A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Terry will not face trial until after Euro 2012
THE England captain John Terry will not face trial for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand until after Euro 2012.
The Chelsea defender did not attend the first hearing in the case at Westminster magistrates court in London yesterday when his barrister, George Carter-Stephenson QC, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Terry (31) is accused of a racially aggravated public order offence over video footage which appears to show him shout at the Queens Park Rangers defender during their Premier League match in October.
District judge Howard Riddle ordered that Terry should stand trial in the week beginning July 9th after hearing a number of other Chelsea players would not be able to appear as witnesses until the end of the football season.
The public gallery of Court One in the modern court building was packed with journalists for the hour-long hearing, which covered the timing of the trial and arrangements for witnesses.
Another blow for Wilshere
ARSENAL and England midfielder Jack Wilshere has suffered a blow in his bid to recover from a long-standing injury to his right ankle by sustaining a small stress fracture to the same foot.
The club, however, denied media reports that he would be sidelined for the rest of the season. “The injury is in a different area to his previous surgery.
“It will be reassessed in around two weeks.”
Right-back Gilbert signs for Rovers
SHAMROCK Rovers have signed former Arsenal trainee Kerrea Gilbert, a 24-year-old right-back who has struggled over the last couple of years to build on the solid season of Championship football he enjoyed while on loan at Leicester City, reports Emmet Malone.
Stephen Kenny describes the Londoner as “quick and a good defender,” and insists he will bring “quality and ability,” to a Rovers squad that has lost both Pat Sullivan and Pat Flynn from last year’s panel.
AFTER completing his move to Preston North End from Cork City, Graham Cummins says that it has still not sunk in that he has finally secured the sort of move he has long been dreaming of.
“I have been waiting for a move to England all my life,” said the 24-year-old striker of his estimated €120,000 fee move.
Warnock bookies' favourite for Leeds
FORMER QPR manager Neil Warnock is the odds-on favourite to take over at Leeds United after the Yorkshire club sacked their manager Simon Grayson following the side’s 4-1 home thrashing by Birmingham City on Tuesday night.
Grayson, who was taunted by Birmingham fans during the match with chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning”, blamed the defeat on “our naivety and inexperience”. Grayson’s side had won two and drawn one of their previous three games, but had slumped to three successive defeats over Christmas. The club’s owner, Ken Bates, is now looking for his fifth Leeds manager in seven years.
The Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “We have 18 games to go this season and are still within touching distance of the play-offs, but felt with the transfer window now closed we needed to make the change at this time in the belief that a new managerial team will be able to get more out of the existing squad of players and make the difference.”
Cabaye banned for three games
NEWCASTLE’S Yohan Cabaye has been banned for three games by the English FA for violent conduct.
The Frenchman denied deliberately kicking out at Adam El-Abd during Newcastle’s FA Cup fourth-round defeat by Brighton on Saturday.
Reacting to the verdict, Cabaye tweeted: “3 matches ban its a real injustice but life goes on !!! In my team-mates i trust . . . He misses games against Blackburn, Aston Villa and Tottenham. He contested the FA charge but a regulatory commission found him guilty.
Cabaye appeared to catch El-Abd in the face after kicking out following a challenge by the Brighton defender but match referee Lee Probert took no action at the time.
Manager Alan Pardew had been hopeful of getting the charge dismissed and said on Tuesday: “I had a call from the Brighton coaching team to suggest their player wants to support our player.”
Eighty Zimbabweans suspended
EIGHTY Zimbabwean footballers have been suspended because of alleged involvement in Asian betting syndicates linked to match-fixing. The country’s sports minister said football was “riddled with corruption”, and called for politics to be rooted out of the sport.
The players, including leading members of the national team, are alleged to have taken bribes to throw friendly matches between 2007 and 2009.
The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has set up an independent ethics committee to investigate the alleged fixing, which it believes took place when the national team played in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
The games were not part of any competition. In fact, it is now suspected they were arranged specifically for the purpose of betting. The scandal has been dubbed “Asiagate”.
Endemol pulls plug on Super Cup
THE FAI last night confirmed that Endemol, the international sports promotions company that had been centrally involved in the staging of the Dublin Super Cup last July, has ended its involvement with the tournament after reaching a financial settlement with the association, reports Emmet Malone.
The deal was said by John Delaney at the time of its announcement in late 2010 to guarantee the organisation a seven figure pay-out annually.
But poor attendances at the inaugural event despite the involvement of Manchester City, Inter Milan and Celtic had prompted questions about its financial viability.
However, the event will go ahead in some form this year, the association said last night, after a “new and similar agreement” was signed with Iconic Worldwide Events, a company headed up by Irishman Damien O’Brien.
