SOCCER SHORTS

Today's other stories in brief

Celtic announce €9m half-year profit

CELTIC’S CHIEF executive Peter Lawwell has rejected claims he values impressive balance-sheet figures more than tangible football reward after the club announced profits of more than €9 million.

The champions’ January transfer activity, Irish player Willo Flood arriving for a nominal fee from Cardiff City, prompted some supporters to bemoan a lack of investment in Gordon Strachan’s squad. Celtic yesterday revealed half-year profits of €9.4 million with turnover increased by 10 per cent to €52.63 million. Their bank debt has also been reduced to less than €1.125 million but Lawwell says such figures do not overshadow Strachan’s on-field work, which includes a €7.87 million outlay on players last summer. Lawwell said inflationary salaries in England had made it difficult to sign players.

Airport pursue Ronaldo for damages

MANCHESTER AIRPORT is pursuing an insurance claim against Cristiano Ronaldo for the damage he caused to its “infrastructure” when he crashed his Ferrari in a tunnel last month.

The Manchester United winger walked away uninjured after he wrote off his sports car in the collision. His vehicle bounced off the walls of the tunnel on the A538 near the airport, which takes traffic under the runways between Wilmslow and Hale, in Cheshire.

His €225,000 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano Spider then struck a metal handrail that guarded an emergency exit door, and came to a halt when one of the wheels came off. It is understood that Ronaldo faces a €22,500 bill for repairs to damaged brickwork, buckled railings and the smashed exit door.

Greater Manchester police are still investigating the incident.

Neville signs new one-year contract with United

GARY NEVILLE yesterday joined Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in signing a new one-year contract extension that will keep him at Manchester United until the end of next season. The trio boast a combined age of 103, but manager Alex Ferguson is reluctant to show any of them the door.

Indeed, no sooner had the ink dried on Neville’s latest deal than the United manager was talking up the prospect of all three winning new contracts in the future. “If they keep their performance levels up then they will be here for another year, there’s no doubt about that,” said Ferguson.

Meanwhile, Corinthians have ruled out the possibility of signing Carlos Tevez from United. Corinthians football manager Mario Gobbi said: “He (Tevez) would like to play for Corinthians . . . Of course we would love to have him, but there is nothing in it at all.”

Kerley resigns as Limerick manager

LIMERICK’S ALREADY difficult preparations for the new League of Ireland season received a major blow yesterday when it emerged the club’s manager, Mike Kerley, had decided to resign just two weeks before the start of the campaign, reports Emmet Malone.

Kerley, who put together capable, locally-based squads on modest budgets during his spells in charge of the club, had been struggling to sign players for this year – it was reported locally that just two are in place – and it is believed his inability to secure what he regarded as a reasonable budget for the season ahead prompted him to walk away on Thursday night.

Former Bohemians midfielder Stephen O’Donnell is expected to sign for Cork City today. Dundalk looked set last night to sign former Cork midfielder George O’Callaghan.