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Craig Brown fears FIFA would use a unified British Olympic team as a precedent to streamline world football by combining the home nations.

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divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/93780?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+No+FA+charges+for+Liverpool+after+Shields+protestch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Liverpool+FC+%28Football%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Andy+Hunterc7=2008_12_04c8=1128442c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Liverpoolc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FLiverpool” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThe Football Association has decided not to take disciplinary action against Liverpool following the club’s public show of support for Michael Shields, the supporter jailed for an attack on a Bulgarian waiter in 2005 and whose controversial case goes before a judicial review today./ppLiverpool, in conjunction with the Spirit of Shankly Supporters Union and the Shields family, staged a protest against the 22-year-old’s conviction before Monday’s goalless draw with West Ham United. The demonstration involved players wearing T-shirts with the slogan Free Michael Now before kick-off, the Kop holding aloft a mosaic with the same message and the actress Sue Johnston, accompanied by Shields’ parents, making a speech on the pitch in which she called on the justice secretary, Jack Straw, to “do the right thing”./ppThe FA was alarmed by Liverpool’s backing for a man convicted of a serious crime and contacted senior club officials for an explanation yesterday. Having advised Liverpool against making further political messages, it elected not to take the matter on. World football’s governing body, Fifa, confirmed it had contacted the FA over the events at Anfield but that any disciplinary measures were the responsibility of the host authority./pp”We have spoken to Liverpool Football Club today about this matter,” said an FA spokesperson. “We understand that Michael Shields’ case is a very emotive issue and one that many Liverpool players and fans feel strongly about. Having heard the club’s explanation we will not be taking any formal action and we are satisfied that they understand the sensitivities around football matches being used as a platform for political messages.”/ppShields was jailed for 15 years, later reduced to 10 years on appeal, for the attempted murder of Martin Georgiev, who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after being struck on the head with a paving stone at the Golden Sands holiday resort in Bulgaria. The Liverpool fan has always protested his innocence and despite another man, Graham Sankey, confessing to the crime, a statement he later retracted, he has failed to have his conviction overturned./ppShields has since been transferred to HMP Haverigg in Cumbria to serve the remainder of his sentence having been refused a pardon by the Bulgarian president, Georgi Parvanov. Earlier this year Straw announced that as justice secretary he was powerless to grant a pardon or an early release to Shields, but the Liverpudlian’s hopes were revived last month when a judge at the high court in London decided the case could be heard in full by three British judges. Their review is due to begin today./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/liverpool”Liverpool/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Andy Hunter

