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The Australian and New Zealand chairmen are united in their anger at not being given a reason for John Howard’s scratching as ICC vice-president

Peter English30-Jun-2010

The Australian and New Zealand chairmen are united in their anger at not being given a reason for John Howard’s scratching as ICC vice-president and embarrassed that such a decorated candidate has been refused. New Zealand Cricket’s Alan Isaac and Cricket Australia’s Jack Clarke were “gutted” after being asked by the board to nominate another option by August.”It’s incredibly disappointing that a man of John Howard’s stature has been knocked off from this job,” Clarke said from Singapore. “A person who has been such an eminent person and who has been through the most exhaustive process ever to get this job.”The opposition to Howard, who needed seven votes from the 10 major nations, began formally with a letter signed by six board members on Tuesday night. Resistance to the idea was so strong there was no point in having a ballot.”There were no reasons given and that’s part of the frustration Jack and I have in this whole process,” Isaac said. “[There has been] lots of discussion but we’re unable to ascertain a reason for the lack of support for our nomination. It’s just not acceptable.”Howard, who was pursued by Cricket Australia to nominate for the position, was “extremely upset” when told of the veto. “When you put up someone through a process, someone as eminent as John, I don’t think embarrassed is strong enough [to describe the way you feel],” Clarke said. “Just gutted that the ICC has ignored the chance.”A disappointed Howard admitted his political past could have been the problem. “Even in private discussions they are very reluctant to give a particular reason,” Howard told Australia’s Sky News. “It’s a very unusual situation… I’m disappointed at the outcome. I wanted to do this job. I thought I could do it well and I would have devoted my full time to it.”Both Isaac and Clarke addressed the executive board during meetings over the past two days, with Clarke telling the members that Howard could not have been prime minister of Australia for 11 years without having ability. The pleas were ignored and the decision has exposed the reopening of a gulf between the Australia-New Zealand-England group and the Asia-Africa alliance.Opposition to Howard’s appointment began with his recommendation in March, with supporters of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka early critics of the move before South Africa and India provided their influential support. Howard was a critic of Robert Mugabe’s regime and refused to let Australia go there in 2007, while in 2004 he called Muttiah Muralitharan a chucker.There was also a backlash in New Zealand after their candidate Sir John Anderson was overlooked for “a non-cricket person”. An independent committee had been required to break the deadlock between Howard and Anderson, the two boards’ preferred options.Anderson has not been spoken to about replacing Howard and Isaac had no idea whether he would be interested. Despite the failure to advance Howard, Isaac remained comfortable with the selection.”Both of the candidates were very able,” Isaac said. “The recommendation for Howard was on his experience,” he said. “John Howard also had the time [to do the job], which was one of the issues the nomination committee had with John Anderson.”Isaac and Clarke are adamant the appointment process, which is under its fourth design since 1992, followed the ICC constitution. A region-based, rotational method was introduced to avoid these types of issues.”If you keep having processes that don’t work or aren’t allowed to work, I’m not sure how they go from there,” Clarke said. “I’ll have to go back to my board who will be pretty angry, very angry. Alan will need to go back to his board and then we’ll need to get together and work out where we go from there.”There are no threats of boycotting meetings, holding grudges through Future Tour Programme planning or refusing to re-nominate a candidate. But when asked if anything had occurred at ICC board level that was more insulting to Australia and New Zealand, Clarke replied: “This has got to be in the grand final.”

لم يتبق سوى أيام قليلة قبل انطلاق المونديال في قطر، ويؤمن الأرجنتيني جوليان ألفاريز، أن كرة القدم مدينة لزميله ليونيل ميسي بكأس العالم.

وتحدث ألفاريز في مؤتمر صحفي خاص بمباراة مانشستر سيتي وإشبيلية التي تلعب غدًا الأربعاء في دور المجموعات بالجولة الأخيرة، ضمن مباريات دوري أبطال أوروبا.

