Soccer Digest: Longford Town manager Alan Mathews is devastated but not entirely surprised by the news his club have been docked six points for failing to provide the financial information required of them by the FAI's Licensing Committee, writes Emmet Malone.
"It's devastating to have these points that were so hard-earned taken away from us," said Mathews yesterday. "We've had to fight for everything on the pitch so far this season and to have everything we won on the pitch taken away in one fell swoop is very hard.
"Having said that it doesn't come as a complete surprise," he continued. "It isn't the first time that the club has fallen foul of the Licensing Committee (they were previously fined €6,000) and it seems that we were given plenty of chances to sort the situation out."
It was unclear last night whether the club, which has five days to lodge an appeal, would choose to pursue the matter; the situation is complicated by the fact the chairman, Jim Hanley, is in Japan on business.
In the meantime, Longford are seven points adrift of Galway United at the foot of the Premier Division with no points and 10 games played.
Houllier ruled out
Three candidates for the vacant manager's job at Manchester City appeared to be ruled out of the running yesterday. City are searching for a new boss after sacking Stuart Pearce on Monday. Gerard Houllier, the former Liverpool manager, had been linked with the post, as had the Dutch pair Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman. But Houllier's club, Lyon, issued a statement announcing he would not be leaving for either City or Dynamo Kiev, with whom he was linked in the French media.
PSV Eindhoven denied reports they had been approached by City about the availability of their coach Koeman. And Van Gaal was ruled out of the running by a spokesman for AZ Alkmaar.
Bramble released
Sam Allardyce yesterday started the process of clearing the decks for his summer spending spree as Newcastle released five players.
The most notable departure was that of the defender Titus Bramble (25), a £5-million signing from Ipswich in 2002, whose error-strewn career at St James' Park ended when he was told his contract would not be renewed. Also released were Craig Moore, Pavel Srnicek, Olivier Bernard and Oguchi Onyewu.
Ferguson 'not guilty'
Alex Ferguson insisted last night he did not feel any responsibility for Sheffield United's relegation from the Premiership and Neil Warnock's subsequent resignation as manager.
Ferguson had promised to play his "strongest possible team" against West Ham last Sunday, only to use Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs as substitutes. West Ham's 1-0 victory meant Warnock's team were relegated after a 2-1 defeat by Wigan.
"I never said that I would play my strongest team," insisted Ferguson. "I said we would play a strong team and it was my strongest possible team given the fact our players had played so many games and were tired . . . I don't think playing Giggs and Ronaldo and Scholes (from the start) would have been the right thing to do."
Ferguson added there was no bad feeling: "I have spoken to Neil Warnock and he says his comments have been overplayed in the press."
Warnock meanwhile has vowed to bring his outspoken style back into the Premiership as soon as possible. The 58-year-old, who will begin looking for a new job immediately, said: "I know there will be a lot of fans who would love Neil Warnock as their club's next boss."
Barton denies claims
Joey Barton has "strenuously denied" allegations he beat up his Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo at the club's training ground on May 1st and has filed a counter-claim of assault to the police.
Barton has hired the specialist sports lawyer Mel Stein and claims Dabo was the aggressor. The disparities in the two stories mean police will seek witness accounts from other players and possibly the sacked manager, Stuart Pearce. Officers arrested Barton at Stretford police station on Tuesday, questioned him and released him on bail until July 11th.
In Brief . . .
Celtic have smashed the transfer record between Scottish clubs by signing the Hibernian midfielder Scott Brown(21) for a fee believed to be £4.4 million . . . Sunderland's Roy Keanehas been awarded the League Managers Association's Championship manager of the year award, while Reading's Steve Coppellhas been named Premiership manager for a second consecutive season . . . An FA commission has found a charge against the former Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewellnot proved. He had been charged with improper conduct over comments about referee Phil Dowd following Wigan's game against Arsenal on February 11th
Today's fixtures
(7.45 unless stated)
ENGLISH LEAGUE TWO- Play-off semi-final, second leg: Lincoln City v Bristol Rovers.
LEAGUE OF IRELAND- First Division: Dundalk v Kilkenny City.
