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Morning Ticker: Ronaldo quashes City talk, Ashley selling Newcastle and Warner’s response to Keane

Cristiano_ronaldo_7_ap

When Manchester City’s new ownership group took over, it laid out a laundry list of world stars it intended to buy in the coming months. The list included none other than world player of the year, and Manchester United star, Cristiano Ronaldo.

While flattered, Ronaldo is having none of it.

"No way do I see myself in the shirt of another Manchester team," Ronaldo said.

Ronaldo could make his season debut for Manchester United against Villarreal on Tuesday. He has been sidelined after having ankle surgery during the summer.

Ashley set to sell Newcastle

With Newcastle fans calling for his departure, and the club in shambles, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has put the club up for sale.

Fans protested in force last weekend during the team’s recent loss to Hull City at St. James’ Park. No word on potential buyers, but Dubai International Capital, the same group once linked to a bid for Liverpool, has denied reports that it is prepared to bid on Newcastle.

Warner fires back at Keane

This story is a few days old but extremely entertaining nonetheless. You may recall Sunderland manager Roy Keane’s response to Jack Warner’s criticisms of Keane for calling back Dwight Yorke, thus preventing him from playing for Trinidad & Tobago against the United States.

Well, Warner found time to fire back.

"A player’s greatest honor is to represent his country in spite of the fact that you chose to walk away from yours during the 2002 World Cup after publicly abusing your manager, an indictment that you will no doubt be proud of up to today. Poor Sunderland," Warner said in a written response to Keane’s comments.

WOW.

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That’s all for now. Check back in to SBI today with updates on the MLS Roster Freeze deadline, Americans Abroad and other posts throughout the day.

For now, share your thoughts on these stories, and any other stories from this morning or the weekend, in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. mmmikey- “the national teams (and players to an extent) need to be more respectful of the clubs. after all, they depend on the club to train, develop and maintain the skills and fitness of the players they rely on and then essentially take them on loan for games”

    this is something i see BB doing well… with monaco and villareal putting down an investment in both Adu and jozy, i bet they are glad not to see their investments go off and play the likes of Cuba and Guat…. and they should be more understanding if/when we call up against the Hex’s

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  2. I think the kompany situation was a good example of how a bad situation can be resolved quite easily. HSV and Belgium came to an agreement that Kompany should return after a particular point in the olympic tourney.. Kompany disobeyed and tried to pull a fast one on HSV, only to have the Belgian officials set him straight and make him honor the agreement. By that time the club-player relationship had soured, but it showed how quickly these disputes can be settled if 2 of the three parties got together and called BS on the third.

    If Yorke came out and publicly stated the facts according to him, I bet either Warner or Keane would slink off to a corner in a hurry (Well.. maybe that’s asking for a LITTLE too much). Trouble is, usually one of the three parties (the player) is too busy keeping his head down.

    I guess the players DO realize who pays their cheques when push comes to shove. 🙂

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  3. this is a sketchy subject, but i thought the spain-garbajosa-raptors situation was an interesting example of WHY teams are worried.

    garbo joined the raptors and formed an integral part of a playoff team. he went down late in the season to a gruesome leg fracture. despite the raptors and doctors feeling that he needed rest to properly heal, the spanish national team managed to find a doctor (from spain of course) that gave garbo the all clear to play in an important tournament during the summer. once the summer was over and garbo returned to the raptors, they found that his recovery was a disaster and had multiple issues because he returned to the court way too early. eventually the raptors bought out his contract, as the relationship between player and team had soured completely.

    in nba circles, it was unheard of. a player putting the welfare of his national team above their nba sugar-daddy. most felt it was unfair, to leave your teammates and organization in a tough spot just so he could play a bit role for spain on a wonky leg.

    in football, this is normal, and the reverse happens.. players will risk the success of the team that pays their wages for national glory. the international touraments are more glorious than the domestic achievements in football..

    if you have found yourself on the other side of the fence (like i was as a raptors fan) you begin to understand where the clubs are coming from. you would feel hugely betrayed if a player always found themselves somehow fit enough to play for their national team, while leaving his club hanging. remember, these managers jobs depend on the results of their club, not on how many of their players play for their national teams.

    as in most situations, no one side should take the blame. the national teams (and players to an extent) need to be more respectful of the clubs. after all, they depend on the club to train, develop and maintain the skills and fitness of the players they rely on and then essentially take them on loan for games. the club sides on the other hand, need to be more respectful of the players wishes, for it is the players that make the club, and not the staff. having the best coach and sporting director in the world will not score goals, and alienating a player will cause everyone to lose in the end. of course, a player should also respect the club that trains and pays them.. but wouldn’t you know it.. those darn players sometimes get a big head (*cough*).

    this working relationship between club, player and country is quite workable.. until either a national team, player, or club decide to pull a fast one on the other. usually because they view themselves, the player, or their team to be more important than the other parties (warner.. keane.. hmmm who is more arrogant??).

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  4. Al17- if i recall Yorke hasnt played for a month now for Sunderland… that would hardly be deemed as a sudden injury…. and he played against Guat, only seeing something like 20 min??

    credibility or no, i think Keane was well in his right to call him a clown…

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  5. “A player’s greatest honor is to represent his country..” -Warner

    I guess it’s such an honor that it makes it ok too try to screw the players out of their due pay promised to them. This guy is so hypocritical in his response. He’s riiped off his country sooooo much money and he’s ripping Keane for not playing for his country. Which is worse?

