Rooney plans to go into management after his playing days

LONDON: Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney revealed on Friday that he is planning to go into management when he calls time on his playing career.

Rooney, 25, may only be approaching his prime as a player but the England international has already turned his thoughts to life after he hangs up his boots and he fancies his chances of succeeding as a manager.

Many of United boss Alex Ferguson’s former stars have gone on to be successful managers, with the likes of Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes and Roy Keane all in charge of Premier League teams at various times since leaving Old Trafford.

In a MUTV interview, Rooney confirmed he has started to take his coaching badges and even insisted he would be happy to start his managerial career in the lower leagues.

“I would like to be a manager. That would be my ambition when I finish playing,” Rooney said.

“You see the players who have played for Sir Alex and gone on to be good managers. I am hoping to do that one day.

“But I wouldn’t like to follow the manager here, or start at an Everton or Manchester United.

“I want to learn something about the lower leagues and build a reputation that way rather than just jumping into a big club.

“It is not right if someone goes in and gets a big job with no experience. There are managers who have worked for years trying to get that.”

Of course, United are hoping Rooney remains an invaluable member of Ferguson’s squad for some time to come given he only recently signed a lucrative five-and-a-half-year contract extension.

Rooney, who also admitted he likes to relax before matches by listening to former Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle, concedes he was out of order to demand assurances about United’s continued progress from Ferguson and chief executive David Gill before agreeing to stay at Old Trafford.

“I went to see the manager and David Gill and asked them for answers,” he said.

“Now I realise it has nothing to do with me but I wanted to make sure it was the right thing for me to do.

“I got the answers in the end but looking back it was probably wrong of me to do that.”

Rooney did not commit himself to United until after a visit from a hooded gang of around 30 to his plush mansion in Prestbury.

It was an alarming evening for Rooney, who could not even venture out to tell his “visitors” that agreement had already been reached.

“I looked out and saw 30 blokes with their hoods up. I wasn’t going to invite them in for tea,” he said.

“I understood some of the fans were disappointed and felt let down. But it was just one of those things I had to get right.

“Thankfully I have sorted it out now. I have made the right decision and made myself happy.”

  

Davis wants Old Firm derby tribute to mark disaster

GLASGOW: Rangers midfielder Steven Davis believes victory over Celtic today would be the perfect way to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox Disaster.

The Scottish champions will remember the 66 people who lost their lives at an Old Firm derby in January 1971, following crushes on the terraces, when their bitter rivals visit Ibrox today.

The club have a number of tributes planned on the day, including a minute’s silence ahead of kick-off, and a memorial service will take place at Ibrox tomorrow.

Davis is well aware that the New Year’s derby will be even more emotionally-charged than usual but has no fears about the players’ ability to cope with the occasion.

“I don’t think we need to be shielded. We are totally aware of the situation and the disaster that occurred,” Davis said.

“It will mean a lot to so many people, especially the families who were affected by it. We are definitely aware of that.

“I think the best we can do as players is go out there and perform on the pitch and get the right result.

“Hopefully that will bring a little bit of comfort to the people involved in the disaster.”

Rangers’ midweek game at St Johnstone fell victim to the weather, allowing Celtic to move one point clear at the top with a win over Motherwell, providing them with a psychological boost ahead of today’s clash.

Davis is desperate for a win to allow Rangers to reclaim top spot again but does not necessarily believe victory will have a massive bearing on the title race at this stage.

“We’ve got a couple of games in hand now and we would rather have the points on the board,” he said. “But we will hopefully go into the game with confidence and will try to get another good result.

“It would definitely be a boost for us to win but we won’t look too far ahead.

“There are still so many games to be played and there are going to be so many fixtures in a short space of time for us, with the size of squad that we have.

“You obviously look to win the Old Firm games and take a boost from it but that’s all it would be at this stage of the season.”

  

Ljungberg aims to be a magnificent Seven at Celtic

GLASGOW: Freddie Ljungberg has promised to do justice to Celtic’s iconic number seven shirt after completing his move to the Scottish Premier League club.

Former Arsenal midfielder Ljungberg has joined Celtic until the end of the season after leaving Chicago Fire at the end of his Major League Soccer contract.

The 33-year-old, who could make his debut in today’s Old Firm derby against Rangers, has been handed the number seven shirt previously worn by Celtic legends Henrik Larsson, Kenny Dalglish and Jimmy Johnstone and is keen to live up to their reputations.

“When I was at Arsenal I had Ian Wright’s number and he was a legend there. I’ll try to do the same here with the number seven shirt - to wear it with pride and do my best,” Ljungberg said on Friday.

Ljungberg admitted he was delighted to return to European football following his American adventure.

“In America the league is much better than it gets credit for but Celtic are a massive club and what I missed the most in America was the passion for the sport,” he said.

“If you’re looking for passion then it’s here. There is great support.

“The fans and the passion are very good here and it’s a great team. Celtic is a very big club with great management staff too.”

