A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Celtic miss chance to go top
CELTIC blew their chance to leapfrog Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League as they relied on a late Thomas Rogne goal to rescue a point against Kilmarnock at Parkhead last night.
After the home side passed up on a series of chances to take the lead, Kilmarnock’s Irish striker Conor Sammon scored a breakaway goal in the 54th minute to give the visitors a shock lead.
Celtic fought back and in the 85th minute Rogne headed in from a Ki Sung-yueng free-kick but the visitors held out to leave Celtic two points behind their Old Firm rivals having played a game more.
BLACKPOOL plan to increase the capacity of Bloomfield Road in the summer, regardless of which division the club play in next season.
They Seasiders hastily erected a new but temporary East Stand following their promotion to the Premier League to take the number of seats at the ground to 16,900.
That new stand will remain for the short term but the club, intend to make improvements next summer.
Houllier plans to clear out at Villa
GERARD HOULLIER is planning an overhaul of his Aston Villa squad that could see as many as nine players leave the club before the start of next season. Steve Sidwell – heading for West Ham – and Curtis Davies are expected to lead the exodus, although there may also be a few surprising names on the list, including the England international Stephen Warnock.
The Villa manager is looking to offload a number of senior players who are on the periphery of the first team as well those that have been resistant to the changes he has introduced since taking charge. Richard Dunne, Stephen Ireland and John Carew, who were all left out of the squad that travelled to Wigan before Saturday’s game was postponed, are expected to move on.
It is understood that Brad Friedel, who will turn 40 in May, has also been told his contract will not be renewed in the summer.
Defensive woes for Everton
EVERTON fear they paid a high price for victory at Manchester City on Monday after an injury to Phil Jagielka left David Moyes with potentially only one established central defender for the hectic festive period.
The England international underwent a scan on the thigh injury that forced him off in the 2-1 win. That has raised concerns of a possible tear to the muscle leaving Moyes with Sylvain Distin as his only experienced centre-half for four matches in 10 days.
Pardew warns Carroll suitors off
NEWCASTLE manager Alan Pardew has warned Tottenham and other potential suitors off a move for England striker Andy Carroll.
Carroll has put aside a turbulent season off the field by scoring 10 goals this season in Newcastle’s impressive start to life back in the Premier League.
That has led to not just an international debut but also speculation over the 21-year-old’s future. North London has been mentioned as a possible destination – but Pardew insists the player is going nowhere.
“It does get boring but it is not going to stop – it will never stop,” he said.
“It will not stop simply because he’s a talent and that happens at the big clubs. We have to have a big-club mentality and hold on to our best players.”
Moratti denies sacking Benitez
CONFUSION CONTINUED to reign over the future of Inter Milan coach Rafael Benitez yesterday after club president Massimo Moratti played down widespread speculation that he had been sacked.
Reports said Spaniard Benitez, only at the European and Italian champions since June, was being removed because of his sides poor domestic form and his outburst over what he saw as Inters lack of ambition following Saturdays World Club Cup win.
At the moment the coach of Inter is still Benitez, Moratti told reporters outside his offices where he had held meetings with club officials.
I havent been in contact with any other coach.
Brazilian Leonardo, who left as coach of city rivals AC Milan in May after just one season as manager, has become favourite to succeed Benitez but Moratti said, Lets not joke, when asked about reports that he had held talks with Leonardo.
Allardyce suspects third party involved in sacking
SAM ALLARDYCE insists an unknown third party must have played a part in his sacking at Blackburn by making “derogatory” comments about him to the club’s owners.
Allardyce was sacked last Monday along with assistant boss Neil McDonald by Blackburn’s owners, the Venky’s group, who installed Steve Kean as Allardyce’s replacement for an as yet undefined period.
Venky’s decision came as a surprise to Allardyce, and he insists his lack of dialogue with the club’s owners suggests someone else must have influenced them to act.
Discussing his sacking, Allardyce told Sky Sports News:
“Having never really met the new owners and had little dialogue, somebody somewhere has obviously said something derogatory to get me out of this job.
“That’s the one thing I want to find out because I want to find out why.
“If I can, I will, if I can’t, I’ll just have to move on with my life.”
