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Beckham revealed as PSG’s newest recruit

French leaders proud to present English legend as their latest big-money signing

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Free agent David Beckham was unveiled as Paris Saint-Germain’s latest acquisition this evening in a press conference at their Parc des Princes stadium in the French capital.

After five-and-a-half years at LA Galaxy, Beckham has been without a contract since Christmas and has signed with the French club on an initial five-month deal.

Having trained with Arsenal for the past week in the effort to maintain his fitness, the 37-year-old had received previous bids from PSG, which he initially turned down in the summers of 2011 and 2012 after opting to see out his contract with the current MLS Cup champions.

Following PSG’s first bid for the player, owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi expressed his admiration for Beckham: “He’s a great player, a great guy, an excellent ambassador.

Speaking at the press conference in Paris this evening, Al-Khelaifi said Beckham shared a “dream to be one of the biggest clubs in Europe.”

He added “David is very professional on and off the pitch and will add value to the club.

“We will win lots of things with David,” he remarked.

Receiving offers from clubs in the Middle East, Australia, South America, South Africa, Russia and China, the prospect of Champions League football and claiming a title in another major European league would appear to have been the deal-breaker in tempting the 37-year-old to France.

Beckham re-joins his former AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti as PSG seek their first Ligue 1 title since 1994 whilst challenging for their first Champions League trophy, where they will meet Valencia in the first round of the knockout phase next month.

Admitting his French was a bit rusty, the former England winger this evening detailed that his family would stay in London so his children could attend school there.

“Why Paris? I can see what they want to achieve. To be part of something that is growing is exciting for me,” he said.

When asked why he chose PSG over a Premier League club, Beckham said: “[apart from Manchester United] I would never want to play for another English club”

 David Beckham Club Honours

Manchester United
Premier League (6)
FA Cup (2)
UEFA Champions League (1)

Real Madrid
La Liga (1)
Supercopa de España (1)

Los Angeles Galaxy
MLS Cup (2)
MLS Supporters’ Shield (2)
MLS Western Conference Regular Season Winners (3)
MLS Western Conference Playoff Winners (3)

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The sinister side to Mario Balotelli that will not be missed

Revered for his extravagant yet charitable behaviour off the pitch, the Manchester City striker is not always a resident Premier League crowd pleaser

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As Mario Balotelli’s departs from the Premier League, he will be leaving in his wake a sensation of emptiness within the Premier League. But not all of his doings have been something to reflect on with the fondest of memories. Here are a few things we will not be missing as the Italian prepares to leave our shores for sunnier climates.

The Red Cards
Despite offering remarkable talent, at the age of just 22, Balotelli’s temperament on the pitch has never quite matured since his move from the Serie A. Although he has many years ahead of him, his occasional petulant attitude towards his fellow players will not be missed. Receiving his first red card in just his fourth game for the club, Balotelli has racked up a total of four red cards in 74 appearances – the last of which prompted boss Roberto Mancini to condemn his City career – meaning he missed a total of 11 games in all competitions through suspension. Mancini did however play him again and in the season finale against QPR he was on hand to assist Sergio Aguero’s championship winning goal.

 

That stamp

When Man City met Tottenham at the Etihad in January last year – despite Balotelli’s side winning 3-2 thanks to his last minute penalty – the result was marred by accusations from the Tottenham camp that the controversial striker had earlier stamped on Scott Parker’s head. With the scores level at 2-2 and six minutes of normal time remaining, calmer heads were needed when in the hunt for that vital goal. As Parker lay on the floor after blocking a Balotelli shot in the closing stages of the game, the City man was seen in the replay to consciously aim his landing foot onto the Spurs midfielder. After the incident, Balotelli was hit with a retrospective four-match ban for violent conduct and consistant misdemeanours.

 

A Frustrating lack of consistency
 It’s common knowledge that on his day, Balotelli can be a nightmare for any defence. His exploits against Germany in the semi final of the European championships in Warsaw last year would more than verify that. But his display in the final against Spain reverted back to the sullen Mario Balotelli that we all hate to see. For all his confidence, strength and technical ability he, on so many occasions, seems to suffer from a severe inconsistency issue that causes him to go off the boil and on various occasions he was hauled off by Mancini for poor performances. With a conversion rate of 1 in every 2.5 City games, his scoring ability has rarely been questioned but his attitude on a rainy away day has always been his downfall when squad lists were announced. Making just eight starts for the Blues so far this season, he is his team’s least frequent scoring striker behind Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez. There’s no doubt he was given the chance to shine by those around him, but the choice not to take it was all his own.

 

On the other hand, see Why the Premier League will miss Mario Balotelli

 

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Why the Premier League will miss Mario Balotelli

As the Manchester City misfit moves back to Italy, we look at why he has become one of England's most loved footballers

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The imminent transfer of Mario Balotelli away from Manchester City and the Premier League will be a time of mixed emotion for many a football fan. Having spent two and a half seasons in Manchester, the troublesome 22-year-old has become a figure of adoration for the City faithful since he joined from Inter Milan in 2010.

