SOCCER SHORTS:MARTIN O'Neill is to consider his position as Aston Villa manager at the end of the season when he plans to sit down with the club's chairman, Randy Lerner, and discuss his future, reports STUART JAMES.
Earlier this week there were erroneous reports that he had resigned from his post. Yesterday he moved to clarify the situation by rejecting rumours he had fallen out with Lerner.
“I will sit down here and talk to the chairman at the end of the season, and we will see where we are positioned,” O’Neill said.
“People make judgments and calls and things. I will see, and if the Aston Villa fans are disgruntled with it, I will take it into consideration, if the chairman – who will have a big say in proceedings – agrees, and, interestingly, I will have a say in proceedings, because it is my life.”
O’Neill, however, declined to answer directly a question about whether the chairman had made any money available in January, when Villa failed to sign any players.
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Blatter concerned at Premier plight
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised the amount of debt in the Premier League although he ruled out the introduction of a salary cap as a way of preventing more clubs entering administration.
Blatter is concerned at the plight of Portsmouth, who recently went into administration and are facing relegation to the Championship after receiving a nine-point penalty, and blamed high player wages for the problems of others, including Manchester United.
“I think something is wrong here with the Premier League. To let a club go into administration, this is not good.
“This is not correct, this is not good. And these clubs, why are they in debt? Because they pay too high salaries to their players, they spend more money than they have.
“In any family in the world you cannot do that, in any company you cannot do that. And why in football it is possible because they do not have different laws.”
Wigan won’t appeal Caldwell’s red
WIGAN will not appeal against Gary Caldwell’s red card in Monday’s Premier League defeat at Manchester City. Caldwell was dismissed for a challenge on Carlos Tevez early in the second half at Eastlands, a decision which infuriated manager Roberto Martinez. The Spaniard was angered that Caldwell’s tackle was deemed to have been two-footed and later accused referee Stuart Attwell of “lying” in explaining his decision that way. Martinez has since been asked to clarify those remarks by the Football Association and could face disciplinary proceedings.
In another twist, Martinez has now claimed Attwell’s official report refers to the challenge only as being of “excessive force”. Because of that, he now feels that an appeal against the red card could be deemed frivolous and Caldwell’s automatic three-match ban therefore increased to four games.
Da Silva signs deal until 2014
MANCHESTER United defender Fabio Da Silva has signed a contract extension that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2014.
The Brazilian teenager has made 13 appearances for the Old Trafford outfit this season and is viewed as a major talent for the future.
“Fabio is a natural footballer who will make a fine Manchester United player in the years to come,” said manager Alex Ferguson.
Reid extends loan at West Brom
REPUBLIC of Ireland international Steven Reid has extended his loan spell at West Brom until the end of the season and now appears to be hoping that the move to the Championship outfit is made permanent, writes Emmet Malone.
The 29-year-old Blackburn midfielder, whose career has been ravaged by injury, is out of contract in the summer and Rovers boss Sam Allardyce has yet to make him any offer of a new deal.
He has played five times since arriving at the Hawthorns and, if results go the club’s way over the Bank Holiday weekend, West Brom could be promoted back to the top flight by Monday evening.
“I’m delighted with the way it’s gone,” he said yesterday. “We’ve had a decent run and I’m delighted to have played so many games. I think I’ve played five 90-minute games in 21 days. Before that I hadn’t played five 90-minute matches in the league in well over a year. My future’s still a bit uncertain but I’ve put that to the back of my mind.”
Riera intent on mending fences
LIVERPOOL winger Albert Riera has back-tracked on his “sinking ship” comments about the club after admitting his plans for a move to Spartak Moscow have ground to a halt.
The Spain international was briefly suspended last month for his outburst, in which he also criticised manager Rafael Benitez for failing to communicate with his players. An angry Benitez immediately sanctioned a loan move to Russia – whose transfer window is currently open until next week – and froze Riera out of his first-team plans. However, now the escape route to Moscow appears to have been closed off after the two parties failed to agree personal terms, Riera has tried to repair the damage done by his comments on the eve of the important Europa League last-16 second leg against Lille last month.
Inter president unfazed by Jose
INTER Milan president Massimo Moratti says he is not concerned about losing Jose Mourinho despite the Portuguese coach’s stated dislike of Italian football.
Mourinho, who joined Inter in 2008 after leaving London club Chelsea the previous year, said earlier this week that, although happy at Inter, he did not like Italian football and missed England.
“He’s been saying that he misses England since the first day,” Moratti was quoted as saying by yesterday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “But he has a contract with Inter for two more years and maybe (it will be) even longer. Everyone makes their own choices, but I’m not scared and I don’t fear his nostalgia.”
Meanwhile, Inter Milan forward Mario Balotelli could return to action this weekend after apologising to Jose Mourinho for a row that led to the teenager being frozen out for a month. Two days after declaring that he had done nothing wrong and had no intention of saying sorry, the 19-year-old suddenly had a change of heart.
