Man City fans planning pre-match UEFA protest
Blues supporters are set to show their disgust at the European football governing body's failure to properly punish CSKA Moscow.
City fans are planning to turn their backs on the UEFA anthem at tomorrow’s Champions League game.
The 1894 Group of supporters has backed the protest over the fact they were banned from the away game at CSKA Moscow last month – while around 300 home fans were allowed in.
The Khimki Arena had been closed as a punishment to CSKA fans for repeated racism and hooligan behaviour by some of their support.
But many home fans circumvented the fan by getting hold of passes meant for Uefa sponsors, and press credentials, which were being sold by touts outside the ground.
One small group of Blues evaded the ban and got inside the stadium but were ejected by City’s own security staff.
CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky, and the Russian journalists present, treated questions from the English media about the presence of so many of their fans, as a joke in the post-match press conference.
And Uefa not only said no action would be taken on the clear contravention, but they later cut CSKA’s punishment from three games behind closed doors to two and their fine halved to 100,000 euros.
The 1894 Group is urging fans to turn their backs on the pitch and vent their feelings about Uefa’s actions.
And in three weeks, when Bayern Munich come to Manchester, the two sets of fans are planning to unite in protest.
Bayern fans were also presented from watching their team in similar circumstances in Moscow.
City fans were already furious with Uefa over the club’s punishment for breaching financial fair play rules, resulting in a record £49million fine, cap on transfers, and restriction of their Champions League squad to 21.
That led to a curtailing of the Blues’ summer transfer plans, and is blamed by many as a reason for ticket price rises.
Around 100 Blues have been left out of pocket after paying for visas, hotels and flights before the ban was imposed – with Uefa refusing to consider compensation.
“It’s mainly about the way our fans were treated in Moscow,” says Alberto Mombelli from 1894 Group.
“It was even more disappointing when it was obvious that there were CSKA fans at the the game, while our supporters were even stopped from watching it from an office block next to the ground.
“With Uefa, it’s all about sponsors and money, and they don’t really care about the fans.
“Among City fans there has also been a lot of disappointment about the financial fair play issue as well. Uefa don’t seem to have looked at how much the club is doing in Manchester.
“It’s a feeling shared by other clubs’ fans as well – Bayern supporters have been in touch because they are also disappointed with the way they were treated in Moscow.”
City fan Sean Riley, whose 25-year run of not missing a game was ended by the ban, is one of the fans behind the idea.
“City fans and Bayern fans were punished for doing nothing wrong,” said Sean, who had been to 1,258 games on the bounce until he was forced to stay away by the ban.
“It’s about true supporters who go the extra mile to watch their team, being denied the opportunity through no fault of their own.”
Frank Lampard WILL stay at City - on £190k-a-week deal that dwarfs Chelsea wage
Frank Lampard will spend the whole season at Manchester City - earning a whopping £190,000-a-week.
The former England midfielder has already signed an extension option to his current loan deal at the Etihad on a salary that dwarfs the best wages he ever earned at Chelsea.
Lampard's final contract at Stamford Bridge was £151,000-a-week, but he netted a 35 per cent pay rise by agreeing to join new MLS side New York City in the summer.
The American club is owned by Manchester City chief Sheikh Mansour and Lampard had been due to start his career in the States in January.
His present loan deal expires on January 7, but City and Lampard have already signed an option to extend that loan deal with the Premier League champions until the end of the season.
OR
Midfielder Frank Lampard could return from a thigh injury to feature in Manchester City's Champions League match against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old has missed four games since being carried off during the 4-1 win over Tottenham on 18 October.
"I'm not far off selection," said Lampard. "Fingers crossed, if all goes well over the next couple of days, I'll be back in contention."
City have taken only two points from their first three games in Group E.
The Premier League champions followed defeat at Bayern Munich with draws at home to Roma and in Moscow.
Lampard, who is on loan from New York City, is due to return to his parent club before the knockout stages, but refused to be drawn on whether his time at Etihad Stadium might be extended.
"All I can say is how much I'm enjoying it at City," he said.
"I'm contracted here until the end of December and my future will be at New York City at some stage.
"I didn't know what to expect before I came here but the move has opened my eyes to a fantastic club with fantastic people behind the scenes and I'm just trying to enjoy every minute."
Lampard has scored four goals - including a late leveller against former club and title rivals Chelsea - for Manuel Pellegrini's side.
