By: Skip Bandele
Managing on
WHILE THE Scottish FA continues its search for a successor to Walter Smith, the ex-national manager’s predecessor at Rangers, Paul Le Guen, is already back in the game. The highly regarded Frenchman has been snapped up by Paris Saint-Germain, a club he represented as a player for seven seasons during the 1990s. Another former Scotland boss, Berti Vogts, has signed on with Nigeria until 2010.
Local action
KASPER SCHMEICHEL, the son of former Denmark and Manchester United goalkeeper Peter, has been sighted playing for Falkirk against Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach (0-3) in Lagos. Both teams are enjoying a short winter break in the Western Algarve, as are Lokomotiv Moscow and Grasshoppers Zurich, who took on local clubs Portimonense and Silves as well as a GNR side over the weekend at Penina and Alvor.
Down and out
SEBASTIAN DEISLER, one of the greatest talents to emerge from German football during the last 10 years, has announced his retirement at the age of 27. The exciting midfielder made his Bundesliga debut in 1998 as an 18-year-old, but spent most of his subsequent playing career with Hetha Berlin and Bayern Munich suffering from injury and related depression. Capped 36 times by his country, Deisler underwent knee surgery on five different occasions before finally accepting his fate.
Hard line
TOTTENHAM’S NEXT Uefa Cup opponents, Feyenoord, have been thrown out of the competition subject to appeal by the European body’s disciplinary committee over violent fan behaviour during the group phase. Intended replacements Wisla Krakow, however, may also have problems making the tie following the dismissal of the Polish FA by its government. Such a move normally carries an automatic Fifa suspension with it, which also applies to the national side, one of Portugal’s Euro 2008 rivals.
