Premier League managers on Tuesday, August 8 met at an annual meeting which held at the Premier League headquarters in London. The managers were pictured arriving the meeting which is held annually to inform all the division’s managers about the season’s new rules and several other issues. Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Ronald Koeman, Mauricio Pochettino and Rafa Benitez all attended the meeting. New comers Frank de Boer, Marco Silva and Mauricio Pellegrino were there as well for the first time. Other managers present include Paul Clement, Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche and Slaven Bilic. Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola…
Author: David Folami
Sweden legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic is up to something as usual. Ibrahimovic has announced the launch of the mobile action game with an advert which shows him in an animated form wearing a robot suit. The advert begins with a slow zoom out from a close-up of the suit which expands to show Ibrahimovic in a robot suit. “I thought there were no challenges left,” Ibrahimovic’s voice says in the background. “That’s when they came – a new game, new rules and a new rival. “Someone I know very well. On this day, the universe will know there is only one…
Jose Mourinho insisted that Manchester United had emerged from their trip to Skopje for the UEFA Super Cup a better team despite the scoreline being 2-1 at the end of 90 minutes. The Portuguese manager had expected his team to struggle against the reigning European champions and they could have conceded more than just the goals scored by Casemiro and Isco, one in each half. “I always say the Champions League is one thing and the Europa League is another, and the Champions League winner obviously has a different potential,” said ex-Real coach Mourinho, whose current team are back in…
Fired up by a shambolic first season in England, Pep Guardiola has gone back to the drawing board in an attempt to construct Manchester City into Premier League champions. Expectations were rocket-high when Guardiola came to Manchester after years of being chased by them, but a title challenge failed to materialise and his side did not make a mark in any of the cup competitions. “With all respect to the players, last season we were one of the oldest teams in the Premier League. We didn’t buy full-backs for five, six years,” said Guardiola. “We decided last season we could…
Manchester United succumbed to defeat 2-1 in the European Super Cup to a Real Madrid side who appeared entirely up for it while United looked, by contrast, as if they are still trying to find their feet together. Isco and Casemiro played with massive freedom, and Luka Modric and Toni Kroos barely lost the ball. This was only a preseason match, but a considerable amount of work remains to be done for Jose Mourinho’s team. Nemanja Matic instantly added composure, strength and elegant passing in midfield. Antonio Valencia looked great getting forward at times, and both Marcus Rashford and Marouane…
Barcelona have reached an agreement with Liverpool to sign Philippe Coutinho after the little magician put pressure on the Premier League club to let him follow his heart and join the Spanish giant, sources close to the Catalan club has said. Coutinho is set to join Barca for a base fee of €90 million (£81.6m), with bonuses that could bring the deal to €120m (£108.8m), as the Catalan club begin to spend the €222m they received from Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar last week. A delegation from Barcelona headed up by chief executive Oscar Grau travelled to Liverpool on Monday night…
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his team wants more titles after they added a sixth trophy during his less than two years in charge by beating Manchester United 2-1 in Tuesday’s UEFA Super Cup game in Skopje. Casemiro’s offside strike put Madrid ahead midway through the first half, with the double Champions League holders’ dominance rewarded just after the break through a superb finish by Isco after a one-two with reported United target Gareth Bale. United pulled one back when Keylor Navas made a meal of Nemanja Matic’s 20-yard strike and Romelu Lukaku drove home the rebound. Jose Mourinho’s…
Isco has said he is very sure that a new deal with Real Madrid is close to happening and “will be done soon” after doing his bit in a 2-1 victory against Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup. The Spain international has just one year left on his deal at te Santiago Bernabeu and questions have arose about his future with no new contract signed yet from Los Blancos. But the 25-year-old, who scored Real Madrid’s second goal with great skill after being set up by teammate Gareth Bale, said a deal is close and that he has no…
Steven Gerrard has said that Philippe Coutinho will have to really show his discontent at staying at Anfield if he is to leave Liverpool for Barcelona this season. Jordi Blanco reported on Tuesday that Barcelona believe they have reached a deal with Liverpool to buy Coutinho for an initial €90 million (£81.6m), while sources close to the player have said that the Brazil international has informed his club that he would llike to join the Spanish giants. However, sources said earlier in the day that Liverpool remained sure of holding on to him, and club legend Gerrard — now working…
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said a video review would have cancelled Real Madrid’s opening goal and led to extra time in the UEFA Super Cup on Tuesday. United lost the game 2-1 after goals from Casemiro and Isco gave Madrid a two-goal advantage before Romelu Lukaku got a goal back with his first competitive goal for his new club. But Mourinho disagreed with Casemiro’s opener, saying that had a video assistant referee (VAR) been watching outside the pitch in Skopje, Macedonia, the result would have been different with the Brazilian’s goal ruled out for offside. “I think we did…