Manchester City set to go head-to-head with Bayern in £20m-plus battle for Marco Reus
Manchester City will go head-to-head with Bayern Munich in a £20million-plus battle for Germany winger Marco Reus at the end of the season.
While Reus’s club Borussia Dortmund are adamant he will not be allowed to leave in the January window, they are resigned to losing him next summer because of an escape clause in his contract.
The 25-year-old’s deal runs until 2017 but has a release clause enabling him to join any club who meet Dortmund’s asking price of 25million euros.
Bundesliga champions Bayern are prepared to match it, but so are City. And Manuel Pellegrini’s club are confident they can outbid their rivals on the wage front by putting together a package worth in excess of £200,000 a week.
Liverpool and Manchester United have also been linked with Reus, who has won 23 caps for his country.
But City believe they are in pole position to lure him to the Barclays Premier League and are hopeful that increasingly strained relations between Bayern and Dortmund will deter the winger from switching to Munich.
Dortmund manager Klopp last week blasted Bayern Munich's conduct for admitting interest in Marco Reus and claims their comments could come back to bite them.
The Bundesliga champions have riled Klopp this week after Bayern Munich chairman Kerl-Heinz Rummenigge talked openly about a move for attacking midfielder Reus.
Earlier this week Rummenigge told Bild: 'We know in Munich that Reus has a lot of quality. For us a young German national player of such quality is interesting. But I do not want to cause unrest in Dortmund.'
In response Klopp told Bild: 'In a period where both teams are at the top, it's fun to reply to any questions,' adding that he knows 'nothing of what is going on right now' regarding Reus' contract situation.
One thing is for certain, the German ace is hot property with the likes of City, Arsenal and Liverpool all closely monitoring every move from now until January.
Man City defender Pablo Zabaleta believes the balance of power has shifted in Manchester
The Argentine starred in the Blues' 1-0 victory in the derby, which was their fourth successive victory against United and their sixth in seven meetings
Pablo Zabaleta believes Manchester City’s latest derby win has confirmed they are now bigger and better than local rivals United.
United boss Louis van Gaal taunted City ahead of Sunday’s derby by claiming they were still lagging behind the 20-times champions in terms of their history, profile and global reach.
But Zabaleta claimed the win – City’s fourth straight derby victory over United and sixth in their last seven meetings – proved they now hold the balance of power in Manchester.
And the City defender said Manuel Pellegrini’s side have their sights on becoming one of the best teams in Europe, now they have proved they are the biggest side in Manchester.
Asked if Van Gaal’s pre-derby words had fired up City’s players, Zabaleta said: “All I can say is that Manchester City’s players and the owners are doing a big, big effort to be a top team - not just in Manchester but also in the Premier League and Europe.
“Probably it’s different history now than years ago where probably United was the main team in the city. Now it’s a bit different.
“Obviously it’s not like it was before. We are dominating at the moment in the derby games. But that shows how Manchester City are improving year after year.”
City must now put to one side their derby joy to focus on the must-win Champions League tie at home to CSKA Moscow.
With just two points from their opening three games, City must beat Moscow to keep alive their hopes of making the knockout stage.
Zabaleta said: “It’s another huge game. We were very unlucky the last time we played them. We drew and we were winning 2-0 but obviously it’s a crucial point for us.
“We need a win because if not it’s going to be very hard to qualify for the next round.
“We’re desperate to qualify for the next round, so we know how important the game is.”
Police called to investigate as Manchester City's Yaya Toure is racially abused on twitter
The police have been called to investigate claims Yaya Toure was racially abused within hours of reactivating his Twitter account.
Manchester City midfielder Toure rejoined Twitter on Monday, five months after leaving the social network site in order to focus on the World Cup.
The Ivory Coast international posted his first tweet at 6pm, reflecting on City's derby win over Manchester United the previous day.
He wrote: "Great to be back on twitter after a good win yesterday. Now my focus is on the next game... Happy Monday everyone!!"
NEWS: We are informing the Police of racist tweets directed @yayatoure earlier this evening and offer him our full support #kickitout
— Kick It Out (@kickitout) November 3, 2014
Within hours of posting the message, the 31-year-old received abusive and racist messages from other Twitter accounts.
Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out was appalled by some of the tweets and decided to report the matter to the police.