وقال ألفاريز: “بالنسبة لي، ميسي هو أفضل لاعب في العالم، أعتقد أن كرة القدم مدينة له بكأس العالم”.

وأضاف: “لقد كان دائمًا نموذجًا رائعًا، ولهذا السبب عندما يتعين علي أن ألعب أحاول مساعدته وفقًا لإمكانياتي”.

اقرأ أيضًا | ألفاريز: أجويرو مرجع لي.. واللعب مع ميسي وهالاند امتياز

اللاعب البالغ من العمر 22 عامًا يأمل في أن تخوض الأرجنتين موسمًا رائعًا في كأس العالم، وأفاد ألفاريز:  “الأرجنتين جيدة للغاية، لكن كأس العالم صعبة للغاية”.

وأتم: “عليك أن تكون شديد التركيز على التفاصيل لأن الخطأ يمكن أن يقصيك، سيكون لدينا كأس عالم رائعة”.

وقبل أن تبدأ الأرجنتين مشاركتها في المونديال، ستواجه الإمارات العربية المتحدة في مباراة ودية يوم 15 نوفمبر.

بعد ذلك ستظهر الأرجنتين لأول مرة في المجموعة الثالثة بمونديال قطر 2022 ضد المملكة العربية السعودية، في 22 نوفمبر، وستكون المكسيك (11/26) وبولندا (11/30) المنافسين التاليين.

There was a ‘huge let-off’ for Calvin Bassey and Rangers during their Scottish Premiership clash with Hearts on Sunday, in the words of BBC Sport’s Colin Moffat. 

The lowdown

Rangers won 5-0 at Ibrox after a double from Alfredo Morelos and strikes from Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield and Fashion Sakala, moving back within a point of title rivals Celtic after The Hoops’ own 4-0 win against Motherwell earlier on Sunday.

But perhaps things could have played out differently had Bassey, making his 15th league start in succession, been punished for his error at 1-0.

Three minutes into the second half, the Nigerian defender saw a backpass intercepted by Cammy Devlin, but the Hearts man fired his shot off target.

The latest

Moffat, who was providing live text commentary for BBC Sport, called the backpass ‘woefully short’.

He added that ‘Devlin has to do a lot better with that gift’, having let Bassey and Rangers off the hook.

The verdict

In general, it was a mixed afternoon for Bassey against the Edinburgh outfit.

In the build-up to the first goal, he’d picked out Ryan Kent with what Heart & Hand called a ‘defence-splitting pass’.

But over the course of the game, he gave possession away 31 times – ten more than anybody else on the pitch.

Not one of his four crosses found a team-mate, and he also lost half of his 14 ground duels.

Bassey was also shown a yellow card, contributing to a match rating of 6.9/10.

In other news, Rangers have been gifted a contract boost.

MatériaMais Notícias

Ahead of their first meeting with interim IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, a number of franchises have told Cricinfo they are against player retention and playing fewer matches next year

