With players’ wages in the spotlight, the shot-stopper believes it is vital for top-flight sides to show a united front

Ben Foster believes Premier League clubs must commit to a blanket policy on pay cuts during the coronavirus pandemic, or else it could “get a bit messy”.

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The topic of footballers’ salaries is in the spotlight after health secretary Matt Hancock suggested players in the top flight should make a contribution to help during the health crisis.

The Premier League called for players to take a 30 per cent pay cut in a statement released on Friday, though the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) responded by pointing out such a move would lead to a loss in important revenue via tax contributions.

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Watford goalkeeper Foster revealed there is an “understanding” from players that something needs to be done during these unprecedented times, but said any action – whether through salary cuts or wage deferrals – should come as a united front.

“Pretty much every footballer I’ve spoken to… I think it is something we understand, we completely agree that something needs to be done,” Foster told talkSPORT.

“But from a player’s point of view, and I’m sure the PFA will be talking about it today. As long as it is done in a structured manner.

“It is important to cover every team with the same [policy], whether it’s a deferral or a cut, so that we are all under the same blanket.

“Now, more than ever, it is so important that we do this together. When you start getting teams doing their own individual wage cuts or deferrals, that’s when it starts to get a bit messy.

“I know from talking to everyone at Watford that we are understanding that this needs to happen.

“Something like this is unprecedented. No one knows where it’s going or how hard it’s going to be. If we can do something in the meantime, you’ve got to do it.”

England legend Wayne Rooney has criticised the public pressure being put on players to take pay cuts, branding it a “disgrace” and saying government figures are making footballers out to be scapegoats.

The Premier League season is suspended indefinitely due to the virus, though there remains a commitment to completing the 2019-20 fixtures.

EU gets another female leader with 34-year-old Finnish PM

Appointment means all leaders of parties in Finland’s ruling coalition are women.

The European Union is about to get another female leader.

Little more than a week after Ursula von der Leyen took the reins of the European Commission, the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU will pass into the hands of 34-year-old Sanna Marin, who is set to become Finland’s next prime minister.

Finland’s governing Social Democrats nominated Marin, the current transport and communications minister, for the premiership on Sunday. The Finnish parliament will give her its official seal of approval on Tuesday, making her the world’s youngest sitting prime minister — and one of only five female national leaders in the EU.

Her predecessor Antti Rinne stepped down on December 3 after the Center Party, one member of the ruling five-party coalition, said it had lost trust in him over his handling of a labor dispute at the state-owned postal service Posti.

Finland’s six-month stint as president of the Council of the EU ends on December 31, so Marin’s impact on that role will be limited. However, she will be quickly thrust into the European arena, when she attends her first European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Marin will present the Finnish presidency’s proposal for the EU’s seven-year budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework, according to a spokesperson for the country’s diplomatic mission to the EU.

“We have a lot of work ahead to rebuild trust,” Marin said after her appointment.

“I have never thought about my age or gender, I think of the reasons I got into politics and those things for which we have won the trust of the electorate.”

Marin’s appointment means that the leaders of all the parties in the center-left government are women, four of them under 35. Katri Kulmuni, 32, leads the Center Party; Maria Ohisalo, 34, leads the Green League; Li Anderson, 32, leads the Left Alliance and Anna-Maja Henriksson, 55, leads the Swedish People’s Party.

Marin is unlikely to pursue radically new policies, as the coalition’s government program will stay untouched. Marin is known as a tough no-nonsense leader, who rose to fame at age 27 when she became the chair of the Tampere city council. She has been vocal about environmental issues, and leans politically toward her party’s left-green wing.

”I come from a poor family and I would not have the means to succeed and get ahead in life without the welfare state and the Finnish education system. I come from a rainbow family, and this means that equality and human rights are important to me,” Marin told Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish daily newspaper, in January.

How Jeleva was forced out

Simon Taylor assesses the events that led to the eventual withdrawal of Rumiana Jeleva from the list of candidates for the next European Commission.

Rumiana Jeleva looked vulnerable even before her hearing before the European Parliament’s development committee on 12 January. The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Liberal groups had expressed concern about her lack of experience – she had been Bulgaria’s foreign minister only since July 2009 – and about allegations about her husband’s business dealings. 

