Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said yesterday he was surprised that rival TV companies have scheduled his club’s FA Cup semi-final with Reading at Wembley tomorrow evening at the same time as Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Manchester United.
The BBC and Sky Sports will do battle for ratings between the match at Stamford Bridge as well as the FA Cup semi-final. Both matches are being shown live globally in over 150 countries.
“I am a bit surprised that two games of the same stature are being played at the same time, it is a conflict and it is difficult to understand,” Wenger said.
Ze Maria gets job back a day after sack
Former Brazil defender Ze Maria has been re-appointed as coach of Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt only a day after being sacked, the Romanian club said.
“After talking to the team, I decided to give the coaching staff another chance,” flamboyant Ceahlaul owner Angelo Massone told the club’s website.
On Wednesday, Italian lawyer Massone was suspended for two months by the Romanian Football Federation’s disciplinary committee for invading the pitch and criticising the referee during his team’s 2-1 home defeat by FC Viitorul Constanta on April 5.
Perth CEO quits
The chief executive of Australian soccer club Perth Glory quit his job yesterday and apologised for his role in the salary cap scandal that has engulfed the team.
Perth Glory CEO Jason Brewer announced he was standing down after the club was fined by Football Federation Australia (FFA) and banned from competing in this season’s A-League play-offs for allegedly breaching the salary cap.
“We now face some of the darkest days in the club’s recent years as a result of the sanctions which have been put down by the FFA,” Brewer said.
“As a CEO, the responsibility of where the club lies today is with me.”
Inter were close to Jovetic deal
Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has revealed his club twice came close to signing Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic last year.
The Nerazzurri were looking to strengthen their attacking line last summer and made an approach to acquire the Montenegro international in the hope of luring him back to Serie A.
Jovetic, 25, spent five seasons with Italian side Fiorentina before moving to City on a £22 million deal in 2013.
“We were so close to Jovetic,” Ausilio told Sky Italia. “Not just last summer but in January, too.
“We pushed hard to get him but then an injury to (Alvaro) Negredo and the wish of the player to remain at City made the negotiations very difficult.”
Cavani dismisses PSG exit talk
Paris St Germain striker Edinson Cavani brushed aside media reports that he will leave the French giants this summer.
The Italian press has linked the former Palermo and Napoli player to Juventus.
Cavani, 28, is also a reported target of Manchester United.
Following PSG’s 3-1 home defeat to Barcelona on Wednesday in the Champions League quarter-finals first leg, Cavani quashed the speculation when he told Sky Italia: “There is too much talk about my future but I will remain here.
“I will respect my contract and I’m only focusing on doing well for PSG.”
Kind freezes transfer activity
Hannover president Martin Kind has frozen all transfer planning and activity for his club due to the uncertainty over which league they will be in.
Without a league win yet in 2015, the Reds have slumped to the brink of the bottom three with six games of the season remaining.
Until their future in the top flight is secured, and considerations have been made as to whether Tayfun Korkut will remain their coach next season, no money will be available for spending.
“There’s no point until we know what league we’re playing in next season,” Kind told the Hannoversche Allgemeine newspaper. “We’ve stopped all our planning.”
Redknapp would consider right offer
Former QPR manager Harry Redknapp feels he still has plenty to offer to football but only at the right club, having turned down a “mind-blowing” offer to coach abroad.
The 68-year-old handed in his resignation at Loftus Road in February, citing knee problems behind the decision to leave the Premier League strugglers, although he later claimed “people with their own agendas” had a hand in his departure and described the situation at QPR as “a bit of a soap opera”.
“It is difficult to know whether you want to go back in again, but if the right offer came along for the right job then I would consider it, because I do love the game and certainly do miss it,” Redknapp told Press Association Sport.