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• Adam Johnson's rollercoaster ride into the arms of Gus Poyet – and England?
• Hodgson eyes Sunderland winger Johnson for recall
• West Ham consider legal action over Carroll red card
• Real Madrid 3-0 Atlético Madrid
• Preston 0-2 Nottm Forest
• Leeds in chaos after bid withdrawn
• Monk to take hard-line approach
• Brighton record £14.7m loss as reality of chasing Premier League hits home
• Hillsborough police chiefs to raise fans' drinking at inquest
• Brazil uses surveillance and undercover agents to foil World Cup protests
• Beckham may tempt stars to Miami
• Sunderland manager Gus Poyet debates timing of Steven Fletcher surgery
• Fulham's chief must decide whether to stick or twist with René Meulensteen | David Hytner
• Former Manchester United midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba joins St Mirren
• Cristiano Ronaldo handed three-match ban after red card for Real Madrid
• The Fiver | A booze-free NekNomination
• Lewandowski: 'Szczesny asked me to join Arsenal'
• David Beckham confirms MLS team for Miami
• Garry Monk takes charge of first training session at Swansea
• Life after Laudrup: six contenders for the Swansea City manager's job
• Sign up to O Fiverão, the World Cup Fiver
• Leeds United ownership caper exposes Football League's nonsensical rules | Marina Hyde
• Luis Suárez skill and industry can push Liverpool higher than fourth place | Paul Wilson
• Hugo Rodallega takes being substituted by Fulham to extremes
• Were Swansea right to sack Laudrup and who should replace him? – poll

Adam Johnson's rollercoaster ride into the arms of Gus Poyet – and England? Posted: 05 Feb 2014 02:16 PM PST It has been an up-and-down journey for the Sunderland winger but Poyet's faith in him has meant Roy Hodgson will be dropping by this weekend with a return to the England squad in mind Two months ago Adam Johnson acknowledged that he had "totally given up on" the idea of travelling to Brazil this summer as part of England's World Cup squad. It seemed far from a case of false modesty. After all, only one month ago the winger found himself struggling to secure a regular starting place in Sunderland's first team as he strove to persuade Gus Poyet he could be trusted. If seven goals in the last seven games helped win his club's manager over, the quality of his performances in the past four weeks have also jogged Roy Hodgson's memory. "I'd given up on the World Cup but now I'm not so sure," said Johnson in the wake of Sunderland's 3-0 win at Newcastle last Saturday. A clear beneficiary of Poyet's possession-based passing philosophy, he looks supremely comfortable on the right hand side of the midfield quartet in the Uruguayan's hallmark 4-1-4-1 formation. It helps his cause that, under Poyet, Sunderland no longer sit deep and hope to undo opponents on the counterattack – their key tactic under Martin O'Neill, the manager who brought Johnson back to his native Wearside from Manchester City for £10m in the summer of 2012. "Gus Poyet likes his team playing higher up the pitch and he likes to get attacking players on the ball," said the 26-year-old. "That system suits wingers better. A lot of the time in the past I had to run 70 yards with the ball just to get into a dangerous position. Now I'm much fresher." Very much the crowd's whipping boy under O'Neill and then, after a brief renaissance, Paolo Di Canio, Johnson was also arguably a scapegoat. "Too often in the past Adam was given the ball and expected to do everything all on his own," said Poyet. "Jonno needs to play for a team that passes the ball and gives it to him at the right time when he has space to break forward into. He can't just go into any system and just play. We need to understand when we should use Adam and in which areas of the field. "There are plenty of things my team have had to learn and understand in order to take advantage of his ability. Slowly we are getting there. In the last month Johnno has been on another level – and that was the level we were missing." Poyet had worked with Johnson during his days as Dennis Wise's assistant at Leeds where the winger was on loan from Middlesbrough. Such shared history possibly made it easier for the pair to be candid when Sunderland's manager pulled his then £10m underachiever aside for a watershed chat in December. The theme was responsibility, shared responsibility. "We talked," said Poyet. "I explained part of the responsibility for his performances was with Adam and a part of it was the way we played as a team." With both men sticking to their side of the bargain – not to mention Sunderland's squad increasingly grasping and buying into Poyet's purist mantra – a side that had seemed doomed to relegation have reached the Capital One Cup final and harbour strong premier League survival hopes. This revival has featured some wonderful cameos from their primarily left-footed right sider. Against Newcastle there were fine crosses and subtle changes of pace. There was the extremely clever flicked pass between two defenders that prefaced the opening penalty, the predatory turn and finish required to score the second goal and a thrilling dribble beyond three markers before Johnson curled a shot against a post. It recalled the promise of his youth at Middlesbrough where many suspected Johnson's more traditional repertoire of tricks would ultimately see his career eclipse that of his fellow leftie Stewart Downing. Yet with the older, more experienced, stylistically more modern Downing keeping him out of the first team for long periods, Johnson's Teesside induction often proved frustratingly slow. Toughened up by loan stints at Leeds and Watford he eventually established himself in Boro's first XI following Downing's departure to Aston Villa but the step up from the Championship to City following a £7m move four years ago proved tough. The identity crisis that left Johnson unsure whether he was a fluid, flexible winger or a more amorphous, between-the-lines creator, hardly helped. Neither did the endless hours on the bench, or a lively social life. Johnson's fondness for a night out partly precipitated Roberto Mancini's loss of faith in him. Yet the apparent lack of fitness that characterised his first season at Sunderland may have been as much about starting too few games down the years as a reportedly less than uber-professional lifestyle. Meeting Di Canio provoked an epiphany. For all his man-managerial faults, O'Neill's successor turned Johnson into an infinitely fitter, appreciably more disciplined player who lost an impressive amount of body fat after stepping out of what he termed "my comfort zone". His body sorted, Poyet is busy attending to Johnson's brain. Come June, Hodgson could be a big beneficiary. Sunderland England Gus Poyet Louise Taylor theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hodgson eyes Sunderland winger Johnson for recall Posted: 05 Feb 2014 02:16 PM PST • Roy Hodgson set to watch Sunderland winger at weekend • 26-year-old could play against Denmark in March Roy Hodgson is giving serious consideration to reintroducing Adam Johnson into his England squad and potentially holding a World Cup place for him in the absence of the injured Theo Walcott. Hodgson has provisional plans to make a rare trip to Sunderland on Saturday to watch Gus Poyet's team take on Hull City, specifically with a view to making a check on Johnson. The England manager has been encouraged by Johnson's run of seven goals in his last seven games and has pencilled in this weekend because it would also give him the chance to assess Tom Huddlestone's form. Huddlestone is regarded as a potential back-up if any of Hodgson's central midfielders are injured before the World Cup. Yet it is Johnson who is uppermost in Hodgson's thoughts, with the 26-year-old in line for a recall when England play Denmark in a friendly at Wembley on 5 March, their last match before their provisional squad is announced for this summer's tournament in Brazil. Johnson was not even guaranteed a place in the Sunderland team a month ago and has often struggled since joining the club from Manchester City in August 2012. The last of his 12 England caps was nine days before that £10m transfer, in a friendly against Italy in Bern, and he has not been involved in any capacity since he was an unused substitute in the World Cup qualifier against Poland two months later. His sudden burst of form has been instrumental in Sunderland's best spell of the season and his scoring in the 3-0 defeat of Newcastle at the weekend has left Hodgson wondering whether the former Middlesbrough player can finally start performing at that level consistently. Hodgson's need is exacerbated by the knee injury that has ruled Walcott out of the tournament. Danny Welbeck would ordinarily be expected to start on the left side of attack whereas James Milner is a favourite of Hodgson's on the right. The choice, however, is limited. Andros Townsend's dramatic introduction to the England team has been followed by a spell out of the team at Tottenham. Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez have impressed for Southampton, though the latter had a disappointing debut for England in the November defeat to Chile. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's return from injury is better news but Ashley Young has largely been out of favour at Manchester United. England's management consider Aaron Lennon too erratic while Welbeck and Milner are used only sparingly by their own clubs. Johnson made his international debut under Fabio Capello in the 2010 World Cup warm-up match against Mexico but he did not make the final cut and, since then, he has started only four games for England. At City, he was often criticised by Roberto Mancini for not being focused enough, but his recent improvement is timed well from an England perspective and the Denmark game could conceivably give him the chance to win Hodgson's trust, 16 months since the player's last call-up. World Cup 2014 World Cup Roy Hodgson Sunderland Daniel Taylor theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