The former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank has said that APC is dead under its chairman, John Oyegun. Frank has not been in speaking terms with the APC chairman over his alleged high-handedness and undemocratic tendencies. The former spokesman also condemned the APC national working committee for leading the party astray. He said “I’m happy that some of our leaders are now speaking out against the lack of internal democracy I have been fighting for all this while. “It is still not too late if others will shun sentiments and see reasons to…
The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has said exclusive breastfeeding of children should be made compulsory by nursing mothers to ensure healthy life for the babies. Buhari said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2017 World Breastfeeding Week where she inaugurated the Breast-feeding Advocacy Initiative with theme: ‘‘Sustaining Breastfeeding Together.’’ The wife of the president was represented by Dr Hajo Sani, her Senior Special Assistant on Administration. Reports have it that Buhari is also key to supporting the cause of exclusive breastfeeding among women in the country. She said, ‘‘Employers in Nigeria should create an enabling environment…
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) chapter, on Wednesday began a five-day warning strike over alleged slash in their salaries. Addressing newsmen after a peaceful rally at the hospital, the ARD President, Dr Ige Kolawole, said that they were forced to embark on the strike following the continued deduction of their salaries since January 2014. Some of the placards read: “Stop Selected Victimisation of Resident Doctors and House Officers.” “Underpayment of UITH Resident Doctors Is Deliberate by CMD; Mr CMD Disobedience to Government Directives is Illegal.’’ “This is demonstration of wickedness as our salaries…
President Muhammadu Buhari has made known his sadness over the Ozubulu Church attack in Anambra State by a yet to be identified gunman, describing the incident as “an appalling crime against humanity and unspeakable sacrilege.” The President expressed his anger in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Sunday. President Buhari said that “there was no justification whatsoever to target Church worshippers and kill them in cold blood.’’ He said this kind of absurd act “plumbs the depth of depravity and extreme cruelty of the kind that words cannot…
Two Nigerians have reportedly died from Lassa fever while receiving treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The story first broke out when Twitter user, @SeunOgungbure, posted with his account, “There’s an outbreak of Lassa Fever in LUTH. Two dead and a Medical Officer is critically ill at the moment.” Mr Seun, who is an employee at a diagnostic center in Surulere that gets patients from LUTH, confirmed that the Accident and Emergency unit of the hospital, as well as a few other units, has been closed due to the incident. “It’s very rare that they would close down…
Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has reached out to the Senate President to return the pension he received from the Kwara state government. This is the latest development after the Socio-Economic and Accountability Project (SERAP) commended the Senate President’s decision to stop receiving pensions. He said “The Senate president, Dr Bukola Saraki, announced last week that he had stopped collecting pension as a former governor of Kwara State following the protest by the Socio-Economic and Accountability Project, SERAP. “According to the Senate president, the moment his attention was drawn to the allegation of the payment of double…
Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue says his administration is in need of N40 billion to clear the salary arrears owed workers of the state. Ortom dropped the hint in a statement issued on Sunday in Makurdi by his Special Adviser on Media and ICT, Mr Tahav Agerzua. “I have kept my agreement with labour leaders that as a result of insufficient funds, the federal allocation of two months would be combined to pay one month’s complete salary for workers.” According to him, it is the accumulation of the unpaid months that gave the wrong impression of 10 months at a…
The Osun state government has engaged 5,000 women in local soap production with a view to empowering them and connecting them to the international markets. The programme, conceived in partnership with Kasmo Industries, an indigenous soap making company in Osogbo, is supported with financial impetus from an investor organization in the state. According to facilitator of the programme, Mr. Rufus Idris, the 5,000 women supply black soap which serves as raw material for the local production of over 6 million bar soaps, “Dudu Kasmo”, for the first phase in the growing Kasmo Soap business. He said the state government, through…
Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers on Monday sacked all his Special Advisers of their appointments except one. A statement by Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Governor on Electronic Media, said only the Special Adviser on Religious Affairs, Bishop Winston Iwo kept his job. We recall that the governor had earlier sacked the state’s Executive Council on June 24. The governor, who has less than two years into his first tenure, is yet to re-appoint new commissioners.
The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed has said that the Federal Government will respect the privacy of any looter. The minister also said that some of those who returned money, did not know that the funds allocated to them was diverted. Mohammed also said “There are some people who voluntarily returned the loot and explained that when the money was given to them, they never knew the source of these funds. Can you in good conscience name and shame that kind of person? “Those who has voluntarily returned the money, I think we owe them the obligation to…