El-Hadji Diouf reveals admiration for Gaddafi

El-Hadji Diouf: Admires Gaddaffi

Rangers star El-Hadji Diouf has told an Algerian magazine of his admiration for his "friend" Colonel Gaddafi.
And the controversial 30-year-old admitted that he feels sympathy for the murdering tyrant - because Libya's bloody civil war "must be very hard" for him.
Diouf said: "Gaddafi is a man I have always admired. I am telling the truth.
"I know him, and I know his son Saif as well. They are my friends.
"I do not honestly know what is really happening in Libya at the moment but it must be very hard for Gaddafi and his family.
"By the will of Allah, victory will go to the side that is in the right."

Diouf spoke as Gaddafi's forces continued to kill their own citizens by bombarding the besieged city of Misrata.
Senegalese Diouf is a major figure in African football and is believed to have encountered the Gaddafi clan several times over the years.
The Gaddafis' interest in the game is well-known.
Saif Gaddafi, the regime's chief defender since the revolution began, controlled a massive Libyan investment fund that bought shares in Italian giants Juventus.
And another of Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, had a brief but highly-publicised spell in Serie A with Perugia, joining the club in 2003.

Abramovich’s Chelsea adventure touching £1 billion

Abramovich: Chelsea has cost him £1 billion

New finanacial figures for Chelsea's holding company reveal that Abramovich’s total loans to underwrite the football club are rapidly closing in on £1 billion!

The accounts show that the Russian oligarch had already bankrolled the club to the tune of £740 million by the end of the 2009-10 season BEFORE investing a further £73 million on the double purchase of Fernando Torres and David Luiz in January.

The ever-increasing cost of his Chelsea adventure comes at an expensive time for the billionaire.

He has taken delivery of a £600 million super-yacht, Eclipse, and pledged to help fund the £1.25 billion makeover of Moscow's Gorky Park, including a modern art gallery for Ms Zhukova.

He also paid £25 million for a house in Chelsea's Cheyne Walk, his 11th property. The growing losses are mostly due to players' wages, which rose another £19.5 million, and transfer deals.

Fans have also had to pay spiralling ticket prices, with the best seats at Stamford Bridge costing £75. The cost of merchandise has also soared, with a club shirt costing £47.99.

Abramovich is thought to be the ninth richest person in Russia and the 53rd richest in the world, according to the 2011 Forbes list.

His decision to pay huge wages has created some of London's richest men, including Frank Lampard on £120,000 a week and John Terry on £150,000.

Figures for Chelsea's holding company show that the club was £77.8 million in the red last year - making a mockery of the former chief executive Peter Kenyon's prediction that Chelsea would break even by 2010!

Abramovich won't be able to recoup his losses by selling a car. His taste in vehicles is strangely modest with the most luxurious of his seven listed being a Mercedes S500L!

Foul-mouthed Rooney charged by FA after hat-trick tirade

Just days after the Premier League had promised a 'crackdown' on unacceptable behaviour, Wayne Rooney has been charged by the Football Association with "use of offensive, insulting and/or abusive language."

The charge follows his foul-mouthed tirade into a television camera, moments after completing his hat-trick at West Ham on Saturday.

The £250,000-a-week Manchester Utd star does, of course, have 'form' in this regard, having upset England fans during last summer's World Cup when he snarled into a television camera and verbally criticised them at the end of the dismal goalless draw with Algeria.

After completing his treble, Rooney bellowed an audible F-word expletive into a television camera as he celebrated. The game at was beamed around the world by Sky Sports and the incident prompted an on-air apology from the broadcaster.

Sadly, the broadcaster did not request a similar apology from Rooney himself when he was interviewed immediately after the match - Sky football is, after all, the place where egos are stroked, the brand is promoted and nobody is offended.
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has joined the long line of pundits and ex-officials who condemned the rant tonight, insisting that the 25-year-old deserved to be charged.

"Why do these young players have to be so angry with the world? I don't know why. They are getting hundreds of thousands of pounds a week."