Mourinho positiveJose Mourinho has signalled a further improvement in his relationship with Roman Abramovich by identifying success in the Champions League rather than the Premiership as Chelsea's priority for next season.
"Winning is a habit, winning is culture, winning has a lot of mental preparation and I am very happy with it here," he said. "I just feel the last step is to take this feeling, or this little bit of luck, to European competition.
"Chelsea played three Champions League semi-finals in the last four years, which is fantastic, but couldn't play one single final. This club wants more and we want more. I won it before but past is past, I want to do it with Chelsea."
Ranieri not interested
Parma coach Claudio Ranieri is keen to shun reported interest from Manchester City and stay with the Serie A club. The former Chelsea boss took over struggling Parma in February and has successfully guided them to safety, with a 12th-placed finish in the Italian top flight. Davies likely to stay
Derby manager Billy Davies, who led the club to the Premiership with a 1-0 victory over West Brom in the Championship play-off final on Monday, yesterday denied he would quit. The club's failure to appoint David Kelly, Davies' number two at former club Preston, as assistant boss was believed to be a cause of friction.
But Davies said yesterday: "I'm not looking for an exit clause. I have signed a three-year contract, I have two years left of that contract, it's my intention to see out the remainder."
Tragedy for McBeth
The English and Scottish football associations have moved swiftly to distance themselves from remarks by outgoing Scottish FA president John McBeth that have led to accusations of racism.
McBeth, who had been due to take over as Britain's Fifa vice-president this week, claimed that African and Caribbean associations were tainted by corruption and greed.
He will now go before Fifa's ethics committee who will rule on the comments, but his future career in world football's governing body looks to be hanging by a thread.
McBeth's remarks, reported widely in Scotland at the weekend, have infuriated senior Fifa figures. The Scot said: "By and large the four British countries know what fair play is and when we're stepping out of line. But as soon as you hit Africa it's a slightly different kettle of fish. They're poor nations and want to grab what they can. I presume the Caribbean is much the same - they just come at it in a different way."
Concacaf president Jack Warner, who is from Trinidad and Tobago and is one of seven Fifa vice-presidents, said the confederation had sent a letter of condemnation to Fifa. He said: "Why did he only mention African and Caribbean countries? To me that smacks of racism of the worst kind. We all feel deeply insulted."
In Brief . . .
Premiership referee Graham Poll has confirmed his retirement. The former World Cup official took charge of his last match in England in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Monday . . . Rivaldo (35) has joined AEK Athens on a free transfer (two-year contract) after recently ending a three-year spell with reigning champions and city rivals Olympiacos . . . Dave Beasant has played down speculation linking him with the vacant Northern Ireland manager's job.The 47-year-old former England goalkeeper had been part of the Irish coaching staff on a match-to-match basis under Lawrie Sanchez.
