A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Fifa attack Brazil 2014 plans
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke yesterday made a scathing attack on Brazil’s preparations for the 2014 World Cup, saying “not a lot is moving” and organisers needed “a kick up the backside”.
Valcke, who has continually raised concerns about the tournament, said time was running out and there was no “Plan B” in place.
Soccers ruling body is particularly concerned about transport and accommodation issues and the sluggish movement through Brazilian bureaucracy of World Cup laws relating to the sale of alcohol .
Valcke, in England for the annual meeting of Fifa’s International Football Association Board, its law-making body, said: “I don’t understand why things are not moving. The stadiums are not on schedule any longer – and why are a lot of things late?”
Rangers need major cuts
SCOTTISH champions Rangers need to save around €1.2m a month to survive, the Glasgow clubs administrators said yesterday.
The administrators have been in talks with manager Ally McCoist about trimming the playing squad but delayed any decision until next week.
“The Rangers business is trading at a substantial loss and we have no alternative but to fill an approximate £4.5m (€5.4m) shortfall by the end of the season, joint administrator Paul Clark of Duff and Phelps said in a statement.
“It is therefore imperative we find savings of approximately one million pounds per month to ensure the ongoing viability of the business.”
Charlton on mend after operation
JACK Charlton, who led the Republic of Ireland to successive World Cup finals as manager in 1990 and 1994 as well as Euro 88, was recovering in hospital last night after undergoing hip replacement surgery following a fall at his home.
The 76-year-old former World Cup winner had the operation at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.
Son John said: “He’s fine. He had the operation this morning and the operation was fine. Everything went well. Basically, as everybody else would, he is just recovering from the anaesthetic.
“They will probably keep him in over the weekend and let him out on Monday if everything is fine. With hip replacements, which is what he has had, they don’t tend to keep them in too long.”
The Ashington-born former Leeds defender broke his hip after falling down the stairs at his home in Morpeth, Northumberland on Thursday night while his wife Pat was out, but eventually managed to get to a telephone to alert his son.
England will wait to choose boss
THE English FA will wait until close to the end of the season before appointing a new England manager.
FA general secretary Alex Horne said a list of potential candidates to succeed Fabio Capello has been drawn up but that they did not want to disrupt clubs’ seasons.
The confirmation means they should avoid accusations of destabilising a club by approaching a manager. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, who has stated his priority is ensuring Spurs finish the season in third place in the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League, remains the overwhelming favourite.
Another blunder would ‘kill’ Blatter
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said he “would die” if he saw another World Cup blunder such as Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal for England against Germany in South Africa in 2010.
Blatter, in England for this weekend’s meeting of the games law-making body , the International Football Association Board, said it was now time to “move forward” and embrace the goal-line technology he was once so opposed to.
IFAB, which comprises four Fifa representatives and the four British nations, will consider a report on the latest tests of goal-line technology with a final decision expected after the European Championship final in Kiev on July 2nd.
Blatter has said he wants technology in place by the 2014 World Cup in Brazil although Uefa president Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer, head of Fifa’s Football Taskforce 2014, are both opposed.
Speaking as he arrived, Blatter said: “We don’t want a repeat of the last World Cup.
“I think I can convince the IFAB board that we must go forward with technology, we cannot afford to just wait and see what happens.
“Platini doesn’t want it but I wouldn’t be again in a World Cup and witness another situation like that – I would die.”
Among the other issues on this weekend’s agenda are the possibility of a fourth substitute during extra- time and whether IFAB will overturn its ban on Muslim women players wearing headscarves.
