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- Sherwood: 'I bleed colour of Spurs'
- Pets on planes to sex toys: the year's quirkiest business stories
- Former Palace owner Noades dies
- Wilshere: gesture at Man City was over insults about my kids
- Who is the world's best footballer in 2013? | Barney Ronay
- The world's best footballers in 2013: Lionel Messi retains his crown
- Swansea hit by Michu blow
- 50 best iPhone and iPad games of 2013
- Global development events and issues of 2013 – in pictures
- Switzerland to make Vladimir Petkovic successor to Ottmar Hitzfeld
- Arsenal like to cry, says Mourinho
| Sherwood: 'I bleed colour of Spurs' Posted: 24 Dec 2013 09:11 AM PST • Sherwood honoured and proud to be head coach Tim Sherwood says he is proud and honoured to be the new head coach of Tottenham. Spurs took the surprise decision to appoint Sherwood as Andre Villas-Boas's successor on Monday. The 44-year-old has no experience of first-team management but he was selected ahead of the likes of the Holland manager, Louis van Gaal. Sherwood played for Tottenham for four years and he has been part of the coaching set-up since 2008. He hopes his connection with the club will help him. Sherwood, speaking for the first time since he signed an 18-month contract, told Spurs TV: "It's an honour to be head coach of this top club. It's a club that means an awful lot to me and a proud moment. "If you cut me in half, I bleed the colour of the club. It means an awful lot to me. Blood is thicker than water, as they say. "I've known it from the grassroots right up to the first team, worked at every level of the football club and played here, so I know it better than most. "Hopefully that will stand me in good stead taking this club forward as head coach." Sherwood was handed the role of interim manager following the sacking of Villas-Boas last week. The former England and Blackburn midfielder started off with a defeat by West Ham in the Capital One Cup but four days later Tottenham beat Southampton 3-2. "We have good players here and if we apply ourselves well, get the players playing as they can and get the right players on the ball in the correct areas, then we can hurt any team we play against," said Sherwood, whose first game as full manager comes on Boxing Day against West Brom. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Pets on planes to sex toys: the year's quirkiest business stories Posted: 24 Dec 2013 06:02 AM PST Markets and Ryanair had their usual ups and downs, while Ann Summers, Apple and Asos were among the colourful reports, says Peter Kimpton  |
| Former Palace owner Noades dies Posted: 24 Dec 2013 05:55 AM PST • Palace reached top flight and Cup final with Noades as owner Crystal Palace have confirmed the death of their former owner Ron Noades. The 76-year-old lost his battle with lung cancer in the early hours of Tuesday morning. "The thoughts and deepest sympathies of everyone at Crystal Palace Football Club are with his wife Novello and their family at this very sad time," the club said in a statement. Noades took over at Selhurst Park in 1981 and left 17 years later. In the years inbetween Palace enjoyed one of their most successful periods, including promotion to the old First Division in 1989 and an FA Cup final appearance in 1990. In 1991 the club finished third in the top flight and won the Zenith Data Systems Cup. Noades stepped into the dugout as caretaker-manager in 1998 in an attempt to prevent Palace's relegation, before leaving the club in the summer and buying Brentford. He installed himself as the chairman and manager, winning promotion from the old Division Three at the first attempt. Noades resigned as manager in 2000 and sold the club in 2006. Brentford said on their official site: "The club's condolences go to his family and friends at this time." The former Palace and England goalkeeper Nigel Martyn tweeted: "Sad to hear my old Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades has passed away, lovely man who cared deeply for the club." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Wilshere: gesture at Man City was over insults about my kids Posted: 24 Dec 2013 04:08 AM PST • Arsenal midfielder explains his one-finger salute at City fans Jack Wilshere has revealed he stuck his middle finger up at a group of Manchester City fans because they abused him about his children. The Football Association handed Wilshere a two-match for the gesture, which came during the second half of Arsenal's 6-3 defeat at the Etihad Stadium. The England midfielder missed Monday's 0-0 draw against Chelsea and he will also sit out the Boxing Day match at West Ham. Wilshere, who has two children, admits he made a mistake in getting riled by the supporters who abused him, and he is braced for more barracking from the stands in the future. Wilshere tweeted: "Gutted not to be Involved last night! Shouldn't of reacted the way I did but I know all you dads out there love your kids the way I do.... "Suppose I will just have to take the abuse about my kids in future......anyway, one more game to go! Can't wait to be back! #AFC" Arsenal missed Wilshere on Monday evening. They looked flat and lacked a cutting edge against a well-drilled Chelsea team who sat back and showed little attacking intent. But Theo Walcott was happy to take a point, especially as the blustery conditions were extremely tough to play in. "When you want to win titles, these are the games you can't lose," the forward said. "Chelsea came with a negative attitude but they did a job. "We couldn't deal with the weather conditions; it was probably the craziest game I have ever been involved in. "Considering the conditions I'm surprised everyone stayed on the pitch. "It was the wind – I have never known anything like it. It was very difficult to judge everything. I could tell that both sets of players were struggling to get hold of the ball and slow the tempo down." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Who is the world's best footballer in 2013? | Barney Ronay Posted: 24 Dec 2013 03:05 AM PST Barcelona's Lionel Messi is the No1 again in the Guardian's list of the top 100 footballers, though it was not as clear-cut this year It's back. Forensically assembled, unashamedly to the point and drawn up by an international panel of experts including Alessandro Nesta, Hope Powell and Kasey Keller, the Guardian's list of the top 100 footballers of 2013 is now ready to emerge blinking into the light in its entirety. Today we have revealed the final top 10. It is, as always with this kind of reckoning-up, a deliciously more-ish prospect, not least in a sport that remains utterly committed to the notion of a hierarchy of talents, to distinguishing the good from the great. This is an apparently universal urge. In October Sir Alex Ferguson's description of Steven Gerrard as "not a top, top player" was the cue for excitable headlines, polemical analysis, an opening of tribal wounds and above all evidence that Ferguson, even in retreat, still knows how to jab his fingernails into the most tender of pressure points. And so here we are again – and with a familiar figure adorning the top of the tree. Lionel Messi has had a difficult end to the year, the sustained physical peak of his Guardiola years derailed by a recurrence of those historically twangy hamstrings. As quiet years go this still looks like an unusually boisterous affair, with 38 goals in 36 matches and a La Liga title to his name, plus no sign even in moments of physical discomfort of any diminishing in his preternatural powers. The gap has narrowed. In 2012 Messi was unanimously enthroned. This year six of 15 judges went elsewhere for their No1, including three votes for Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been operating at the peak of his powers all year. But such is the genius of Messi. Even in an off year he is still undeniably on. Beyond him the top 10 contains the usual heavyweights. The points of tension here are perhaps more a question of jockeying for position. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is an undeniably spectacular third best player in the world, with a talent that expresses itself in moments of high-grade explosion that are beyond any other footballer. But there are those who will say in Ligue 1 he resembles at times an Olympic swimmer in a bathtub. In addition there is the usual positional premium for the gadflies of attack and attacking midfield. Has Andrés Iniesta really been the world's seventh best footballer this year, palpably superior to Philipp Lahm (15), Bastian Schweinsteiger (20) and Arturo Vidal (26)? Iniesta has two assists in 21 matches this season, has scored three goals all year – half as many as John Terry – and was bullied to the periphery in the Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich. And yet there is also movement in here. Most notably Gareth Bale has come haring up on the outside, zipping in at No7, up 33 places. And why not too? Bale was irresistible in the second half of the Premier League season even while carrying the injury that stalled his start in Spain, since when he has been a thrillingly decisive presence on the right of midfield for Real Madrid. Other big climbers include Neymar, up seven to No6. He might have been in the top four after his incisive role in Brazil's Confederations Cup victory. All being well next