West Ham consider legal action over Carroll red card Posted: 05 Feb 2014 02:14 PM PST • FA happy with process after independent commission's verdict • Carroll to miss games against Villa, Norwich and Southampton The Football Association is comfortable the correct process was followed as an independent regulatory commission threw out Andy Carroll's appeal against a violent conduct ban this week amid the threat that the striker's club, West Ham United, may take legal action against the governing body. The Premier League side, who hover just below the relegation cut-off, sought advice from the QC Lord David Pannick on Tuesday after Carroll's three-match suspension for flinging an arm at Swansea's Chico Flores was confirmed. The club had been confident the sending-off would be overturned after submitting evidence to the commission. Yet the panel determined that those testimonies did not expose the referee's decision to be erroneous and, as it stands, the England striker will miss Saturday's game against Aston Villa and following matches against Norwich City and Southampton. So incensed are West Ham at the decision that their hierarchy are understood to have written to the FA detailing their frustrations at the procedure, and demanding Carroll be granted a formal hearing to scrutinise the dismissal ahead of the weekend. The possibility of taking the matter to the high court has even been mooted, despite all Premier League clubs having agreed on the process to be applied in these cases prior to the start of the season. The FA declined to comment on Wednesday night as to whether it had received a letter but is confident the correct protocol has been followed, with the commission having decided no "obvious error" having been committed by the referee, Howard Webb, in showing Carroll the red card during Saturday's game with Swansea. That would comply with the governing body's own rule book, as agreed upon by the clubs. The regulatory commission had not taken into account Flores's dramatic reaction to his brush with Carroll, the Spaniard falling to the turf clutching his face when the striker had actually made contact with the top of his head. That has prompted criticism from Swansea fans and, in particular, West Ham supporters with Flores taking to Twitter on Wednesday night to publish a short video of the incident – as he had on Saturday night – and then criticise the London club's style of play. "I'm a bit tired of the strong insults from the West Ham fans," Flores wrote "Whoever doesn't see the aggression in that action is blind. They [West Ham] should be more preoccupied with the ugly way their team play football always making very long passes and never quick short passing. "They should be worried about that before caring about such evident things. Ok West Ham 2-0 Swansea... Swansea 24 points, West Ham 22 points. Hahaha. Smart!! Good luck." West Ham United Andy Carroll Swansea City theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Real Madrid 3-0 Atlético Madrid Posted: 05 Feb 2014 02:08 PM PST Real Madrid brought high-flying city rivals Atlético back down to earth with a bump when two own goals either side of a Jesé strike helped them to a 3-0 victory in a feisty Copa del Rey semi-final first leg on Wednesday. Atlético, who beat Real 2-1 in last season's final, climbed to the top of La Liga at the weekend but their first defeat in all competitions since October means they face a stiff task in Tuesday's second leg at the Calderón. After a cautious opening from both sides, Atlético playmaker Arda Turan had the first genuine chance when he tested Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas with a header in the 13th minute. Real were ahead four minutes later when centre-back Pepe galloped forward and his speculative shot hit Emiliano Insua, wrong-footed Atlético keeper Thibaut Courtois and ricocheted into the net. Atlético defender Diego Godín headed over the bar when well placed early in the second half but Real doubled their lead just before the hour when a superb Angel Di Maria pass released Jesé and he poked the ball past Courtois. Luka Modric cleared another Godín header off the line in the 72nd minute and Real landed a stunning blow a minute later with another deflected effort. Di Maria let fly from distance and the ball struck Atlético defender Miranda before spinning past the helpless Courtois. Last year's final, which was held at the Bernabéu, was marred by red cards and brawling and the bad blood between the bitter rivals was still in evidence in a match littered with cynical fouls and gamesmanship. Copa del Rey Real Madrid Atlético Madrid European club football theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Preston 0-2 Nottm Forest Posted: 05 Feb 2014 01:43 PM PST FA Cup: Goals from Jamie Mackie and Darius Henderson ensured Forest progress to the fifth round

Leeds in chaos after bid withdrawn Posted: 05 Feb 2014 01:15 PM PST • Andrew Flowers ends talks with club's owners GFH • Massimo Cellino in pole position to buy club Andrew Flowers, a key member of a consortium hoping to take control of Leeds United, has withdrawn his bid to purchase the club and criticised the current owners Gulf Finance House (GFH) for apparently favouring the Italian Massimo Cellino, who moves one step closer to securing a takeover deal for the Championship side. Flowers, the managing director of Leeds' shirt sponsor Enterprise Insurance and a member of the Sport Capital consortium that saw its takeover bid rejected last month, was locked in talks with GFH in London on Wednesday but has bowed out of the race to buy United. The decision paves the way for Cellino to take control of Leeds, the Cagliari owner having already agreed a deal in principle for a 75% stake in the club for a reported £25m, subject to approval by the Football League. Mike Farnan, the former managing director of Manchester United International, who had been in talks with Flowers in an attempt to join forces and pip Cellino to the post, intends to continue negotiations with GFH, but the Italian appears the frontrunner to complete a deal despite protests from supporters outside Elland Road last week. Flowers said in a statement: "I entered discussions in good faith to buy this club for the simple reason that I am a lifelong supporter and sincerely believed that I could make a real contribution towards the goal of promotion to the Premier League and at the same time provide the stability and sound financial governance the club desperately needs. "However, the emergence of Mr Cellino's bid, and the nature of the transaction, seems to have crystallised the attitudes of both GFH and the Leeds United board, enabling them to dispose of the club with no consideration for its ultimate security and wellbeing." Flowers believes that the sale is "not in the interests of Leeds United, its players, staff or loyal supporters". He added: "Both myself and my company, Enterprise Insurance, have been enormous financial supporters of the club for the last few years and ... we remain firmly convinced this deal will not give the club the stability or investor commitment it badly needs." GFH declined to comment. Flowers and Enterprise issued a winding-up petition against Leeds on 29 January over an alleged unpaid debt relating to a loan made to the club in 2012, with a hearing set in the high court for 17 March. GFH is vigorously contesting the petition, which it says has "no valid grounds". Cellino, meanwhile, flew back to his home in Miami at the weekend following a turbulent few days in Leeds, which saw the sacking of manager Brian McDermott on Friday evening, apparently at the behest of the Italian, and his reinstatement on Saturday. Cellino, who has a conviction for fraud in Italy which is considered "spent" in the British legal system, is expected to pass the Football League's ownership test should Farnan's takeover efforts fail. Flowers added: "I have no other comment to make at this time about outstanding financial and legal issues between us and the current owners." Leeds United James Riach theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Monk to take hard-line approach Posted: 05 Feb 2014 12:45 PM PST • New head coach advocates strong work ethic with a smile • He has to guide club to safety after Michael Laudrup's exit It was a Sunday evening in August and a long day of intense learning was coming to an end as Garry Monk, one of the 24 candidates on the Uefa A licence course run by the Football Association of Wales, pulled up a chair to talk about the merits of coaching qualifications and the career he hoped to carve out in the game once his playing days were over. Monk looked back over the best part of a decade spent at Swansea City, thinking about all the knowledge and experience he had accumulated. There were the days of playing 4-4-2 under Kenny Jackett in the lower leagues, the repetitive but enjoyable passing drills that helped Roberto Martínez implement a philosophy that would become part of Swansea's culture and, last but by no means least, Brendan Rodgers's brilliant man-management and the harmony that created in the dressing room. It was an education Monk felt compelled to put to good use by enrolling for the A licence in June, alongside the likes of Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell, as part of a long-standing ambition to get involved in coaching. "I've seen the British way of playing, the foreign influence and a more technical way of playing, the way players have adapted and how it's grown – and I just think, with that sort of experience, it's nice to try and give something back or implement it, hopefully at Swansea if I can do it in that capacity, or if it means going further afield, so be it. I just feel it would be a waste if I never did anything," Monk said at the time. What Monk could never have imagined was that six months later he would be walking on to the pitch at Swansea's new training complex at Fairwood to set up his first session since taking over as the club's head coach. That was the situation Monk found himself in on Wednesday morning, after Huw Jenkins, the Swansea chairman, put the 34-year-old club captain in charge for "the foreseeable future" in the wake of Michael Laudrup's sacking on Tuesday night. Monk, who has been coaching the club's academy players as part of his A licence, is Swansea through and through. The former Southampton trainee is highly regarded within the club as a person and a player – he has captained Swansea in all four divisions – and he will have the supporters right behind him. Yet it still feels like a huge gamble on Jenkins's part to give a man who has never managed before the responsibility of pulling the club clear of relegation trouble, especially when his