A round-up of today's other stories in brief
SWAI nominations announced
DEPARTING Shamrock Rovers manager Michael O’Neill heads up the nominees for the Airtricity-sponsored Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Personality of the Year awards, reports Emmet Malone.
O’Neill’s Rovers side won both the league and Setanta Cup while also becoming the first Irish club to make it to the group stages of a major European club competition.
Also included is his rival at Sligo Rovers, Paul Cook, who oversaw that club’s successful defence of the FAI Cup. Tommy Dunne is recognised for leading Cork City back to the top flight.
The three players on the list are the Premier Division’s top scorer, Eamon Zayed, Cameroon’s Joseph Ndo and Shamrock Rovers defender Pat Sullivan.
The goalkeeper’s award will be contested between Brendan Clarke of Sligo Rovers, Derry’s Ger Doherty and Gary Rogers of St Patrick’s Athletic. The winners will be announced on January 13th.
Devlin might swap Bray for Dundalk
PAT Devlin’s long association with Bray Wanderers could be ended today with the club’s long-time manager and director of football said to be on the brink of resigning, possibly with a view to taking over at Oriel Park, reports Emmet Malone.
Devlin has left the Carlisle Grounds before, having stints at Shamrock Rovers and in Steve Staunton’s Ireland set-up since first becoming manager with Wanderers over 25 years ago. But infighting among the club’s board members and Wanderers’ failure to set out a budget for next year appear to have frustrated him.
Devlin refused to confirm that he is interested in Dundalk but he didn’t deny it either. “All I can say is that I don’t see myself staying at the club with the structure we have in place at the moment,” he said yesterday.
AC Milan and Manchester City to meet over Tevez
AC MILAN vice-president Adriano Galliani yesterday said he expects to meet Manchester City officials on Thursday to discuss the possible transfer of Carlos Tevez.
Striker Tevez is currently in his native Argentina having flown home without City’s permission last month.
His representatives have been speaking to officials at Milan about a possible move, but a sticking point has been the terms of the deal, with Milan wanting Tevez on loan initially and City keen to sell the player immediately.
Galliani said: “On Thursday we have an appointment with Manchester City for Tevez but it will probably not be the decisive one to conclude negotiations.”
Galliani added: “We’re not going to take him outright: we’re offering a free loan with the right to buy in June. The player wants to come to us and not PSG and we hope City accept the offer.”
Galliani also said signing Maxi Lopez, currently at Catania, was a “standby” option.
No plans to revive terraces
THE English Premier League have ruled out the possibility of terracing returning to top-flight and Championship grounds in England. The Scottish Premier League (SPL) announced yesterday that it will consider requests to pilot safe-standing areas following a general meeting of all 12 top-flight clubs.
There are no plans for a similar move in England, however.
All-seater stadiums are compulsory in the top two tiers of English football under the Football Spectators Act, which was introduced after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, and the Premier League say they do not want that to change.
“The bottom line is that it (standing at matches) is illegal under the legislation that was brought in after Hillsborough,” Premier League spokesman Dan Johnson said. “We can’t have standing in the Premier League and the Championship and it’s not a situation we would like to see change.”
Villa targets May return after surgery
BARCELONA striker David Villa had successful surgery on his broken left leg yesterday and doctors said it would take him four to five months to recover.
Spain’s all-time leading scorer has said he was targeting returning for a possible Champions League final on May 19th, and being able to help his national team defend their European Championship title in Poland and Ukraine in June.
“The surgery went fantastically well,” Barcelona doctor Ricard Pruna told a news conference. “I have never seen someone in such good spirits after an operation.”
Villa broke his left tibia while playing the Club World Cup semi-final with Barcelona in Japan last Thursday, and specialist Ramon Cugat said the 30-year-old had been suffering beforehand from a stress fracture.
Seventeen held over match-fixing
SEVENTEEN people, including former Atalanta captain and Italy midfielder Cristiano Doni, were arrested yesterday in connection with a match-fixing and betting scandal, police said.
The operation, called Last Bet, was carried out in several cities in Italy. Those arrested had contacts with criminal gangs in Singapore and Eastern Europe.
The investigation followed a previous one which led to suspensions and bans for several players, including Doni.
Fulham post record profits
FULHAM yesterday posted record profits of €5.7 million for the past financial year. The Premier League club have also reported a record revenue of €91 million, according to figures released for the year ending June 30th, 2011.
Fulham recorded a profit of €6.4 million, before interest and taxation, and enjoyed a 4.9 per cent increase in attendance, which saw Craven Cottage secure a 98 per cent occupancy figure for the season.
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TOTTENHAM may have to do without Gareth Bale for Thursday’s clash against Chelsea after manager Harry Redknapp revealed the winger is struggling with an ankle injury.
Bale sprained his ankle during training on Friday and missed Sunday’s 1-0 win over Sunderland at White Hart Lane. Spurs felt Bale’s absence as they lacked the penetration the Welshman offers. They received another blow when Aaron Lennon came off with a suspected hamstring tear.
