A Newcastle United journalist has claimed that Ivan Toney will be a bigger concern for Eddie Howe than Christian Eriksen when they play Brentford.
The Lowdown: Eriksen debut?
Eriksen could reportedly make his debut for the Bees at home to the Magpies on Saturday afternoon, having not featured in a competitive game on a football pitch since suffering a cardiac arrest for Denmark at Euro 2020.
He recently featured in a bounce match against Glasgow Rangers, when he provided two assists in a 2-2 draw, and all eyes will now be on whether he makes a competitive return against the northeast club this weekend.
The Latest: Toney back for Brentford v Newcastle
As pointed out by Newcastle reporter Miles Starforth of The Shields Gazette, Toney will also be returning for Brentford, and he argued that the former Magpies striker will be a bigger concern for Howe than Eriksen, writing:
“The focus is likely to be on Christian Eriksen on Saturday, but the return of Ivan Toney, quietly sold by Newcastle in 2018, is arguably more of a concern for Eddie Howe.”
The Verdict: Point to prove
Toney will no doubt have a point to prove against his former club, for whom he only made sold to Peterborough United in 2018 after a few loan spells away from Newcastle.
He has not done too badly since, notching up 77 league goals combined for the Posh and Brentford over the last four seasons (not been kind to the Bees, he will want to get Thomas Frank’s side back on track.
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This is a big match in terms of the relegation picture, and the Magpies will no doubt have to keep Toney quiet if they are to claim another three points.
In other news, find out which £40.5m-rated star has ‘bewitched’ NUFC ahead of a potential summer move
Usman Khawaja has been left out of the third Test in Adelaide, raising the prospect of him having played his final match for Australia, with Australia’s selectors backing the positive approach brought by the Jake Weatherald-Travis Head pairing.As expected, captain Pat Cummins and offspinner Nathan Lyon return to the side at the expense of Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett.Khawaja missed the second Test in Brisbane having not recovered from the back spasms he picked up in Perth that prevented him from opening in either innings.Earlier this week Khawaja said he was 100% fit and eager to retain his spot. The prospect of him taking a middle-order role had been raised but the selectors have opted to retain Josh Inglis with Weatherald and Head continuing their opening partnership.Usman Khawaja remains out of Australia’s XI•AFP/Getty Images
They came together in the second innings in Perth to add 75 in the run chase before combining for 77 in the first innings at the Gabba with selectors seeing the value in what it has done to the England attack.”I think the big thing that’s shifted on us is probably Trav opening after that first Test and how good that has looked with the Weathers, so we’re pretty happy with that batting line-up,” Cummins said ahead of his first Test of the series after a back injury. “It didn’t feel like it needed to change in the middle order.”So far it’s looked like they [Head and Weatherald] have been able to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Whatever has been thrown at them, they’ve had an answer to. It’s really set up the platform for our innings.”I think you’ve seen people like Marnus [Labuschagne] and Steve [Smith] walk in after that as well and really get on the back of that and start their innings well. I don’t know if it’s scrambled the opposition, but it’s certainly kind of got that momentum, kept that scoreboard ticking over and started our innings brilliantly.”Khawaja turns 39 during the Adelaide Test and has averaged 31.84 since the 2023 Ashes with one century in 45 innings.Pat Cummins prepares for his Test comeback•Getty Images
Asked whether there was a road back, Cummins said: “Yeah, potentially. I think the selectors have been quite adamant [that] we’re picking a side each week, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s got to be exactly the same team as the previous week. We do that with the bowlers this week.”Obviously, Nathan Lyon’s coming back in. One of Uzzie’s great strengths he’s scored runs at the top, he’s scored runs in the middle. If we didn’t think he’d be good enough to come straight in, then he wouldn’t be here in the squad. So, absolutely, I can see a path back at some point, if needed.”Cummins, meanwhile, lauded the fact Australia were 2-0 up despite being stretched by injury, including himself yet to feature and Josh Hazlewood being ruled out of the series.”Incredible, I think it shows just great depth in the Aussie cricket system at the moment with fast bowlers,” he said. “When I said it’s almost worked out perfectly…we’re halfway through a series, I’ve come back on line, you’ve got Ness and Doggy who are resting from this week, but they’ve obviously got themselves into the series and are available for the last two games.”You’ve seen Jhye Richardson out the back bowling. So it feels like everything’s come together and we’re not just hanging on to the end of a series like sometimes you are. We’re actually peaking and hopefully there are heaps of resources available.”But the guys who have stepped in have been fantastic and I think it’s a huge credit to those guys who have stepped in but also the coaches and Steve managing those guys throughout the day.”Steven Smith missed training on Monday due to illness but was first in the nets on Tuesday.Australia XI for third Ashes Test1 Jake Weatherald, 2 Travis Head, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Josh Inglis, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Scott Boland
