Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Bellamy not for sale - Hammers


West Ham vice-chairman Ausgeir Fridgeirsson has warned Manchester City that striker Craig Bellamy is not for sale.

City boss Mark Hughes has been linked with a move for the Welshman, who he managed for Wales and Blackburn.

But Fridgeirsson told Undercover Sport: "Craig has been magnificent on our pre-season tour of Canada and is a key part of the team.

"His partnership with Dean Ashton should be lethal if they can both stay fit.

"And, contrary to some reports, we have not suddenly become a selling club. We want to reduce the size of the squad, because it's far too big, but we do not want to sell key players like Craig."

Joorabchian urges patience over Jo


Super-agent Kia Joorabchian has warned Manchester City that they are unlikely to see the best of new striker Jo until January.

City boss Mark Hughes paid a club record £18m for the Brazilian earlier this month.

But Joorabchian, who brokered the deal between City and CSKA Moscow, has warned City fans not to expect too much too soon.

"Jo has all the attributes you need to succeed in the Premiership - he's fast, strong and a superb finisher," Joorabchian told Undercover Sport.

"But he is going to the Olympics and won't get a full pre-season. That will mean he's not at his best until January.

"Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano found it difficult when they first went to West Ham and missed out on pre-season, but we saw the best of Tevez at the end of that season, when he was magnificent."

Wednesday, 23 July 2008

Inter turn to Muntari


Jose Mourinho has turned his attention to Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari after giving up hope of signing Frank Lampard.

Inter's new boss has accepted defeat in his attempts to land the Chelsea ace this summer.

But he is still desperate to add a goalscoring midfielder to his squad and believes Ghana midfielder Muntari is the best alternative.

Inter will offer Pompey £12m for Muntari - a sizable profit on the £7m they paid Udinese for him in May 2007.

And the 23-year-old will be offered a bumper four-year contract worth almost £2.5m a year.

Mourinho will then turn his attention back to Lampard when the England midfielder's contract expires at the end of the season.

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Thanou set for Olympics


Controversial Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou has decided she wants to compete at the Athens Olympics.

The 33-year-old ran Greece's B qualifying time for the 100m in Crete on Monday and has been named in the country's provisional Olympic squad.

Thanou had been uncertain about whether or not to go for the Games following a spate of niggling injuries and concern at the publicity her appearance would arouse.

But Undercover Sport has been told that Thanou is now almost certain to compete in Beijing, by her lawyer Gregory Ioannidis.

Because make no doubt about it, an appearance by Thanou in Beijing will provoke worldwide controversy.

She and compatriot Kostas Kenteris both missed drugs tests on the eve of the Athens Olympics four years ago.

It was the third time they had missed tests, resulting in a two-year suspension that expired at the end of 2006.

The pair still face criminal charges of perjury and falsifying evidence in Greece after claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash on the eve of the Games.

One person who might be grateful for a Beijing appearance by Thanou would be Dwain Chambers, as it would deflect some of the flak away from him...

Friday, 4 July 2008

RFU's media mastermind revealed


I'll start the day with a challenge:

Trawl the newspaper archives; scan rugby message boards and blogs; listen to radio and TV... and try to find some positive comments about the Rugby Football Union.

It's not an easy task. Perhaps I shou1d even offer a prize to anyone able to manage it.

Even the coverage that the Football Association - that other much-maligned English sporting body - gets is positive when compared to its rugby counterpart.

The man responsible for the public-relations strategy of the RFU is communications manager Richard Prescott, who has held the job since 1997.

I spoke to a few rugby hacks to find out more about Prescott and they weren't very complimentary.

He seems to be one of those "media managers" who sees his job as obstructing the press rather than building relationships with them.

Shock horror, this leads to disgruntled rugby correspondents who don't want to go out of their way to give good coverage of the RFU.

Contrast that with what Max Clifford, the doyenne of PR, told the BBC last year.

"It's important to be as helpful as possible - you have to know the pressure that journalists are under," Clifford said.

"I've been in the industry for the last 40 years, working with people like The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali and Simon Cowell, and I do my best to play the game by them.

"You have to be open and approachable and build relationships."

Prescott also appears to like to see himself as one of the players, donning a tracksuit and rugby boots at England training sessions.

And have a look at the picture of him above, trying, unsuccessfully, to get in on the players' huddle at the end of the World Cup final.

He's the one with glasses peering over the considerable shoulders of Lee Mears and Phil Vickery.

This self-delusion is rather amusing, but it also goes some way to explain the high-handed defensiveness with which Mr Prescott is said to go about his job.

He misguidedly sees himself as part of the team, rather than someone on the periphery who acts as a facilitator for the press.

Yet, despite the terrible press the RFU receives on his watch, Prescott has the audacity to boast about the performance of his department.

I discovered an interview he had done with the Motor Industry Public Affairs Association earlier this year.

In it, he comes up with the following vignette:

"[The RFU has] a structure for media access that has even been used by the media as a template when dealing with other governing bodies."

Astonishing.

Perhaps the following line has more of a ring of truth about it:

"I have one of those bosses who supports almost everything we request and subsequently do - which is just brilliant."

Well, that certainly must be the case.