Chelsea and England football captain John Terry will face criminal charges for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, England’s Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday.
Terry has been ordered to appear in a magistrates court on February 1 over the incident in a Premier League match in October.
The decision to press charges came a day before Chelsea, fourth in the table, travel to third-placed Tottenham for a highly-anticipated London derby in which Terry is expected to play.
The CPS decision regarding Terry also came a day after England’s FA handed Liverpool striker Luis Suarez an eight-game ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a league match in October.
Young refugee earns contract
Liberian refugee Teeboy Kamara has signed a three-year contract with Adelaide United, the Australian A-League outfit said yesterday, a week after the 15-year-old made his debut in the first-team.
Kamara, who fled war-torn Liberia with his family as a six-year-old, became the youngest player to play in the A-League against Gold Coast last Friday.
The club said due to his age and the contractual conditions, Kamara’s contract will only officially begin on May 18 next year when he turns 16.
“The last eight months have been eight months of joy with what has happened with my football, but I’m definitely not going to get ahead of myself,” Kamara said.
Tevez got bad advice – Mancini
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has delivered a thinly-veiled attack on Kia Joorabchian by claiming Carlos Tevez has received bad advice during his time with the Blues.
“We were better with Carlos in the squad because he is a great striker,” Mancini said.
“I had a good relationship with him and he was always well behaved. I don’t know what happened but it was really strange and frustrating because we were better, 100 per cent.”
Asked directly whether Tevez had received some bad advice, Mancini replied: “Yes.”
Jonsson for Wolves
Hearts utility player Eggert Jonsson has agreed to join Wolves on a three-and-a-half-year con-tract from January 1, the mid-lands club have confirmed.
Jonsson, 23, has signed for an undisclosed fee after passing a medical ahead of Tuesday night’s Premier League clash with Norwich at Molineux.
He started his career in Iceland with second division side KF Fjardabyggdar before joining Hearts in the summer of 2006.
Becks PSG reports ‘premature’
A report that David Beckham had agreed to sign for Paris-Saint Germain is not true, a spokesman for the English midfielder told AFP.
The 36-year-old Beckham, whose contract with Los Angeles Galaxy expires at the end of December, has constantly been linked with a move to PSG.
Yesterday’s edition of Le Parisien had on its front page a story claiming Beckham was signing an 18-month contract and would be paid €800,000 a month.
“No agreement with any club has been reached. Any talk of a deal is premature. David is presently considering his options,” the player’s spokesperson said.
Rovers boss vows to carry on
Under fire Blackburn manager Steve Kean insisted he’d continue in his post after a 2-1 defeat at home to Bolton sent his side to the bottom of the Premier League table on Tuesday.
“The fans come and expect us to get at Bolton and we didn’t,” Kean said.
“But I think they saw a response in the second half.
“It’s not nice to lose any game, irrespective of what the fans are singing.
“Of course, I will continue. We’ll be positive and climb the table. There is no board meeting due, I spoke to the owners before the game and I am sure we will all stick together.”
Bolton boss Owen Coyle sympathised with Kean.
“I feel for Steve – the shoe could have been on the other foot, but I’m delighted to come out on the right end of the result,” Coyle said.
Smith could make return
Former Rangers boss Walter Smith could be tempted by a return to management if offered the right opportunity.
The 63-year-old quit the Scottish champions at the end of last season, bringing to an end a second successful spell at the Ibrox helm.
He said: “I’ll wait and see if an offer comes along that I would be interested in. I haven’t actively pursued that at the moment.
“I’ve had a couple (of offers) back in August and September but not ones I would have wanted to take really so I decided to stay out for the time being.”