The Indian board has put down a minimum qualification of 25 first-class matches for the members of its technical committee. At its annual general body meeting yesterday, the BCCI also announced the formation of a women’s selection committee headed by former captain Anju Jain.Following a Supreme Court order to settle membership matters under dispute, the board has also decided to set up a member affiliation committee.Other decisions taken at the meeting include:Upgrade of venues Jaipur, Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and Visakhapatnam are likely to attain Test status if the cricket associations of Rajasthan, Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh fulfil the conditions stipulated by Alan Hurst, the ICC match referee, who inspected the venues recently.Hyderabad is scheduled to host the third ODI between India and Australia on October 5 and the ICC will wait for a report from match referee Chris Broad to see if the conditions have been fulfilled before granting it Test status. Hurst has asked the Hyderabad Cricket Association to remove CCTV cameras from the players’ dressing rooms to maintain privacy.Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Stadium hosted its only Test in 1987 between India and Pakistan and only after recent renovations has it begun to host ODIs regularly, including six Champions Trophy matches last year.Distributing television revenue The BCCI will distribute the Rs 9.36 crores (US$ 2.3 million) that it received as television revenue among the state associations that hosted Tests and ODIs during the 2006-07 season. India hosted the Champions Trophy and played one-day series against Sri Lanka and West Indies before the World Cup. So 12 associations – Punjab, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Bengal, Goa, Baroda, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Vidarbha and Orissa – will accordingly receive a share each of the revenue. The other members will share Rs6.7 crore (US$ 1.6 million) between themselves.World Twenty20 prize money The Indian team will receive their prize money for winning the ICC World Twenty20 after the BCCI receives the money from the ICC. “The winner’s prize money is US$ 490,000,” Niranjan Shah, the board secretary told the . “In all the team has won close to US$ 1million.”Annual report The BCCI has published an abridged version of its annual report and accounts which highlights the board’s activities over the last season.Technical Committee: Sunil Gavaskar (chairman), Chinmoy Sharma, Dr. MV Sridhar, Snehashish Ganguly, CR Mohite, Vinod Kumar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Yashpal Sharma, VK Ramaswamy, Niranjan ShahWomen’s selection committee: Anju Jain (chairman), Poornima Rao, Mithu Mukherjee, Vrinda Bhagat, Sandhya Agarwal, Niranjan Shah
Scorecard Martin Love has left behind a poor start to his season and smashed 186 – including 105 in a session – to put Queensland in control of their Pura Cup match against Western Australia at the WACA. Love, James Hopes and Matthew Hayden combined to help Queensland smash 414 runs on day two, leaving them at 7 for 480 in reply to the Warriors’ 208.Love struggled to find his rhythm in the first session, scoring 28 before lunch as Hayden (76) blitzed the bowlers, but he turned on a show in the second in which he plundered 22 boundaries. When he was finally caught behind off the part-time bowling of Michael Hussey, Love had hit 35 fours and one six, and become Queensland’s most prolific batsman with 27 centuries – one more than Matthew Hayden – and 10,084 runs.Love’s 186 came after he accumulated only 15 in his first four innings of the season. His comeback from poor form echoed last year, when he had averaged 14.88 in his nine previous innings and then scored 106 and 50 in a Queensland victory at the WACA. This season’s effort could not have come at a better time for the Bulls, who are on the bottom of the Pura Cup table with two losses.Hopes partnered Love in a 143-run stand and made 90 from 89 deliveries before he became Brad Hogg’s fourth victim. Hogg continued the new trend of spinners being the leading wicket-takers for Western Australia, finishing the day with 4 for 95.Chris Hartley (32 not out) and Andy Bichel (26 not out) added 52 before stumps as the Warriors’ pace attack struggled to break partnerships. After returning from the Champions Trophy in India, Shane Watson, who made 0, and Andrew Symonds (3) were the only Queensland batsmen to fail.
