Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp, has been cleared on Wednesday by a court in London of tax evasion charges after a long investigation into allegations of financial corruption in British football.

Redknapp, who is tipped to be the next England team manager, was charged with cheating the public revenue in relation to payments totalling $295, 000 made to his bank account in Monaco during his time as manager of Portsmouth.

After hearing the verdict, Redknapp who had to fight back tears of relief, said that the strain of the investigation had been “horrendous”.

Since being cleared, Redknapp applauded the Tottenham directors and supporters for backing both him and former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric. ”I have to thank the fans, especially, the fans of Tottenham. The other night, the Wigan game, was the most moving I’ve ever felt for me personally to have them singing my name throughout the game,” he said.

The verdict clears the way for Redknapp to replace Fabio Capello as manager of the England team when the Euro 2012 tournament comes to an end this summer when the Italian is due to step down. Capello’s imminent replacement comes after clashes between him and the Football Association who recently stripped John Derry of his English captaincy.

The tax authorities have defended their actions stating that, ”We’ve no regrets about pursuing this case because it was vitally important that the facts were put before the jury for their consideration,” said Chris Martin, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigations at HM Revenue and Customs.

Source: Reuters

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

Members of the public and politicians angered by the death of 74 people during clashes at a stadium during a soccer match on Wednesday are protesting today.

The protesters believe that generals didn’t do enough to keep soccer fans safe in what is the deadliest incident since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. After the match, fans of the victorious local al-Masry team, invaded the pitch and ran toward the visitors section from Cairo’s Al Ahli, Egypt’s most successful club. When Al Ahli fans attempted to exit the stadium, they found the doors still bolted resulting in those getting caught in the stampede being crushed to death. Other deaths occurred when fans were thrown or fell off terraces.

Thousands of friends and family members went to Cairo’s main train station in hopes of seeing their relatives returning safely from the violent incident. As covered bodies from Egypt’s worst soccer disaster were unloaded from trains, thousands of people chanted “Down with military rule”. During the protest, angry young men blocked roads near the state television building and the capital’s landmark Tahrir Square.

The Interior Ministry has blamed the violence on a section of the crowd which it said had deliberately set out to cause “anarchy, a riot, and a stampede”. Parliament was holding an emergency session to discuss the violence.

Watch the Sky News report on the story in the video below:

Source: Supersport

19-year-old German midfielder, Thomas Eisfeld, was in London recently with his agent Reza Fazeli negotiating a switch to Arsenal FC. The premier league team are closing in on signing the Borussia Dortmund player for around  £400, 000.

Eisfeld, who is a product of Dortmund’s academy and has found his path to the first team blocked by the likes of German sensation Mario Gotze, is set to to complete a move to Arsenal in the next 24 hours if he passes what is expected to be a stringent medical examination. The young player’s development has been held back by a knee injury when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in 2009. It’s is no surprise then that Eisfield will have to prove his fitness at the club’s London Colney training ground.

Arsenal, who are likely to have to pay a compensation fee of around £400,000 to Dortmund for developing Eisfeld , have taken advantage of the young player’s availability as he will be out of a contract in summer.

Had he chosen to remain in Germany, Eisfeld would have faced strong competition for a place, with the Bundesliga champions having signed midfielders Moritz Leitner, Leonardo Bittencourt and Mustafa Amini over the course of the last 12 months.

Source: Goal.com

Inter Malan board member, Marco Tronchetti Provera has revealed that the Nerazzurri are no longer interested in luring Manchester City attacker Carlos Tevez to the Gisueppe Meazza in the January transfer window.

The winners of the 2010 Champions League put in an offer for the Man City player only to have it rejected and have no intention of putting in another bid for the Argentine especially since the improved form of Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder’s return from injury.

Tronchetti Provera commented that ”Our own stars have returned from injury and are back in top form. We have recovered our own champions and don’t need Tevez or anyone else any more, regardless of the fact that Tevez remains a great champion.”

Inter Malan’s decision to no longer bid for Tevez comes just one day after the director of Paris Saint-Germain revealed that they have ended talks with the attacker about a winter transfer.

AC Milan are still interested in Tevez, however Man City stressed earlier this week that the forward will not move to San Siro under the conditions the Rossoneri have offered.

Source: Goal.com

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.

(more…)