Monday Football

09 March 2009

by Jerrad Peters

Schalke sack general manager

A tight 1-0 win over Cologne was not enough to keep Andreas Mueller in his job. Despite Friday's victory over the 11th place side, the 46-year-old was relieved of his duties as Schalke 04 general manager, Monday, appeasing many of the Gelsenkirchen club's supporters who had been clamoring for his removal. Head coach Fred Rutten was retained, although his tenure will be closely scrutinized in the coming weeks.

Just 12 months after suffering a narrow loss to Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Champions' League, Schalke are struggling to remain in the top half of the Bundesliga table. They have already been ousted from European competition and crashed out of the DFB-Pokal Cup to Mainz last week. Currently five points out of the third Champions' League place, they have significant ground to make up if Rutten is to keep his job.

After two successful seasons at FC Twente in The Netherlands, Rutten replaced Mirko Slomka at Veltins-Arena last summer. Upon arriving in Germany, he convinced Mueller to pay 6 million euros for Holland international Orlando Engelaar and an additional 10 million for Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan.

Both were decent signings. But for a side with championship ambitions, they were far to little. Mueller paid the price for that. And unless Rutten can make do with what he has over the next two months, he'll follow his boss out the door.

Lecce offload coach

Languishing near the bottom of the Serie A, Lecce sacked manager Mario Beretta after a dour 0-0 draw at home to Reggina—the only team with fewer points than the Salentini. Lecce have won just twice in 2009 and are in a dogfight with Torino and Chievo Verona to avoid relegation. 

Having guided diminutive Siena to a surprising 13th place finish last season, Beretta arrived at the Adriatic club with no shortage of fanfare. Chairman Giovanni Semeraro was supremely confident that the 49-year-old would consolidate Lecce's place in the top flight after winning promotion from Serie B in 2008.

It wasn't to be. Instead, Semeraro installed former Queens Park Rangers manager Luigi De Canio as Lecce manager on Monday afternoon. De Canio, who left Loftus Road in May 2008 through mutual consent, will take charge of the club ahead of Sunday's match against Palermo at the Renzo Barbera.

United pursuing Walter

Manchester United are keen to add Walter Henrique da Silva to their growing Brazilian enclave. The 19-year-old Internacioal striker scored five goals in last month's Under-20 South American Championship—finishing top scorer of the tournament and helping his country to a tenth title.

Despite entering the tournament in the shadow of highly-rated teammate Douglas Costa, Walter emerged as the competition's top talent. He earned rave reviews for his 30-yard thunderbolt against Paraguay in the opening match and outplayed Costa throughout the schedule thereafter.

Currently rated at approximately 5 million pounds, Walter is also being tracked by Barcelona and Juventus. United, however, are hoping he'll jump at the chance to join fellow Brazilians Rafael and Fabio Da Silva and Rodrigo Possebon at Old Trafford.

Liverpool sale hits skids, then picks up again

Last Thursday, the sale of Liverpool Football Club appeared to be finally dead. After countless failed negotiations with a variety of Middle East consortiums, the latest—a combination of Kuwait's Al_Kharafi and Al-Sager families—pulled out of discussions with co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.

That was four days ago. And in the new, Americanized world of Liverpool Football Club, four days is an eternity. Never was that more apparent than Monday, when Abdulla Al-Sager kicked off the negotiations once again.

"They are willing to negotiate and we are negotiating and will continue to do so in the weeks to come," he told Bloomberg. "We want to build the new Stadium in Stanley Park and make the team do really well."

That the Kuwaitis have been interested in purchasing the club for some time is no surprise. In fact, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's September purchase of Manchester City may have set a set a trend among wealthy, Middle Eastern families. Dubai's ruling Al-Maktoum family has also expressed an interest in Liverpool in the past.

Still, Hicks and Gillett's asking price of 500 million pounds continues to be a stumbling block. Unless they come down significantly, Al-Sager will be unlikely to purchase anything but a minority stake. Of course, that might be all the current owners want. They face a July deadline to pay off or restructure outstanding debts of 300 million pounds. The presence of a wealthy third party would greatly improve their chances of refinancing their loans.

Moving in

It's an old saying: when one door closes, another opens. My inaugural column for the Winnipeg Sun will appear Wednesday, 11 March. I'll be reviewing Tuesday's Champions' League matches and setting up some tasty Wednesday encounters, such as Manchester United v Inter Milan.

jerradpeters@gmail.com