingham.
Manchester City set to pay £70,000 a week for Robinho to play for someone else
Robinho celebrates scoring for Manchester City, but now he is likely to go back to Brazil on loan
Santos have asked Manchester City to pay about half of Robinho’s wages as they prepare to make him the highest-earning player in Brazil.
Fresh details of the complex deal emerged last night that reveal the strength of the forward’s desire to return to his former team, the lengths that the Brazilian club are going to to secure the signing and the scale of City’s financial muscle.
The forward is ready to take a pay cut of about £45,000 a week from the £150,000 that he secured when he became the most expensive player in this country after moving from Real Madrid 18 months ago. Santos are in talks with sponsors to help to fund about £35,000 of the remaining wage — three times more than their present top earner — with City expected to pick up the balance, about £70,000.
There will probably also be a loan fee payable from Santos to City.
Odilio Rodrigues Filho, the Santos vice-president, is set to arrive in Manchester today to put the final touches to the deal, including its length, which could be completed in the next 24 hours. He will join two Santos marketing directors, Armênio Neto and Eduardo Musa, who have held talks with their counterparts to thrash out contractual issues such as image rights.
Robinho, 26, has made it clear that he wants to move to boost his standing in Brazil before the World Cup finals. He has scored only four goals since the end of 2008.
“It is 90 per cent certain,” Robinho said. “I am bursting to get back to Santos. [The move] is well under way. The clubs are talking about the duration of my loan. Santos would like it to be for a year, but City will only allow me to leave for six months.”
City maintain that their record signing, who cost £34.2 million in September 2008, will not be moving permanently. They received an informal inquiry from Benfica. Santos’ problem is simply to find the money to re-sign the player, who spent three years at the club before he joined Real in 2005.
They have been in talks with local sponsors to raise more than 20 per cent of the player’s wages, following on from similar agreements that have enabled Ronaldo, Adriano and Roberto Carlos to return to Brazil. Ronaldo earns about £80,000 a week playing for Corinthians, some of which is paid by sponsors.
Luís Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, the Santos president, has confirmed that City could be given first option on Paulo Henrique Ganso and Neymar, the playmaker and forward respectively, as part of the deal and said that the weather had been a significant factor in Robinho’s desire to return to Brazil.
“An underlying factor is that in England it is two degrees and in Santos it is 38 degrees [100F],” Ribeiro said. “For technical reasons, he wants to come back. The manager has a plan and Robinho wants to be more near to Brazil for the World Cup. He has accepted a considerable reduction in his salary. I confess that I once thought Robinho returning was just a fantasy, but I believe after I talked with him that it can happen.
“We will have news about Robinho by the end of the week. We have two representatives in England conversing with him and here in Brazil we are going to look for sponsorship.”
As a measure of the inequality that Robinho would bring if the proposed loan move goes through, the club’s present top players, Fabio Costa, the goalkeeper, and Leo, the defender, earn about £17,000 a week.
Emmanuel Adebayor, the City striker, was back in training yesterday after returning from Africa in the wake of the fatal attack on the Togo coach in the build-up to the Africa Cup of Nations this month. It will be left to Adebayor to decide whether to put himself forward for selection for tomorrow evening’s Carling Cup semi-final, second leg with Manchester United at Old Trafford and he has been offered counselling.
City officials are adamant that they have not made an offer for Fernando Gago, the Real Madrid midfield player, and have played down talk that Benjani Mwaruwari, the striker, could be allowed to leave this month
MCF THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=29795
Football fan charged with throwing coin at Craig Bellamy
A man has been charged with throwing a coin at footballer Craig Bellamy during the Manchester derby.
Adam Teese, 26, of Nelstrop Road North, Heaton Chapel, Greater Manchester, is accused of ''throwing a missile on to the pitch'' during the Carling Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, police said.
Another man has been charged for trying to enter the ground while drunk, police said.
Paul Rooney Nelson, 35, of Melton Road, Crumpsall, will appear at the same court two days later.Two other men who were arrested last night received fixed penalty notices for public order offences and a third man was fined for being drunk and disorderly, police said.
Six other men, arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, affray and conspiracy to commit violent disorder, were bailed pending further inquiries.
There was a massive police presence at the game after trouble flared during last week's first leg, with 29 people arrested in connection with the game, which City won 2-1.
Officers issued CCTV pictures of suspected football hooligans after the first match and appealed for calm ahead of the return leg, which United won 3-1, giving them a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "The vast majority of fans behaved very well and I would like to thank them for listening to the messages we have been giving, to help make the evening pass off peacefully."
