Roberto Mancini admitted he almost signed Tevez for Inter

Roberto Mancini last night saw Carlos Tevez send Manchester City into the top four of the Barclays Premier League and then revealed he tried to sign him three years ago.

Tevez scored a hat-trick at Eastlands as City crushed a woeful Blackburn side 4-1 to edge above Tottenham into fourth place.

City's Argentina striker has scored 15 goals since moving from Manchester United in the summer and is currently on a sensational run of 11 in nine games.

Last night Mancini paid tribute to Tevez and then revealed he tried to buy him when he was manager of Inter Milan in Italy.

Mancini said: 'I used to watch Tevez on the television and I always thought he was a great player.

'I was very interested in signing him but it was impossible as he was playing for Manchester United.

'He has played very well for me and it's great that he scored three goals tonight.

'I wish the Premier League season would end today with us in this position but we can't really afford to look at the table at this moment. We will look at the table in two months.'

Last night's victory means that Mancini has won each of the four games his team have played since he took over as manager from Mark Hughes just before Christmas.

The Italian will rarely enjoy a more comfortable evening against a Blackburn team who seemed to have one eye at least on Thursday night's Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Aston Villa.

The only negative for Mancini was that his team conceded the first goal of his reign, and he said: 'It was a gift because we lost concentration for 10 minutes. I wasn't very happy.'

Mancini last night revealed that City striker Emmanuel Adebayor will be given as much time as he needs to recover mentally from the atrocities he has witnessed with the Togo squad at the Africa Cup of Nations.

New Bolton boss Owen Coyle insists: I had to leave Burnley nto about the money

Such has been the acrimonious nature of Owen Coyle’s switch from Burnley to Bolton, it was perhaps inevitable that his first day in charge at the Reebok Stadium would be spent looking backwards rather than forwards.
The front page of the local paper in Burnley greeted Coyle’s decision to leave with a headline that said only: ‘Betrayed’. A billboard near Turf Moor, meanwhile, has been smeared with the word ‘Judas’.

Start again: Coyle is back at the club he served as a player

It has been an emotional week for Coyle and as he began work 20 miles away on Monday it was time for Bolton’s new manager to offer his reasons for leaving.
Coyle said: ‘One thing I want to get straight is the suggestion that I have come for the money.
‘I’ve never been motivated by personal money in my life. I came into the club at Burnley on one of the bottom three Championship salaries and worked my socks off as I said I would do.   

‘If it was financial I would have taken the job I was offered at Celtic in the summer, which would have been double the salary
and everything else. I would have jumped through hoops because that was the team I
supported as a boy.
‘But I want to be involved at the highest level and the highest level in world football is the Premier League. I want to take this football club forward and take them on.’
Coyle admitted that there had been some tears as he said his farewells at Turf Moor last week. Under his guidance, Burnley had returned to the top flight of English football after a 33-year absence and many people believed the Scot had a responsibility to keep them there.  

Asked if he would feel some regret if Burnley are relegated, he hinted that he would. But he insisted that the restraints at the club were such that a successful season there would still not have been rewarded with greater financial flexibility.
He said: ‘The job is done in a sense that the football club had been nowhere near the Premier League for 33 years. I would say that at Bolton I have an infrastructure and set-up that is perhaps five or 10 years ahead of what I am leaving behind.’
Coyle suggested that only Manchester United and Chelsea are operating on a different financial level to his new club. But if he believes that then he has not been playing close enough attention to what the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa have been up to in recent times.
At the Reebok, performances are still viewed in the context of what Sam Allardyce achieved in twice taking the club into Europe in 2005 and two years later. That remains the required standard.

In the long term, keeping Bolton in the Premier League will not be good enough and Coyle’s stated aim of moving the club forward while playing more attractive football certainly seems ambitious.
He said: ‘We have to make sure we get enough points to stay up. Having done that I believe there are creative players at the club and we will be looking to get the best out of them.’
Coyle begins his reign with a home game against Arsenal on Sunday but it is the meeting with Burnley at the Reebok a fortnight today that stands out.
He is prepared. ‘At this moment, I’d expect Burnley fans to come and vent their frustration, but I hope that’s not the case,’ he said. ‘Whatever the game brings up, I will just have to deal with it as I always do.
‘Whoever used the word Judas, be it websites or newspapers, I can’t do anything about it. The local newspaper had a front page with a headline that said: “Betrayed”. If that’s how people want to portray it, that’s up to them. But I can look in the mirror and know I haven’t done anything wrong.'