Hoops boss Neil Lennon will assess Ljungberg’s fitness before deciding whether to play him against Glasgow rivals Rangers.

“It’s a tough question because he hasn’t played much football since October but obviously he’s still in great condition and he’s come through the medical, which is quite stringent here, with no problems at all. He is in contention,” Lennon said.

Celtic are one point clear of second placed Rangers at the top of the table, but Walter Smith’s reigning champions have two games in hand, making today’s game a crucial clash for the Hoops.

  

Kidd: Balotelli will be a hit if he adapts

LONDON: Manchester City assistant manager Brian Kidd insists homesick Italian striker Mario Balotelli will be a big hit in the Premier League once he adapts to his new surroundings.

Balotelli has been linked with a move back to Italy despite having only arrived at City in pre-season following a £24mil (US$37mil) transfer from Inter Milan.

The 20-year-old occasionally cuts a miserable figure during matches, rarely celebrates his goals and has frequently returned home whenever he gets time off.

However, he has still managed to score eight times in 11 appearances for the English club, as well as being named the best young player in Europe recently.

Balotelli underlined his potential by hitting a hat-trick in Tuesday’s win against Aston Villa and City boss Roberto Mancini, who also managed him at Inter, wants to keep him.

Kidd feels Balotelli deserves some sympathy because of the difficulties of adapting to life in a new country at such a young age, rather than abuse because of his perceived bad attitude.

“There has to be an empathy towards players. When they do feel this homesickness you don’t brow-beat them all the time,” Kidd said.

“The players have been very good with Mario too. There is an understanding there. Everyone tends to look at the materialistic side of things but it is never easy.

“Mario is working hard in training and all the lads were genuinely pleased for him when he got his hat-trick.”

  

Chelsea must win at Aston Villa to get back into contention

LONDON: Carlo Ancelotti admits Chelsea must beat Aston Villa today before the champions can start to believe they have ended the miserable run that threatens to destroy their title challenge.

Ancelotti’s grip on his job appeared to be weakening with every passing game during a woeful run that saw last season’s double winners slip to fifth place.

A stuttering win over Bolton on Wednesday, Chelsea’s first in seven league games, was hardly emphatic enough to herald the dawn of a new era, but it did bring Ancelotti and his players some much-needed respite and gave them the psychological lift of moving back into the top four.

The post-match talk at Stamford Bridge turned once again to the title but Ancelotti knows full well his side will once again be written off if they fail to beat a Villa side currently on an alarming slide towards the wrong end of the table.

The visit of Villa, then managed by Martin O’Neill, to west London last March marked one of the defining moments in Chelsea’s first ever league and FA Cup double winning campaign as Ancelotti’s side cruised to a 7-1 victory.

For several months following that game, the Blues appeared unbeatable on home turf and John Carew’s consolation goal in that mauling remained the last time Ancelotti’s team conceded at home until Nedum Onuoha struck Sunderland’s first in a 3-0 defeat on Nov 14.

So far, the champions do not appear to have recovered from the shock of that defeat and their air of invincibility has certainly disappeared.

“It was a hard period – that’s normal,” Ancelotti said. “It was a very difficult period. We have to keep going now. We have to maintain good focus on our training and on our games.”

Whether Villa can exploit Chelsea’s weaknesses is another matter altogether, however.

Gerard Houllier’s team will certainly take heart from the likely appearance of young centre-back Jeffrey Bruma in the Blues league starting line-up for the first time.

Bruma, 19, is expected to come in for the suspended Branislav Ivanovic, who serves a one-match ban after collecting his fifth booking of the season against Bolton, while centre-back Alex is out for another month.

Reports from Portugal claim Benfica have dismissed a bid from Chelsea for centre-back David Luiz, with Bolton’s Gary Cahill also mooted as a possible target.

Ancelotti, though, is keeping his plans for the transfer window close to his chest.

“We didn’t speak about this but we have one month,” he said. “(If) we need to have some players, I said a lot of times that we are able to do it.”

Villa’s decline over the past 12 months has been alarming, with the club starting the year with hopes of a Champions League place, and ending it with their lowest points tally after 19 Premier League games since 1995.

  

Last-gasp Cole winner eases pressure on Liverpool manager

LONDON: Manchester United and Manchester City both won yesterday to stay tied on points at the top of the Premier League.

Wayne Rooney scored his first goal from open play since March to help United to a 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion, and Adam Johnson gave City a 1-0 win over Blackpool.

The Manchester teams each have 41 points, although United has played two games fewer than its rival’s 21. Arsenal can stay just two points back if it beats Birmingham in the day’s late match.

Tottenham moved back into fourth place after Gareth Bale’s 11th goal of the season earned a 1-0 win over Fulham, but Chelsea is likely to move back into the final Champions League spot when it hosts ailing Aston Villa today.

Joe Cole scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool in the last minute for a 2-1 win over Bolton that should lift some of the pressure on manager Roy Hodgson, while West Ham finally made it out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton.