Tariq Engineer23-Jun-2010

Ahead of their first meeting with interim IPL chairman Chirayu Amin tomorrow, a number of franchises have told Cricinfo they are against player retention and playing fewer matches next year, and would like to see more transparency and accountability in the way the league is run.Following the suspension of Lalit Modi as IPL commissioner and the addition of two new franchises, a number of issues concerning this year’s player auction and next season’s tournament are still to be resolved. Chief among them is the issue of player retention. There have been debates over whether the original eight franchises should be allowed to keep any of their current players. Sachin Tendulkar has suggested teams be allowed to retain eight players – four Indian and four international – but the four franchises that spoke to Cricinfo felt all players should go back into the auction pool.”The practical thing to do is let them go and bid for the players you want in a transparent manner,” one franchise official told Cricinfo on the condition of anonymity.As a potential compromise, an official from another franchise suggested giving each team two “cards” for the auction. The cards would give the teams the first right of refusal for one Indian player and one foreign player from their team. So if the maximum bid for a player, say MS Dhoni, was set at $2 million, then Chennai could use the card to bid $2 million and automatically retain him even if another franchise bids the maximum amount.In case Chennai choose to bid less than $2 million for Dhoni, and that bid is matched by one or more of the other franchises, then Chennai would have the first right to break the tie and take the player, using the card. “[That way] everything is decided on the auction table,” the official said.In the wake of India’s disastrous World Twenty20 campaign, many observers blamed IPL fatigue for the team’s poor performance, leading to speculation that fewer matches will be played next year. The IPL governing council is reportedly studying a proposal that recommends the teams be split in two groups, with a total of 68 matches. Under the current format, 94 matches are set to be played next year.However, none of the franchises Cricinfo spoke to were in favour of shortening the tournament. They argue that their decisions are based on a particular business model and certain projections. “The number one reason for adding teams and having more matches was having more revenue. If the number of matches is reduced, it doesn’t work for me,” a franchise official said. “We can address the problems [player fatigue] arising out of that; there is a solution. But reducing matches and the reduction of revenue is not on.”One proposed solution was to limit the Indian players to 14 matches each, but there were reservations about how acceptable that would be, considering the large sums of money being paid for them.Other issues of concern are the maximum permissible size of teams and a salary cap that includes players bought outside the auction. As things stand, teams will be allowed to spend $7 million each on players at the auction. But there is no limit to how much money can be spent on players outside the auction, or how many players a team can buy. This gives franchises with deeper pockets an advantage; hence a cap to level the playing field.”We will ask for a cap on the spend,” a franchise official said. “We will ask for a cap on the number of people a team can hire. Nobody should have a squad of more than 25 or 30.”The teams would also like a larger voice in the running of the IPL. Among the suggestions is that the governing council should include a franchise representative, who would pass on information to the franchises in a timely way, allowing them to plan their operations more efficiently. Ultimately, clarity and communication are what the franchises want most to get on with the business of running their teams.

علّق بيب جوارديولا، مدرب فريق مانشستر سيتي، على طرد اللاعب جواو كانسيلو في مباراة اليوم أمام فولهام في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

واستضاف ملعب “الاتحاد” مباراة الفريقين في الجولة الخامسة عشر من الدوري الإنجليزي، حيث فاز مانشستر سيتي بهدفين مقابل هدف.

واضطر مانشستر سيتي إلى اللعب بـ10 لاعبين فقط منذ الدقيقة 27، حيث حصل كانسيلو على بطاقة حمراء بعد تدخله على لاعب الخصم. طرد كانسيلو في مباراة مانشستر سيتي وفولهام

وقال جوارديولا في تصريحات نشرتها شبكة “بي بي سي” العالمية: “إنه لاعب وإنسان استثنائي لكن عليه أن يتعلم، من الأفضل تسجيل الأهداف وتجنب ركلة الجزاء، إنه يتعلم بما حدث في الأنفيلد واليوم”.

وأضاف: “يجب أن تكون مركزًا طوال الوقت، سيسجلون هدفًا، حسنًا، ولكن عليك أن تلعب 11 ضد 11”.

وواصل: “يجب أن يتعلم، يمكن أن يحدث ذلك في كرة القدم ويسجلون هدفًا، لكن عليك أن تلعب بكامل قوتك، آمل أن يتعلم من أجل المستقبل”.

واختتم: “إنه لاعب استثنائي، لكن عليه أن يتعلم التحكم في العواطف والتحكم في الأفعال، أنا متأكد من أنه سيتعلم”.

Roy Keane remains ‘close’ to becoming Sunderland manager, but an agreement still hasn’t been reached.Â

That’s according to The Telegraph’s Northern football writer Luke Edwards, who sounds unconvinced about the links to the former boss.

The lowdown: Two candidates

Sunderland are working to appoint a successor to Lee Johnson, who was sacked following a 6-0 battering at Bolton Wanderers in late January.