Jose Mourinho to battle former club Chelsea and Manchester United for £15 Benfica winger Angel di Maria

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho will battle Manchester United and Chelsea for  £15million-rated Benfica star Angel di Maria.

United have offered £12m plus winger Nani for the Argentinian, while Chelsea sporting director Frank Arnesen has been to see him in action.
But Inter also watched him on Sunday and are now preparing an offer.

Tug of war: Benfica's Angel Di Maria (right) is wanted by several clubs across Europe

Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira is determined to keep him, but says they will not stand in his way if a rival club meets his release clause in his contract.

Vieira said: 'The player will be allowed to leave in the transfer window if another club pays the clause in his contract.

'We need to know what the offer will be and then make a decision on which is the best value for the club.'

Roberto Mancini warns underachieving striker Robinho

Even if it has been in less than perfect English, Roberto Mancini has said all the right things about some of his more temperamental players since arriving to manage Manchester City. Every member of the squad is important, he says.

Nevertheless, actions often speak louder than words in football and on Monday the Italian’s decision to leave the Brazilian Robinho on the substitutes’ bench at the start of play said everything about the early impressions he has formed at Eastlands.

Robinho, remember, is still the Barclays Premier League’s most expensive player and one of its most highly paid. The former Real Madrid player cost £32.5million and earns £160,000 a week.

He is, however, maddeningly ineffective on a stage that demands persistent and constructive effort from all those lucky enough to appear on it.

Get the message: Mancini (right) relays information to Robinho

Last season his contribution was limited strictly to home games while this season — one admittedly interrupted by serious injury — he hasn’t even managed that.

When Mancini took charge of his first City game, at home to Stoke City on Boxing Day, much was made of the fact that Craig Bellamy was not in the team.
Given that City had another, harder, game at Wolves two days later that particular decision was not actually so significant.

However, the decision to leave Robinho among the understudies on Monday most certainly was. Against Stoke, Robinho was City’s worst player. Against Blackburn Rovers we were given a true insight into Mancini’s mind.
Those who played with the City manager at club and international level in Italy whispered when he arrived at Eastlands that Robinho would not be his cup of espresso.
Mancini, by all accounts, likes players who can play but who also understand the value of team ethics.
Midway through the second half last night, Robinho illustrated that perhaps he still doesn’t get it.

Shortly before he was introduced in the 68th minute, he was asked to warm up. He did so begrudgingly and sat back down. Mancini told him to do it again. He did, with a long and exaggerated shake of the head.

It was playground behaviour from a player who considers himself to be a world star and a cameo that will have told Mancini all he needs to know, if indeed he hadn’t sussed it out already.

His predecessor Mark Hughes knew all about Robinho’s limitations, too. The problem was that the Welshman felt compelled to pick him.

Mancini clearly does not feel that need and it was clear from the outset that he had made the right decision.

Lightweight: The Brazilian (left) failed to make an impact when he came on

In Bellamy and Carlos Tevez, City have forwards who fully understand what is required and they can expect to be central to Mancini’s plans, as indeed they were last night.

With the Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz not fully recovered from an ankle injury, there was a rare start for the Zimbabwe forward Benjani here. But it was Bellamy and Tevez who carried much the greater threat.

Bellamy will always trouble defenders with his direct running. He is an early candidate for Player of the Year. And not just at City.
Tevez, meanwhile, has finally rediscovered the confidence he never seemed to have fully as a Manchester United player. Maybe it is the responsibility he is thriving on. Or maybe it is what comes with playing regular games.
His hat-trick on Monday was superb and for Mancini it must be pleasing to see one of his star players blossoming. Even if others can’t. Or won’t.

Chelsea lead Arsenal and Manchester City in chase for Racing Santander's starlet Sergio Canales

Chelsea are chasing Spain's latest young superstar Sergio Canales and hope to have a deal in place before the end of the month.

The 18-year-old attacking midfielder from Racing Santander has shot to prominence in recent weeks with four goals in his last three games, including two in the club's surprise 2-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday.
He is out of contract in the summer but has a clause which automatically gives him a one-year extension should he play 450 minutes of football.

Hotshot: Racing Santader's Sergio Canales is in hot scoring form

That time is up over his next three games and a clutch of clubs are frantically talking to Santander in the hope of sealing his signature over the coming weeks.
Canales's father and agent Angel would prefer him to stay in Spain but there is a complication because another La Liga club, Deportivo La Coruna, own 50 per cent of his rights from a deal between the clubs in 2006 and they want to cash in.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal and Manchester City have all shown interest but Chelsea are at the fore should they get the go-ahead to trade.

