Football Dispatch

Weekend Football
26 September
by Jerrad Peters

Kinnear to manage Newcastle
Joe Kinnear is the new manager of Newcastle United. The 61-year-old former boss of Wimbledon, Luton Town, and Nottingham Forest has agreed a five-week contract and will stand aside when owner Mike Ashley completes the sale of the club. Kinnear took the appointment after former England managers Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle turned down the opportunity. He will be the fourth man in less than a year to coach the struggling Premier League outfit.

His hiring is just the latest scene in the ongoing soap opera at St. James’ Park. Following the sudden departure of manager Kevin Keegan on September 4 and Ashley’s decision to sell the club 10 days later, first team coach Chris Hughton took the top job on an interim basis – producing losses to Hull and West Ham in the league and bowing out of the Carling Cup to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

Seemingly relieved at Kinnear’s arrival, a beleaguered Hughton told BBC’s Radio 5 Live that “the most important thing is that there is a direction at the club. The club felt they needed somebody to come in and give them, certainly for the period of time he (Kinnear) will be in, that stability until something major happens,” he concluded, “whenever that will be.”

Kinnear, meanwhile, was realistic in his introductory remarks.

“I think the club’s going to be sold at the beginning of October,” he told Radio 5 Live, “and Chris Hughton needs all the help he can get.” He continued, “So if I can get a few results together until obviously the two main people are named – I assume from the new people coming in they will be Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer.”

Entertainment group NVA Management, headed by London-based Nigerian businessman Chris Nathanial, has reportedly come up with 350M-pounds to buy the club. Ashley, who purchased Newcastle United Football Club at a cut-rate price of 134.4M-pounds just 16 months ago, is holding out for 400M-pounds. Nathanial has already admitted that his first piece of business would be to bring Keegan back into the fold.

“Kevin’s a legend on Tyneside and I think anybody looking to buy that football club would not be very smart if they didn’t have Kevin involved in some capacity,” he told the BBC. “If I was advising anyone that was buying the club, I would certainly suggest Kevin would be the right man for the job.”

UEFA unveils Europa League
The current format of the UEFA Cup will be dropped after this season, making way for the new-look Europa League. Under the new configuration, 48 participating clubs from throughout Europe will be grouped into 12 brackets of four. The top pair of sides from each group will advance to a 32-team knockout stage, along with the eight dropouts from the Champions’ League group phase. The decision was made this week at UEFA’s Executive Committee meeting in Bordeaux.

“I am convinced,” said UEFA President Michel Platini, “the new format will give the UEFA Europa League a successful new impetus.”

Platini was elected to his post on a platform based largely on bringing European club competition to every nook and cranny on the continent. UEFA will also not permit losing cup finalists to participate in the tournament, regardless if the winner had already qualified via the domestic league.

Stadium ban issued in Bulgaria
Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv will have to play behind closed doors after sections of their fans hurled racist remarks at black players representing rivals Litex Lovech on September 13. The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) issued the one-match crowd ban on Friday, punishing Botev for the second time this season. In August, the club was presented with a similar bad, a three-point deduction, and a fine after similar behavior during a match against Levski Sofia. Last season, Botev played three matches behind closed doors due to hooliganism.

Ronaldinho out of Brazil squad
Ronaldinho has been dropped from the Brazil squad. After using the Olympics as a spring-board to a comeback after four months out of football, the 28-year-old’s progress has stalled at AC Milan. Rossoneri teammate Kaka will make his international return, however. The reigning FIFA World Player of the Year missed all of the summer’s World Cup qualifiers with a lingering knee injury. But after scoring at the weekend, he looks primed for Brazil’s upcoming matches against Venezuela and Columbia.

Henry unhappy at Nou Camp
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are tracking the status of Thierry Henry after the France striker fell out with Pep Guardiola this week. The 31-year-old has been deployed on the left wing under the new Barcelona manager and admitted his frustrations to reporters on Friday.

“For the moment, there is nothing to talk about,” he said. “But if this continues, of course we will have to talk about it.” He continued, “All I want to do is play and enjoy myself on the pitch.”

Ronaldo may make January return
Ronaldo is targeting a return to top-level European football. The 32-year-old striker and all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup competition suffered a career-threatening knee injury seven months ago and hopes to be fit by the January transfer window.

In the meantime, Ronaldo has put on substantial weight and encountered the hospitality of Brazilian transvestites – the latter of which ended any possibility that he might end his career in Brazil with Flamengo. Instead, Manchester City are keen on his services and are expected to make a big-money offer after Christmas.

“When you haven’t been able to do any physical activity for five months, it’s only natural to put on weight,” claimed Ronaldo recently. “I’m not feeling any twinges in my knee anymore and that’s what really matters. I will be back and I’ll rediscover my best form. I’ll play football again like I did before.”

Have a question about football? Email your query to jerradpeters@gmail.com.

Jerrad Peters covers football for the Winnipeg Free Press, Soccer Three-Sixty magazine, ESPN Soccernet, and Soccer365.com. His work has also appeared on TheMirror.co.uk, Canadian-soccer.com, Footy247.co.uk, Foot2ball.com, and Squadinfo.com.