Football news

Avellino directors are ready to take all measures possible, including retiring from the league, to show their anger after they had three players sent off on Saturday in a Serie B match against AlbinoLeffe.

Avellino lost to hosts AlbinoLeffe 2-1, a defeat that left the Greens reeling in bottom place of the standings on -2 points. Last week, the disciplinary commission handed them a three-point penalty for handing in their financial documents after the deadline.

"After the latest penalising decision on the field and off it, we consider it necessary to impose a momentary press silence," Avellino said in a statement.

"Last year, we also thought of pulling Avellino out of the championship because of suspect refereering. Now, in looking after our fans and our city, we will take the most drastic decisions."

Gunners not selling out

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood yesterday told reporters that the club won't be selling out to a billionaire owner but instead will continue to compete with their wealthy rivals.

The arrival of the Abu Dhabi United Group looks likely to transform Manchester City into a major force in the coming seasons, meaning more competition at the top of the Premier League.

Liverpool and Manchester United have been taken over by American owners in recent years, while Chelsea continue to be bankrolled by Roman Abramovich.

Hill-Wood said: "We obviously cannot compete with the money Manchester City have so there's no point in trying. But I'm sure we can compete with these clubs in different ways. Money is not all that matters.

"I'd prefer Arsenal remained British-owned for traditional reasons."

Moggi in trouble with England official

Luciano Moggi seems to be spending most of his time in court these days as last weekend he was back in the docks charged with threats towards England general manager Franco Baldini.

The disgraced former Juve director is officially under investigation by the Rome district attorney for slander towards police chief Attilio Auricchio and threats against Baldini.

"Baldini and Auricchio should be ashamed of themselves," Moggi told the court during investigation on June 17. "Baldini and Auricchio both said in court they did not know each other, then it emerged they had been meeting for over a month."

Baldini said: "I was threatened by Moggi before stepping into court in June. He said 'good morning, you piece of ****' and then with his finger pointed a few centimetres from my nose he added: 'you'll come to a sticky end if you keep going like this'."

Robinho's decision

Michael Ballack criticised Robinho's decision to join Manchester City instead of Chelsea after the Brazilian opted for a lucrative switch to Eastlands over a move to Stamford Bridge.

Ballack feels Robinho was ultimately swayed by money.

"It is up to each player what they do, but if I were him, I would not have gone to Manchester City," the German said.

"A transfer from Real Madrid to Manchester City is hard to justify with sporting reasons."

United ready to repel Ronaldo moves

Real Madrid could make another move to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United when the transfer window re-opens in January but Alex Ferguson said his club are in a good position to retain the winger.

"Real's interest in Cristiano will continue," Ferguson said.

"They didn't sign anyone in the summer. So, coach Bernd Schuster will be looking to go through it again. Don't worry, it will all happen again in January."

Ferguson said United will stick to their guns and keep Ronaldo.

"He has four years left on his contract. We are in the right position to dismiss Real Madrid," he said.

Brown almost quit

Phil Brown said he was on the verge of turning his back on football prior to being named Hull City manager. The former Bolton caretaker boss found himself out of the game for eight months in 2006 after being sacked by Derby County.

He said: "After 27 years unbroken service in the game I then had eight months out. It was the worst time I ever experienced.

"For me it would have been football's loss and horse racing's gain. I could have gone into racing. I still go back to my tools every so often. If it was necessary to put food on the table I'd go back to being an electrician."

Maradona... the link

Diego Maradona's first job as a consultant for Inter will be to bring Sergio Aguero to San Siro from Atletico Madrid. Inter had already made a £20m bid plus Dejan Stankovic for Aguero this summer, but Aguero has a contract until 2012 with a £45m buy-out clause.

Aguero is Maradona's son-in-law and his daughter Giannina is expecting a baby from the striker in February.

"I have already told Diego if it is a boy, then I'll sign him up immediately," agent Salvatore Bagni joked.