Nevertheless, she was clearly unprepared for aggressive questioning from MEPs. She failed to answer direct questions about her ownership of Global Consult, which appears in her curriculum vitae but is not in the decleration of financial interests made when she was an MEP in 2007-09. On top of that, she showed poor geographical knowledge for a foreign minister, and gave only bland answers to MEPs’ questions. The S&D group said it was “unacceptable” that she should become a commissioner.

‘Witch hunt’

MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP), of which Jeleva had been elected a vice-president last year, said the next day that she had been subject to a “witch hunt” by her political opponents. She had strong support from Joseph Daul, the EPP group leader who had become a friend when she was an MEP, and members of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), which had helped Boyko Borisov, Bulgaria’s prime minister, to set up his Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (Gerb) party that won the elections in July 2009.

But the EPP was isolated. By Thursday (14 January), the S&D, the Liberals, the Greens, the far-left and the European Conservatives and Reformists were adamant that they would block Jeleva from becoming a commissioner.

In what looked like an EPP move to rebut some of the allegations against Jeleva, Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, wrote, at the request of the development committee, to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso asking whether Jeleva’s declaration of financial interests was in line with the code of conduct for commissioners and whether she was a suitable candidate to be a commissioner.

Suitable candidate

In a carefully worded letter sent on Friday, Barroso said that Jeleva’s declaration was in line with the code of conduct, but pointed out that the Commission had no formal powers of investigation into specific declarations. He said that Jeleva was a suitable candidate because she held the office of foreign minister in Bulgaria and had been elected as an MEP.

It was an endorsement, though not wholehearted. But inside the EPP, Jeleva was losing support.

When the political group co-ordinators of the Parliament’s development committee met late on Monday evening (18 January) to discuss Jeleva’s future, it soon became clear that if she remained in Barroso’s line-up, most political groups would vote against approving his new team. The development committee was scheduled to meet again on Tuesday for a formal decision if her name was not withdrawn.

Fact File

The replacement

Kristalina Georgieva, whom Bulgaria has nominated as its replacement for Rumiana Jeleva, is currently a vice-president of the World Bank with responsibility for the strategy and operation of its Sustainable Development Network.

Georgieva, who is 56, joined the World Bank in 1993 after an international career as an academic and consultant on development issues. At the bank, she has worked primarily on environmental matters and issues of sustainable development in central and eastern Europe, eastern Asia and the Pacific. She was director for the environment in 2000-04, responsible for strategy and the management of a loan portfolio totalling more than $11 billion (€7.7bn). She was the bank’s Russia director in 2004-07.

Tactical delay

Barroso thought it better to suffer further delay by replacing Jeleva, rather than have her and his Commission under constant fire for the next five years. Following contacts on Monday evening between Barroso and Borisov, the Bulgarian prime minister was persuaded to drop Jeleva.

Jamie Carragher says that Momo Sissoko and Didi Hamann “looked really poor” when they first signed for Liverpool before becoming important players.

Sissoko joined Liverpool from Valencia for £5.6m in 2005, spending three years at the club and making 87 appearances in all competitions.

While Hamann spent a successful seven years at Anfield, winning the Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Charity Shield, two League Cups and two FA Cups.

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However, when quizzed about players that adapted and improved after taking a while to settle in, Carragher told Sky Sports: “More often than not at Liverpool the top players settled really quickly, but I can think of a couple. I think Momo Sissoko was one.

“He ended up being a really good player for us in midfield. A destructive type of player, not great technically.

“But in his first few training sessions he looked really poor with the ball.

“People always wonder what it’s like when new signings come in, and pro footballers at the top clubs, or at any level, we’re all the same as when you’re with your mates at five a side.

 

“If someone comes in new, and the first few passes they give it away or they’re struggling with the ball, you’re all looking at each other thinking ‘oh what have we done? What have we got here?’

“I think that was definitely the case with Momo Sissoko.”

Carragher added: “I think Didi Hamann was one as well.

“It’s not that the looked a poor player, but what he did at Liverpool… his first season it did take him a bit of time to show why we’d spent that money on him and what job he was going to do in the team.

“Then obviously he became a revelation and was part of that successful era of Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez.

“But in the first season you were sort of looking at it and thinking that you needed a little bit more, and that’s what Didi provided.