first game in charge is a south Wales derby at home against Cardiff City on Saturday night. One of the big questions surrounds how easily Monk will be able to adapt to managing players that were previously his team-mates and with whom he was engaged in dressing room banter up until Tuesday afternoon. There is also the issue of how to handle Chico Flores, after Monk had a bust up with the defender on the training ground last month, as well as the potential difficulties of galvanising a squad in which there have been cliques. It is inevitable that some players, in particular a number of the Spaniards, will feel a natural allegiance towards Laudrup. With all of that in mind it was no surprise that Monk stressed the importance of unity on his first day in charge. "We are all in this together – and I will make sure we stick together. That is what Swansea City has been all about for as long as I can remember," said Monk, who will work closely with Alan Curtis, the first-team coach under Laudrup. One of the overriding themes that came through in that conversation with Monk in August was that he will always endeavour to be honest when dealing with players – something that he gives Rodgers great credit for during the Liverpool manager's two years in charge at Swansea before he left in the summer of 2012. "Brendan has had the biggest effect on me personally," Monk said. "He treated all the boys with respect and he was genuine with you. I can't remember a time when he wasn't honest with me. His man-management is phenomenal. I think if you're honest with players, that extra one or two per cent you get from them can win you games. If Brendan had bad news to break to you, you wouldn't come out and sulk; you'd respect him. I can't hardly ever remember a player who wasn't playing sulking under him." Another thing Monk feels strongly about is training and the importance of working players hard – with a purpose – but seeing smiles on their faces at the same time. The picture that has emerged from Laudrup's 18 months in charge suggests that was rarely the case. There was a feeling that the regime was too relaxed, training lacked intensity and that there was not enough tactical input in the lead up to matches. Monk, in contrast, put down a marker on the training field from day one – a double session to start. "The bottom line is, whatever level you're working at, the players have to come in and enjoy what they're doing. But in your mind you have to be getting the right thing out of each session – and that's a fine balance," Monk said in August. "I've been in sessions where I've been thinking: 'This guy hasn't got a clue.' I've been in others where I've thought: 'Wow, that was good, I look forward to coming in the next day.'" Just how long Monk will remain in charge is unclear. Jenkins is a forward-thinking man, which means that the chairman is constantly scanning the managerial landscape. Gus Poyet is highly rated, although the chances of prising him from Sunderland seem remote. Other possible contenders for the job include Graeme Jones, Martínez's assistant at Everton, Óscar García, the Brighton manager, and Dennis Bergkamp. It would be intriguing, though, to see what happens if Monk turns Swansea's season around and they finish the campaign in style. Swansea City Michael Laudrup Premier League Stuart James theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Brighton record £14.7m loss as reality of chasing Premier League hits home Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:45 AM PST • Deficit increases £6m from the previous season • Losses must be reduced to £8m by December The cost of chasing a place in the Premier League has been exposed yet again after Brighton and Hove Albion posted a loss of £14.7m for last season, an increase of over £6m on the previous year's deficit, despite boasting the highest average attendance in the Championship. Brighton, then under the management of Gus Poyet, finished fourth in the second tier and were eliminated in the play-offs by Crystal Palace. The south coast club, currently ninth and seven points from the top six, are admired as one of the best run in the division and are making a concerted effort to fulfil the Football League's new financial fair play regulations, based on new Uefa rules. In that context, they must reduce their losses to £8m by December this year or technically face penalties. "This set of results shows the reality of football in the Championship in recent years and demonstrates the very high cost of being competitive – with no guarantee of promotion to the Premier League," said the Albion chief executive, Paul Barber. "We had the highest average crowd in the Football League last season and we continued to grow revenues we can control. But in order to compete at the top end of the Championship, we had to once again rely on another considerable investment from our chairman, Tony Bloom." The increase in wages and transfer fees, together with a fall in television revenue, saw the deficit increase from £8.6m the previous year. Football costs rose from £14.8m to £20.9m, though those figures should be eased next season. The club sold three players – Liam Bridcutt (to Sunderland for £2.5m), Ashley Barnes and Adam El-Abd – in January but felt confident enough that they will cut the deficit sufficiently to turn down interest in Will Buckley and Tomasz Kuszczak. "We simply cannot sit back and rely on Tony's continued generosity alone," added Barber. "The new rules do not allow this. It is still new territory for all clubs and there has been much talk at both Premier League and Championship level about what other clubs are doing and whether they will comply. We remain absolutely committed to a long-term strategy for the club which ensures our future financial sustainability so, whilst it may not be a perfect system, we continue to agree with the principle of FFP." Brighton & Hove Albion Championship Business Dominic Fifield theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hillsborough police chiefs to raise fans' drinking at inquest Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:25 AM PST Officers in charge intend to argue that drunkenness contributed to disaster, pre-inquest hearing learns The senior South Yorkshire police officers who were in charge at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough football ground when 96 people died there in 1989 intend to argue at a new inquest that "drunkenness" among Liverpool supporters "contributed significantly to the disaster". John Beggs QC, representing the former chief superintendent David Duckenfield, the officer in command at Hillsborough, and the ex-superintendents Roger Marshall and Roger Greenwood, told a pre-inquest hearing that they intended to advance that argument. Some victims' family members at the hearing gasped and cried "disgrace". Andrew Nuttall, barrister for the former South Yorkshire deputy chief constable Peter Hayes and the assistant chief constable Stuart Anderson, said he too intended to argue that supporters' drinking contributed to the deaths. "We feel [alcohol] is relevant and we will be pursuing that course during the inquest," he said. Christina Lambert QC, counsel to the new inquest, said earlier that alcohol levels in the victims' blood, which were measured after their deaths on the order of the first coroner and found not to be significant, were "not relevant to the disaster or cause of death". She called on lawyers at the inquest to state whether they intended to suggest that drinking was a contributory cause. Paul Greaney QC, for rank and file officers in the Police Federation, stated in response: "We do not anticipate saying that blood alcohol levels of the deceased played any part in the disaster." However, he argued that witnesses' evidence of Liverpool fans' drinking generally should be heard at the inquest. The Yorkshire ambulance service supported that position. Police claims that the disaster was caused partly by Liverpool supporters drinking too much before the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest have always been deeply resented by the victims' families and survivors. Lord Justice Taylor's official report in August 1989 dismissed drinking as a significant factor and criticised the police for making the allegations, judging that police mismanagement of the 54,000 spectators, and safety deficiencies at the ground, were the principal causes of the fatal crush. Taylor's conclusion was emphatically supported by the government-appointed Hillsborough independent panel's report in September 2012. The president of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Trevor Hicks, whose two teenage daughters died in the crush, said after the pre-inquest hearing: "This is desperation by these police officers. The stories about drinking have been disproved more than once and backfired on them. This shows they have nothing to say." The coroner, Lord Justice Goldring, overruled Beggs' request that when the jury tours Hillsborough they should not visit the police control box, from which matches are commanded. Beggs argued that such a visit would mislead the jury because the control box, which closely overlooks the Leppings Lane end, had greatly changed since 1989. The new inquest into how the 96 people died is due to start in Warrington on 31 March. The previous inquest, and its accidental death verdict in 1991, was quashed in December 2012 after the families' long campaign against its evidence and the coroner's rulings. Hillsborough disaster Liverpool Police David Conn theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Brazil uses surveillance and undercover agents to foil World Cup protests Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:01 AM PST Officials fear anti-government protests that have dwindled to hardcore of 'Black Blocs' could flare up again before tournament Brazilian security forces are using undercover agents, intercepting emails, and rigorously monitoring social media to try to ensure that violent anti-government protesters do not ruin the World Cup this year, officials say. Demonstrations in recent months have been much smaller than a string of protests last year when Brazil hosted a dress rehearsal tournament for the World Cup, shaking President Dilma Rousseff's government and contributing to an economic slowdown. But they have still resulted in vandalism of banks and paralysed parts of major cities as a