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/7748?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Superb+Rooney+strikes+for+100th+time+to+decide+derbych=Footballc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Premier+League+%28Football%29%2CManchester+City+%28Football%29%2CManchester+United+%28Football%29%2CRonaldo+%28Cristiano%29%2CWayne+Rooney%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Daniel+Taylorc7=2008_11_30c8=1126646c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Premier+Leaguec13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FPremier+League” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpstrong/strongCristiano Ronaldo may need to be convinced but, when the dust settles, Manchester United will cherish the day they reminded their emnouveaux riches/em neighbours who should be known, in the words of the match-winner Wayne Rooney, as “the real kings of Manchester”./ppRonaldo’s red card removed some of the gloss but, ultimately, that kind of thing is only a minor irritation when you have just beaten the club who have been shouting from the rooftops about changing the order of world football./ppA club with United’s priorities will not mind too much, either, about the £50,000 fine that will automatically be handed out by the Football Association as this was the second time this season they have collected six or more yellow cards in a match. Do not put money on United winning the Fair Play League but, equally, think twice before questioning whether they have the battling qualities to come from behind in this season’s title race./ppThey won the 150th Mancunian derby because they passed the ball better and had a centre-forward who decided he had waited long enough to score the 100th goal of his career. Wayne Rooney was the outstanding performer, although an honorary mention goes to Michael Carrick. Between them, they dictated the pattern of a game in which the margin of victory was flattering to Mark Hughes’s team./ppThe reason for that owes partly to Robinho’s inability to impose himself. This was his weakest game since moving to England and, at times, he looked as though he was struggling from an old ankle injury. Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, City’s other main threats, flickered sporadically, and the home side did not really pose any threat until another Brazilian, Elano, came on at half-time./ppHis introduction with Pablo Zabaleta was an admission on Hughes’s part that the first half had been horribly one-sided. Rooney was having one of those days when he shimmered with menace every time he took the ball. Park Ji-Sung was busy and effective and Ronaldo started off in great form, always wanting the ball and full of positive running./ppRooney would be left to reflect on a hugely satisfying day’s work, scoring the game’s decisive moment after City’s goalkeeper, Joe Hart, had parried Carrick’s left-foot drive. For Ronaldo, however, everything would change during the space of 10 second-half minutes./ppHis first aberration was to clip Wright-Phillips’s heels, cutting short a counter-attack and earning him his first yellow card from the referee Howard Webb. It could have turned into red if Webb had taken a dim view of Ronaldo sarcastically applauding the decision. Instead, his exit was sealed when Rooney swung over a corner and the runaway favourite to be named European footballer of the year tomorrow inexplicably decided to bat down the ball with both hands./ppWhy he did it, only he will know. Ronaldo can be devastating in the air and the opportunity was there to have a go at goal. His argument was that he had been pushed by Micah Richards but there was minimal contact, certainly not enough to make him lose the trajectory of the ball. He took an age to leave the pitch and, on the way, complained that he had tried to stop play after hearing what he thought was the referee’s whistle. Again, it did not wash./ppCity’s fans enjoyed the moment but it was a small victory. Hughes will look back on that moment, in the third minute of stoppage time, when a combination of Edwin van der Sar’s left hand and Patrice Evra’s boot blocked Richard Dunne’s effort on the goal-line, denying him an improbable equaliser. The home side will also reflect on Ireland hitting a post after Van der Sar’s unconvincing punch, just after the half-hour mark./ppThese, however, were isolated moments on a day when, for every chance that City created, United had three. Even after Dunne’s late chance the team in red elegantly counter-attacked and, alert as ever, Rooney noticed that Joe Hart was still running back after coming forward for the last attack. The striker lofted a wonderfully measured shot from just inside City’s half, but the ball was in the air long enough for Hart to get back and stop it dropping just under the crossbar. Even so, United are entitled to think they have reminded City of their place./ppstrongMan of the match:/strong Wayne Rooney/pp(Manchester United)/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchestercity”Manchester City/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchesterunited”Manchester United/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/ronaldo”Cristiano Ronaldo/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/wayne-rooney”Wayne Rooney/a/li/ul/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
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Original post by Daniel Taylor