The problems in Mashonaland continue unabated. Cricinfo has learned that, at the weekend, a match between Harare Sports Club and Old Hararians had to be moved from Harare Sports Club to another ground after two senior Mashonaland Cricket Association (MCA) officials disrupted the game.Cyprian Mandenge, the MCA chairman, and Bruce Makovah, the province’s head selector, arrived at Harare Sports Club with two policemen and, according to witnesses, made threats to the players’ safety if they did not stop the match immediately. They are also accused of racially abusing certain players, and of telling others that they would never play for the province again.Their intervention followed a meeting of the MCA on Friday at which both clubs, along with Alexandra, Old Georgians, Takashinga, and Universals, were expelled from the association after the board accused them of insubordinance and trying to remove board officials when the clubs did not fulfill their Mashonaland Vigne Cup fixtures last weekend.Harare Sports Club is a private ground which is leased to Zimbabwe Cricket for matches organized by the board, and neither those concerned, nor anybody else not authorised by the club, have any legal right whatsoever to interfere with matches being played there. So at that point, the players decided to up sticks and continue the match at nearby St George’s College.Universals and Takashinga also played each other at the weekend in what could ultimately lead to a splitter league containing the six affected clubs. The six contain nearly all of the province’s international players.Stakeholders in Zimbabwe cricket are supposed to meet this week to try to resolve the standoff in Mashonaland, but the incident at Harare Sports Club has left serious question marks over Makovah`s fairness and integrity as a national selector.Mandenge took over the Mashonaland board chairmanship last week, but clubs have refused to recognised the new leadership. Four of the board members have been put under pressure by the clubs to resign.It was subsequently reported that the incident had been reported to the police, but given the fact that Mandenge and Makovah were accompanied by the police, it is unclear what further action is likely.
Steve Tikolo, the captain of the Kenyan team, slammed the ICC for the fact that Kenya have played virtually no international cricket since their semi-final appearance at the 2003 World Cup. “Most of us are really disappointed. After our World Cup performance we have hardly played any games,” said Tikolo ahead of Kenya’s first match of the Champions Trophy, against India. “Going 18 months without a single one-dayer makes us feel disappointed. We are not getting any respect.”When asked who he blamed for this, the reply came straight back with no hesitation: “Obviously the ICC, because they’re the custodians of the game all over the world. All we had was a series against Pakistan A and India A. That’s all that we had.” Kenya last played a one-day international against Pakistan at Sharjah in April 2003.At no point during the press conference did an obviously disheartened Tikolo mince his words. “If you have one-day status and don’t play any ODIs then the status is as good as useless. We need to play more games. We’d like to see more teams coming to Kenya. Triangulars are going on, but Kenya aren’t being invited.” He explained that playing top-flight cricket was critical to Kenya’s cricket future. “Without games you only go backwards. You need to play against the best to keep pace. Kenya’s future doesn’t look good.”Tikolo was also not particularly happy about the ICC’s claim to be working hard to globalise the game. “They are talking about globalisation of the game, but what they are doing with Kenya doesn’t point to that,” he said. But he thought the idea was still plausible: “It is possible to globalise the game. Look what football and rugby have done. I don’t see any difference in cricket.”But the lack of matches wasn’t the only bone Tikolo had to pick with the ICC. Their handling of the Maurice Odumbe affair has also not gone down too well. “Some players were mentioned by Maurice’s ex-wife, but I don’t think there was any substance to it. No investigations were done to prove this. And I think, on the ICC’s part, to let Catherine allege that some of the players were involved was very disappointing.”But despite all this turmoil, Tikolo insisted that his team was upbeat and looking forward to their matches in the tournament. “We’re looking forward to the game. It is a big one. Every team is going to come hard at Kenya after the performance in the World Cup. We are focused and we just need to concentrate on our game rather than think about the opposition. We need to play to the best of our abilities. We need to play cricket as it is played.”And what’s more, he does not believe that the games are lost before they begin: “Anything can happen on a given day. We can beat them.”If they do pull off a stunning upset – either against India or Pakistan – you can be sure the old whispers about the game being fixed will do the rounds. That angers Tikolo. “It is really disappointing when that happens. We gain respect only if we beat other teams. And for people to insinuate that these matches were fixed really hurts.”For the moment, though, it’s time for Kenya to put all that away, and concentrate on their first game against India.
