Soccer Shorts

A round-up of other soccer news in brief

Birmingham ready to take their place at the top table

JAMES McFADDEN believes all the frustrations of this season will disappear if Birmingham claim promotion to the English Premier League today.

The midlands outfit will join neighbours Wolves in the top flight next season if they beat Preston in at St Andrew's (kick-off: 5.20, Sky Sports 1), although other permutations could also do the job.

Birmingham have been criticised for their style of play at times, failing to show the same attacking intent as their promotion rivals.

But should Birmingham manager Alex McLeish guide his side to 83 points come this evening, then the remit he was handed in his first full season in charge at St Andrew's will have been achieved.

And for McFadden – who has been one of the players hit hardest by injury, racking up just 20 starts in 44 games – it would be the perfect ending. "All will be forgotten if we get the right result. This is the one we've been waiting for, at the end of the day it's a game of football and we need to make sure we win it."

Wembley grass to be pulled up

THE CONTROVERSIAL Wembley pitch is to be dug up immediately.

Arsene Wenger branded the surface ‘a disaster’ after Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Saturday, while Alex Ferguson called it ‘dead’ in the aftermath of Manchester United’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Everton 24 hours later.

In the wake of such criticism, stadium officials decided to launch a thorough review of the pitch and have concluded the rye grass surface should be replaced with immediate effect.

The new pitch will be a different composition to the current one, which it is hoped will be better suited to the stadium design.

Although the FA confirmed there would be a new ‘sand-soil’ pitch installed, it was not anticipated the work would be done until after next month’s FA Cup final. Instead, the new one will be down before the FA Trophy clash between Stevenage and York on May 9th.

Robson rolls back the years

FORMER ENGLAND manager Bobby Robson is reuniting his 1990 World Cup squad with their German counterparts to raise money for his cancer charity.

Robson (75) is hoping for a sell-out crowd for the match at St James' Park on July 26th. England reached the semi-finals in Turin in 1990 before losing to West Germany on penalties.

This game, competing for The Bobby Robson Trophy, will give Robson and his team the chance to redress the balance. In addition to reuniting the 1990 England and Germany players, Robson also plans to call on some other special guests to add to his team.

Robson, who also managed Ipswich, PSV Eindhoven, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Barcelona and Newcastle, said: "I'm thrilled at the prospect of reuniting my 1990 England squad in support of my charity."

Inter cancel Adriano contract

INTER MILAN cancelled the contract of striker Adriano yesterday after the Brazilian said he was taking a break from the game.

“Inter announce that the contract with Adriano has been terminated by mutual consent, with effect from April 1st, 2009,” a club statement said.

“The documents were registered at the Italian Football League’s offices this morning. Inter thank Adriano for his 74 goals and the eight years spent together.” The move was widely expected with the 27-year-old’s contract due to run out at the end of next season.

Adriano, who has long been troubled by alcohol and personal problems, decided not to return to Italy at the start of the month following Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers.

He said he had lost the pleasure of playing and did not want to return to Italy.

Taylor remark sparks furore

GORDON TAYLOR, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, has admitted telling a football fan to "go to Zimbabwe" after being questioned about the fairness of the voting for this season's player of the year award.

Taylor was responding to an email from a Manchester City supporter who felt that Ryan Giggs did not deserve to be among the six candidates.

The executive became involved in an exchange of emails and became exasperated when it was pointed out that Giggs had started only 12 league games.

"I can only tell you the situation as it is," Taylor wrote to the fan.

"If you are not happy and consider yourself such an expert on ballots perhaps you had better go to Zimbabwe or Russia the next time they have elections and tell everyone how they should vote!"

Taylor, however, was unrepentant when it was put to him that his remarks, published on the Bluemoon fans' website, had gone down badly.