Togo Officially disqualified from African Cup of Nations

The Africa Cup of Nations descended into farce in Angola on Monday with grief-stricken players from Togo requesting to rejoin the tournament after a three-day period of national mourning and accusing the organisers of being ‘ridiculous’ for rejecting the plea.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) were condemned for officially disqualifying Emmanuel Adebayor and his team-mates for failing to show for Monday's game against Ghana at the Estadio Chimandela in war-torn Cabinda.
Togo’s absence marked a poignant end to their ill-fated campaign after Friday’s gun attack on their team bus left two members of their party and a coach driver dead.
Confusion surrounded Togo’s request to rejoin the tournament after escorting their murdered colleagues back to their homeland on Sunday.
While sports minister Christophe Tchao said a formal request had been made to CAF, the country’s prime minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo denied any such request had been made.

Back home: Togo players arrives in Lome on Sunday

The players clearly wanted to return — with the belief being that, out of respect for the three men killed in Friday’s terror attack, their opponents would agree to having the fixtures rescheduled — and striker Thomas Dossevi described the CAF decision as ‘serious and ridiculous’.
‘It would have been simple for us to come back and play on January 21,’ Dossevi said of their opening clash against Ghana. ‘I think Ghana would have agreed to that.
‘It is a serious and ridiculous decision. Everybody wanted us to be here and play the Africa Cup of Nations.’
Emotions were running high as three coffins were carried off Togo’s presidential jet, with players arriving wearing the bandages that have been used to dress their wounds.
Kodjovi Obilale, the reserve goalkeeper who was shot twice in the lower back, remains in hospital in Johannesburg.
In honour of their coach driver as well as assistant coach Amalete Abalo and press officer Stan Ocloo — all murdered by Cabinda separatists in the machine-gun attack — the players said they wanted to return to the tournament once a short period of national mourning had been observed.
Adebayor, the Manchester City striker and Togo’s captain, told reporters at Cabinda airport that Togo might return and attempt to play their Group B fixtures but a senior CAF official said it would be impossible if they missed Monday’s game.
‘We have not heard anything official from them,’ said the spokesman. ‘They have never officially told us they are not going to play or they are going to play. We are only hearing from them in the media.

Tragedy: The body of Togolese assistant Amalete Abalo arrives back in the coutnry

‘The referee has been ordered to start the match and if Togo are not there, then they will be declared to have withdrawn and be disqualified.’
Houngbo said the tragedy was ‘a big loss for Togo’ and ‘a sad day for Togolese football’ before declaring that ‘they will be fittingly buried and deservingly honoured’.
But he denied that an official request had been made for the Togo team to return to Angola for their group games.
‘I do believe there is confusion,’ he told the BBC. ‘The information you have got, I’m afraid, might not be the most accurate.
‘We have simply withdrawn our team, it is not a matter of withdrawing for the mourning period. The information that has been circulated on some websites saying the players are just back for three days’  mourning and will then go back playing is quite wrong.
‘We withdrew our team on the basis they have been the victim of a terrorist attack.’

Houngbo did, however, turn on the CAF, insisting the decision to withdraw was not made in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy but after support from the tournament organisers was not forthcoming.
‘Management did not give us enough assurance,’ he said. ‘We would leave our team being exposed to similar risks. Therefore, we decided to pull our team out of the competition against our will.
‘We would have hoped that one could have serene discussion with the host country, with the confederation, to assess what has happened, assess what one has to do.
‘We received no co-operation from the confederation in terms of any kind of assessment.
'Our analysis is that they want it [the shooting] to be seen as a non-event and the show must go on as planned; there mustn’t be an official change and Togo is causing problems to the festival.’
The decision to pull out was made by the government, and Houngbo insisted there was no alternative.
‘What if something happened again?’ he said. ‘What is our responsibility? It is a matter of taking seriously the safety of our people. It is not my pleasure we withdraw.
'We don’t want to play into the hands of the terrorists, but we have a responsibility to protect our people.’
On Monday Angolan police announced they had arrested two members of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda in relation to the attack.

Kenwyne Jones is worth £40m, Steve Bruce tells Stoke and Birmingham

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has claimed Birmingham and Stoke could not afford to buy Kenwyne Jones, even if he wanted to sell the Trinidad and Tobago striker.

But after seeing off bids from his Barclays Premier League rivals last week, Bruce has admitted the centre forward is providing him with a big challenge.

Bruce inherited the former Southampton star when he arrived at the Stadium of Light and he has seen the frustrations which drove Roy Keane and Ricky Sbragia to distraction.