“But I’d say Sissoko was the big one where you think, within six months you think ‘wow. he looks a good powerful Premier League player.”

 

The F365 Show is on hiatus until the football returns. Subscribe now ready for its glorious comeback. In the meantime, listen to the latest episode of Planet Football’s 2000s podcast, The Broken Metatarsal.

Manchester United should sell Paul Pogba and replace him with Jack Grealish, according to former Aston Villa striker Andy Gray.

Pogba was reported to be keen to leave Old Trafford this summer after two years of trying to get away from the club which re-signed him from Juventus for £89million in 2016.

The France midfielder has spent much of this season on the sidelines having not started for United since September and rumours are still linking him with a move away from Old Trafford.

OPINION: Jack Grealish and football need better from each other

There has been speculation that Villa captain Grealish could be on his way to United in the next window, although his recent behaviour could have put the Red Devils off.

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But Gray – who now works as a pundit for beIN Sports – reckons Grealish would be a great replacement for Pogba.

“We don’t know how football is going to come through this [the coronavirus crisis],” Gray told the Daily Star.

“We don’t know if football is ever going to be the same again and whether It’ll affect player values and salaries. We’re entering a world of unknowns.

“But when the dust settles, if I could sell Pogba for £100m and bring in Grealish for £70m I would do it in a heartbeat. It’s a no-brainer.

“United still might be able to get their money back on Pogba. We know his value commercially and on social media with his millions of followers.

“That’s important to football clubs these days and it gives him an added kudos. But fans aren’t really bothered about all that.

“They just want him to contribute on the football pitch. He’s pretty much failed at United. Is it his own fault or just bad luck with injuries?

“I think it’s probably a combination of the two. I don’t know Pogba so I’m not judging his character, I’m judging what he’s brought to United and it’s been nowhere near enough.

“Real Madrid seems the right fit for him – and his agent has been edging towards that.”

 

The F365 Show is on hiatus until the football returns. Subscribe now ready for its glorious comeback. In the meantime, listen to the latest episode of Planet Football’s 2000s podcast, The Broken Metatarsal.

PFA chairman Gordon Taylor has taken aim at Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s “astonishing” stance on Premier League footballers, who want clubs to “explain” their financial positions.

Premier League players have come under particular scrutiny with regards to wage cuts or deferrals during the suspension of action.

With five top-flight clubs having furloughed some or all non-playing staff, there is a focus on what football is doing to help in a time of national crisis.

Meetings between players, clubs and the PFA itself are ongoing, with talks over a planned blanket 30 per cent wage cut reaching an impasse.

PFA chief Taylor has explained that players simply want clubs to provide detailed financial breakdowns in an effort to ensure any money saved goes straight to the NHS and other related charities or hospices, as opposed to straight into the relevant club’s funds.

 

“I think if [clubs] can’t do that and explain the position fully then they have every right to expect players to mistrust what is happening,” the PFA chief executive told the Daily Telegraph.

Taylor added that players simply wanted to know where any money would go, reinforcing the suggestion that they ‘fear’ how only owners would benefit from wage cuts.

“They want the complete due diligence,” Taylor said. “They’re not stupid. They’ve not just got their brains in their feet. They want to know the reasons for it and where it’s going.

“I think they felt themselves being pressured unfairly when they were fully prepared to discuss issues so long as it was in a full and frank manner.

“It’s for clubs to do what they feel they need to do but the players wanted to make sure ideally there was a situation at local level where they could look after the non-playing staff and they could play their part in doing that to make sure they were not diminished in their income.”

Taylor then took aim at Hancock’s latest comments on how players should help the NHS, reiterating claims he made earlier last week.

“I found it astonishing that Matt Hancock could come out like that when he’s got his own issues with trying to get the necessary protective health equipment for our NHS workers and didn’t have the tests in place either,” Taylor said.

“We were promised the data of each club from the beginning of our talks so we could explain the position of each club to the players but that has not been received.

“That is the information we feel needs to be put to the players at each club so they have a full understanding of the situation.

“Rather than being a split between clubs and players, hopefully it be a coming together because that’s all we’re asking – that football deals with this in a team effort way.”

