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Football / Any update on Noriega?
« on: June 09, 2007, 05:58:01 PM »
If anyone has an update on his injury, please post? Although it may be a concussion, I saw them pull out the oxygen mask.
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Falkirk manager John Hughes claims playmaker Russell Latapy should be a contender for Scotland's Player of the Year award after inspiring the win over St Mirren.
The 38-year-old Trinidadian was instrumental as the Bairns claimed a deserved 2-0 home victory over the relegation-threatened Love Street men in the Bank of Scotland Premier League.
Pedro Moutinho and Stephen O'Donnell struck first-half goals for the Bairns, but it was Latapy who was the most impressive performer with his precise passing.
Seventh-placed Falkirk have now retained their top-flight status before the league split and Hughes believes Latapy deserves recognition.
He said: "I think there was a masterclass from Latapy in midfield. He and Patrick Cregg drifted into spaces to ask questions of St Mirren and it worked a treat.
"Russell doesn't realise what he is bringing to the club with his training and the young kids watching his skills.
"He is different class. What he is doing for my club is absolutely fantastic - he has got another year in him.
"Why isn't there an older player of the year (award)? Because that is an achievement in its own for somebody still to be playing over 34 or 35.
"He would certainly win that hands down. But I wouldn't be surprised if he's not there or thereabouts for the Player of the Year. He is just great to work with."
On following up their victory over Celtic with another success, Hughes added: "It was top drawer.
"I couldn't have asked for better than that as we passed the ball really well. Some of the stuff that we played was right up there and we could have scored maybe one or two more.
"To be safe before the split, that was the whole remit for this club and I'm delighted.
"If we can go on and keeping picking up results we might go and get that seventh spot."
Meanwhile, St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson admitted his disappointment at the result - but was thankful the six-point gap to rock-bottom Dunfermline remains intact after the Pars lost at Motherwell.
MacPherson, who was without Falkirk target John Sutton due to an ankle injury, said: "It was extremely disappointing.
"But we can't take anything away from Falkirk. They played extremely well, but we've made it easy for them at times.
"We've played decent for most of the season and made it awkward for teams, but on the day Falkirk have passed the ball very, very well.
"It's what we do, not Dunfermline. We've got to take care of our own result and we won't forget that performance for a while.
"The gap is still there and we have our game in hand on Wednesday night, albeit against Hibs."
'BUSINESS AS USUAL' FOR SOUNESS
By Damian Spellman, PA Sport
Newcastle boss Graeme Souness is hanging onto his job at St James' Park amid frenzied speculation over his future.
As rumours of an early-morning meeting with chairman Freddy Shepherd at St James' Park proved unfounded, Souness headed to the club's training headquarters a few miles away to prepare for the FA Cup fourth-round clash with Cheltenham on Saturday.
Neither he nor Shepherd said anything in public, although the word coming out of both camps was that it was very much business as usual despite the furore which greeted the Magpies 1-0 home defeat by Blackburn on Tyneside at the weekend.
But with bookmakers Ladbrokes quoting him as 2/7 favourite to become the next Barclays Premiership manager to go, Souness once again found himself in the spotlight and facing a desperate battle to cling to his job.
Shepherd has warned he would not accept the club's crippling injury list as an excuse for failing to miss out on Europe, and hundreds of fans demonstrated at St James' after Saturday's game.
Souness, however, remains stubbornly intent on his task and has repeatedly insisted he will not walk away, and while that may not have gone down well with fans, the players appear to be behind him.
"It's hard for us as players to hear that because he's a brilliant man to work for," said 22-year-old defender Peter Ramage. "He manages how he played, with 100% commitment and determination, and it's good to see he's determined to turn it around.
"We are fully behind him, every single one of those players in the dressing room is behind him, so it's hard to hear for us what the fans are chanting.
"But they are more than entitled to their opinion. They pay for their season tickets and what not to come and watch the games and they deserve to be entertained, and at the end of the day the position we are in is down to the players, not the manager.
"He picks the team, but I bet he wishes he could get his boots on and get out and help, he's that kind of guy.
"He's given me my chance, he's kick-started my career and I've got nothing but admiration for him."
But many fans do not share the players' view, and for some, his departure cannot come soon enough.
"We have massive problems," said Frank Gilmour, chairman of the Independent Newcastle United Supporters' Association.
"The team are not playing the way they should and Saturday's performance was lacklustre.
"I have always said he was the wrong man for the job. He has turned what was a good team under Sir Bobby Robson into the mediocre outfit that it is now.
"I'm glad the protest happened because Freddy Shepherd should know exactly what the fans feel."
Mark Jensen, editor of fanzine 'The Mag', added: "I walked through the protest and I think these fans have a right to voice their opinion because they are totally hacked off with the current situation.
"We are in such a mess and nobody can be happy with the way things are going at the moment."
Shepherd has been unhappy for some time with the direction in which the team has been going after handing Souness around £50million to strengthen his squad in the last 12 months.
He knows just how much injuries to summer acquisitions Michael Owen, Scott Parker and Emre in particular have hampered his manager, while Kieron Dyer, Steven Taylor, Shola Ameobi, Stephen Carr and Craig Moore have all been sidelined for lengthy periods.
However, with the likes of Craig Bellamy, Patrick Kluivert, Aaron Hughes, Andy O'Brien and Darren Ambrose having left the club last summer and Nicky Butt, Hugo Viana and James Milner having been sent out on loan, the squad is actually weaker in depth that it was.
The chairman's problem is two-pronged: he now appears to have a mandate to act, but has no desire to pay out around £5million in compensation to Souness and his coaching staff, while there is no obvious replacement, despite persistent links with Bolton's Sam Allardyce.
Just how he resolves that situation could have a major say in how the remainder of the club' season pans out.
By Curtis WilliamsYet, planning, design and construction happened overnight on an overpriced and unnecessary $850 million dollar white elehpant. I realize that this may not be the correct forum. But, I read the article in the Express and could only laugh. I guess it runs in the family. Dumb and dumber.
Trinidad Guardian
Education Minister Hazel Manning denies that she is to be blamed for many of the promises made in the 2004/2005 budget projections not being met by her ministry.
During the last fiscal year, not one secondary school or pre-school was constructed, despite major promises in the budget.
Manning instead alleged that the designs of the schools had taken longer than she had hoped, and that the programme of school-building would begin before the end of the year.