A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Ferguson voted best in Premier history
Manchester City may have wrestled the title from their grasp, but Manchester United were yesterday awarded two prestigious honours for their dominance of the Premier League. Alex Ferguson was named the best manager in the Premier League’s 20-year history and Ryan Giggs won the best player award at a ceremony in central London.
Giggs beat off competition from the likes of Thierry Henry, Paul Scholes and Dennis Bergkamp to clinch the vote from a panel of experts. The Welshman has made 909 appearances for United and is the most decorated player in the English game while Ferguson has won 12 Premier League titles since he took over the club in 1986.
Ferguson pipped Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Harry Redknapp and David Moyes to the manager’s award.
Shearer received an award for the most Premier League goals (260) while David James received a prize for the most Premier League clean sheets (173).
PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE LAST 20 SEASONS: Schmeichel; G Neville, Adams, R Ferdinand, A Cole; Ronaldo, Scholes, Roy Keane, Giggs, Henry, Shearer.
De Gea in Spain squad for first time
Fernando Torres and Juan Mata have been left out of the Spain squad for the upcoming friendlies against Serbia and South Korea. The Chelsea duo are absent to allow them to continue their preparations for Saturday’s Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea has been called into the senior squad for the first time. De Gea impressed for the Spanish under-21s as they claimed the continental crown in their age-group last year but he has never before earned inclusion to the full squad.
The 21-man squad does not include any Barcelona or Athletic Bilbao players as they meet in the Copa del Rey final on May 25th.
The final 23-man squad to travel to Poland and Ukraine will be named on May 27th.
SPAIN SQUAD: Casillas (Real Madrid), Reina (Liverpool), De Gea (Manchester Utd); Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Ramos (Real Madrid), Albiol (Real Madrid), Alba (Valencia), Monreal (Malaga), Torres (Atlético Madrid); Domínguez (Atlético Madrid); Alonso (Real Madrid), Cazorla (Malaga), Etxebarria (Real Betis), Isco (Malaga), Garcia (Benfica), Soriano (Villarreal) Silva (Man City), Navas (Sevilla); Negredo (Sevilla), Soldado (Valencia); Lopez (Atlético).
Mancini hoping to spend big and add to current City squad
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini hopes to be allowed to spend big this summer in pursuit of further success.
Mancini wants to add the Champions League to this season’s Premier League title victory.
City have spent heavily since their takeover by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour in 2008 to establish a position of prominence in the English game.
Chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak has said there is now no need to spend the lavish sums of previous summers, because the squad is already strong, but Mancini still wants more top names.
Mancini said: “Barcelona and Real Madrid every year buy two or three players and spend a lot of money.
“I think for Manchester City it will be the same.
“We need to improve. We need to have the strength to play Champions League and Premier League.”
Mancini will also focus on the current squad, with speculation still likely to surround the controversial figures of strikers Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli.
Late goals help Derry pile misery on Monaghan
Monaghan Utd 1 Derry City 4
David McDaid scored for the third time in five league games as Derry got their Setanta Sports Cup final disappointment out of their system with a first league win in six games.
McDaid put Derry ahead after 55 minutes after good work by Rory Patterson. Monaghan pressed pressed for the equaliser before the game finished in a glut of goals with four in the final eight minutes. Derry doubled their lead through winger Stephen McLaughlin on 84 minutes with Paddy McEleney sealing the points with a third five minutes later.
Conor Murphy got a goal back for Monaghan on 90 minutes. But Patterson added the final goal for Derry in stoppage time.
PFA chief Taylor calls for heavy santions for Barton
Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the English Professional Footballers’ Association, has said Joey Barton deserves to be “heavily sanctioned” for admitting he attempted to get a Manchester City player sent off after receiving a red card for Queens Park Rangers at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Barton has been granted an extension until midday today to answer two charges of violent conduct by the English FA over his kick at Sergio Aguero and attempt to butt Vincent Kompany before he was escorted from the field.
Both those offences would normally carry three-match bans, though there remains scope for the FA’s regulatory panel to increase the sanction, especially in light of the player’s post-match comments.
As Barton automatically incurred a four-match ban for the initial red card being his second of the season, he is facing a minimum 10-game absence, which suggests his QPR future may be in doubt.
After the game Barton admitted on Twitter that he tried “to take” one of the City players with him.