hardcore of perhaps a few thousand protesters nationwide, some of whom wear masks and call themselves "Black Blocs", clash with police. Rousseff's government fears the protests, the most recent of which carried the slogan: "There will be no World Cup," could severely disrupt the tournament, which kicks off on 12 June in São Paulo and ends with the final on 13 July in Rio de Janeiro. Widespread images of shattered storefronts, frightened tourists and injured police and protesters – all of which have occurred already – could tarnish an event that will attract an estimated 600,000 foreign visitors and is meant to display Brazil's emergence as a global power. Protests are being planned in all 12 cities that will host matches. The recent fragility of Brazil's economy, plus a presidential election in October in which Rousseff will run for a second four-year term, have raised the stakes even further. The media office at Brazil's SESGE, a division of the justice ministry charged with World Cup security, referred questions about government surveillance initiatives to the defence ministry, which declined to comment. But officials speaking on condition of anonymity described widespread and growing surveillance of Black Bloc members, the extent of which has not been previously reported. In addition to monitoring the group's communications on Facebook and other social media, intelligence agents have infiltrated the movement and passed along information to police before and during recent demonstrations, two officials said. Authorities have also used advanced technology to locate the computers of violent protesters and gain access to their communications, with the intent of identifying leaders and monitoring their activities, one official said. The officials emphasised that such efforts were not being directed towards the Brazilian public at large, but at members of violent groups. They declined to specify which agencies or police forces were conducting the surveillance, or provide more details about how the information was being used. The tactics reflect the Rousseff administration's belief that, unlike last year's mostly peaceful, political protests involving the middle class, the Black Blocs are a criminal problem and should be treated as such. "Last year everybody thought this was the 1960s. But now it's just Seattle," one senior official said, referring to protests that turned violent at the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organisation. The surveillance risks prompting a backlash in a country with bad memories of a 1964-85 military dictatorship that spied extensively on suspected leftists including Rousseff herself, who was then a member of a Marxist guerrilla group. Fernando Grella Vieira, who oversees state police in São Paulo, declined to comment on intelligence procedures but said security forces "completely respect the right of people to protest in peace". "We are acting to ensure the safety of the people against those who seek violence," Grella said. A protest in São Paulo on 25 January offered a vivid example of the kind of disorder that could potentially spoil the World Cup. Following a peaceful demonstration of about 1,500 people, a few dozen protesters split away to cut off major downtown avenues, started fires and try to overturn a police car. When police pursued a group of protesters into a hotel lobby, panic ensued among guests, some of whom were ordered to sit on the floor as officers tried to identify the protesters and arrest them, according to local media. Other guests, terrified, sought refuge in their rooms. The protesters, and those who have studied them, say such incidents have been aggravated by the government's response – which they say fundamentally misses what the movement is about. Black Blocs are an international phenomenon, having first appeared in Europe in the 1980s during protests against nuclear power and other issues. Some academics have compared them to early 20th-century anarchists, noting their key role in anti-globalisation protests such as the 1999 event in Seattle. In some cases, the groups have been leaderless and have no organisation, united only by their tactics and the way they dress – typically in all black. In others, some co-ordination does take place. In São Paulo, the Black Blocs have taken on a local flavour. Adherents are mostly males between the ages of 15 and 23, and are members of the new lower middle class that blossomed when Brazil's economy boomed in the last decade, said Rafael Alcadipani, a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation business school, who has researched the group and interviewed its members. That demographic has made big strides in consumption, able to afford washing machines, flat-screen TVs and other goods for the first time. But many also have poor healthcare facilities, bad public schools and long commutes as the government has not been able to match their rising income – and expectations – with better services. The Black Blocs "believe that the Brazilian political system is broken and that it doesn't represent them", Alcadipani said. A Black Bloc member who gave her name as Ana said many members believed vandalism was the only way to attract media attention to their political views. "It's an extremely diverse group but the one thing that unites us is the belief that we can't silently accept what politicians are doing to us," she said. Black Blocs in October severely beat a police colonel, breaking his collarbone and stealing his handgun. Protesters say the São Paulo police have also used brutal tactics, pointing to the shooting of a suspected protester on 25 January. Police say they acted in self-defence. The government's biggest fear is that the size and violence of the protests will explode again as the World Cup kicks off. Whether that will happen is anybody's guess, as it depends on factors ranging from the economy to the performance of the Brazil team, which has the most World Cup trophy wins with five. Many believe that, if the hosts are ousted early, Brazilians will be less engaged in games and more likely to take to the streets. The Black Blocs' tactics have frightened many in the middle class, a major reason why demonstrations have shrunk, failing to attract more than a few thousand people since last July. However, if police go too far in their repression, it could have the opposite effect. A heavy-handed response to small demonstrations last June enraged many Brazilians, and was a major reason why protests mushroomed in numbers at the time. That tricky balance helps explain why authorities are eager to embrace intelligence and other new tactics. Grella, the São Paulo police chief, said police had studied how other countries such as France handled Black Blocs. Coming weeks will see the debut of a new "Capture Brigade" of uniformed police without firearms, which will be charged with detaining violent protesters, he said. Police efforts to detain protesters and register their names, and in some cases press charges, have also had an effect. The 200 or so Black Blocs who have been identified by police in São Paulo mostly stayed away from the 25 January protest because of fears they would be prosecuted, said Esther Solano, another academic who has studied the group. Nevertheless, new members have appeared to take their place – a foreboding sign for later this year. "As long as the government doesn't address the main issues, people are going to keep protesting," said Alcadipani, the professor. "Nothing has changed since last June." Brazil World Cup 2014 Protest Americas World Cup theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Beckham may tempt stars to Miami Posted: 05 Feb 2014 10:49 AM PST The Former England captain confirms deal for new Miami MLS franchise and says top players are keen to join his team Richard Luscombe

Sunderland manager Gus Poyet debates timing of Steven Fletcher surgery Posted: 05 Feb 2014 10:25 AM PST • Specialist confirms achilles tendon injury requires operation • Sunderland in relegation fight and Capital One Cup final Steven Fletcher will miss the remainder of Sunderland's fight against relegation as well as the Capital One Cup final unless he delays surgery on an injured achilles tendon. The Scotland striker has been troubled by the problem for some time and saw a specialist this week. The upshot seems to be that he requires an operation, with its potential timing presenting Gus Poyet with a dilemma. Sunderland's manager must decide whether to get it over with immediately, thereby ensuring that his key striker will be fit for next season, or whether to manage the problem by resting Fletcher between games and then using him mainly as a substitute. "I'm a bit worried about Steven," Poyet said. "The achilles injury is affecting him more than I thought. We're analysing it with the medical staff but we're going to have to make a difficult decision. We'll look at the games coming up and the chance of rest in between, then we'll have to make a strong decision." Although Fletcher has scored only three goals this season, the striker, signed for £12m from Wolves by Martin O'Neill in the summer of 2012, has recently been held back by assorted injuries. Last spring he was sidelined for several months after ankle surgery and then, shortly after returning to the first team in the autumn, he damaged a shoulder. With his fellow Sunderland striker Jozy Altidore hardly prolific, Fabio Borini deployed largely in a wide role and Ignacio Scocco only newly arrived from South America, Poyet could certainly do with Fletcher in the first team squad. Whether or not an operation is imminent, the fragility of the 26-year-old's achilles almost certainly means that Connor Wickham, Sunderland's England Under-21 striker, will not be returning to Sheffield Wednesday – or going anywhere else in the Championship – on loan. "You can't imagine how many admirers Connor has got, but at the moment we need Connor," said Poyet, who hopes his side – currently 14th in the table but only two points above the relegation zone – will further distance themselves from the bottom three by beating a Hull side managed by one of his predecessors, Steve Bruce, at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. Sunderland Gus Poyet Louise Taylor theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Fulham's chief must decide whether to stick or twist with René Meulensteen | David Hytner Posted: 05 Feb 2014 