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  6. I guess Roy Keane just learned a lesson about throwing stones from glass houses.

    Warner’s an ass, no doubt, but his comeback was a definite winner.

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  7. Wow, who exactly do you pull for in a battle between a criminal like Jack Warner, and one of the worlds biggest tools in Roy Keane. I’m hoping they both lose!!

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  8. yorke wasnt on the bench because a) hes not a big part of sunderlands plans this year…and b) keane was pissed at him for even playing the weekend qualifier…he shouldve let yorke play if he wanted…hes on his last legs anyway…let him get a lil TNT glory

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  9. Dwight Yorke was not a starter nor on the bench for the 1-1 tie with Wigan on 13 Sept. Reason would dictate that he is hurt or why would he be recalled and not even get the bench?

    On the other hand it could just be a set up to save him from the sure defeat T&T was to face in the US.

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  10. wasnt Yorke injured and couldnt suit up for Sunderland and yet is expected to suit up and possibly play for T&T…

    im sorry but when you’ve invested money into someone and they are “injured” they shouldnt be called up nor should they play for their country… thats a sure fired way to get yourself canned… if you are too hurt to play for the club thats paying you then you should be too hurt to dress and rep for your country…

    and i stand by the fact that T&T would STILL have lost, perhaps not by the amount they did, but they would have lost regardless….

    Posted by: brett | September 15, 2008 at 11:37 AM

    I completely disagree with you. It’s not uncommon for clubs to pull the he’s injured crap only to trot the same player out a few days later – Chelsea was notorious for this crap under Mourinho. It happens alot more than many of you would like to believe and throughout the world. If T&T needs him, then they have every right to call him and check him out for themselves before making a decision regarding whether or not a player should play.

    Keane abandoned Ireland at the wrong time, he could have done so much earlier but he didn’t. His actions doesn’t surprise me. I’m not a Warner fan by any means but I’m with Jack Warner on this one. Keane should keep his mouth shut on this issue, he has no credibility when it comes to such matters.

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  11. wasnt Yorke injured and couldnt suit up for Sunderland and yet is expected to suit up and possibly play for T&T…

    im sorry but when you’ve invested money into someone and they are “injured” they shouldnt be called up nor should they play for their country… thats a sure fired way to get yourself canned… if you are too hurt to play for the club thats paying you then you should be too hurt to dress and rep for your country…

    and i stand by the fact that T&T would STILL have lost, perhaps not by the amount they did, but they would have lost regardless….

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  12. Here’s my take, though it’s just an educated guess.

    Dwight Yorke abandoned his national team for so long–he’s played for them for NINETEEN (19) years and had only 60 caps–that he is reluctant to retire now that he is finally beloved by his national team fans again, especially after finally playing in a world cup.

    I’m willing to bet that Yorke is ready to retire internationally but doesn’t want to deal with that backlash. Him and Roy Keane are former teammates and close friends. Keane is no p***y, he’s not afraid of Warner.

    It isn’t that insane to think Keane is sticking up for Yorke, getting his friend some more rest rather than Yorke pulling out of the squad. This way Yorke can still play for Trinidad when he feels he is healthy enough to do so, and he doesn’t have to face the ire of the fans.

    Given Yorke’s long history of not giving two craps about his national team, this scenario would not be as outlandish as it might seem to anyone reading it.

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  13. Doug, there’s a big difference between AIG and XL. While XL actually went belly up, AIG is the world’s largest insurance company and is trying to secure the government money to help keep its credit rating at a certain level in order to protect itself from future trouble. While it’s not good news for AIG as a company, I’m not sure if the company’s troubles are close to trickling down and impacting the jersey sponsorship.

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  14. A.S., the initial reasoning for Yorke returning to Sunderland was an injury, so that covers the club. Yorke could blow it all up by revealing that he wasn’t injured but he’s probably trying to save his club job at this point.

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  15. Ives, Man U shirt sponsor AIG wants a gov’t bailout of 44 billion dollars. What effects, if any, would this have on the financial and ownership fronts. Are we looking at a West Ham situation. Their sponsors are broke and they had black boxes over their shirt sponsor yesterday

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  16. Here’s what I don’t understand – why was Keane allowed to prevent Yorke from playing? I thought that clubs were obligated to release players for international fixtures on international fixture dates? Or am I mistaken?

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  17. Warner may be a jerk…but he’s absolutely right.

    I don’t understand how Keane’s reputation surveyed leaving Ireland in the lurch. They had a great Cup run with two fantastically in form forwards (the other keane and Duff). Losing “Keano” in the middle of the park after his hissy fit cost Ireland a shot at seriously contending.

    As for today, Keane’s arrogance in demanding club over country is typical of everything that threatens the world game. The attitude of the super clubs is sickening, demanding that their “Brand Name” is more important than national identity. His Man U hangover is particularly unfortunate – it’s a shame that the people of T & T have their national pride play second fiddle to a third rate Premier club.

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  18. A better link for Ashley’s statement about selling the club is his release sent out thru official club channels and online here:

    http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1392670,00.html

    There’s also a row developing with Alan Shearer that just makes Ashley even less popular in the NorthEast (if that’s possible):

    http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1393018,00.html

    and

    http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15092008/4/newcastle-deny-shearer-sacking.html

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  19. While I agree Jack Warner is a total tool bag… that was about the funniest and best comeback I have heard in football in a long time…

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