David Harrison celebrated his 22nd birthday with a spell of 4-6 in 22 ballsas Worcestershire were dismissed for 237 in 63 overs on a rain affected opening dayof the Championship match at New Road. However, it was not all joy for the young seamer, as he wasone of two Glamorgan batsmen to be dismissed, as his team ended an eventful day on 0-2.After an hour`s play had been lost due to morning drizzle, Robert Croft won the tossand elected to bowl first. Stephen Peters and Anurag Singh added 44 in 14 overs beforelunch, but the game changed complexion immediately after the interval as Glamorgan`s changebowlers – Darren Thomas and David Harrison – were introduced into the attack.Thomas made the breakthrough with his second ball as Singh edged an away swinger towicket-keeper Mark Wallace. Then Harrison took two wickets in his opening over, as Graeme Hickdrove a slower ball loosely to cover where Alex Wharf took a good catch diving forward, and then Ben Smithwas caught by Mike Powell at first slip, as Worcestershire slumped to 46-3.Peters and Vikram Solanki then added 18 runs before Harrison dismissed both batsmen in thespace of seven deliveries, as Solanki was caught by Matthew Maynard at third slip, andPeters was caught behind by Wallace. A rearguard action was mounted by David Leatherdale and Gareth Batty,who added 101 either side of tea for the sixth wicket. With Leatherdale dropping anchor, Batty playedsome crisp drives through the off side, before reaching his half-century with two sixes in three balls from Robert Croft.Batty brought up the century stand with another lofted drive over long-off, but in the next overhe mistimed a drive against Wharf and was caught by Ian Thomas at cover point. Powell then took a finecatch at slip as Stephen Rhodes got a thick edge, trying to run his first ball from Croft down to third man.Leatherdale duly reached his first half-century of the season, but he then fell in identical fashion to Batty,as he drove a slower ball from Wharf into Ian Thomas` hands in the covers.After a further stoppage because of bad light, Kabir Ali launched a counter-attack, hoisting Alex Wharffor two sixes over long-on, before hitting the same bowler over the sightscreens at the Diglis End, and plantingDavid Harrison into the sponsors boxes at the New Road end to bring up the 50 partnership. His merry standfor the ninth wicket with Matt Mason was worth 54 in 10 overs when Mason chipped Wharf to Croft atmid-off, and Wharf swiftly finished off the innings by clean bowling Nantie Hayward to finish with 4/63.Glamorgan had an awkward seven overs to negotiate in gloomy light, and they lost two wickets in the opening over, asJimmy Maher was caught behind by Rhodes as he tried to leg-glance Hayward`s second delivery, and then two balls later,David Harrison was bowled by Hayward. However, the umpires adjudged that the light had deteriorated beforeKabir Ali could start the second over, and Glamorgan finished the day, that had seen 38 oversbeing lost, still 237 runs behind with 8 wickets still standing.
Worcestershire’s director of cricket Tom Moody has made another signing in his bid to re-shape the county’s playing resources for the 2002 season. After signing the established Leicestershire batsman Ben Smith last month, he has now secured the services of Surrey off-spinner Gareth Batty on a three-year contract.The 24 year-old Batty, born in Bradford, made his first-class debut for Yorkshire in 1997 after playing for the England Under 19 team. He left Yorkshire to move to Surrey for the 1998 season, but found little opportunity to play first-class cricket. Nevertheless, he was named as the ECB Second XI cricketer of the year last season.Moody said: “Gareth is a very talented cricketer and he’s had invaluable experience at Surrey under the likes of Saqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury. We are lucky to get him at this point in his career because he is ripe for the picking. It was only the lack of first-class opportunity that made him think twice about where he was in his career.”Batty’s elder brother, Jeremy, was also an off-spinner and useful batsman. He appeared for England Under 19s and Yorkshire before moving to Somerset, but is no longer playing first-class cricket.
Anwar Ali, the fast-bowling allrounder, has been ruled out of Pakistan’s ODI series in Zimbabwe. The selectors had initially picked Anwar for the ODI series but left him out for the two T20s preceding it, in order to give him time to recover from a minor groin injury. With Anwar failing to clear a fitness test, his place went to the uncapped Aamer Yamin.Yamin, the 25-year-old allrounder from Multan, has played 25 first-class matches, in which he has scored 1058 runs at an average of 39.18, with three centuries, and taken 58 wickets at 28.34, with three five-wicket hauls.
Tottenham’s Europa League clash with Lazio was marred with racial abuse from home fans towards the travelling Spurs supporters and violence away from the stadium. Lazio’s violent following known as The Eagles – one of Italy’s hooligan organisations commonly referred to as ‘Ultras’ – have been held responsible by the media for an attack on a small group of Spurs fans in a pub in the Rome, leaving one man in a critical condition and ten more wounded, however the club’s president Claudio Lotito has refused to point the finger at the Lazio hooligans.
“It is too easy to speak about attacks by people with their faces covered and say that they were Lazio fans. I maintain Lazio fans had nothing to do with it,” 55-year-old Lotito told reporters following the attacks. Meanwhile, UEFA still maintain that hooliganism is not a footballing issue.