09:56 AM PST Fulham's overworked chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh, faces tough decisions over the Dutch manager after their FA Cup exit, with Alan Curbishley and Ray Wilkins waiting in the wings The question for Alistair Mackintosh, Fulham's overworked chief executive, involves whether to roll the dice again; whether to recommend what would be a remarkable re-run of the recent past. Last November, Mackintosh oversaw the recruitment of René Meulensteen as the club's assistant manager or, perhaps, the manager-in-waiting if results continued to be poor. There was, of course, plenty of protesting about the conspiratorial notion. Meulensteen, according to everybody at Fulham, was there only to assist the manager, Martin Jol, who himself had pushed for the appointment of his friend and fellow Dutchman. Results continued to be poor and, on 1 December, the day after the 3-0 Premier League defeat at fellow strugglers, West Ham United, Jol was dismissed and replaced by Meulensteen. Over Christmas, Mackintosh, who effectively runs the club on behalf of the owner, Shahid Khan, oversaw another structural re-tweak. In came Alan Curbishley as the first-team technical director and he would be followed by Ray Wilkins as the assistant head coach. Meulensteen said he was "delighted" and in no way, according to everybody, was Curbishley, the former Charlton Athletic and West Ham manager, an insurance policy in the event of results continuing to be poor. "Not at all," Meulensteen said on Monday, in the wake of the demoralising 3-0 home defeat to Southampton, when he was asked whether Curbishley's presence was unnerving. "I brought Alan into this club as part of my squad, to give me the best possible backbone." But these are anxious times and Mackintosh has a decision to make. Meulensteen's team were abject on Tuesday night, in the 1-0 FA Cup replay defeat at home to Sheffield United. He did make changes to his normal XI, featuring a few of the young players that Khan has wanted to see integrated but there ought still to have been enough on the field to see off the second-bottom team in League One. Hugo Rodallega, the striker, was booed when he was substituted on 59 minutes and he looked to be on the verge of tears. He was not the only one. The Craven Cottage crowd appears to have lost faith in this team. It has been a fiendishly tough seven months or so for Mackintosh, which began with Mohamed Al Fayed's £150m sale of Fulham to Khan last July and has also taken in two transfer windows, with the stressful dealings with agents, and one managerial change. Fulham have only one other director – Sean O'Loughlin – plus the non-executive director, Mark Lamping, who is Khan's right-hand man. Mackintosh has an awful lot on his shoulders. He is highly regarded within the game; a calm and stable operator, who stuck with Jol until the bitter end, partly because of an awareness that, Meulensteen apart, there was the lack of readily available alternatives. That remains the case, as Meulensteen finds his methods and results under scrutiny but, once again, there is an in-house option. Curbishley, famously, led West Ham to Premier League survival in 2006-07, having taken over with the club in the relegation places. He began with a 1-0 home victory over Manchester United and, after a further slump, he won seven of the season's final nine games, culminating in the 1-0 triumph at Old Trafford that hauled them out of trouble. Fulham visit United on Sunday. It should be remembered that Curbishley has not managed since his dismissal from West Ham in September 2008, although he has involved himself in first-team training at Fulham. The players have been surprised to see Curbishley in a tracksuit and taking a part of certain sessions. When Meulensteen's assistants, John Hill and Mick Priest, are factored in, there are plenty of cooks. Meulensteen had never managed in the Premier League until his promotion at Fulham and his previous experience ran no deeper than an ill-starred 16-day reign at Anzhi Makhachkala last year. The 49-year-old has a reputation as an excellent coach, which he forged during his years under Sir Alex Ferguson at United. But there is clearly a leap from coaching technically brilliant players, and with Ferguson ensuring discipline, to having to find a way to win matches at the foot of the table. Meulensteen is not battle-hardened in the Premier League like, say, Tony Pulis is at Crystal Palace. Pulis is hard and uncompromising, and he knows how to get results, often scruffy 1-0s but the points all count the same. Since he was appointed at Selhurst Park before the trip to Hull City on 23 November, when the club sat bottom of the table with four points from 11 matches, he has taken 19 from 13 games to lift them to 17th place. Fulham have technically gifted players but do they have the mentality to grind out victories? The FA Cup exit was, in itself, not disastrous. Khan does not want to emulate last season's Wigan Athletic by enjoying cup glory and going down. But the performance against Sheffield United betrayed the fragility of the collective confidence levels. Fulham are bottom of the table for a reason and their defending, in particular, has been consistently bad. Meulensteen's record in the league reads: P11 W3 L8. In one sense, Meulensteen has been left to hold the baby. Under Jol, as Al Fayed's interest dwindled, there was little investment in the squad. Across five transfer windows, Jol's net spend on permanent signings was roughly £4m. The group came to lack balance. Khan reacted on the final day of the January window, funding the £12.5m signing of the striker Kostas Mitroglou. The defender Johnny Heitinga and the midfielder Lewis Holtby also arrived, together with the young midfielders Ryan Tunnicliffe and Larnell Cole from United, as they supplemented the earlier loans of Clint Dempsey and William Kvist. Dempsey, who will return to Seattle Sounders at the end of the month, has been a disappointment so far. The impression given was of an owner, fearful of relegation and the associated hit to his investment, moving to back his manager. It was a slightly belated statement of intent. "Hopefully, the new players coming in can help us fix it," Meulensteen said, after the Sheffield United defeat. Fulham's upcoming fixtures are daunting. After United, they face Liverpool while they have Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton before the end of next month. Meulensteen is on the edge. Fulham David Hytner theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Former Manchester United midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba joins St Mirren Posted: 05 Feb 2014 09:22 AM PST • 32-year-old signs for St Mirren until the end of the season • Cameroon international set for debut against Dundee United St Mirren have announced the signing of the former Manchester United midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba. The 32-year-old, who has been assigned No99, passed a medical on Wednesday afternoon and has agreed a deal with the Buddies until the end of the season. The Cameroon international joined United in 2003 but failed to live up to his potential and later moved to Aston Villa. He has since had spells at Qatar SC, the Danish side Odense and Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel before moving to Partizan Belgrade last summer. However, his stint in Serbia lasted just six months as he was released after making 14 appearances. He could make his St Mirren debut in Sunday's Scottish Cup match against Dundee United. St Mirren Manchester United theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Cristiano Ronaldo handed three-match ban after red card for Real Madrid Posted: 05 Feb 2014 09:05 AM PST • Ronaldo sent off for violent conduct against Bilbao • Two games were added to ban for dissent Cristiano Ronaldo has been given a three-match ban and fined after his red card in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao. The Portugal forward will miss Real Madrid's league games against Villarreal, Getafe and Elche but he will be available for the King's Cup semi-final, first leg at home to the holders Atlético Madrid on Wednesday and the return game next week. Ronaldo, who is celebrating his 29th birthday, was dismissed with 15 minutes left at the San Mamés after pushing the Bilbao defender Carlos Gurpegui in the face and confronting the midfielder Ander Iturraspe. He was banned for one match for the straight red card for violent conduct and had an extra two games added to his punishment for a gesture of dissent made while leaving the pitch. He was also fined €1,200 (£1,000) and Real, who have 10 days to appeal against the ruling, were fined €1,050. Ronaldo is Real's top scorer with 22 goals in La Liga this season and in January won the Ballon d'Or for the world's best player. Gareth Bale has not recovered sufficiently from a calf problem and is out of the Atlético game, Cadena Ser radio reported. The Wales winger was included in the squad for the game at the Bernabéu after missing Real's last two matches and the coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday he would be available. A Real spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the report. Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Athletic Bilbao La Liga European club football theguardian.com © 2014 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 Fiver | A booze-free NekNomination Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:10 AM PST Click here to have the Fiver sent to your inbox every weekday at 5pm, or if your usual copy has stopped arriving COMING SOON (OK, TOMORROW) … … O Fiverão, the World Cup Fiver, our all-new free weekly email delivered to your inbox every Thursday caipirinha-time, featuring the latest news, intrigue, analysis and blunders from the 32 competing nations. We're so convinced of its quality that we're even giving it away for free! AND NOW … OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION With his head of hair like a giant bow wave carving a path ahead of him, Michael Laudrup's was a continental elegance marked by an obsession with passing and moving. One victory in the last 10 Premier League games has, though, convinced Swansea City that a more effective form of tactic would be to pass him a P45 and usher him towards the door. His reputation preceded him at Swansea: his five La Liga winners' medals, his 104 international caps, his recognition as the best player in Spain in a 25-year period and the best in Denmark in 50. Pelé named him in his list of best-ever footb … actually scratch that one, but the point stands: he was pretty good. One player who worked under him when he coached in Spain said: "We even used to moan that he was still the best player in training." Swansea, clearly, have sensed the need for a new approach. And in Garry Monk, who they have promoted from player to caretaker manager, they certainly have one: a footballer whose most memorable achievement in training was to categorically not get threatened with a brick by Chico Flores. "I will give everything I have for Swansea City. I will promise the fans that," boomed Monk on having the blanket whipped from atop his head at his official unveiling alongside his new co-caretaker, former first-team coach Alan Curtis. "And I will ensure the players do exactly the same. We are all in this together – and I will make sure we stick together. That is what Swansea City has been all about for as long as I can remember," he continued to boom, suggesting his memory of recent squad harmony issues might not be up to much. It leads to an interesting state of affairs at Swansea. As is the new way following the elevation of Tactics Tim to the Spurs hot seat, the managerial-merry-go-round has gone local by promoting from within. Should the trend continue, and Swansea continue to fail, it's conceivable that every member of the playing staff could have a crack at managing the side – like a booze-free NekNomination in which each squad member is dared to, say, get a result against Napoli from whoever was last in the chair. Perhaps Jonjo Shelvey could have a go against Liverpool, or Jazz Richards could apply his freeform skills against Hull. Given his efforts towards building team spirit, the Fiver, for one, is very much looking forward to any Chico Time. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE TONIGHT Join Tom Bryant from 7.30pm GMT for minute-by-minute coverage of Preston 1-2 Nottingham Forest (aet). QUOTE OF THE DAY "We are happy to welcome Mr Beckman to Miami" – mayor Carlos Giménez at the official confirmation of David Beckham buying an MLS franchise in the city. FIVER LETTERS "They may always be the cheapest place in town (Fiver letters passim), but Wetherspoon's is also prone to shocking regional price gouging. Before QPR's 2-1 defeat at Doncaster last autumn, I treated myself to the Wetherspoon's all-day breakfast in the Doncaster town centre branch, which came in at a very good value £4.09. Imagine my surprise, on visiting Windsor the following day, to find that the same meal in the shadow of the castle will cost you £6.55. Outrageous. Though price wasn't the only reason I didn't choose to eat in Wetherspoon's for a second successive day" – Michael Hann, Music Ed, Big Paper. "I really enjoyed reading José Mourinho's quote about Chelsea's masseur helping to motivate the team to their win over Manchester City (yesterday's Quote of the Day). I do enjoy a story with a happy [Snip – Fiver Decency Ed]" – Tim Grey. • Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And if you've nothing better to do you can also tweet the Fiver. Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day is: Rollover. JOIN GUARDIAN SOULMATES We keep trying to point out the utter futility of advertising an online dating service "for interesting people" in the Fiver to the naive folk who run Guardian Soulmates, but they still aren't having any of it. So here you go – sign up here to view profiles of the kind of erudite, sociable and friendly romantics who would never dream of going out with you. BITS AND BOBS Enlightenment news: more than half of Premier League clubs – 11 of them – have signed up to the Football v Homophobia campaign, launched at Selhurst Park last weekend. The other way of putting it: almost half have not. Modesty's Adel Taarabt is looking onwards and upwards after switching Craven Cottage for the San Siro. "This is a big change for me. Tottenham, QPR and Fulham are good clubs but not as organised and as professional as Milan. I hope this is a starting point for me … the start of a long path." He has been banned for three games: one for His red card in Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, and two for His 'inconsiderate' gesture at a linesman. Barcelona's Xavi says the Premier League can do one. "I want to stay here forever. All the big English clubs know getting Xavi is impossible," he third-personed. "They know Xavi is a fan of Barcelona, he won't come," he third-personed again. Julian Draxler is on his way in the summer, reckons Schalke chairman Clemens Tonnies. "It would do him good to spend another year or two here," he bargained. "But if a club comes in for him, we cannot block him. That would be unfair." Leader of men René Meulensteen has taken the positives from their thrills-and-spills defeat to Sheffield United. "If you ask 'have we hit rock bottom?', we probably have," he cheered. "If you say that, then it cannot get any worse, it can only get better." Everton nipper Gerard Deulofeu is back from hamstring-twang to face Spurs on Sunday. "Gerard is such a positive young man," gushed Roberto Martínez. "The fact he has been missed so much at Everton is a reflection of the type of person he is." And here's some Barry Fry. STILL WANT MORE? Carlos Tevez, 30 today, should be at the peak of his Argentina career. He isn't, writes Jonathan Wilson. Marina Hyde says it's time football pulled its finger out when it comes to vetting fraudsters. Kolo Touré brain freezes aside, Liverpool have a real shot at the more than the top four, reckons Paul Wilson. Charlie Adam takes a rare place in Europe's best XIs, via the Sport Network. And Puma want to shovel Puma-sponsored Mario Balotelli to Puma-sponsored Arsenal. The Rumour Mill is distressed. Oh, and if it's your thing, you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. SIGN UP TO THE FIVER Want your very own copy of our free tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox? Has your regular copy stopped arriving? Click here to sign up. JUST 83 MINUTES OF MICHAEL LAUDRUP PASSES Tom Bryant theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Lewandowski: 'Szczesny asked me to join Arsenal' Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:07 AM PST • Poland striker reveals talks with Gunners goalkeeper • Forward will join Bayern Munich at end of season • Schalke hope to convince Julian Draxler to stay Robert Lewandowski has revealed how his Poland team-mate Wojciech Szczesny tried to talk him into snubbing a move to Bayern Munich to join Arsenal. The Borussia Dortmund striker, who will join Bayern at the end of the season having agreed a deal in January, had been a long-term target for Arsène Wenger but was always likely to stay in the Bundesliga. "I can confirm that Wojciech Szczesny tried to convince me to join Arsenal," Lewandowski told the Polish tabloid Fakt. "We had several talks about this. It was him who did most of the talking, how the club looks inside, what Arsène Wenger thinks of me. "When we trained before the Champions League games at Colney, there were important people from Arsenal at our sessions as well." Arsenal are still confident of being able to lure their prime target, Schalke's Julian Draxler, to the Emirates in the summer, although the German club will do their best to convince the midfielder to stay. "It would do Draxler good to spend another year or two with us," the Schalke chairman, Clemens Tonnies, said at the SpoBiS exhibition in Dusseldorf. "But we know we're not going to be able to keep a super-talented player like Julian at Schalke forever. If another club comes in for him, then we cannot block them. That would be unfair. I don't think he wants to join Bayern Munich, though." Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Bayern Munich Transfer window theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

David Beckham confirms MLS team for Miami Posted: 05 Feb 2014 07:42 AM PST Major League Soccer's 22nd franchise will be in Miami, says commissioner Don Garber Steve Busfield

Garry Monk takes charge of first training session at Swansea Posted: 05 Feb 2014 07:13 AM PST • Defender steps up after sacking of Michael Laudrup • Cardiff await in South Wales derby on Saturday Swansea began life after Michael Laudrup on Wednesday as Garry Monk took charge of his first training session. The long-serving defender, now installed as head coach, and the first-team coach Alan Curtis put the Swansea players through their paces ahead of Saturday's South Wales derby against Cardiff. Swansea sacked Laudrup on Tuesday night after he had overseen a solitary win from the last 10 league games. Swansea said Monk and Curtis had been put in charge "for the foreseeable future". That dismal run of results means the Swans stand just two points above the relegation zone, and Monk and Curtis have been entrusted with masterminding a revival. Despite Swansea winning the Capital One Cup during Laudrup's reign, his relationship with the club had reportedly been strained since a major disagreement over transfer policy last summer. Announcing Laudrup's exit, the Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said: "It is a decision we have taken reluctantly, but it's a decision made in the best interests of Swansea City Football Club and our supporters. "It is the first time in nearly 10 years that the club has parted with a manager in this way, but we had to remove the constant uncertainty surrounding the club and Michael's long-term future with us." Swansea laterannounced that three of Laudrup's backroom staff have also departed. "The club can confirm that assistant manager Morten Wieghorst, fitness coach Oscar Garcia and overseas scout Erik Larsen have all been relieved of their duties," Swansea said. "The club would like to thank them for their services." Laudrup handed the former Denmark, Celtic and Dundee midfielder Wieghorst the assistant manager's role a year ago. Wieghorst, 42, was Denmark Under-21s manager before moving to Wales. The Supporters' Trust, which has more than a 20% shareholding of the football club, backed the decision to part company with Laudrup and called on fans to get behind Monk and the players "in the tough battles ahead". The trust chairman Phil Sumbler said he had been aware of "growing concerns" among the Swansea