According to Football League World, they’ve interviewed two candidates in depth.

One is Keane, who was in charge at Sunderland between 2006 and 2008 but hasn’t managed since leaving Ipswich more than ten years ago.

And the other is Grant McCann, recently dismissed by the new owners at Hull City.

The latest: Still not done

A Sunderland fan told Edwards on Twitter that they are ‘eagerly awaiting updates on Keane as and when you get them’.

“Close but as things stand, no cigar,” the journalist replied at lunchtime on Tuesday.

The verdict: Ominous

Things are just starting to look a little ominous for those who want Keane at the helm.

On Monday, Edwards questioned whether the Irishman was ‘first choice’ in light of a report from The Daily Mail’s Craig Hope that the club are planning to hold a fresh round of interviews.

If Keane is ‘just a candidate’ rather than a frontrunner, Edwards ‘doubts he will come’.

Meanwhile, FLW have claimed that The Black Cats’ decision could hinge on wage demands, and the former Manchester United skipper has apparently named a ‘pretty substantial’ price.

With this latest update that they still haven’t come to terms in mind, it may be time to look more closely at McCann.

In other news, read what a source close to Keane had to say.

MatériaMais Notícias

Eleito presidente do Vasco ao derrotar Julio Brant, Alexandre Campello garantiu que sua chapa é de oposição a Eurico Miranda. Mesmo após o apoio do grupo da situação para ganhar a eleição, ele negou qualquer acordo e garantiu que o ex-mandatário e pessoas ligadas a ele não terão lugar na nova diretoria.

– Essa é uma vitória da oposição do Vasco, que derrotou o Eurico nas urnas. Não terá nenhuma (participação do Eurico). A nossa chapa é pura. Não existe nenhuma acordo com Eurico, nenhum membro da diretoria será do Eurico e nem vice-presidentes e nos cargos executivos. É uma chapa pura de oposição – disse Campello após vencer a eleição, destacando o que pretende fazer a partir da sua posse.

-Nós pretendemos a partir de segunda-feira iniciar uma nova gestão, com transparência, vamos fazer uma grande auditoria no clube. A ideia é que a gente consiga unir o clube em torno de um projeto que é reconstruir, trazer o Vasco a viver novamente momentos de glórias, a um equilíbrio financeiro, enfim, a tudo que nós planejamos. Um projeto que a gente consiga trazer para o clube um projeto para trazer o sócio-torcedor, aumentar esse número e com isso aumentar a receita – completou.

Campello também explicou o racha com Julio Brant. Ele disse que a ideia de ruptura não partiu só dele e que aconteceu porque seu grupo foi desvalorizado pelo antigo aliado.

– Acho que esse não foi um movimento única e exclusivamente do Campello. Durante esse processo nós demos sustentação à chapa, foi a partir do nosso movimento que a oposição unificou. Isso ajudou a derrotar o Eurico nas urnas no dia 7 de novembro. E esse movimento não foi valorizado, a partir daí nós fomos escanteados, deixamos de ter voz ativa e culminou com a ruptura. Mais ou menos metade dos conselheiros que faziam parte dessa chapa resolveram não mais apoiar o Julio. A partir disso, se não fosse eu, seria outro candidato. Como sou o líder desse grupo, meu nome foi colocado e eu aceitei o desafio – comentou Campello, criticando Brant.

– Acho que ele pecou bastante em desrespeitar algumas pessoas, os beneméritos, enfim, houve uma quebra com os paceiros que o apoiaram. Fora outras áreas de atrito que ele criou neste período e que acabou culminando nessa derrota.

O novo mandatário cruz-maltino disse também que não sente que sua atitude foi uma traição a Julio Brant. Ele se justificou dizendo que também ganhou a eleição entre os sócios no dia 7 de novembro.

