Nicklas Bendtner was banned from driving for 56 days and fined £660 this week after admitting speeding at almost 104mph in his Porsche.
The striker was late for a flight from Newcastle Airport when he was caught by a Northumbria Police traffic officer on the A696 dual carriageway, which has a 70mph limit, last December.
Bendtner, who is on loan at Sunderland for a year from Arsenal, did not appear before Newcastle magistrates for the hearing. The court was told the 24-year-old was in Denmark for “contractual obligations”.
Weir gets coaching role at Everton
Former Everton and Rangers defender David Weir rejoined the Merseyside club in a coaching capacity this week.
Everton announced on Tues-day the 41-year-old had taken up a post at Goodison Park that will also see him eligible to play for the second string. And with reserves boss Alan Stubbs short of defenders, Weir went straight into the side for the ‘mini-derby’ at Liverpool.
Weir left Rangers last month to pursue other options and, after training with Sheffield United, has now taken up an opportunity to begin his coaching career with Everton’s reserve and Academy players.
Weir made 269 appearances during an eight-year spell at Goodison Park.
Guidetti given Sweden chance
On-loan Manchester City striker John Guidetti has earned a first senior call up for Sweden after scoring 18 goals in 17 games for Feyenoord this season.
The 19-year-old has become a cult figure in Rotterdam with Feyenoord fans launching a campaign to keep the striker beyond the end of this season.
He will now get a chance to build a reputation with fans in his homeland with a place in the squad for next week’s match against Croatia.
Battle for golden boot in Germany
Schalke striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar has warned Bayern Munich’s Mario Gomez that he wants his top goalscorer award this season.
The Dutchman’s goals against Wolfsburg last weekend took him to 18 for the season, the same as Gomez.
The pair will be on the same pitch at the weekend when Schalke visit Munich and Huntelaar now wants to overtake his rival, something he could have done on Sunday had he not missed a penalty.
“That was really frustrating. I really hit the penalty badly. I was so annoyed with myself to have wasted two chances,” he said.
“I want to score more than Gomez. I am delighted to be at the top of the scoring charts.”
Roma’s Borini for Italy call-up
Fabio Borini is set to be included in the next Italy squad for the match against the US on Wednesday.
With Antonio Cassano, Giu-seppe Rossi and Antonio Di Natale unavailable, coach Cesare Prandelli is reported to have pencilled the Roma striker in his provisional list.
Borini, 20, has never been called up to the full squad before. In 16 games across all competitions so far this season, he has netted seven goals Roma.
Meanwhile, reports in Italy are suggesting that Borini’s place in the Under-21 squad will be taken by Milan’s Stephan El Shaarawy for their friendly against France next week.
Medal a bonus for Cheick mate
Cheick Tiote gave away his Africa Cup losers’ medal because he did not want to be reminded of his heartache.
The 25-year-old, who missed the last seven games for New-castle United, was part of the Ivory Coast side which lost 8-7 on penalties to Zambia in a dra-matic conclusion to the tourna-ment.
Tiote said: “All the people there, they love the national team and they love the country, so we are really disappointed because we didn’t win the competition.
“I gave my medal to my friend because I was so disappointed.
“We did well, but we didn’t win it. Maybe next time we will win the competition.”
Man. Utd facing Euro income cut
Manchester United are bracing themselves for a massive dip in media revenues following their exit from the Champions Lea-gue.
While United were able to confirm growth in all areas when they announced second-quarter results yesterday, they also know the effect of being dumped into the Europa League is still to be felt.
It is estimated the Red Devils will lose approximately £3 million per round in prize-money alone by being in UEFA’s secondary competition, and although the Europa League does include an extra round, Manchester United realise games will not prove as attractive to fans.