A damages claim by Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs against The Sun was thrown out by a High Court judge yesterday.
Giggs claimed the newspaper “misused” private information and argued that he was entitled to claim damages for breach of a right to privacy enshrined in human rights legislation.
But The Sun argued that Giggs’s claim – made after the newspaper published an article about a relationship with TV star Imogen Thomas – is “dead in the water”.
Mr Justice Tugendhat heard arguments last month and delivered his ruling yesterday.
Bale will not play in Serie A – agent
Agent Peppino Tirri said Gareth Bale, 22, will not be playing in the Serie A in future despite keen interest in the Tottenham wing-back from Italian clubs.
“It’s impossible that Bale would play in Italy,” Tirri said.
“A lot of clubs in Italy like him, but none of them can afford him.
“If a team like Barcelona is forced to give up on a player then it means that he will stay where he is. His £50m price-tag is prohibitive for all.
“However, I don’t think Tottenham would sell to them.”
Bale joined Tottenham in 2007 from Southampton for £7m.
Jack Charlton falls and breaks hip
England World Cup winner and former Ireland manager Jack Charlton is to undergo surgery after breaking his hip in a fall at home. Charlton, 76, suffered the fracture after falling down the stairs at his home earlier this week.
“The stairs in his house are a bit tricky and awkward and he basically fell down on Monday night,” a report said.
Charlton was a member of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team, playing alongside brother Bobby Charlton.
He later enjoyed a successful career in international management, feted in Ireland for leading the country to the World Cups in 1990 and 1994.
Platt not setting points target
Manchester City first-team coach David Platt has no idea how many points it might take to shake off Manchester United in the title race. Platt believes City’s target in the closing months of the season is simple enough – to win as many games as possible.
City hold a two-point lead over United at the top of the league with 12 games remaining.
When asked if he and manager Roberto Mancini had set a points target, Platt said: “No. How can we do that?
“We could turn around and say we need x, but x might not be enough. We just go into every football match looking to get the points and we will see where it takes us.”
Ireland players agree bonus deal
Ireland skipper Robbie Keane (picture) and his team-mates have agreed a reduced Euro 2012 qualification bonus deal amid ongoing economic difficulties.
Agreement was reached after a brief meeting this week with the players accepting a reduction on the figures paid when Ireland reached the 2002 World Cup finals.
Reports have suggested the package could eventually amount to two million euros de-pending on how they fare in Poland and Ukraine this summer.
Keane said: “There’s no problem. It was a very short meeting, that’s all I will say, and very positive.”
Friendly fire from Arsenal’s Wenger
Arsene Wenger hit out at the international friendly schedule and revealed Arsenal are considering lodging an official complaint against the Belgian association after Wenger claimed they “forced” injured defender Thomas Vermaelen to play a full match in midweek.
Wenger was left seething at Belgium’s use of centre-half Vermaelen – who has endured more than his fair share of injury problems – for their game in Greece.
“It looks like Belgium made a decision which I still do not understand and we will look to see if we can put a complaint in,” the Arsenal manager said.
“They forced Thomas to play 90 minutes and had a centre-back on the bench who did not play at all... in a friendly knowing they do not even go to the Euros.”
‘No foul play’ in 10-0 thrashing
Indonesian football authorities yesterday denied any foul play in the national team’s 10-0 thrashing by Bahrain, after FIFA announced an inquiry and fans expressed outrage.
The Gulf side needed to win by a nine-goal margin to have any hope of going through to the last round of Asian zone qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup finals, while Indonesia had already been eliminated from the tournament.
Indonesia’s FA has long been mired in graft scandals, but the head of its disciplinary committee Bernhard Limbong said: “There’s no way corruption is involved in this.”
Indonesia went down to a flurry of goals after their keeper was sent off after two minutes.