And a year after Sunderland turned down a £10million Spurs offer, Bruce has rejected similar bids from Birmingham boss Alex McLeish and Stoke's Tony Pulis.

Bruce, who has taken Jones, 25, and the rest of his squad to Portugal ahead of Saturday's clash at Chelsea, has been in talks with Schalke frontman Kevin Kuranyi but is keen to hold on to Jones, too.

Bruce said: 'Everybody's got their price, whether you're Steven Gerrard or Cristiano Ronaldo, and if something out there blows your brains.

'But with no disrespect to Stoke or Birmingham, can they afford him? I very much doubt it. It's not just the fee but wages, all the rest of it. I just can't see it.

'On his day, you can look at Kenwyne and say he's worth £40m, then on another day you'll think, "Come on". That's Kenwyne.

'He tests your skills as a manager. He's a big, genuine, nice lad. It's always the challenge - to get the best out of him.'

Former Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink lined up to replace Ciro Ferrara at Juve

Russia national coach Guus Hiddink is being lined up to replace struggling Juventus boss Ciro Ferrara.

The former Chelsea manager is among a number of managers the Italian club want to speak to following their 3-0 home loss at the hands of a David Beckham inspired AC Milan on Sunday.

Hiddink is the front-runner for the post and is ready to discuss his future after returning from a winter vacation in Kenya.

One of the lads: Guus Hiddink led Chelsea to FA Cup glory last season

The 63-year-old is considering whether to stay on as Russia boss for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, while he has also been linked with a return to Chelsea as technical director.

The humiliating loss to AC Milan was Juventus third defeat in four games and leaves them 12 points behind pacesetters Inter Milan.

Fans in Turin showed their displeasure by lighting a fire in stands which stayed ablaze through most of the second half.

But Ferrara said: 'I don't feel as though my job is at risk. I am instead very focused on what we must do in order to change this negative trend.

'I will accept any decision but as I have said before and I reiterate, I will not leave this ship. It's a very difficult time for us.'

Juventus have given away nine goals in their last four games and former defender Ferrara understands the fans' frustration.

He added: 'It is us that have to change things around although right now, we are all hit by sadness.
'I just want to recreate the spirit that there was at the start of the season.'

Italy boss Marcello Lippi, who has denied he plans to return to the club in an executive role after the World Cup, said: 'They're dealing with several injuries but they're also going through a moment of psychological insecurity.

'I don't know the necessary measures that need to be taken but there are people within the club up to that task.'

 

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba maintains the African Nations Cup must continue

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba maintains the African Nations Cup must continue, even though the machine gun attack on the Togo team bus has left everyone 'shattered'.

Togo's Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo has denied the country want to re-enter the tournament in Angola, having pulled out after three members of the group were left dead last Friday.

Concerns have been raised over the safety of the team's remaining, many of whom have top European stars in their squad.

But Drogba remained defiant and appeared in the Ivory Coast's opening rubber against Burkina Faso on Monday.

He said: 'We are ready, but the events of Friday have left us shattered. I have spoken with (Togo and Manchester City striker) Emmanuel Adebayor and it was a difficult situation for them.

'We have to show solidarity with them, though, and support the decision they have taken.

'We are all sad to see them leave the biggest competition for African players, but that is life.'

BREAKING NEWS! Emmanuel Adebayor abandon's African Cup of Nations

Manchester City claim Emmanuel Adebayor has left the African Cup of Nations, although his Togo side have not officially pulled out.

Togo's federation said it will consult with players before deciding whether to quit the African Nations Cup tournament after their bus was attacked in Angola, its head of communications told Reuters.

But the players appeared set on leaving, and City announced that Adebayor had already left Angola.

The team's spokesman and an assistant coach died on Saturday after being wounded in Friday's attack on the team bus in the Cabinda region of host Angola. The driver was also killed.

Messan Attelou said the officials from the Togolese delegation were heading to the team hotel.

"We are going now to see and talk to the players and then make a decision," he said.

But Manchester City said Adebayor "is on his way back from Angola".

"The lines of communication between the club and Emmanuel have been open all day, we have spoken to his advisers and his girlfriend and he is coming home," City spokesman Simon Heggie said.

And Moustapha Salifou, who plays for the Premier League club Aston Villa, was quoted as saying on his club's website that "We all want to go home to Togo".

"We must wait, however, so that we can speak to our federation president and some people from CAF and let them know that we don't want to play," he said.

"No one wants to play. We just want to go home ... We can't play in these circumstances and we want to leave for home today."