MCF THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=29981
TRANSFER BOLLOX
Middlesbrough have placed a £9m price tag on Adam Johnson with Manchester City closing in on the winger. The former England Under-21 star requested permission to speak to the Eastlands club earlier this week. Daily Express
AC Milan are adamant striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will not be moving to the Premier League before the end of the month. Arsenal, Everton, West Ham and Tottenham had been interested in signing the Netherlands international. The Sun
Tottenham have rejected an £8m bid from Birmingham for striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. The north London club are keen to recoup as much of the £14m they paid for the Russia international. Daily Mail
Spurs have demanded £10m for the Russian, plus another £3m in add-ons with the Blues refusing to stump up the £13m being asked for in total.: Guardian
Newcastle have joined the list of clubs wanting to sign Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses by matching the £1.5m bid being offered by West Brom. Nottingham Forest are also interested in the highly rated striker. The Times
Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic looks set to join Portsmouth team-mate Younes Kaboul at Tottenham as the south coast club attempt to raise funds to address their £60m financial crisis. Daily Mail
Birmingham are keen on securing the services of Aruna Dindane on loan from Lens after the move of the Ivory Coast striker to Bolton fell through. The French club are eyeing a £4m deal. Daily Mail
Celtic are planning to add a defender and a striker before the transfer window closes, with the club set to increase their £2.5m offer for Preston North End centre-back Sean St Ledger.Guardian
WAG OF THE DAY
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/2 ... anda-lessa
OTHER BOLLOXHull City are desperate to address their £10m debt and rising wage bill and chairman Adam Pearson has said the club will listen to offers for all of his players.Daily Star
Portsmouth boss Avram Grant is considering walking out at Fratton Park after defender Younes Kaboul and Asmir Begovic were sold to help raise funds. The Israeli insisted last month no player would be sold without his prior approval. Daily Mirror
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon faces another three weeks on the sidelines because of a groin strain. The England international has not played since 28 December.Guardian
Despite loaning Robinho to Brazilian club Santos, Manchester City must pay about £70,000 to fund the striker's wages, with Santos searching for sponsors to help fund the remaining £35,000.The Times
More bollox later ...
Chief executive guaranteed Carling Cup victory over United
Manchester City's owners in Abu Dhabi are starting to give serious consideration to the position of the chief executive, Garry Cook, at the end of the season after becoming increasingly perturbed about his leadership style and the frequency with which he has attracted bad publicity.
Cook has developed a reputation as one of the game's more derided figures after a series of personal embarrassments in which his fondness for speaking his mind has come back to haunt him. The latest came in the build-up to the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United when he was filmed telling supporters in New York's Mad Hatter Saloon that City would get to Wembley "not if, but when, we beat United again".
Cook also proclaimed that City were on course to supersede United, Real Madrid and Barcelona as the "biggest and best club in the world". He later claimed that he thought it was a closed event, despite the presence of television cameras as he took the microphone. Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have cited Cook's remarks to his players ahead of Wednesday's 3-1 win which took United into the final with a 4-3 aggregate victory.
The sense at Old Trafford is that Cook committed one of the oldest mistakes in the book and, after the match, the midfielder Darren Fletcher pointedly referred to United "doing their talking on the pitch". However, the concerns about Cook go back much further and are more elaborate than just his habit of talking himself into trouble. City have had a mixed record in the transfer market, overpaying for several players and missing out on several key targets, most notably the attempt to smash the world transfer record by persuading Kaká to sign for the club from Milan for £91m in January 2009. In one of Cook's more infamous outbursts, the former Nike marketing executive accused Milan of "bottling it".
More recently, Cook came under scrutiny when City sacked their manager, Mark Hughes, and it subsequently emerged that his successor, Roberto Mancini, had been approached three weeks earlier. Cook tried to pass off meeting the former Internazionale coach as "general football talks" but the episode reflected badly on the club when the Abu Dhabi United Group has been trying to project an image of being different and more noble than other football club owners. Cook later revealed that he had actually started to identify possible replacements for Hughes as long ago as last summer, despite having repeatedly insisted that the club would be patient with their manager.
The sacking demonstrated the ruthlessness of the club's owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and the chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, during a period of significant change at every level of the club. Cook was paid £1.5m last year and has admitted being brought to tears during parts of a 20-month tenure in which, in effect, he ousted Alistair Mackintosh from the job.
