Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba is stable but remains in critical condition after he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during the FA Cup quarter final match against Tottenham on Saturday night. The incident brought the match to a standstill at White Hart Lane.

After the shocking incident, medical examiners took two hours to revive the 23 year-old midfielder after which he was sent to the Heart Attack Centre at the London Chest Hospital where he is now being closely monitored. His heart reportedly only started beating again once he arrived at the medical facility.

Chelsea defender John Terry has been stripped of his England captaincy by the Football’s Association chairman, David Bernstein. Bernstein delivered the news to the player in a phone call on Friday morning.

This is the second time that Terry has been stripped of his title as captain for off-pitch reasons. In this case Terry faces charges for his alleged racist remarks against Queens Park Rangers player Anton Ferdinand, the trial for which has now been scheduled for the 9th July so as not to interfere with this summer’s European Championships.

Because the Euro 2012 takes place a week before the trial date it is possible that Terry could captain the national side during the championship. However, Anti-racist campaigners have displayed disapproval of allowing a man accused of racism to lead his country a sporting event. Piara Power, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe said that ”The seriousness of the allegations mean that he can’t lead the nation. The FA must do the right thing.”

England manager, Fabio Capello, who is currently out of the country and will be returning to watch a Premier League game tomorrow, had selected Terry for the matches against Spain and Sweden last November despite the allegations.

Since the criminal charge was announced in December 2011, Terry has consistently denied that he ever racially abused the QPR defender saying that “I will fight tooth and nail to prove my innocence. I have campaigned against racism and believe there is no place for it in society.”

Terry was first stripped of his England captaincy by Capello when it was revealed that the defender was having an affair with his team mate and friend Wayne Bridges’s wife. Capello felt it was best for the squad that he not lead them as captain.

Source: The Guardian

Queens Park Rangers Football Club has sacked its manager Neil Warnock on Sunday after the team has been left without a victory in their last eight Premier League matches and on the very edge of the relegation zone.

Warnock, who was appointed in March 2010 and won 33 of his 84 matches while in charge, has guided the West London club back to the Premier League for the first time in 15 years last season.

QPR owner, Malaysian Tony Fernandes commented in a club statement that the board felt it was the right time to make a serious change as recent poor form has seen the team slip down the table. Fernandes continued to say that “Neil Warnock has acted with honesty, professionalism and integrity throughout his time at the club and I would personally like to thank him for his significant contribution to Queens Park Rangers over the last 22 months.”

Philip Beard, Chief executive, told Sky Sports television that staying in the Premier League was key to the club’s ambitions and that they would move as quickly as possible to appoint a new manager.

In total, QPR have only won four of their 20 League matches with only one victory at Loftus Road, when they beat Chelsea 1-0 in October.

QPR said assistant manager Mick Jones and first team coach Keith Curle had left with Warnock.

Source: Supersport

Manchester City Manager, Robert Mancini, has raised his first concerns about the new spending restrictions placed on him by Manchester City. The concerns were brought about after it was revealed that he could have only one striker and two fully fit central midfielders available for the FA Cup third-round tie against Manchester United on Sunday.

This is particularly upsetting for Mancini who has lost players Yaya and Kolo Touré who will be reporting to the Africa Cup of Nations tomorrow, when the Ivory Coast reneged on an agreement previously made with the club to delay the brothers’ preparations by 24 hours. With Mario Balotelli having been ruled out with an ankle injury, Gareth Barry suspended and Edin Dzeko receiving treatment for a knee problem, the richest club in the world are struggling to fill their substitutes’ bench for the FA Cup.

As a result Mancini is looking for at least one new signing, needing three, but he has since been informed that the club will not be providing the necessary money to do so due to reported losses of £200 million in the last financial year. At first, Mancini believed that the club would be willing to sign new players if others were sold but unfortunately that is not the case.

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Yaya Toure scored to take Manchester City through to the FA Cup final and thereby ending Manchester United‘s treble dreams. The scoreline was 1 – 0 at Wembley and City now hope to end their 35-year trophy drought.

It has been no secret that McLaren has struggled with reliability issues and performance during pre-season and both their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have admitted that come the first race day in Melbourne they will be surprised if they could compete with the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull.

BBC trio Martin Brundle, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan didn’t hold back in their criticism of the McLaren car during their season review for the public broadcaster.

“I watched the [McLaren] out on track a week ago and it’s a mess,” Brundle said.

“It didn’t slow down. It didn’t turn in. It couldn’t get the power down. Lewis [Hamilton] looked absolutely at sea in the thing. Clearly they have a fundamental issue.”

Coulthard added: “If your car doesn’t run quick straight out of the blocks then it is a problem. By the time you sort it out everyone will have brought their second and third upgrades along.”

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Kenny Dalglish had a frustating start as Liverpool manager by losing 1 – 0 against Manchester United at Old Trafford last night courtesy of a second minute penalty by Ryan Giggs and a red card to Steven Gerrard by referee Howard Webb.

The penalty and 32nd-minute dismissal of Liverpool’s captain enabled United to cruise through to a fourth-round away game with League Two (third division) Southampton and spoil the comeback of Dalglish, who replaced Roy Hodgson on Saturday.

Holders Chelsea progressed with a 7-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge and will visit Everton, while Tottenham Hotspur beat League One (third division) Charlton Athletic 3-0 and Manchester City were held 2-2 at Leicester City.

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