City board regarding Premier League performances. In a statement, the Trust said: "During its tenure at the club, the current board, including a representative of the Supporters' Trust, has made key decisions which have taken the club forward, and ultimately we believe that this decision has been taken with the best interests of the club in mind." Sumbler added: "There has inevitably been a mixed reaction among fans to the announcement, with the club facing a critical period of key matches in three major competitions. "However, we know from our supporter director Huw Cooze that the board has not taken this decision lightly, particularly in such an important week for the club, and it's vital that we now all pull together to give the team our full support. "We all want to see an upturn in results, and what better place to start than at the Liberty Stadium against Cardiff City?" The Trust has also placed on record its thanks to Laudrup for his achievements during his time at the club. Swansea City Michael Laudrup theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Life after Laudrup: six contenders for the Swansea City manager's job Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:47 AM PST Is it time for Roberto Martínez's No2 to step out of the shadows? Or Glenn Hoddle or Dennis Bergkamp to return to the top flight? • Garry Monk takes first training Swansea training session Graeme Jones While Roberto Martínez receives acclaim for an underdog FA Cup victory and a stylish and adventurous brand of football, Graeme Jones's name has flown under the radar. The pair worked together at Swansea, Wigan and now Everton – Jones as the Spaniard's understudy – but now might be the time for him to spread his wings. He would return to the club where he joined as assistant manager in March 2007 with a wealth of experience of a playing style that would appeal to Swansea. The job could be his if he feels ready to try his hand at management. Odds 7-2 Glenn Hoddle It has been a long while since Glenn Hoddle has found himself in charge of a top-flight club but it has never stopped the rumours that he would love a return. The Englishman certainly holds an impressive curriculum vitae having managed Chelsea, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Swindon, Wolverhampton Wanderers and England. There is no doubting Hoddle's managerial credentials but he would represent a risk because of the amount of time out of the top flight. 8-1 Marcelo Bielsa The Argentinian, who has had spells in charge of both Chile and Argentina, is currently on the lookout for a job after leaving Athletic Bilbao in 2013 when his contract was not renewed following their 12th-place finish in La Liga. Bielsa gained cult status as La Roja's results steadily improved under his tenure with an emphasis on youth development and a higher attacking intensity away from home. But Bielsa has had his fair share of controversy, his opinions landing him in hot water many times both on and off the pitch. 14-1 Dennis Bergkamp The Dutchman, cherished at Arsenal as one of the club's greatest ever players, has been Frank de Boer's assistant at Ajax since 2011. That appointment was made after Bergkamp made steady progress up the managerial ladder having managed the Holland B team, the Ajax under-12s and also spent time as assistant manager of Ajax's under-19s. So surely a full-time managerial job is the next stop for a player fully aware of what it takes to cut it in England's top division. 20-1 Steve Agnew Agnew is currently Steve Bruce's assistant at Hull City and seen by many as one of the main reasons the Tigers are punching above their weight in the Premier League. He joined in the summer of 2012 and enjoyed a successful first season by securing promotion from the Championship. Angew is a former reserve team and caretaker coach at Middlesbrough, and is a versatile option for the Swans. 33-1 Óscar García If Swansea decide to plump for someone who will continue the club's possession-based philosophy, then the current Brighton manager would be a strong candidate. García was a graduate from Barcelona's La Masia youth system, and spent nearly 15 years with the club. He may not have fulfilled his potential which saw him score 12 goals from 24 games for Spain Under-21s, but he is showing early signs of promise in management. 25-1 Swansea City Michael Laudrup theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Sign up to O Fiverão, the World Cup Fiver Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:14 AM PST Sign up for our new free weekly email featuring the latest news, intrigue, analysis and blunders from the 32 competing nations The 2014 Fifa World Cup™ with Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Emirates, Sony, Visa, Budweiser, Castrol, Continental, Johnson + Johnson, McDonald's, Oi Seara, Yingli, Apex Brasil, Centauro, Garoto, Itau, Liberty Seguros, Wise Up and Football For Hope in Brazil is approaching rapidly – OK, it's approaching at the standard rate of one day at a time but our excitement is building like teens hooked on Minecraft. Yours too? Good, then what you need is O Fiverão, the World Cup Fiver, our all-new free weekly email delivered to your inbox every Thursday, featuring the latest news, intrigue, analysis and blunders from the 32 competing nations. We may even make reference to countries who haven't qualified, just to annoy Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Sign up now! In order to bring you a weekly blast of knowledge and fun we will tap into a worldwide network of football hacks that is the envy of even Joe Kinnear, comprising journalists in every participating country as well as the chancers who for years have been getting away with publishing the less exotic Fiver. Sign up now! If you want the lowdown on anything from Costa's Rica's central defensive pickle to Ghana and Nigeria's thrilling young talent or France's attempt to keep up their record of departing every tournament in either glory or abject ignominy, then O Fiverão is for you. And we're so convinced of its quality that we're even giving it away for free! Sign up now! If you are already signed up to The Fiver, you will automatically receive O Fiverão. Likewise, if you sign up to the O Fiverão, you will also receive The Fiver. And did we mention: sign up now! World Cup 2014 World Cup Paul Doyle theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Leeds United ownership caper exposes Football League's nonsensical rules | Marina Hyde Posted: 05 Feb 2014 05:50 AM PST Convicted fraudster Massimo Cellino's attempt to take control at Elland Road suggests that a more robust approach to vetting prospective club owners would be useful To Leeds United, then, and the aftermath of a weekend in which a man who does not yet own the Championship club appeared to sack its manager through a lawyer, only to claim he hadn't, and for the manager to wryly present himself for work on Monday morning. As convicted fraudster Massimo Cellino attempts to take control at Elland Road, reports into the latest edifying caper in English club ownership remind us that the Football League has retired its "fit and proper person" test, presumably on the basis that it had become so self-parodic that something had to change. That something, in the great traditions of English sporting administrative inertia, was the name. Still, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and the "fit and proper person" test has become the "owners and directors test". So it's now a second-generation nonsense – a reminder that what we have above all in this country is heritage. What we don't have, as both Premier and Football Leagues are always keen to point out, is any truck with "subjective judgments" about who should or shouldn't own a football club. As they have been at pains to remind bemused reporters in recent days, the leagues deal in objective facts. Or rather, they do if the owners feel like giving them any – although surprisingly, they sometimes don't. At one point a few years ago, the blazers were forced to concede that they didn't actually know who Notts County's owners were. They never found out, or at least not before the club was sold again – shortly after its director of football, a Mr Sven-Goran Eriksson, had been roped into a delegation to North Korea in which Pyongyang was encouraged to sell its gold mining rights. Funny old game, and all that. Anyhow, despite this and many other episodes suggesting that a marginally more robust approach would be useful, the Football League has resolutely stuck to its insistence on box-ticking self-assessment by prospective owners or directors, with the rationale behind this apparently being that any sort of judgment call on its behalf wouldn't stand up to a legal challenge. A hostile QC would demolish anything amounting to a reasonable opinion in seconds, seems to be the immovable opinion of the men nominally in charge, so all they can do is allow the satirically unsatisfactory state of affairs to continue. And yet, in the United States – a place that one might hesitate to describe as a stranger to aggressive litigation – the hoopla through which prospective owners are required to go is far more stringent. The NHL long ago tightened up its screening processes, after a businessman trying to buy the New York Islanders misled them wildly as to his net worth and ended up being indicted and convicted of fraud. Prospective owners in the league now have their affairs combed by accountants and are vetted by Ernst & Young – at considerable cost, but it's believed to be worth it. Prospective Major League Baseball owners must have their business plans scrutinised by a committee of current owners, and have their purchase approved by at least 75% of existing owners in the league – just as they must in the NFL and NBA. In the latter league, a lengthy process of due diligence is required. A would-be owner must submit to investigation by the league and a specialist security firm. Its speciality? Risk management. According to an informed New York Times report published when the first Russian oligarch attempted to buy his way in: "They will try to ascertain his net worth, debts, character, associates, personal history and integrity. The process is designed to rule out inappropriate buyers who lack financial clout or present public-relations risks to the league." Oh, and indictment for fraud is sufficient grounds for the league to step in and