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/61306?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Glasgow+hails+the+hand+of+Godch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Diego+Maradona%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CScotland+%28News%29%2CUK+news%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Williamsc7=2008_11_19c8=1120042c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Diego+Maradonac13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FDiego+Maradona” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpAt this stage in the proceedings, the most likely place to find Diego Armando Maradona ought to be in the pages of his compatriot Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings, alongside the stiff-bristled, mud-wallowing Catoblepas, the 100-mile-long Earthquake fish, the weeping, wart-covered Squonk and the Peryton of the ancient world - half-deer, half-bird, but casting the shadow of a man./ppThe people of Glasgow have been staring at the former golden boy of world football this week as though he were a mythical beast capable of changing shape at will./ppAnd yet, as he wandered the corridors of his hotel Maradona, now 48, looked far more like the sturdy, well-proportioned figure who so hurtfully removed England from the 1986 World Cup than either the sliver of a man who fought his way back into the Argentina team for the 1994 World Cup, only to fail a drugs test when traces of diuretics were found in his urine, or the terrifyingly obese creature who, 10 years later, suffered a heart attack while watching a match in Buenos Aires and was rushed to hospital, a tearful crowd clutching candles outside as nurses hooked him up to a life support system./ppApart from Buenos Aires, his home city, and Naples, where he performed miracles in the 1980s while falling under the influence of the Camorra and cocaine, there is possibly no city on earth that would give him a warmer welcome than Glasgow, where his hand-ball goal in Mexico 22 years ago was fervently acclaimed and where he will make his debut as Argentina’s head coach in tonight’s friendly match against Scotland./ppAsked at last night’s press conference about the comments of Terry Butcher, the assistant manager of the Scotland squad, who was a member of the England team that day in 1986 and made it clear this week that he will refuse to shake the Hand of God at Hampden Park, Maradona prefaced his reply with a pantomime “Oooh!” worthy of Kenneth Williams./pp”I don’t understand why he’s taking this attitude,” he said. “Let him get on with his life and I’ll get on with mine.” Pressed further by a television reporter on that most notorious of goals, he responded with a reference to an equally controversial incident from 20 years earlier. “I can reply to the lady that when England won the World Cup, it was with a goal that everybody could see never crossed the line,” he said./ppAs he held his hands two feet apart to indicate the distance between the bounce of Geoff Hurst’s shot and the goal line at Wembley in 1966, the Scottish and Argentinian media contingents convulsed with laughter./ppMore than 400 journalists from around the world have descended on Glasgow this week to watch the legend lead a 21-strong squad including the 20-year-old goalscoring prodigy Sergio Aguuml;ero, whose girlfriend, Maradona’s younger daughter Giannina, is due to give birth to Diego’s first grandchild - a boy - in February. So while the next New Maradona may be his son-in-law, the one after that could be his grandson./ppEven though Maradona captained Argentina to victory in 1986, his appointment represents a considerable risk. His coaching record amounts to just 23 matches, first with Mandiyu of Corrientes, a small club, in 1994, and then with Racing Club of Buenos Aires, a very large one, the following year. Only three of those matches ended in victories. An idol in his homeland he may be, and the object of a cult that has reached its bizarre apogee in the founding of a Church of Maradona (whose Scottish representatives have been keeping a vigil outside the hotel), but a recent poll found almost three-quarters of the Argentinian public believe the appointment to be a mistake./ppHis demise, however, has been inaccurately foretold on several occasions. As he lay in hospital back in April 2004, virtually every sportswriter in the world spent time composing his obituary. But, detoxed in Cuba and with his stomach stapled in Colombia, he defied predictions and returned to life. And now he is back on the biggest stage, as the coach responsible for reviving Argentina’s faltering qualification campaign for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010./ppHe strode through the throng gathered at the airport to greet his return to Scotland - where, as an 18-year-old in 1979, he scored his first international goal - with that familiar barrel-chested strut and the imperious 1,000-yard stare of a man who has spent all his life under the gaze of others and still has horizons to conquer./ppThe smiles were wider throughout his first training session, which began 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled 6.30pm start. Yesterday’s press conference, too, started and finished on time. A man notorious for his indifference to punctuality appears intent on demonstrating his professionalism./ppWearing a blue team tracksuit, black gloves and a beanie hat, Maradona stood aside at Celtic Park as the squad went through a brief sequence of warm-up sprints and stretches while their fitness instructor clapped out a rhythm that sounded more tarantella than tango. Before long, however, a game of football was in progress. The new head coach limped noticeably as he walked among his players in the guise of referee, restricting himself to a blast on his whistle when a goal was scored./ppThe session ended after an hour with the players retreating to the changing rooms, leaving the unusual sight of Maradona, his assistants and a dozen ball boys recruited from Celtic’s juniors intently searching the turf for a gold St Christopher medallion which had detached itself from the neck-chain of one of the players. The 13-year-old who found it was embraced and hoisted into the air by the head coach and presented with his hat and gloves. Instinctive and impulsive, it was a gesture typical of the dark-eyed, curly-haired, divinely talented kid who left a Buenos Aires slum to capture hearts around the world./ppSomeone asked yesterday if he would find it difficult to restrain his famously turbulent emotions while occupying his new vantage point on the touchline? /pp”It depends on how the team are playing,” he said. “If they’re making me feeling secure, I’ll be fine. If things are going badly, I’m going to behave as I’ve always done.”/ppAll being well, Maradona will have become a grandfather by the time Argentina play their next World Cup qualifying matches in March. If he is still wearing the coach’s tracksuit when they meet Venezuela at home and climb to 12,000ft above sea level to face Bolivia in La Paz, then Julio Grondona, the 77-year-old president of the Argentinian football association - who likened this evening’s game to “a wedding night - you really hope that it will be wonderful but you never actually know how it’s going to turn out” - may be giving himself a cautious pat on the back./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona”Diego Maradona/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/scotland”Scotland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414962111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414962111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Richard Williams