– Isso é um desconhecimento do estatuto. Nós ganhamos juntos no dia 7. Não foi o Julio que ganhou, nós ganhamos juntos. Acontece que ele achando que já estava eleito, nos deixou de lado. A eleição do Vasco é dois turnos, ele precisava ler o estatuto antes para entender o processo.

Even though Aston Villa have not been shy over the past few years when it comes to splashing out big sums of money to bring new players to the club, one player that has turned into an important figure for the Villans this season but cost the club nothing, is Jacob Ramsey.

As a product of Villa’s youth system, the midfielder has racked up a total of 115 appearances for the Midlands club across all competitions in their U18, U23 and senior teams, scoring 29 goals and providing 13 assists along the way.

The 20-year-old, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £15k-per-week according to Salary Sport, also had a brief stint away from Villa Park back in the 2020 January transfer window when he joined Doncaster Rovers on loan where he managed to score three goals in seven appearances.

Since making his senior debut for the Villans back in February 2019 in a Championship clash against West Bromwich Albion under former manager Dean Smith, Ramsey has now made 50 appearances for the first team across all competitions, chipping in with five goals and two assists in the process.

Back in December 2020, Transfermarkt had the Englishman’s market value listed at £1.35m, whereas it now stands at £13.5m, highlighting a significant rise in a fairly short amount of time as a result of his efforts on the pitch in a Villa shirt.

This season has seen the youngster score five goals in 21 league appearances, currently making him Villa’s joint-highest goalscorer alongside Ollie Watkins and earn himself an overall performance rating of 6.76/10, making him their eighth-highest rated players according to WhoScored, showing how capable he is of playing with the rest of Villa’s senior players.

Labelled as a “terrific” player by Gerrard, Ramsey has now proven himself to be a real star for Villa without having to have had a massive transfer fee splashed out on him for his services, highlighting just how important it is for a club to have a solid youth system and give the right players a chance to prove themselves at the top level.

Moving forward, if the youngster can continue playing regularly for Villa and add some more goals to his tally, he could end the season as one of their most important players and even put himself in the conversation for a potential England call-up.

In other news: £19m down the drain: Shocking Aston Villa flop has been rinsing the club for 54 weeks – opinion

Cricket Australia is not rushing towards a decision on whether to re-nominate John Howard as ICC vice-president

Peter English02-Jul-2010

Cricket Australia is not rushing towards a decision on whether to re-nominate John Howard as ICC vice-president and will hold a special board meeting next week to determine its next move. Howard has gained support from the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand following his rejection for the ICC job in Singapore on Wednesday, while senior cricket officials have been left without explanations of why the appointment was denied.Both cricket boards, which provided Howard as their joint nomination, are frustrated by the decision but will now take their time over any new announcement. A Cricket Australia spokesman told Cricinfo its board would wait for reports from the chairman Jack Clarke and James Sutherland, the chief executive, on the events in Singapore before deciding what happens next.Justin Vaughan, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive, has spoken about the need to “let the dust settle” while Clarke also acknowledged “there’s some water to flow under the bridge” before the candidate was finalised. Under the ICC’s guidelines, it was the turn of New Zealand and Australia to select the vice-president, who would then take the top job in 2012.The process stalled when board members from Africa and Asia blocked Howard’s elevation. Australia and New Zealand were given until August 31 to provide another option for the position as Sharad Pawar’s deputy.John Key, the New Zealand prime minister, called it a “shocking decision”. “I saw John on TV saying he’s going to hold his ground and I think he should,” Key told New Zealand radio.Julia Gillard, Australia’s prime minister, said she shared some of the concerns Howard had voiced publicly since being shut out. “I’d be very happy to offer full support for John Howard to get this role,” she said.Howard remains committed to the position and Cricket Australia will stand by him at least until the board meeting next week. New Zealand had originally pushed for Sir John Anderson in the role, but Vaughan indicated the job had become less appealing after the events in Singapore.