"NEWS: We are informing the Police of racist tweets directed @yayatoure earlier this evening and offer him our full support £kickitout," KIO posted on Twitter.
A Kick It Out spokesperson said on Monday night: "At this stage we have received complaints about two separate tweets of a racist nature aimed at Yaya Toure and now we are informing the police.
"Yaya Toure has been on Twitter for a matter of hours and he has already received abuse of an appalling nature.
"We are disturbed by the fact that someone can be treated this way.
"It makes footballers start to question why they should use these platforms.
"We will offer Yaya Toure our full support."
On Monday evening Toure favourited a tweet from one City fan - @111Lesley111 - who offered her support to the former Barcelona player.
She wrote: "@YayaToure Welcome back to the land of the tweetiverse. Ignore the nasty jealous ones. There are far more out here that (heart) you. £MCFC"
This is not the first time Toure has been the target of racist abuse.
Last season he was subjected to racist chanting during City's Champions League game at CSKA Moscow.
"I'm not just disappointed, I'm furious," Toure said after City's 2-1 win in Russia.
"It was unbelievable and very sad."
CSKA denied Toure had been abused, but UEFA disagreed and ordered the Russian club to close part of their ground for their next Champions League match.
Alvaro Negredo is not happy with Manchester City
Despite being a popular figure among fans at the Etihad Stadium, Alvaro Negredo was allowed to leave Manchester City after just one season, and the man known as 'The Beast' has hit out at the treatment he received during his brief stay.
It's perhaps harsh to label a man who won Premier League gold in his first season in England a flop, but Negredo only lasted one year on these shores before being shipped out, and the striker has been left with a bitter taste in his mouth.
Having arrived from Sevilla last summer, Negredo scored 23 goals in all competitions, including a treble against CSKA Moscow which made him the first ever City player to net a Champions League hat-trick.
However, he was shown the Etihad exit door on deadline day this summer, sealing a
season-long loan deal at Valencia which will become permanent at the end of the campaign.
Confidence
In an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca, cited by the Manchester Evening News, Negredo describes how a lack of faith from his manager forced the move.
The Spaniard said: "I told him that I wanted to return to Spain and that I wanted to have
more confidence because I knew that with him I'd never feel it no matter how many times he told me I would."
"I forced myself for the good of the team. Then they don't appreciate your efforts and take away their support" - Alvaro Negredo
Despite feeling like he didn't have the managers backing, Negredo made an impact on the City faithful, who would often scream the word 'beast' whenever the burly forward was involved.
However, after a bright start to the season, Negredo's season faded after an injury that he'd tried to play on with, a commitment he felt was undervalued.
"I started well with a lot of confidence. Then I picked up an injury to my shoulder. I made a mistake in not stopping there. I forced myself for the good of the team. Then they don't appreciate your efforts and take away their support," he said.
Restrictions
Negredo's criticism may come as a shock to Pellegrini, who had previously described the deadline day deal as being in the best interest of both the player and Manchester City.
"For him also it was very important he wanted to go back to Spain so I thought it was the best decision for all the club" - Manuel Pellegrini
Pellegrini explained: "The decision to allow Negredo to go out was two very important
reasons. The first was that we have a restriction about the number of players we can use in the Champions League.
“We had one player more, (and) we could not use Alvaro, who was injured, so he was the player who was not going to be on the list.
"For him also it was very important he wanted to go back to Spain so I thought it was the best decision for all the club.
"Alvaro wanted to go, that’s why I allowed him to go because adding the two things – that he couldn’t play Champions League, that he was injured – it was good for himself and for the club and he wanted to go to Spain."
Brazil striker Jô released by Atlético Mineiro for indiscipline
The Brazil and former and Manchester City striker Jô has been released by Atlético Mineiro because of indiscipline.
Atlético Mineiro released the striker and two other players on Monday, saying they committed a “serious” breach of team rules after a Brazilian league match this weekend. Club officials did not elaborate.
Jô had already been punished by the club this year after failing to arrive at practice on time. He had claimed he was undergoing family problems. Jô missed some matches before playing in the team’s 1-0 loss to Atlético Paranaense on Sunday.
The 27-year-old striker had a contract with Atlético until 2016. Jô signed with Manchester City in 2008 and played on loan with Everton and Galatasaray until 2011. He was Brazil’s reserve striker in the World Cup this year.