relieve an existing owner of their team. This sort of merciless attention to detail doesn't guarantee total freedom from unsavouries, obviously – we are talking about sports owners here. But – how to put this delicately? – it is unlikely to end up ratifying the sort of insolvent chancer who would insist members of his coaching staff accompany him on a mineral prospecting expedition to North Korea. In Blighty, alas, the football administrators' hands are tied – for reasons as unclear to fans as to many experts. This week, a specialist criminal lawyer told my colleague David Conn that she found it surprising that the leagues hadn't included a "catch-all" bar clause in their rules which they could simply trigger should they judge that a would-be owner would be more trouble than they were worth. "It is fairly standard for professional organisations to include a requirement that a person would not be accepted if he is likely to bring the organisation or industry into disrepute," she said. Fairly standard in places other than English football, it seems, where the persistence in cleaving to this notion of "objectivity" begins to look less and less like the exercise in scrupulous fairness it is always cast as, and more like the reflexive inertia and mismanagement that characterise almost all our sporting bodies. In fact, if the Football League needs an illustration of the continuing damage to its reputation, it should ponder how it possibly contrived to pull off the feat of leaving a convicted liar like Cellino with all the truest lines. "They asked about my criminal record – I should have asked about theirs," he snorted last week. "The English don't know how to run football." Leeds United Championship Football League Premier League NHL US sports Marina Hyde theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Luis Suárez skill and industry can push Liverpool higher than fourth place | Paul Wilson Posted: 05 Feb 2014 05:37 AM PST Brendan Rodgers played down talk of winning the Premier League title but, with Suárez, Liverpool remain a big threat If Chelsea are a little horse in a three-way race to the title, still learning how to jump and struggling to stay alongside the galloping thoroughbreds of Arsenal and Manchester City, then Liverpool must be something akin to a Shetland pony. Or possibly one of those wooden mounts on a fairground carousel, destined to go round and round and up and down without reaching anywhere new. It is never a good idea to completely swallow what José Mourinho is saying – few will believe his claim that Chelsea will only be good enough to win the title next season, for instance – yet the idea is already taking hold that the present top three will be the final top three and the rest of the season will merely establish the order. In fairness, not too many Liverpool supporters would have disputed that suggestion at around the time Kolo Touré was rolling a suicidal square ball along the edge of his own area at West Bromwich on Sunday afternoon, though it is not too difficult to think of a couple of reasons why the Merseyside team could still have a big say in this season's championship. The first is Brendan Rodgers' oft-repeated mantra that the top three sides have still to visit Anfield in the league, beginning with Arsenal this Saturday. Granted, that is not much use if the Reds are going to squander points away to West Brom and at home to Aston Villa, though the evidence from the Merseyside derby last week was that Rodgers can get his tactics right and his players motivated for the big games. Everton were poor in the derby, no question about that, but if Liverpool bring the same A game to their home encounters with Arsenal, City and Chelsea there is no reason why they should not take a share of the points. People are quite rightly raving over Chelsea's performance at the Etihad on Monday, though Liverpool are not only playing in a similar way, they were almost as impressive on the same ground on Boxing Day. City's 100% home record might not have lasted until February had Raheem Sterling and his team-mates had a little more luck with refereeing decisions at the end of last year. The other reason Liverpool cannot be easily overlooked is, quite simply, Luis Suárez. If it is true that the title is a three-horse race then the most accomplished and influential player in the Premier League will have to be an unusually quiet spectator in the next two or three months. Which seems on the whole unlikely. While Suárez has just added another supporters' award to his collection for January, one imagines the Uruguayan would not be totally thrilled to end the season with only the Player of the Year award on his mantelpiece. Not that Suárez would necessarily claim that gong should Liverpool miss out on the honours. Were Chelsea to win the league then Eden Hazard would be in with a good shout, or possibly even John Terry. Arsenal could supply two or three candidates should they remain on top, and if City manage to recover from the paralysis of Monday evening then Yaya Touré, Álvaro Negredo or whoever does most to make the goal machine fire up again would be worthy of consideration. Yet in terms of influence no player is as important to his club as Suárez. Whether this is because he is such an outstanding individual or Liverpool are something of a one-man team is an interesting if delicate subject for debate, but take his goals out of the equation and Liverpool would be back to looking up at Manchester United in the league table. Suárez may be behind Agüero in the goalscoring charts for all competitions – he was banned for the first few games this season and Liverpool are not playing in Europe – but his 23 league goals make him easily the EPL's top scorer. At this stage of the campaign he has played 19 league games, the same number as Mesut Özil at Arsenal and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United. For purposes of comparison, the respective goal tallies are 23, four (Özil) and nine (Rooney). Total number of shots? 87-19-51. Crosses? 34-34-76. Chances created: 54-55-42. Passes completed: 731-1,271-866. Duels won: 127-70-80. This column is not the world's biggest fan of bare statistics, which can be misleading and are more often than not boring, yet it is clear from the above that Suárez does much more for Liverpool than stick the ball in the net on a regular basis. He is never less than competitive in every area, and in some areas way ahead. Only Özil's pass total is vastly superior, for while Rooney's total of crosses looks impressive, 62 missed their target and Suárez actually has a slightly higher percentage of successful crosses. Hazard has put in more crosses (38), created more chances (62) and completed more passes (1,038) for Chelsea, but he has played in five more league games. He has scored only nine goals and had 33 shots. The stats (don't worry, there won't be any more) appear to back up the evidence of one's own eyes. Suárez is a busy player who attempts to be involved in everything, more often than not with a degree of success. Liverpool would have been lost without him for the last couple of seasons, though with Daniel Sturridge alongside and Rodgers favouring a quicker, counterattacking game that better suits the talent at his disposal, Suárez does not have to carry quite such a heavy burden and looks much happier for it. Can he swing the title Liverpool's way? Probably not, if you want to be sensible and logical about it. Considering the strength of the other squads in the contest Liverpool still look susceptible if injury deprives them of a key player. But you would not bet against Suárez making a bid for the headlines at the weekend, against the team that offered £40m plus £1 for his services in the summer. And the weekend after that, for that matter, when Liverpool visit the Emirates in the FA Cup. With Manchester United and Bayern Munich also looming, Arsenal are entering a critical phase of their season. So are Liverpool, who if they are going to turn non-involvement in Europe into an advantage, need to make sure they win their league fixtures against opponents possibly distracted by the Champions League. What that means in practice is that after Arsenal this Saturday, Liverpool must not let any more dozy points slip against Fulham, Swansea, Southampton and Sunderland in order to ensure they are in a position to nail down the coffin lid on Manchester United's Champions League hopes at Old Trafford in mid-March. If they can do that, Anfield should be quite a lively place again when Spurs, City, Chelsea and Newcastle come visiting in the final four home games of the season. While Rodgers was doubtless wise to damp down the title talk, that does not mean Liverpool should aim no higher than fourth place. They are still in the mix, still a threat to their rivals, and they boast an individual capable of posing a threat to absolutely anyone. Liverpool Brendan Rodgers Luis Suárez Paul Wilson theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Hugo Rodallega takes being substituted by Fulham to extremes Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:30 AM PST • Colombian striker appears to be close to tears • Maarten Stekelenburg attempts to console him A lot of players get upset when they are taken off but Hugo Rodallega took it to extremes after being replaced by Ashkan Dejagah in Fulham's FA Cup defeat by Sheffield United on Tuesday. The Colombian striker appeared to close to tears as he took his place on the bench after an hour of the fourth-round FA Cup replay and pulled a coat over his head to hide his embarrassment. Jeers from the crowd at Craven Cottage cannot have helped and although he was consoled by Maarten Stekelenburg, the rest of his team-mates just looked awkward. The 28-year-old has yet to make an impact for Fulham, having scored just three goals since arriving from Wigan on a free transfer in 2012. His substitution had little impact on the game, however, Fulham going down 1-0 in extra time. Fulham Sheffield United FA Cup theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Were Swansea right to sack Laudrup and who should replace him? – poll Posted: 05 Feb 2014 04:18 AM PST Michael Laudrup led Swansea to the first major trophy in their history and their highest league finish in a generation, but were the club right to sack him after their form dropped this season? Paul Campbell

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