Liverpool could also off-load Neil Ruddock to West Ham and are also willing to let Michael
Posted in General on 09. Aug, 2010
Liverpool could also off-load Neil Ruddock to West Ham and are also willing to let Michael Thomas leave.The Everton manager, Howard Kendall, has confirmed his interest in the Derby County midfielder Lee Carsley. The tough-tackling Republic of Ireland international is Kendall’s latest target, after also admitting that Bolton’s Alan Thompson is on his wanted list.”Midfield is an area where I’m looking to strengthen and Carsley is a player I admire,” Kendall said. “I have spoken to Derby manager Jim Smith.”Tottenham’s former Italian international midfielder Nicola Berti has agreed a new one-year deal with the White Hart Lane club. The 30-year- old arrived in January on a free transfer from Internazionale.Bristol City have signed the Gillingham striker Ade Akinbiyi for a club- record pounds 1.2m. The fee more than doubled the previous highest they had paid: pounds 500,000 for Andy Cole in 1992.Akinbiyi, the former Norwich striker, scored 22 goals for the Gills in 1997-98, having joined the Kent club in January last year.Kit Symons is on the brink of taking a 50 per cent pay cut to stay with relegated Manchester City. The 27-year-old defender, with his current contract at an end, was initially upset by City’s offer of a new one-year deal that slashed his pounds 4,000-a-week wages in half, but in the absence of any better offers he looks likely to stay at Maine Road.Sasa Ilic, Charlton Athletic’s Yugoslav goalkeeper, will be watched by two members of Yugoslavia’s coaching staff at the Nationwide League First Division play-off final against Sunderland on Monday. A good performance could earn him a late call up to the Yugoslav World Cup squad for this summer’s finals..
MICHELLE DE BRUIN, who has ploughed through as much suspicion and innuendo as water for two years, appeared yesterday to be heading for a lengthy legal battle to clear her name of a charge that she tried to manipulate a drugs test If she fails, she could be banned from swimming for life. The solicitor for Ireland’s triple Olympic champion has revealed the B test on the urine sample she gave had confirmed the findings of the A sample, which contained a potentially lethal dose of alcohol.
Her case is now expected to come before the doping panel of swimming’s international governing body, Fina, next month, but even if she is found guilty it is not likely to be the end of the matter.The 28-year-old, who as Michelle Smith won three gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics, has said she would then appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, while a further move into the civil courts cannot be ruled out.De Bruin’s defence is likely to rest on her call for the governing body to prove that she was the one who manipulated the sample.Her solicitor, Peter Lennon, who watched the analysis of the twin samples in the International Olympic Committee-accredited laboratory in Barcelona that carried out the original test, said: “It appears clear at this time that our client can only be charged with physical manipulation and not the use of any banned substance…. We do not expect there to be any change between the adulterisation results of the A and B sample.”The Dublin-born swimmer added that she was “more determined than ever” to fight any charges that may be formally brought against her.Fina said yesterday they had not received the result of the back-up test, but a spokesman confirmed De Bruin could face a life ban for tampering with a test. There could be no retrospective punishment over her Olympic gold medals, however.A Fina spokesman said: “The swimmer’s solicitor can say what he wants, but we have not yet had the result from the laboratory, and until we do, we cannot comment.”When we have the result, we will tell the swimmer first. We will then announce whether the matter will go before the doping panel. The penalty will be at the discretion of the panel, but for manipulation of a test it can be from zero to life.”De Bruin underwent an out-of-competition test on January 10 at Kilkenny in Ireland, when Fina said the A sample showed “unequivocal signs of adulteration” and “physical manipulation”.Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, said the sample included a potentially lethal concentration of alcohol, and that alcohol could be used to mask the presence of banned drugs.
De Bruin has denied tampering with her test and said any manipulation must have taken place after it was out of her sight.In the past De Bruin has said: “My success is down to one thing – hard work.” Now she must labour to prove her innocence.. KEVIN KEEGAN confirmed last night that he will be carrying on as Ray Wilkins’ successor at Fulham. Keegan took charge of the first team when Wilkins was sacked as manager just before Fulham’s Second Division play- off semi-final against Grimsby. Fulham missed out on promotion, going down 2-1 on aggregate over the two legs, but Keegan, whose role was that of chief operating officer before Wilkins’ departure, believes the time is right for him to be manager at Craven Cottage.
Keegan, who resigned as Newcastle manager in January 1997, said: “I want my destiny in my own hands now.