 

REAL MADRID EYE SPURS STAR KANE
Real Madrid want a striker, we know that much. Last week, their three-man hit-list was reported to feature Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Today, Harry Kane’s name has been thrown in there too because, why not?

OK Diario says Kane is Real’s ‘preferred target’ and Florentino Perez has set his sights on the England centre-forward. The tone of their story, though, suggests Perez already knows that he is pissing in the wind.

Though Kane has suggested he could move elsewhere since Spurs appear unlikely to give him the silverware he craves, he is under contract for four more years and Daniel Levy will demand a huge figure during a summer in which everyone has less money to spend.

 

READ: Harry Kane may want his big move, but does his big move want him?

HAMMERS REGISTER INTEREST IN SANCHEZ
The coronavirus crisis will also give Manchester United a problem with Alexis Sanchez.

The Chilean is due to return to Old Trafford this summer from Inter Milan, who have no intention of making his loan spell a permanent arrangement. Why would they? His form has been every bit as disappointing as anyone who watched him at United might expect, and he would cost a sodding fortune in wages.

Oh, hello, West Ham. According to FC Inter News (helpfully translated by our friends at Sport Witness), the Hammers have put a call into to Sanchez’s agent Fernando Felicevich seeking ‘information’ which we can only assume was centred around two questions: 1) What the hell has happened to your client, and 2) would he accept a 75%  pay cut?

 

UNITED SWEATING OVER SANCHO
United would love to shift Sanchez off their payroll so they can divert his £400,000-a-week wages into Jadon Sancho’s bank account.

The Red Devils are desperate to land the Borussia Dortmund winger this summer even if it will cost them a club-record figure. The noises from Sancho’s camp suggest the 20-year-old would be open to a move but on one condition…

The Sun reckons Sancho’s decision hinges on United being in next season’s Champions League. Which keeps the saga rumbling on since no one seems to have any idea how or when that may be decided.

 

AND THE REST
Leicester, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa are all in the race to sign Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos…Leicester, Tottenham and Everton are chasing defensive midfielder Baptiste Santamaria, who plays in France’s Ligue 1 for Angers…Borussia Dortmund are yet to reach an agreement with PSG’s out-of-contract defender Thomas Meunier…PSG expect Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to stay for another year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The F365 Show is on hiatus until the football returns. Subscribe now ready for its glorious comeback. In the meantime, listen to the latest episode of Planet Football’s 2000s podcast, The Broken Metatarsal.

GOLDEN, CO — While Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader would have preferred to put handcuffs on the person responsible, he said he still hopes finally identifying the man who abducted, sexually assaulted and killed 18-year-old Jeannie Moore 38 years ago will bring some degree of closure to her family.

Shrader on Tuesday identified Donald S. Perea as the suspect in Moore’s murder. Moore was killed Aug. 25, 1981, after hitchhiking on her way to work. Authorities said Perea, a 23-year-old convicted rapist at the time of Moore’s murder, died for undisclosed health reasons in May 2012 at the age of 54.

“I appreciate the hard work of our investigators, our crime lab professionals, and the public-private partnership that helped uncover new information, leading to the identity of our suspect,” Shrader said. “Our goal then and now has been to bring justice to Jeannie and her family.”

Moore’s case was reexamined in 2008, officials said. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and CrimeStoppers worked with United Data Connect to solve the case through the use of genetic genealogy, which uses crime scene DNA and public genealogy websites to build family trees tracing back to the suspect.

On Aug. 25, 1981, Moore left her home for work at the Tenneco gas station at 13th and Wadsworth, according to the Jefferson County Cold Cases website. Moore began hitchhiking at the onramp from Harlan to westbound I-70 at about 7:10 a.m.

According to the website, an employee and a customer at a nearby gas station, along with other witnesses, saw a vehicle pull over. Moore tried the passenger door of the vehicle, but she appeared to have problems with it. The driver leaned over and opened the door from within, the website said.

The vehicle was described as a 1969 or 1970 red Ford LTD or Galaxy, and it possibly hada black vinyl top. Moore was wearing blue jeans and a peach-colored sweater. She was carrying a brown leather purse with a mushroom design and blue bandana for a strap.

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On Aug. 30, 1981, picnickers found Moore’s body in Genesee Park south of I-70. An autopsy showed death was caused by blows to the head, according to the website.

