Soccer shorts

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Cyclist Hoy blamed for referee Foy

ONE is a four-time Olympic champion and a face of the 2012 London Games and the other a Premier League referee – but it appears some football fans are having trouble telling them apart.

Cyclist Chris Hoy revealed yesterday he has been on the receiving end of insulting Twitter messages from Tottenham supporters who have mistaken him for Chris Foy. Foy was in charge of Spurs’ 2-1 Premier League defeat at Stoke on Sunday, when the visitors had an Emmanuel Adebayor goal wrongly ruled out for offside, two penalty appeals turned down and Younes Kaboul harshly sent off.

One of those to get the pair mixed up, tweeted: “Chris Hoy, not only are you a useless **** of a referee, you also support Stoke.”

Hoy, who won three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, defended himself, saying: “Just for the record 1) I don’t need glasses and 2) I do not lead a double life as an English premiere league ref.”

Moyes offers Henry a game for Everton

EVERTON manager David Moyes has admitted he had a quiet word with Thierry Henry about signing him on a short-term loan deal at the weekend.

The former Gunners striker is training with Arsenal as the season in the US is over, and he was at the Emirates stadium for the weekend win over Moyes’ Everton as part of their 125-year anniversary celebrations.

Moyes took the opportunity to ask the former France ace if he fancied a spell at Goodison Park on loan. Moyes said: “I already asked him (Henry) on the way in. I asked him, he’ll tell you; if he wants a game let me know.”

The prospect of landing Henry looks slim, but Moyes is keen to bring in at least one more attacking option in the new year if he can.

Vogel gets Basel job full-time

FC Basel’s interim coach Heiko Vogel was given the job on a permanent basis yesterday, five days after leading them into Champions League last 16 at the expense of Manchester United.

Vogel had no experience as a senior coach when he took over in October after Thorsten Fink left for Hamburg SV. He was thrown in at the deep end as Basel lost 2-0 to Benfica in the Champions League a week later, but they took seven points from their final three games.

Roberts labels Verheijen ‘selfish’

THE former Wales striker Iwan Roberts has accused the national side’s assistant manager, Raymond Verheijen, of being “selfish” after the Dutchman appeared to suggest he should lead the national side following the death of Gary Speed.

Verheijen, whose contract runs out at the end of this month, posted on Twitter on Sunday night: “Tomorrow FAW meet about future of Wales. Hopefully, the board will respect Gary’s wish so Osian Roberts (technical director at FAW) and myself can lead the team to Brazil. (There is) no need for new manager with new ideas.”

Roberts said: “(It’s) very, very selfish. It’s just over two weeks since we lost Gary and just over 48 hours since Gary was finally put to rest. The timing’s shocking . . . He’s touting himself for the Welsh job.

“Gary’s wish? I find that quite astonishing when Gary’s family are still grieving.”

Celtic fined over fans’ ‘illicit chanting’

CELTIC have been hit with a €15,000 fine after their fans were reported for “illicit chanting” during the Europa League match against Rennes last month.

Uefa’s control and disciplinary panel imposed the fine after the match delegate was informed by the Strathclyde police match commander of pro-IRA chanting on November 3rd.

The fine was announced by the European governing body yesterday afternoon after a decision was taken on Friday.

Celtic expressed their surprise at the charge when it was announced last month and said they would cooperate fully with any investigation.

The Glasgow club acknowledged notification of the fine, but will take time to decide whether to appeal.

A Celtic spokesperson said on the club’s website: “We received notification of the fine this afternoon with no detail. The club is currently considering its position.”

Fans face wait for Euro 2012 tickets

TICKETS for Euro 2012 went on sale yesterday (uefa.com) but Republic of Ireland fans face a two-month wait before they will know if they have been successful. The tickets are not a first-come, first-served basis and the window is open until the end of February. Tickets are restricted to official fans groups. In the event of the matches being over-subscribed ballots will be held with the most loyal fans getting preference.

Ireland fans will struggle to buy tickets allocated for the Spain, Italy and Croatia fans, as they are only available to nationals or residents of those countries. Uefa said 32 per cent of the overall stadia capacity have been reserved for the supporters of the 16 finalists.

A Uefa statement said: “Each team will receive 16 per cent of the overall net stadium capacity, or a minimum of 6,000 tickets, for each of their group-stage match. For quarter-finals and semis, the number of tickets reserved is 5,000 per participating team, and for the final it is 9,000 per team.”

Suarez given time to prepare his defence

LUIS Suarez has been granted more time to respond to the improper conduct charge he received for allegedly making an offensive gesture to Fulham supporters at Craven Cottage last week.

The English Football Association charged the Liverpool striker after photographs emerged of him making a one-fingered gesture following the club’s 1-0 defeat by Martin Jol’s team, a game in which Jay Spearing was sent off and Liverpool were charged with “failing to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion” in the aftermath of the midfielder’s dismissal.

Suarez and Liverpool were given until 4pm yesterday to respond to the charges, but that deadline has been extended (the length of which is unknown, on both counts) as the player prepares his defence.