Football Dispatch

Tuesday football
04 September 2007
by Jerrad Peters

RYAN Giggs will remain at Manchester United for at least another season. The former Wales captain, who turns 34-years-old on 29 November, is set to ink an extension to his contract which will see him remain at Old Trafford until after the 2008-2009 season. Despite manager Sir Alex Ferguson's recent signings, such as left-sided player Nani, Giggs remains intent on keeping his spot in the line-up and ambitious to add to an already jam-packed trophy-case. Speaking of Ferguson's new additions, yesterday, Giggs stated, "Eventually, these young players will be United's future. The club never stands still and never will." Giggs will be 35-years-old at the conclusion of the new deal. He is currently on 75,000-pounds per-week.

Chelsea have submitted their line-up of eligible players for the upcoming Group Phase of the UEFA Champions' League. The list, however, contains a notable omission -- Michael Ballack. The former Bayern Munich midfielder and current Germany captain has been sidelined all season with an ankle injury and, claim Chelsea, will not fully recover until December. The German national side, however, dispute that assertion. Manager Joachim Low expects to have Ballack available for Germany's crucial EURO 2008 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland on 13 October. Chelsea are widely held to be dissatisfied with Ballack's contribution since arriving at Stamford Bridge on a free transfer last summer. On 130,000-pounds per-week, however, the player will be extremely difficult to off-load. Still, Chelsea are keeping a door open by not naming him to the Champions' League squad. If he becomes a viable commodity by January, the club would be able to sell Ballack to a top European side. Real Madrid have already been linked with the 30-year-old.

Milan Mandaric looks intent on dragging Ian Dowie into his coaching-carousel. The Leicester City owner, fresh off of sacking Martin Allen last week, is eyeing the 42-year-old as the man to bring Foxes back into the Premier League. After earining promotion as manager of Crystal Palace in 2004, Dowie quit Selhurst Park after a feud with chairman Simon Jordan. He was subsequently hired at Charlton Athletic in 2006 -- a spell which lasted all of 12-matches. After a poor start to last season, he was pink-slipped in November and replaced by Les Reed. In February, Dowie was hired as boss of Coventry City. He led the club to a 17th-place finish last spring and currently has the clup atop the Championship.

In the run-up to England's EURO 2008 qualifier against Russia next week, Russia boss Guus Hiddink has admitted that the FA contacted him about succeeding Sven-Goran Erickson as England manager in 2006. The former PSV Eindhoven, Australia, and Holland manager was approached by Brian Barwick 18-months ago while the FA was mulling the likes of Sam Allardyce, Martin O'Neill, and Steve McClaren. The FA, however, were indecisive and dragged their feet over a decision. Their lack of action allowed Russia to swoop in for Hiddink and force the FA to settle on McClaren. In his comments, Hiddink also remarked that England have appeared overly cautious in their play in recent years. He stated, "They have played with anxiety and looked scared to express themselves."

The summer transfer period has come and gone, and with it several players from their former clubs. Here are some of the notable comings and goings in English football: Newcastle have secured Bolton's Abdoulaye Faye and Marseille's Habib Baye; Arsenal have bought Chelsea's Lassana Diarra; West Ham have acquired Henri Camara on loan from Wigan and Nobby Solano from Newcastle; Fulham have taken Danny Murphy on loan from Spurs and swapped Liam Rosenior for Reading's Seol Ki-Hyeon; Middlesbrough have signed Gary O'Neil from Pompey; Crystal Palace have loaned Shefki Kuqi to Fulham and signed Paul Dickov on loan from Manchester City; City, for their part, have sent Bernardo Corradi on-loan to Parma; Pompey have signed Papa Bouba Diop from Fulham; Aston Villa have signed Curtis Davies from West Brom; Derby have signed Kenny Miller from Celtic; Fulham have acquired Portsmouth's Dejan Stefanovic; Marcus Bent has joined Wigan on-loan from Charlton Athletic.