Cook was appointed by the previous owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed prime minister of Thailand who had been charged with corruption offences in his home country. In Cook's first major interview, he defended Thaksin's reputation, saying: "Is he a nice guy? Yes. Is he a great guy to play golf with? Yes. Has he got the finances to run a club? Yes. Whether he's guilty of something over there, I can't worry too much about. Morally, I feel comfortable in this environment."
He subsequently admitted after Thaksin's conviction that he felt "dreadful" about making those comments. "I have made some mistakes in my life," Cook said, "but I deeply regretted my failure to do proper research on Thaksin."
That particular episode was not under ADUG's watch, but Cook's propensity for saying the wrong thing has started to jar with his employers and also affect the way the supporters consider him. His public gaffes include welcoming former striker Uwe Rösler to the "Manchester United Hall of Fame" at a supporters' event, a mistake that led to him being booed. Cook later wrote an apology for the mistake.
Cook also vehemently denied reports that Robinho would leave the club in January but was proved wrong yesterday.
MCF THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=29965
GORDON Strachan's hopes of hanging on to Adam Johnson were fading last night after Middlesbrough’s prize asset asked to be allowed to speak to Manchester City.
Roberto Mancini leads the chasing pack for Johnson but may have to table a £9million bid for him before Monday’s
transfer deadline.
Winger Johnson scored twice in Boro’s Tuesday’s 4-1 win at Doncaster and is a target for Chelsea and Sunderland as well. Former England Under-21 international Johnson’s contract runs out this summer and although his suitors have each made a £5m offer for him – and finances at the Riverside are tight – that is not enough to tempt Boro to sell.
Gordon Strachan would let Johnson go for £9m but has told chairman Steve Gibson that any hopes of making an immediate return to the Premier League this season would be dashed without his top scorer.
However, any money coming in would fund a move for £4m-rated Celtic striker Scott McDonald. Strachan said: “There is no club who can turn down the right money for a player. But the perfect scenario would be if he stays.”
Sunderland make £1.5m move for Manchester City striker Benjani
Sunderland have made a cut-price move for Manchester City striker Benjani.
The Zimbabwe centre forward is due to hold talks today over a £1.5million move after looking poised to join West Ham earlier this week.
The 31-year-old was also wanted by Blackburn, Galatasaray and Birmingham.
Manchester City set to pay £70,000 a week for Robinho to play for someone else
Robinho celebrates scoring for Manchester City, but now he is likely to go back to Brazil on loan
Santos have asked Manchester City to pay about half of Robinho’s wages as they prepare to make him the highest-earning player in Brazil.
Fresh details of the complex deal emerged last night that reveal the strength of the forward’s desire to return to his former team, the lengths that the Brazilian club are going to to secure the signing and the scale of City’s financial muscle.
The forward is ready to take a pay cut of about £45,000 a week from the £150,000 that he secured when he became the most expensive player in this country after moving from Real Madrid 18 months ago. Santos are in talks with sponsors to help to fund about £35,000 of the remaining wage — three times more than their present top earner — with City expected to pick up the balance, about £70,000.
There will probably also be a loan fee payable from Santos to City.
Odilio Rodrigues Filho, the Santos vice-president, is set to arrive in Manchester today to put the final touches to the deal, including its length, which could be completed in the next 24 hours. He will join two Santos marketing directors, Armênio Neto and Eduardo Musa, who have held talks with their counterparts to thrash out contractual issues such as image rights.
Robinho, 26, has made it clear that he wants to move to boost his standing in Brazil before the World Cup finals. He has scored only four goals since the end of 2008.
“It is 90 per cent certain,” Robinho said. “I am bursting to get back to Santos. [The move] is well under way. The clubs are talking about the duration of my loan. Santos would like it to be for a year, but City will only allow me to leave for six months.”
City maintain that their record signing, who cost £34.2 million in September 2008, will not be moving permanently. They received an informal inquiry from Benfica. Santos’ problem is simply to find the money to re-sign the player, who spent three years at the club before he joined Real in 2005.
They have been in talks with local sponsors to raise more than 20 per cent of the player’s wages, following on from similar agreements that have enabled Ronaldo, Adriano and Roberto Carlos to return to Brazil. Ronaldo earns about £80,000 a week playing for Corinthians, some of which is paid by sponsors.
Luís Álvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, the Santos president, has confirmed that City could be given first option on Paulo Henrique Ganso and Neymar, the playmaker and forward respectively, as part of the deal and said that the weather had been a significant factor in Robinho’s desire to return to Brazil.
