Drogheda seek Mathews’ successor
Drogheda United offiicals said last night they had started the process of finding a replacement for Alan Mathews after the Dubliner decided to resign in the wake of Saturday’s 6-0 league defeat by Sligo Rovers, writes Emmet Malone.
United have lost six of their last seven league games and their last win in the Premier League was the dramatic late victory over St Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park back in early April.
Mathews acknowledged the team’s results had “not been good enough,” and suggested he was making way in time for somebody else to turn the team’s fortunes around this season having “gone as far as I can with this group of players”.
The club said that it had accepted the resignation with “regret” and expressed its gratitude to him for the achievement of keeping the club up after so many players had left last season.
Advocaat set to take over Russia job
Dick Advocaat is to replace fellow Dutchman Guus Hiddink as Russia coach. Hiddink took charge of his final match in March, a 1-1 draw with Hungary, but has remained in his role until his contract formally expires on July 15th.
Advocaat was an easy choice for the Russian federation (RFS) president Sergei Fursenko, who worked with the 62-year-old at Zenit St Petersburg until he left the club last October to take on a dual role as AZ Alkmaar and Belgium coach.
Advocaat resigned as Belgium coach in April, and then announced he would leave AZ at the end of the season.
“Advocaat’s agreement with [the] RFS is for four years and comes into force as soon as Guus Hiddink’s deal expires,” Fursenko said .
Fifa refer Triesman remarks to their ethics committee
Fifa last night referred critical comments allegedly made by former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman about rivals to host the 2018 World Cup to its ethics committee, dashing England bid team hopes they could swiftly draw a line under the affair.
The general secretary, Jerome Valcke, said the committee would examine the alleged statements and ask the FA to provide a report “including Lord Triesman’s position”, making England’s bid the first to be examined in such a way.
As football administrators braced themselves for the possibility of further revelations from the tapes next Sunday, there were divergent views last night about whether lasting damage had been done to England’s hopes of landing the 2018 tournament.
But the Guardian has learned that two members of the executive board that will decide England’s fate at a vote in December now believe the bid has no chance of succeeding.
Speaking on condition of anonymity one of the 24 members of Fifa’s executive committee reflected the sense that England’s candidacy had been “destroyed”.
The influential football politician said Triesman’s false allegations about Spain seeking the assistance of Russia to bribe referees at this summer’s World Cup would have an effect on voting.
Guardian Service
17 coaches axed in Serie A season
The 2009-10 Serie A campaign had 17 coaching changes, a record. The figure was three times the number made in England’s Premier League and twice as many as in Spain’s Primera Division.
The winds of change blew not only in the lower half of the table, but also in the upper half.
Juventus, Napoli and Roma – three teams battling for a top-four finish – had coaching changes. Twelve clubs in all made at least one switch, while Atalanta and Livorno were among the outfits that sacked more than one coach.
“In Italy, a coach that starts and ends the season at the same club is not a coach but a hero,” said Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho.
“If I look around, since my arrival in Italy, I count five or six coaches that have kept their jobs.”
