Arsenal player Jermaine Pennant - once tipped as one of England's brightest soccer talents - was yesterday jailed for three months for drink-driving while banned from the road.
The former England under-21 midfielder - on loan to Birmingham City - was arrested in January after police caught him driving a Mercedes sports car with a lamp-post dragging underneath. At the time, he was already serving a 16-month ban imposed for another drink-driving offence.
Pennant signed for Arsenal from Notts County for £1.5 million in January 1999 on his 16th birthday.
Beattie recovers
Everton striker James Beattie returned to training yesterday after being attacked in Birmingham at the weekend. The £6 million signing from Southampton was injured in the assault at the Arcadian Centre in the early hours of Sunday.
The 27-year-old had been enjoying a night out with friends following Everton's 3-1 win over Aston Villa and was the victim of an "unprovoked assault", according to his club.
Tsunami Soccer Aid
Jason McAteer was in Dublin yesterday to promote tsunami Soccer Aid, a game between a team of "Liverpool Legends" and a Celebrity XI scheduled to take place on March 27th at Anfield, reports Emmet Malone.
The former Ireland international came up with the idea for the game after watching a BBC documentary on the hardship being endured by children orphaned in the disaster.
"Kids do change your life," said McAteer whose own son, Harry, is four years old, "and just seeing those images brought home the plight of the children. It was devastating seeing these kids taken from hospitals after surviving, and losing their families and homes, mums and dads.
"When I was at Liverpool I went out to Asia as an ambassador for the club and I was treated really well. They are fantastic people, and it was devastating to see the affect that the disaster had. By the end of that week a quarter of a million people had been killed and I just wanted to make a real difference. This is the only way I could do it."
Ronnie Whelan, John Aldridge, Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish are among the former Liverpool players lined up to play while the celebrity team will include Nicky Byrne, Brian McFadden and Shane Ritchie.
Aragones fined
Spain coach Luis Aragones has been fined €3,000 by the Spanish Football Federation for remarks about France's Thierry Henry. Aragones caused controversy in October when he was heard in a training session telling striker Jose Antonio Reyes he was better than "that black shit", referring to the Spaniard's Arsenal team-mate.
"The judge understood that because of the position he holds he should have behaved differently," a Federation spokesman said. "It is not considered that he has broken any anti-racist rule. It is not considered that Luis Aragones is racist."
Half-baked outburst
Delia Smith has conceded to letting her heart rule her head following an outburst on Monday night which left many Norwich fans embarrassed. The Norwich director took to the Carrow Road pitch at half-time of the Canaries' game with Manchester City after watching the players throw away a 2-0 lead to go in level at 2-2 at the break.
With microphone in hand she shouted: "This is a message for possibly the best supporters in the world. We need a 12th man here. Where are you? Where are you? Let's be having you. Come on!" In the second half, Norwich City had Mattias Jonsson sent off and conceded a last-minute winner to Robbie Fowler.
"She's an interesting character sometimes," said Rob Emery, of the Norwich Supporters' Consultative Group, "particularly when the red wine is flowing in the boardroom and it sounds like one or two glasses had been flowing more than they should have done".
Pushed too far
Southampton midfielder David Prutton faces a lengthy suspension after admitting two charges of improper conduct following his clash with referee Alan Wiley at St Mary's last weekend. The 23-year-old was dismissed by Wiley for two bookable offences and missed last night's FA Cup fifth-round replay at Brentford through suspension. However, he was also handed two FA charges following his remonstrations - where he appeared to push Wiley on at least one occasion - and his failure to leave the pitch quickly.
It takes two to tango
Michel Platini believes Juventus players would have known about any doping at the club in the 1990s. Platini spoke following the release of the official report explaining the sentencing of Juventus doctor Riccardo Agricola last November. Agricola was handed a 22-month prison sentence after being found guilty of sports fraud in a trial investigating doping at Juventus from 1994 to 1998.
"If it's true that doping existed at Juve, and I don't know whether it did, the players must have known," said Platini, who spent five years at Juve. "How could they not know? It's not chewing gum, doping is like making love, you need two to do it, the doctor and the athlete."
In brief . . .
Twenty-year-old midfielder Antonio Mavuba - the hottest property in French football - has indicated an interest in joining Arsenal. Steve Wigley has returned to Southampton as director of youth football just two months after he was sacked as head coach. Former Everton midfielder Alex Nyarko has linked up with Norwegian side Start. And finally, second division Clermont Foot pulled off a huge upset yesterday when they beat champions Olympique Lyon 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the French Cup quarter-finals.