Etching himself into the memories of Manchester City and Premier League fans alike, despite the petulant inconsistency he had the habit of showing, what made him so entertaining were the almost mythical tales one would hear about him outside the walls of the Etihad.

A mind like Mario’s must be kept occupied and what better way to do it once your morning training session is over than to set fire to your bathroom following an indoor firework display, hand wads of cash to random pedestrians from your car window or acquire a quad bike and a trampoline from John Lewis after your mum sent you to get an ironing board.

Not forgetting his charmingly ridiculous taste in cars and headgear…

Pulling out stunts like these in pre season friendlies…

 

And his helplessness when putting on a bib…

 

Always one to shy away from interviews, his ability to dodge the camera despite his playground antics off the field was always keenly received by his admirers. But as entertaining as he was off the field, we quickly forget how good he could be on it, given that he was in the right mood. Tipped to take the Italians to Euro 2012 glory, his double in the semi final against Germany in Poland this summer (see below) came in one of his best performances to date, and the celebration for his second goal became a social media goldmine with people scrambling to put their own spin on it.

 

 

In a BBC interview with famously devoted City fan Noel Gallagher, when asked about the ‘Why Always Me?’ t-shirt he sported in their memorable 6-1 thumping of Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2011, Balotelli modestly commented:

“It was to all the people who are always talking bad about me and say stuff that’s not nice about me and they don’t know me. I was just asking, ‘Why always me?’”

A fair comment, and an image that will remain in the vast footballing archives for decades to come.

Regardless of the negatives, Balotelli has been a pleasure to have around. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and if there’s one thing above all that most English football fans will agree on it’s that the Premier League will be a less interesting place in his absence.

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Guardiola – “I want to manage in England”

Pep gives Premier League a boost after admitting he'd like to manage in England

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It has been said that the Premier League is slowly becoming overshadowed by its Spanish counterparts as the best league in the world. But reports today suggest the most desired manager in today’s game is plotting to make the switch from La Liga to the Premiership in the near future:

“I hope, in the future, I have a challenge to be a coach [in England] and feel the experience of the coaches and players.

“I want to feel the supporters, the environment, the media and the style of players,” he said.

At Fifa’s Ballon D’Or ceremony earlier this month, Guardiola confirmed that he would return to management next season. He is currently taking a one-year sabbatical from football.

Joining current Real Madrid boss, Jose Mourinho, in his wishes to manage in England’s top tier, Guardiola will be an obvious target for the likes of Manchester City or Chelsea if/when their existing managers leave.

Also paying close attention will be Manchester United and Arsenal, with the former showing a keen interest since current boss Sir Alex Ferguson and Guardiola share a mutual respect for each other, and the latter, whose firm belief in passing football would definitely seduce the 41-year-old.

Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan have also been linked with a move for the Spaniard, and are all capable of offering attractive propositions.

In a video message recorded for the Football Association’s 150th anniversary, Guardiola gave eulogy to English football for reaching such a landmark, which will be celebrated at a special event in London today.

“[The FA has] been important in the development of our beautiful, beautiful game,” Guardiola said.


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Italian Attendances, part 2: A Sad Tale Of A Majestic League’s Decline

A lack of support at matches is not new in Italy. Low attendances in the Serie A merely highlight an underlying issue that plagues Italian football.

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Deserted: These sad scenes are all too familiar in Italian football

The problem of poor attendances at Italian football goes further back than one would have first thought. It is well documented that the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 played a big part in Italian football’s fall from grace. Uncovering transcripts of conversations between Juventus’ general managers Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo and several highly ranked Italian football officials, it was reported that attempts were made to influence Serie A referee appointments in the 2004/05 season.

Dealt with by the national Football Association’s prosecutor, Stefano Palazzi, five Serie A teams (AC Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus, Lazio and Reggina) were collared by the Italian FA and sanctioned accordingly in relation to their misdemeanours with fines, points deductions and eliminating them from any upcoming European tournaments. With the exception of Reggina, all clubs had to play a number of games behind closed doors and Juventus were relegated to Serie B.

But going even further back than 2006, it was the coming of the World Cup to Italy in 1990 that acted as a starting point for such a serious drop in support. Catalysing the Italian FA to act on improving facilities in stadiums throughout the country, the World Cup initiated the expansion and improvement of ten existing stadiums and two new venues, the Stadio Delle Alpi and Stadio San Nicola.

Despite the positive felling around Italia ’90, it was the last tournament before the mega- commercialisation of competitions like the Premier League and Champions League from the mid-90s and onwards. With such vast amounts of money being made during this time, European football was in a state of change and after having spent so much on their stadiums for the World Cup – about 1,250 billion Italian Lira – the Italians had to play a game of catch up.

Often large, ugly concrete structures with seating far away from the pitch, the Italians had not equipped their stadiums with the luxuries expected in such a turnaround. English stadiums started the trend with the conversion into all-seaters following the Taylor Report, which led to new and modern stands to be built throughout Europe.