This is the first case in Colorado to be solved through genetic genealogy, Shrader said. Investigators linked DNA evidence from the crime scene to a family member of Perea. Further investigation led investigators to identify Perea as being “3.3 trillion times more likely than anyone else to have committed the murder.”

In a statement read by Jeffco Sheriff’s Office officials, Moore’s surviving family described their sister and aunt as “loving and kind in all her ways. She was sincere and true in her heart and mind, and has left behind beautiful memories.”

WOODSTOCK, IL — A Mexican man has become the eighth person to die so far this year while in custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to an ICE press release. Roberto Rodriguez-Ezpinoza, 37, was being housed at the McHenry County Correctional Facilty prior to his death Sept. 10 at a suburban hospital.

ICE officials say the man’s preliminary cause of death is subdural hematoma, which is a collection of blood outside the brain typically caused by severe head injuries.

Rodriguez-Ezpinoza was arrested Sept. 3 by ICE in Chicago. Rodriguez-Espinoza was a documented Latin Kings gang member with a 2016 burglary conviction and 2008 theft convictions, authorities said.

During his intake screening at the McHenry County Jail, Rodriguez-Espinoza admitted to drinking daily, authorities said. On Sept. 7, staff at the jail noticed him acting confused and a physician ordered he be transported to the emergency room at Northwestern Hospital in Woodstock due to his confusion and history of alcohol consumption.

On Sept. 8, the hospital transferred him via ambulance to Northwestern Hospital in Huntley, where he was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage. From there, he was taken to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield for a neurosurgery consult, according to the ICE news release.

“Rodriguez-Espinoza failed to respond during a neurological exam performed upon arrival at Central DuPage, and the attending neurosurgeon advised that Rodriguez-Espinoza was unlikely to survive surgery,” according to the statement from ICE.

ICE officials then contacted the Mexican Consulate to inform them of Rodriguez-Espinoza’s medical status and to request assistance locating his next of kin. Mexican consular officials let ICE officials know Rodriguez-Espinoza had no known next of kin, according to the ICE statement.

ICE officials are now conducting a “comprehensive review” into the incident, which is done in all deaths that occur while detainees are in custody with ICE. The review will be conducted by ICE senior leadership to include Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.

“Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a small fraction of the rate of the U.S. detained population as a whole,” ICE officials noted.

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NEW YORK — U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in an insider trading scheme and to making false statements to federal law enforcement agents when interviewed about his conduct. He had resigned from Congress on Monday.

“By virtue of his office, Christopher Collins helped write the laws of this country, but he acted as if the law did not apply to him,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in an announcement. “Today, by pleading guilty, Collins acknowledged that while he was a member of Congress he committed insider trading and then lied to the FBI in an attempt to cover it up. Today’s plea is a reminder that all citizens stand equal before the law in our criminal justice system.”

The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office accused Collins, who was on the board of drug company Innate and one of its biggest shareholders, of giving confidential information about the bad results of a drug trial to his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron’s fiancée.

They sold the stock after learning from company officials that a multiple sclerosis drug Innate was developing had failed a critical trial meant to determine the drug’s clinical effectiveness.

Collins was attending the Congressional Picnic at the White House when he heard the bad news, prosecutors said.

Innate’s stock price crashed on the first trading day after the public announcement about the results, dropping 92 percent. Collins and the others avoided $768,000 in losses, prosecutors said.

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Collins pleaded not guilty when he was indicted in 2018. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of making false statements to law enforcement officials, which also carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He will be sentenced Jan. 17.

The charges against Cameron Collins and Zarsky are merely accusations, and they are deemed innocent unless proven guilty.

Six Republicans already have declared interest in running for Collins’ seat in the 27th District, in eight upstate counties between Buffalo and Rochester, the Buffalo News reported.

Under state law it’s too late to schedule a special election for Nov. 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Albany’s WAMC Tuesday.

Collins received statewide attention in 2017 when he and Rep. John Faso, from the Hudson Valley, sponsored part of a national health care reform bill to end New York’s longtime practice of charging counties for a share of the cost of Medicaid. The bill did not become law.

SEE: Republican Rep. Chris Collins Resigns Before Expected Guilty Plea