Rooney opened the scoring for United in the third minute when he headed in Patrice Evra’s cross, but James Morrison equalised 11 minutes later with a long-range shot.

West Brom then thought it should have had a first-half penalty when referee Chris Foy turned down appeals for a foul by Gary Neville on Graham Dorrans. But striker Peter Odemwingie wasted the penalty Foy did award, putting a weak kick wide in the 63rd after United defender Rio Ferdinand fouled Jerome Thomas.

“Gary was lucky to stay on,” Ferguson said. “It was a penalty. At first I thought he had got a touch but when I saw it again, he was lucky.”

Hernandez came on as a 61st-minute substitute for leading scorer Dimitar Berbatov and headed in unmarked from a corner to clinch an 11th win from 19 games.

“You’ve got to win games. I don’t care how we win. The three points is all that counts,” Ferdinand said.

The only unbeaten side in the 20-team league, United is chasing a 19th English title to beat the record it shares with Liverpool.

The only downside for United was an ankle injury for Rooney that Ferguson said will keep the England striker out of action for two weeks.

Liverpool is back in ninth place but things could have been much worse for the five-time European champions, who lost 1-0 to Wolves on Tuesday.

Kevin Davies put Bolton ahead two minutes before halftime before Fernando Torres, who has been far below the form that brought him 72 goals in the past three seasons, equalized with just his sixth goal of the campaign in the 49th.

Former England midfielder Cole, who joined after he was released by Chelsea at the end of last season, then tapped in from close range with seconds left.

City could have further improved its goal difference as it tries to keep pace with United, but Carlos Tevez hit a 37th-minute penalty wide. Still, Johnson had scored just three minutes earlier with a deflected shot from the edge of the area.

Tottenham owed its third straight win to Bale’s quick reflexes.

The winger headed Rafael van der Vaart’s 42nd-minute free kick, which the Netherlands international had apparently intended as a shot, from a crowd of players past stranded goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

Spurs, who finished in the top four last season for the first time in 20 years, have 36 points. Chelsea can move up to 37 if it wins today, when Wigan plays Newcastle.

Elsewhere yesterday, Darren Bent’s eighth Premier League goal of the season helped Sunderland to a 3-0 win over Blackburn and Stoke beat Everton 2-0.

West Ham’s 2-0 win over Wolves pushed its opponents into last place. Wolves defender Ronald Zubar scored a 51st-minute own goal and Freddie Sears completed the scoring in the 79th to take the Hammers from 20th to 15th place.

It’s the first time West Ham manager Avram Grant has been out of the relegation zone since November 2009. Grant spent much of last season in the bottom three with Portsmouth, which reached the FA Cup final but was relegated.

  

Safee is hot stuff

PETALING JAYA: National striker Mohd Safee Sali is now a wanted man.

Three Indonesian clubs are interested in hiring Mohd Safee to play for them in this month’s Indonesian Super League (ISL).

“Three clubs called me personally and they are all keen to sign Mohd Safee,” said Datuk Hamidin Mohd Ali, the FA of Selangor (FAS) secretary, yesterday.

Mohd Safee is a much-soughted after player after his exploits with the national team in the just-concluded Suzuki Cup Asean Football Federation (AFF) Championships.

Malaysia emerged as champions, thanks to Mohd Safee’s goals. He was on target five times, including scoring thrice in the two-leg final against Indonesia. Malaysia won 4-2 on aggregate.

Although Hamidin refused to reveal the names of the clubs, it is learnt that among the clubs keen on Mohd Safee are Persib Bandung and Pelita Jaya.

“Nothing has been finalised yet because Mohd Safee has a contract with the FAS until December 2011.

“The clubs are even willing to buy out his contract. We have no problem with that but we want to ensure Mohd Safee gets the best deal. It is his future and we want the best for him and his playing career.

“Besides that, a top club from Vietnam is also interested in Mohd Safee. He will talk to us before making his decision,” added Hamidin.

Persib Bandung, who finished fourth in the ISL last season, have a number of Indonesian national players – Uruguay-born striker Christian Gonzales, Mahman Abdurachman, Eka Ramdani and goalkeeper Markus Harison – in their team.

For the record, Persib were also one of Indonesian clubs who managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League.

Pelita Jaya also have a good track record but did not do well last year.

The club finished 15th in the ISL. In the mid 1990s, they recruited several World Cup players like Mario Kempes, Roger Milla, Jules Onana and Maboang Kessack.

Besides Mohd Safee, two other Malaysian players – Norsharul Idlan Talaha and Mohd Amirul­hadi Zainal – have also attracted the attention of the Indonesian clubs.

Meanwhile, Mohd Safee left with the Selangor team for Perth yesterday.

The team, under coach K. Devan, are scheduled to play three friendly matches against Bayswater FC (Jan 3), Perth Glory (Jan 5) and Stirling Lions (Jan 7) as part of their pre-season training. The Red Giants will return home on Jan 9. Selangor will play Kelantan in the Charity Shield, the M-League season’s opener, on Jan 29.