Clubs saw extra income from corporate facilities as motivation to rebuild, but having just built or extensively renovated their own stadiums, the Italian city councils who traditionally owned them were still paying off their investments from Italia ’90.

This left Italian clubs in the awkward situation of having new but out of date stadia in comparison to Europe’s other footballing powers of the time. Slowly deteriorating year after year, so did the crowds. And allied to the added high costs of tickets, many fans chose to watch the games on the newly launched Pay-TV stations where they felt closer to the action at just a fraction of the price.

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PlayUp’s Top 5 Sporting Comebacks

Europe’s stunning Ryder Cup victory is one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time. Here are five others that we didn't have an in-play bet on

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Nothing brightens a wet Monday morning than reflection on an inspired weekend display of grit and determination to shatter the odds and bring back a victory from the brink of despair. The European Ryder Cup heros certainly did that for us today.

Here are PlayUp’s five favourite comebacks over the decades.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrates his late winner in the 1999 Champions League final

 

Manchester United’s 1999 European Cup Final

Manchester United shocked the football world when they won the 1999 Champions League final in Barcelona by scoring two injury time goals. Mario Basler gave Bayern Munich a 1-0 lead and Ferguson’s men looked all but beaten as the fourth official signalled 3 minutes of injury time. But Manchester United wouldn’t be Manchester United if they didn’t fight to the bitter end.

With rime running out the ball fell to Teddy Sheringham eight yards out and he spun it in to send the fixture into extra time. Or so everybody thought. Another fast paced United attack won them a corner for Beckham to swing in. Sheringham flicked it on to find Solksjaer at the back post who toed the ball into the roof of the net. The Munich players were left shell-shocked with many of them in tears. With just three minutes left on the clock they thought they’d won it.

Red Rum’s 1973 Grand National win

One of the greatest horse races ever witnessed the start fo the legend of Red Run. Aintree, March 31st 1973 and odds-on favourite the Crisp led the Grand National field. When his chaser, Grey Sombrero (who was six lengths behind), fell at the Chair it looked like it was all over with the rest of the pack 20 lengths behind and just two fences to go.

Red Rum was still the best part of 30 lengths behind but after jumping the second last, Crisp began slow up. Red Rum ate away at the lead and eventually got up with two strides left of the race and grabbed his first and the most dramatic of his Three Grand National victories.

 

Liverpool v AC Milan 2005 Champions League final

After over-turning the likes of Juventus and Chelsea to reach the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul, Liverpool were rudely awoken inside the first minute when Paolo Maldini turned in Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick. Two Hernan Crespo strikes in the last six minutes of the opening period meant Milan went in 3-0 up at half time.

Liverpool heads were hanging in disbelief at their predicament but Benitez’s men made one of the most inspiring turnarounds of a generation. Coming out after the break, man of the match Steven Gerrard took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored a header after 53 minutes.  Less than a minute later Vladimir Smicer shot tamely from 25 yards but amazingly Dida failed to keep it out and the Liverpool fans could sense an upset. They were right and on the hour mark Gennaro Gattuso pulled down Gerrard in the area for Xabi Alonso to score the resulting penalty to take it into extra time. Milan bossed possession for the final 30 minutes and were denied a sure winner thanks to a miracle double save by Jerzy Dudek with three minutes remaining.

Into the penalty shootout and Liverpool found themselves 3-2 ahead with one round to go. Shevchenko’s kick was saved by the infamously jelly legged Dudek to spark wild scenes of celebration for the Merseysiders.

Dennis Taylor’s 1985 World Snooker title

The decider for the 1985 World Snooker title was a game of epic proportions. Firm favourite Steve Davis began the match in devastating fashion and led 7-0. Dennis Taylor soon trailed 9-1 but was not going to go down without a fight when he began to rally, winning six on the bounce to bring it back to 9-7. The following day had both players exchanging frames in a fantastic battle of composure.

Davis was mystified when Taylor came back from 17-15 down to yet again level at 17-17 with the match to be decided in the final frame. Taylor took the early lead, but Davis led going into the colours. Davis was 18 points ahead with just 22 available but Taylor’s ‘never say never’ attitude saw him clean up and take the victory.

England’s 1981 3rd Test win against Australia

Around the time of the 1981 Ashes test, things were not looking good for the England Cricket team. Australia were favourites to win and going into the third test they were 1-0 down in the series. Ian Botham had also just resigned as captain and started the match poorly with Australia declaring at 401/9.

The hosts were asked to follow on after they were bowled out for just 174 runs and following on, finished the day 221 runs behind. Misery continued the next day when England were reduced to 105/5 but as Ian “Beefy” Botham walked out on to the Headingly pitch, he knew it was his time to shine. As his partners fell, England were 135/7 and it was looking grim. However, Botham was at hand to produce one of cricket’s best ever innings to give England a lead of 124 runs. Australia’s reply was feeble and they buckled under the pressure. Botham took the first wicket and Bob Willis killed them off with figures of 8-43 as England won by 18 runs.

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