Sinisa Mihajlovic didn’t racially abuse anyone on Saturday. He didn’t praise any war criminals either, nor spit in an opponent’s ear. Instead the new Bologna manager was for once left to ponder someone else’s lapse in judgment. Roma full-back Cicinho may never again execute a diving header as expertly as the one he put past his own keeper in the 91st minute of his side’s 1-1 draw at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.

“The draw was deserved and maybe something more,” crowed Mihajlovic, whose side had created marginally more chances but had nevertheless rarely threatened to connect ball with net before Cicinho’s intervention. “Roma created almost nothing. With this mentality we will save ourselves.”

So begins the managerial career of one of the most divisive figures in world football. Many fans revile Mihajlovic for labelling Patrick Vieira a “black shit” while playing for Lazio against Arsenal in October 2000, and for covering Adrian Mutu in phlegm during a game against Chelsea three years later. Others detest him for supporting Slobodan Milosevic - the former Serbian president who died in 2006 while on trial for genocide and war crimes - and for his personal friendship with right-wing paramilitary leader Commander Arkan.

Others still, however, revere him - and not only those who share his political views. To many Serbian football fans, as well as supporters of the various clubs he has played for, Mihajlovic was a committed defender and midfielder who happened to be one of the finest dead-ball strikers of all time. In all he scored 27 goals from free kicks in Serie A, including a hat-trick for Lazio against Sampdoria in 1998. He has been singled out by Sven-Goran Eriksson, who signed him for both Sampdoria and Lazio, as a player with an irrepressible will to win.

Eriksson’s assistant Athole Still went further, insisting Mihajlovic was “the most benign, relaxed, pleasant character” when not playing football. As Roberto Mancini’s assistant at Internazionale, Mihajlovic’s primary responsibility was to act as a liaison between the coach and his players. In the end, of course, Mancini lost the support of those players, but the fact Mihajlovic was given such a role in the first place suggests Still is not alone in his assessment.

Certainly Mihajlovic made all the right noises in the build-up to Saturday’s game. As a city Bologna’s identity is closely tied up with the communist and socialist politics that have dominated the city since the end of World War II, and it was inevitable that Mihajlovic would be asked to justify his own views sooner rather than later. He deflected such questions expertly, however, promising a room full of journalists at his official unveiling that he would invite any interested parties around for dinner at a later point to discuss the matter properly.

“For sure I don’t want to be compared to [Paolo] Di Canio or [Cristiano] Lucarelli because I don’t care about politics at all,” he added. “Arkan? I wrote an obituary when he was killed, it’s true, but for me that didn’t mean I was honouring him. I don’t like to be depicted as an extremist. Now for me, the only thing that counts is this new experience of being a manager.”

It is not the first time that Mihajlovic has rejected the claims of political extremism levelled against him. Despite acknowledging their friendship on a personal level, Mihajlovic insisted as long ago as 2001 that reports he endorsed Arkan’s actions in the Yugoslav wars were “ridiculous and offensive”. He has also played down his other misdemeanours, insisting that Vieira called him a “gypsy shit” before he responded in kind.

But Mihajlovic’s character has been given lengthy consideration in these pages before now. Some Bologna fans, undoubtedly, will disapprove of his appointment on character grounds but most are simply concerned that he lacks the experience to rescue them from their current predicament.