At the match itself, Lazio fans chanted racial slurs towards the Tottenham support throughout the 0-0 draw. Most notably, the chant of “Tottenham Juden” was heard ringing out across the Stadio Olimpico. During the alternate fixture at White Hart Lane, Biancocelesti fans made monkey noises at White Hart Lane, directed towards Jermain Defoe.
UEFA fined the Italian club £35,000 for the away fans’ obscenities, which will add to the long list of small monetary penalties handed out to national football associations and clubs by the European organisation as they continue to take a lenient stance on racism.
But should UEFA be expected to do anything? How can they realistically change the attitudes and culture of a club’s supporters, or for that matter a nation’s supporters?
It is true that the fines are minimal – Nicklas Bendtner’s Paddy Power underwear fiasco earned him a larger penalty fine for undeclared sponsorship than any club or country has for failing to control their fans. Similarly, the case set up by UEFA examining the England Under 21s match in Serbia in which Danny Rose and other black players were subjected to racial abuse has been delayed until next month because it requires “further investigation”.
The Serbian FA have denied allegations of racism, claiming Rose behaved in a provocative and vulgar manner throughout the match and have released the bizarre and ridiculously titled video “Danny Rose is lying to whom?” – a small collection of segments from the match where the Sunderland left-back is not subject to intense monkey chanting from home fans. Clarke Carlisle has called for Serbia to be banned from competing until their fans can be controlled, but UEFA continue to distance themselves from the issues of racism and hooliganism.
It would certainly not be overreacting to see UEFA’s policy as somewhat hypocritical. Following the Heysel Stadium disaster, English clubs were banned from competing in European competitions for five years until a solution could be found for the “English disease” of hooliganism. But, would banning clubs or countries actually achieve anything? Could it even make the problem worse?
The political, social and psychological implications of football are often overlooked. Newspapers are often filled with headlines such as “ban the thugs”, simplifying the issue and working towards it’s further detriment – a particular example that comes to mind is Manchester United’s Red Army being labelled as “barbarians” by newspapers in the 1980s, to which the United faithful at Old Trafford replied by singing “WE EAT HUMANS”. Clubs have an identity, and for good or worse that identity cannot be ignored or simply transformed overnight and branding that identity with negative connotations only escalates the problem.
Paolo Di Canio, on his return to Lazio, the club he personally affiliates to, often celebrated goals with the Fascist salute, which was warmly embraced by the Italian fans. The Serie A club has historic links to fascism dating back to the days of Mussolini – the deceased dictator even built Stadio Olimpico as part of his planned Mussolini Forum. Di Canio told reporters after his first instance of raising the salute that he is “a fascist, not a racist” and although it is true that the two are not mutually exclusive, both racism and fascism appears to be a heavy influence on Lazio fans and their identity. At the time, Silvio Berlusconi defended the current Swindon Town manager, stating: “He just does it for the fans, not out of malice. He’s a good boy, just a bit of a show-off.”
UEFA’s fines are a rather toothless punishment in response to the appalling actions of fans, and the organisation could certainly do more to push the issues of racism and hooliganism on to national football organisations as well as clubs, but as it stands, what difference can they truly achieve? Even banning clubs from European or international football would simply make martyrs of their fans and no doubt heighten their hostilities towards opponents.
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Change takes years. It was widely believed that racism had been eradicated from English football, but over the past few years, and especially the past few months the issue has dominated the sport. It Is clear to see there is a glass ceiling, especially in management and coaching positions, and there are still groups of fans who find hissing at White Hart Lane acceptable behaviour. It would be premature to suggest England has gotten over its problems of the 1970s and 1980s. West Ham fans during the weekend’s London derby with Spurs sung “Viva Lazio” and “Can we stab you every week” just days after the attack in Rome.
Change must come from within; it cannot be thrust upon a subject from a higher power. And with the Serbian FA and Lazio football club wiping their hands clean of the allegations held against them, even denying and defending the actions of their fans, cultural improvement does not seem to be on the horizon.
English hooliganism was not successfully tackled until the early 1990s, where clubs worked in tandem with the police to effectively stamp out violence between rival fans. With the case of Italy, the Ultras have made football stadiums fortresses to ambush Italian police, and there are constant skirmishes between violent groups of fans and Italian officers away from the grounds and throughout the towns and cities.
If the Italian authorities cannot contain the Ultras, what chance do UEFA really have?