“An underlying factor is that in England it is two degrees and in Santos it is 38 degrees [100F],” Ribeiro said. “For technical reasons, he wants to come back. The manager has a plan and Robinho wants to be more near to Brazil for the World Cup. He has accepted a considerable reduction in his salary. I confess that I once thought Robinho returning was just a fantasy, but I believe after I talked with him that it can happen.
“We will have news about Robinho by the end of the week. We have two representatives in England conversing with him and here in Brazil we are going to look for sponsorship.”
As a measure of the inequality that Robinho would bring if the proposed loan move goes through, the club’s present top players, Fabio Costa, the goalkeeper, and Leo, the defender, earn about £17,000 a week.
Emmanuel Adebayor, the City striker, was back in training yesterday after returning from Africa in the wake of the fatal attack on the Togo coach in the build-up to the Africa Cup of Nations this month. It will be left to Adebayor to decide whether to put himself forward for selection for tomorrow evening’s Carling Cup semi-final, second leg with Manchester United at Old Trafford and he has been offered counselling.
City officials are adamant that they have not made an offer for Fernando Gago, the Real Madrid midfield player, and have played down talk that Benjani Mwaruwari, the striker, could be allowed to leave this month
MCF THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=29795
Football fan charged with throwing coin at Craig Bellamy
A man has been charged with throwing a coin at footballer Craig Bellamy during the Manchester derby.
Adam Teese, 26, of Nelstrop Road North, Heaton Chapel, Greater Manchester, is accused of ''throwing a missile on to the pitch'' during the Carling Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, police said.
Another man has been charged for trying to enter the ground while drunk, police said.
Paul Rooney Nelson, 35, of Melton Road, Crumpsall, will appear at the same court two days later.Two other men who were arrested last night received fixed penalty notices for public order offences and a third man was fined for being drunk and disorderly, police said.
Six other men, arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, affray and conspiracy to commit violent disorder, were bailed pending further inquiries.
There was a massive police presence at the game after trouble flared during last week's first leg, with 29 people arrested in connection with the game, which City won 2-1.
Officers issued CCTV pictures of suspected football hooligans after the first match and appealed for calm ahead of the return leg, which United won 3-1, giving them a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "The vast majority of fans behaved very well and I would like to thank them for listening to the messages we have been giving, to help make the evening pass off peacefully."
MCF THREAD: viewtopic.php?f=119&t=29981
TRANSFER BOLLOX
Middlesbrough have placed a £9m price tag on Adam Johnson with Manchester City closing in on the winger. The former England Under-21 star requested permission to speak to the Eastlands club earlier this week. Daily Express
AC Milan are adamant striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will not be moving to the Premier League before the end of the month. Arsenal, Everton, West Ham and Tottenham had been interested in signing the Netherlands international. The Sun
Tottenham have rejected an £8m bid from Birmingham for striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. The north London club are keen to recoup as much of the £14m they paid for the Russia international. Daily Mail
Spurs have demanded £10m for the Russian, plus another £3m in add-ons with the Blues refusing to stump up the £13m being asked for in total.: Guardian
Newcastle have joined the list of clubs wanting to sign Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses by matching the £1.5m bid being offered by West Brom. Nottingham Forest are also interested in the highly rated striker. The Times
Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic looks set to join Portsmouth team-mate Younes Kaboul at Tottenham as the south coast club attempt to raise funds to address their £60m financial crisis. Daily Mail
Birmingham are keen on securing the services of Aruna Dindane on loan from Lens after the move of the Ivory Coast striker to Bolton fell through. The French club are eyeing a £4m deal. Daily Mail
Celtic are planning to add a defender and a striker before the transfer window closes, with the club set to increase their £2.5m offer for Preston North End centre-back Sean St Ledger.Guardian
WAG OF THE DAY
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/2 ... anda-lessa
OTHER BOLLOXHull City are desperate to address their £10m debt and rising wage bill and chairman Adam Pearson has said the club will listen to offers for all of his players.Daily Star
Portsmouth boss Avram Grant is considering walking out at Fratton Park after defender Younes Kaboul and Asmir Begovic were sold to help raise funds. The Israeli insisted last month no player would be sold without his prior approval. Daily Mirror
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon faces another three weeks on the sidelines because of a groin strain. The England international has not played since 28 December.Guardian
Despite loaning Robinho to Brazilian club Santos, Manchester City must pay about £70,000 to fund the striker's wages, with Santos searching for sponsors to help fund the remaining £35,000.The Times
More bollox later ...