Before Saturday they had lost eight of their first 10 league games and most recently had been hammered 5-1 by likely relegation rivals Cagliari. The consensus among reporters and fans is that they are still five Serie A-quality players short of being a competitive side. Injuries to Christian Amoroso, Marcello Castellini, Luigi Lavecchia, Davide Bombardini and Sergio Volpi haven’t helped.

Mihajlovic invited Mancini - a former Bologna favourite and a man he describes as “like a big brother” - down to training on Wednesday and the 200 or so supporters in attendance informed both that, even at 39 and 43 respectively, they would represent an upgrade over the current starters. Already Mihajlovic is being linked, rather hopefully in some cases, with January moves for out-of-favour Inter players such as Hernán Crespo, Julio Cruz and Olivier Dacourt.

Central defence would appear to be the area most in need of an upgrade. Bologna have now conceded 20 goals in 11 games and there have been whispers of a move to bring Fernando Couto out of retirement. Otherwise Mihajlovic will have to make do with what he has for at least another two months. On Saturday he settled for sending his team out in a turgid 4-5-1 that was largely effective in clogging the midfield and disrupting Roma’s passing lanes before Francesco Totti’s 69th minute opener.

His major innovation had been to include Adailton - who despite starting against Cagliari had fallen out of favour with his predecessor Daniele Arrigoni - on the right wing, but neither he nor Francesco Valiani on the other side had the desired impact. By full-time Valiani had been withdrawn, while Adailton had been moved to the centre.

After the game both Mancini, who had watched the game from the stands, and striker Marco Di Vaio were quick to give Arrigoni credit, saying the result was his as much as the new manager’s. Mihajlovic gave the credit to his players, saying “This is the right spirit that I want to see. If you can leave the field at the final whistle with your head held high, then the result doesn’t matter.”

Earlier in the week Mihajlovic had insisted that attitude was everything, saying that “you don’t need a rifle to win” and likening his team to a water pistol. On this occasion he was right, but he must be aware going forward that not every opponent can be so confidently relied upon to shoot themselves in the foot. This was Roma’s first away point of the season, and they had already conceded 12 goals in their previous five.

Round 11 talking points

• Bologna’s game against Roma was also the first in Serie A history between two teams with female presidents. That feels like a big deal, even if both have reportedly been considering selling up in recent months.

• Inter are top of the league again after beating Udinese 1-0 at San Siro - not a result that the Nerazzurri have been able take for granted in recent years - but that’s not to say Jose Mourinho went home smiling. Mourinho has grown increasingly tetchy with Italian reporters and yesterday refused to answer a question put to him by Mario Sconcerti, accusing the Sky Italia pundit of being close to his predecessor Mancini. Sconcerti tried to keep the peace by insisting he was friends with all Serie A coaches, but Mourinho shot back: “You are not my friend, you are a journalist. If you invited me to dinner then I would not attend.” He later stormed out of an interview with Rai.

• Alessandro Del Piero celebrated his 34th birthday by scoring a fine free-kick in a comfortable 2-0 win for Juventus at home to Chievo. “Would I like to be 20 again? Of course, then I could play for another 20 years instead of just seven or eight, as I have to now,” grinned Del Piero, who has now scored four goals (three of them free-kicks) in the past three games. After all the crisis talk and hand-wringing, Juve are now just three points off first place.

• Diego Milito only seems to get better now he’s back at Genoa. A second-half hat-trick and assist were enough to help Genoa to a 4-0 rout of Reggina, and also to take Milito back to the top of the scoring charts with nine in 11 games.

Results: Bologna 1-1 Roma, Catania 2-1 Cagliari, Chievo 0-2 Juventus, Fiorentina 2-1 Atalanta, Genoa 4-0 Reggina, Inter 1-0 Udinese, Lazio 3-0 Siena, Lecce 1-1 Milan, Napoli 2-0 Sampdoria, Torino 1-0 Palermo

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