Arsene Wenger: Man City game affected Arsenal defence
The Arsenal manager believes the 2-2 draw with the defending champions affected his side's confidence
Arsene Wenger believes that Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City negatively impacted his side’s confidence in defence.
The Gunners had come from a goal down to lead 2-1 at Emirates Stadium in September, only for Martin Demichelis to head home a late equaliser from a corner.
And Wenger believes that some of Arsenal’s struggles this season have come from “doubts” amongst his rearguard.
“It’s always important to find the right balance. The players are the players at the end of the day, and I make the decisions. I believe it was more a question of patience, and a desire to win the game.
“The decisive game was Manchester City at home, when we were 2-1 up and conceded a goal at a corner because we were not focused. From then on we had some doubts.
“I’m an attacking manager, but when you need to score four goals to win the game it’s one hell of a mountain to climb. To attack with freedom you need to also think, ‘OK I can go,’ and be sure you will be secure defensively.
“In the modern game as well the physical levels have gone up – everyone is quicker – so you cannot guarantee that you will score three or four goals in every game. I don’t think teams attack much better, but they defend much better than 10 years ago.”
Turkish club Fenerbahce have enquired about the possibility of signing Manchester United striker Robin van Persie, 31. (Daily Star)
Inter Milan are keen to sign Liverpool's 23-year-old Italian striker Fabio Borini. (Daily Mirror)
Liverpool will not be allowed to call on £10m striker Divock Origi this season, according to Lille boss Rene Girard. The 19-year-old signed for the Reds in the summer but was immediately loaned back to his former club. (Metro)
Hibernian manager Alan Stubbs is keen to hang on to Everton winger Matthew Kennedy, 20, whose loan deal expires in January. (Herald)
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers may risk not selecting captain Steven Gerrard when the Reds face Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday. (Daily Telegraph)
Midfielder Gerrard has been asked to take a 50% pay cut if he is to extend his contract at Anfield, less than a week after the 34-year-old hinted he could leave this summer. (Daily Star)
However, Gerrard will disappoint his many suitors and commit his immediate future to the Reds, with the club offering him a 12-month extension with the option to renew for a further year. (Independent)
A Chelsea fan was left stunned when his plea to John Terry for action on the club's ticket prices prompted the 33-year-old Blues captain to respond, raising the prospect of players speaking to senior staff at the club. (Daily Telegraph)
Marcos Rojo, 24, may be out for less time than feared with the dislocated shoulder he suffered at Manchester City after the Manchester United defender's father reportedly said his son would miss only two or three games. (Guardian)
Arsenal winger Theo Walcott, 25, will become one the club's top earners by signing an extension to his current contract, which expires in 2016. (Daily Mirror)
Nacer Chadli has backed his Tottenham team-mate Harry Kane, 21, for an England call-up, despite admitting he had not heard of the forward before joining Spurs. (DSSC)
The form of 21-year-old West Brom striker Saido Berahino has been good enough to earn him an England call-up according to team-mate Ben Foster. (Times )
Aston Villa could sack manager Paul Lambert, 45, if their run of six consecutive defeats continues in their next two fixtures. (Daily Express)
Bolton manager Neil Lennon says he could return to Celtic, who he left in the summer, as manager one day and has even discussed a future comeback with Parkhead chief executive Peter Lawwell. (Daily Record)
West Brom management staff are "exasperated" about the lack of impact made by £9m record signing Brown Ideye, 26, this season. (Daily Telegraph)
The Premier League is to maintain its opposition to moving the 2022 Qatar World Cup to the winter despite Fifa edging further towards its preferred option of a November tournament following a key meeting in Zurich. (Guardian)
Crystal Palace chief Steve Parish has admitted holding talks over the sale of the club, with US billionaire Josh Harris understood to be in advanced discussions with the Eagles. (Daily Mirror)
Hull winger Robert Snodgrass was one of several players to welcome the news Newcastle winger Jonas Gutierrez, 31, has been discharged from hospital following treatment for testicular cancer.
Ian Harte has revealed that he and his Bournemouth team-mates are sharing a hotel with a couple of famous guests - the Chuckle Brothers.
A Twitter account said to represent a group of Liverpool fans is raising funds to create a banner to fly over Anfield calling for the removal of Reds boss Brendan Rodgers, 41. (Daily Star)
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