year could belong to him. Luis Suárez was banned for biting this year but still snuffles up 12 places and into the top 10 despite playing only two matches in European club competition all year. There are, of course, casualties too, with Iker Casillas leading the field among those going the other way. Last year Casillas was No12. This time he did not register a single vote and drops out completely. Also among the retreating glitterati are Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso and poor old Willian, whose six months of repose in Dagestan see him drop from No26 to outside the top 100. In terms of nationality the Premier League remains best represented with 29 players, ahead of La Liga with 26, the Bundesliga with 18, Serie A with 17 and Ligue 1's six. Spain, though, has six of the top eight and the Premier League two of the top 10, a reflection perhaps of the stratification of talent in both leagues. Similarly the Bundesliga staged an in-house Champions League final but has only five players in the top 20 – contentious perhaps but also tribute to the brilliant team-building of both Bayern and Borussia Dortmund and to a sense that this was as much a triumph of collectivism and tactical coherence. In terms of nationalities there are few surprises. Spain have 16 players, Brazil 11 and Germany 10. England drop to joint ninth with two – yes, two – players in the top 100. It is a salutary paring away, with Ashley Cole, John Terry and Joe Hart dropping out and Wayne Rooney (28) chaperoned by Frank Lampard, a new entry aged 34 at No88 (although not the oldest debutant: Francesco Totti, 37, is the highest new entry at No31). No doubt Lampard's presence will be cast as parochialism by some but this is to belittle a year in which he scored 19 goals and lifted the Europa League trophy. If the veil of judging secrecy can be lifted to illustrate a point: Lampard's greatest advocate here was Nesta, who never played in the Premier League but does have a World Cup winner's medal, two Champions Leagues and three Serie A titles to his name. It is to be hoped this list will bring as much fascination, acrimony and relentless circular argument as it did in its compilation and writing up. In questions of ultimacy and talent-ranking there are, of course, no certainties beyond the obvious fact that the debate is often just as interesting as the result itself. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| The world's best footballers in 2013: Lionel Messi retains his crown Posted: 24 Dec 2013 03:05 AM PST Lionel Messi has once again taken the top spot in the Guardian's ranking of the world's top 100 footballers, beating Cristiano Ronaldo for the second year in a row. See the full list and how it breaks down by nationality, club and league Lionel Messi has retained the top spot in this year's Guardian's choice of the world's top 100 footballers, which also sees Franck Ribéry, Gareth Bale and Luis Suárez make impressive leaps into the top ten. The second annual list by the Guardian enlisted the former Italy international Alessandro Nesta as the lead judge in a panel of 15 experts (up from 11 last year). The former England women's coach, Hope Powell, and retired USA goalkeeper, Kasey Keller, joined the selection of Guardian journalists on the panel. So how exactly did they go about ranking players for the top 100? Stephen McMillan explains:
The results, which have been unveiled in a countdown from December 20, are now published in full. You can see the top 100 listed in the table below with both this year's ranking and that of 2012. The spreadsheet also includes details of the points awarded to each player on the list. Ronaldo remains in second place while Zlatan Ibrahimovic has climbed two places to third. There have been some impressive leaps into the top ten; Ribéry up 24 places to fourth, Gareth Bale up 33 places to seventh and Suárez jumps from 21st place in 2012 to ninth in 2013. Bayern Munich and Barcelona are the top represented clubs on the list with 11 players each, while Real Madrid have nine players in the top 100 - one fewer than last year. Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund have eight and seven respectively. Manchester City, who had eight players in last year's list, now have six in the top 100. Only four British players make this year's selection; Gareth Bale in seventh, Wayne Rooney 28th, Aaron Ramsey 49th and Frank Lampard in 88th. As last year, Spanish, Brazilian and German players dominate the list. Despite so few British players making the list, the Premier League remains the best represented league in the top 100 with 29 players (up from 27 in 2012) and is followed by La Liga with 26. The Bundesliga is the third most represented league with 18 players in the list. At just 19, Paris Saint-Germain's Marquinhos is the youngest player to be featured on the list beating Stephan El Shaarawy who made the top 100 last year aged 20. The full breakdown by nationality, club, position and points scored can be found in the downloadable spreadsheet. We've also got numbers on the leagues that have been represented in the 2013 and 2012 list. What do you think of the top 100? Who would you have voted for given the chance? We'd love to read your comments below. Download the data• DATA: download the full spreadsheet More open dataData journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian Development and aid data• Search the world's global development data with our gateway Can you do more with this data?• Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2013 03:00 AM PST • Michu needs an operation on his right ankle Swansea have been dealt a blow after it was confirmed that their Spanish forward Michu is likely to be sidelined for six weeks when he undergoes ankle surgery. The 27-year-old, who has scored 28 goals for Swansea since joining from Rayo Vallecano in the summer of 2012, has been hindered by ankle and knee issues throughout this season. The Spain international's frustrations have been clear to see and Swansea's manager, Michael Laudrup, has said the player will need to undergo a procedure on his right ankle. "It's not good news," Laudrup said. "Unfortunately it has been confirmed that he will need an operation. It can be done in the next week and he should be back playing in around a month and a half." The loss of Michu further dents Swansea's attacking resources with the winger Nathan Dyer likely to be sidelined until February after suffering an ankle ligament injury in the recent draw at Norwich. Laudrup admits it is likely he will look to bring in a forward during the January transfer window. Laudrup said: "What has happened in the last couple of weeks has changed things. We will probably do something now in January and try to add something that we don't have in certain positions. "The numbers are a bit down and that is risky for the last four months of the season." Among the players Laudrup has been linked with is the Liverpool striker Iago Aspas, whom he pursued last summer, but the manager believes it may prove a difficult deal to pull off. "He is an interesting player, he was on our list in the summer," he said. "But he is at Liverpool and they have injuries too. "Daniel Sturridge is out at the moment, so apart from Luis Suárez they don't have many forwards right now so I don't think that will happen." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| 50 best iPhone and iPad games of 2013 Posted: 24 Dec 2013 02:20 AM PST From Clumsy Ninja to Grand Theft Auto, Year Walk to Star Wars, here are the year’s top games for iOS devices. By Stuart Dredge  |
| Global development events and issues of 2013 – in pictures Posted: 23 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST Qatar World Cup migrant workers, violence against women, Syria, China in Africa and typhoon Haiyan were among the headlines and themes in a dramatic year  |
| Switzerland to make Vladimir Petkovic successor to Ottmar Hitzfeld Posted: 23 Dec 2013 05:13 PM PST • Lazio coach to manage Swiss after World Cup finals The Lazio coach, Vladimir Petkovic, will become Switzerland's manager when Ottmar Hitzfeld retires from football after next year's World Cup finals, the Swiss FA (ASF) said on Monday. "The successor to Ottmar Hitzfeld as Swiss national team coach is Vladimir Petkovic. The present coach of Lazio … signed a contract on Monday with the Swiss Football Association," the ASF said on its website (www.football.ch). Sarajevo-born Petkovic's contract starts on 1 July 2014 and runs until the end of 2015 but it will be extended through Euro 2016 in France if Switzerland qualify for the tournament. Petkovic, who is 50, will take over a national team that has blossomed under the 64-year-old German Hitzfeld to the point where the Swiss are one of the seeds for the 2014 World Cup where they will play Ecuador, France and Honduras in Group E. "I'm fully aware that on the one hand I have a hard act to follow but on the other I'm taking on a really well-established team with good prospects," Petkovic said. "This is all the more important since we won't have the chance to play an international match [after I take over as coach] before the start of the Euro qualifiers." FIFA's August international date has been removed from the calendar from the 2014-15 season. The draw for the Euro qualifiers will be made in February. Petkovic, who calls himself Swiss and Croatian-Bosnian, according to the ASF, played as a midfielder in several teams in the former Yugoslavia before emigrating to Switzerland in 1987 where he played for Sion, Bellinzona and Locarno. He also worked at Bellinzona as manager before coaching Young Boys, the Turkish side Samsunspor and Sion. He joined Rome-based Lazio in Serie A last year and led them to an Italian Cup success in his first season in charge. Hitzfeld, a seasoned coach who has worked at Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund and steered both clubs to the Champions League crown, has, since taking charge in 2008, built a multi-ethnic Switzerland squad that should fit well with Petkovic. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Arsenal like to cry, says Mourinho Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:54 PM PST • 'I prefer English blood in football,' says Chelsea manager José Mourinho claimed Arsenal's players "like to cry" after the hosts reacted furiously at the non-award of a penalty and the referee Mike Dean's decision not to dismiss Mikel John Obi for a foul on Mikel Arteta, as a goalless draw left the Premier League's top five teams separated by only two points. Mikel had planted his boot into the inside of Arteta's right calf nine minutes before the interval, breaking his shin-pad in the process, with no card shown at the Nigerian for the offence. Within seconds Theo Walcott had tumbled over Willian's challenge and no penalty was awarded. "You know, they like to cry," Mourinho said. "That's tradition. But I prefer to say, and I was telling it to the fourth official, that English people – Frank Lampard, for example – would never provoke a situation like that. "Players from other countries, especially some countries, have that in their blood. So, if there is contact or an opponent is aggressive, they don't keep going. But this is English football. Foreign players are bringing lots of good things. They come here because they are talented. But I prefer English blood in football. English blood in this situation is: 'Come on, let's go.' Mikel's tackle is hard and aggressive but football is for men or for women with fantastic attitude. It's true." The Chelsea manager added: "There are other sports without contact, fantastic sports which demand a lot from the players, and I respect those sports full of big champions. But [there is] no contact. Football is a game of contact. English football, winter, water on the pitch, sliding tackles at fantastic speed … Be proud. Play with pride. If you are hurt, OK, you are hurt. If you have pain … well, I have pain every day and I work every day." Arsène Wenger, who has now failed to defeat Mourinho's teams in 10 matches in all competitions, disagreed over Mourinho's positive assessment of Dean's performance – "I don't think he had a great game at all," said the Frenchman – but was reluctant to respond to the Portuguese's comments about his players. Arteta was more forthcoming. "I haven't seen the challenge from Mikel John Obi again but my ankle is swollen big time," he said. "He broke my shin-pad and he was late. The referee had to make the decision and he decided it wasn't a red card. Theo Walcott is saying that it was also 100% a penalty, so we were unlucky tonight." Mourinho departed with the home crowd bellowing "boring, boring Chelsea" but, after recent defensive weakness, he gained encouragement from a clean sheet that kept the leaders only two points away. "Happy with the result? Not unhappy, I would say," he said. "We came to win, we wanted to win and it was very important not to lose because, if we did, we'd be five points behind the leader. Now we are two points behind both leaders, a completely different picture. So, I would say, we tried to win but we are not unhappy with a point." The draw leaves Arsenal, the early-season pace-setters, without a win in four matches in all competitions before Thursday's visit to West Ham United. "Look, it doesn't help," Wenger added. "But let's be serious: if I'd told you that we'd be [joint] top of the league at Christmas when we lost to Aston Villa, you'd have told me I was absolutely mad. We are where we are. The last few games have been difficult but we have played Everton, City and Chelsea. "I feel we were a bit edgy because we conceded six at Manchester City and that played in our heads at the start. In the second half we took control of the game and had two or three chances where we could have done better, but the games we played at Napoli and City had a little weight in our heads. It's been difficult but we'll come through it." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
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