D Thursday, October 29, 2009 METROSPORT 23 Taylors Roy link Peter taylor has held talks with Ipswich boss roy Keane about joining the coaching staff at Portman road. Former Hull, Crystal Palace and england Under-21 manager taylor was sacked by Wycombe earlier this month and Keane is believed to want an experienced coach alongside him as he bids to turn around the tractor Boys winless start in the Championship. taylor said: roy and I have had a chat, a little chat, and thats as far as it has gone so far. Portsmouths turbulent sea- son has hit a new low after it was revealed the Premier League strugglers have been hit with a transfer embargo. the club were handed the sanc- tion on october 15 for falling be- hind in paying monies owed to other English clubs. the Premier League reportedly blocked manager Paul harts at- tempt to complete the emergency signing of free agent Eugen Bopp on monday because of the out- standing payments. A Premier League statement read: We have placed a player registration embargo on Port- smouth. the embargo was imposed on 15 october and it means the club will be unable to bring in any new players until further notice. the transfers that have resulted in the restriction are believed to be Lassana Diarras move from Arse- nal in 2008 and Glen Johnsons switch from Chelsea in 2007. Both players have since left Fratton Park, Diarra moving to real madrid and Johnson joining Liverpool. the worst-case scenario would see the transfer ban extend into the January window, a time when the club will be hoping to capture much-needed reinforcements. however, Portsmouth believe the embargo will be lifted far sooner. Director of communications Gary Double said: this concerns unpaid money to other clubs and it is in the process of being sorted. We are confident the situation will be sorted by the end of the week. It is an extraordinary twist to an already shambolic season that has seen Portsmouth lurch from one disaster to another. on the pitch they have made the worst start in Premier League his- tory, although they did manage to beat stoke 4-0 on tuesday to reach the Carling Cup quarter-finals. At boardroom level they have been struck by a farcical owner- ship saga that has seen saudi businessman Ali Al-Faraj become the latest figure cloaked in mys- tery to assume control. HULL were last night forced to deny reports they had sacked manager Phil Brown. A number of bookmakers, including Paddy Power and William Hill, had suspended betting on Brown being the next Premier League boss to leave his job. However, a club statement read: Contrary to media speculation the club can confirm that Phil Brown has not been sacked and remains the manager. Earlier, former Tigers striker Dean Windass called for Brown to be axed. Hull made a spectacular start to life in the Premier League last year but a dramatic loss of form in the second half of the season saw them only narrowly escape relegation. They are in the bottom three this term after bagging just eight points from ten games. And Windass, who left Hull in January said: Sometimes you need a fresh change. Phils done a fantastic job but its time that he should get moved on and bring somebody else in. Concerns were also raised about the clubs long-term financial position, stemming from accounts covering the year ending July 2008. In that 12 months the club made a loss of nearly 10million as they won promotion but the report revealed the club would need to make a surplus of 17m even if they stay up. Transfer ban piles on the misery for Pompey Hull move to quell Brown sack rumours Pressure: Brown By davId Kennedy City Cruz as Santa slays brave Scunny three and easy: Stephen Ireland curls in Citys opener against Scunthorpe after just three minutes SOCCER PremIer leagUe CaRling Cup Celtic Stew over League Cup exit Michael StewartS second-half penalty at Parkhead sent hearts past celtic and into the semi-finals of the co-operative insurance cup. hearts midfielder Stewart scored from the spot in the 58th minute after hoops left-back Danny Fox had tripped christian Nade inside the celtic box. Parkhead substitutes Paddy Mccourt and Georgios Samaras both hit the woodwork and the Greece international missed several chances before captain Stephen McManus was red carded for a wild lunge at andrew Driver with seconds remaining. FOOTBALLDigest Martinez denies Fergie outburst wiGaN boss roberto Martinez yesterday strenuously denied he suggested the Fa are afraid to punish Manchester United boss Sir alex Ferguson. the Spaniard (pictured) was reported to have claimed the Fa were almost apologising to Ferguson for sanctioning the Scot over his criticism of referee alan wileys fitness. But the latics manager insists he made no such comments. a statement released through the league Managers association said: roberto has categorically denied making the comments about Sir alex that have been attributed to him in a number of media reports. he has referred the matter to the league Managers association. Ferguson admitted an Fa charge of improper conduct over his riley comments. Meanwhile, the Fa have confirmed they are investigating reports of crowd disturbances at Uniteds carling cup tie at Barnsley on tuesday night. United fans are reported to have run amok through a concourse and ransacked a food kiosk. CARLING CUP FOURTH ROUND arsenal......... 2 liverpool ..... 1 Merida 19 insua 26 Bendtner 50 Chelsea........ 4 Bolton.......... 0 Kalou 15 Malouda 26, Deco 67 Drogba 89 man City ...... 5 Scunthorpe . 1 ireland 3, lescott 56 Forte 26 Santa cruz 28 tevez 71, Johnson 77 CO-OPERATIVE INSURANCE CUP QUARTER-FINALS Celtic............ 0 Hearts.......... 1 Stewart 58 RESultS CEltiC ....0 HEaRtS....... 1 man City: Given, Zabaleta, Kompany, lescott, Sylvinho, wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry (Johnson 72), ireland (weiss 59), tevez (Mwaruwari 79), Santa cruz. Scunthorpe: Murphy, Byrne, Jones (canavan 46), Mirfin, williams, Josh wright, Mccann (togwell 77), Oconnor (hooper 68), woolford, Forte, hayes. ref: Michael Oliver man City .............................5 SCuntHORpE.................1 Picture: Action Images ROQUE SANTA CRUZ netted his first goal for Manchester City as Mark Hughes side safely booked their place in the Carling Cup quarter-finals last night. The Paraguay striker headed home Pablo Zabaletas cross after 38 minutes of his full debut as City shrugged off the threat of a shock exit to their battling Championship opponents. The visitors brought more than 4,000 fans to Eastlands in the hope of an upset against their superstar- laden opponents. But their hopes looked dashed after just three minutes when Stephen Ireland connected with a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross to calmly slot past goalkeeper Joe Murphy. The last remaining Football League side in the competition briefly made things interesting when Jonathan Forte equalised with a well-taken, close-range strike. But Santa Cruz put the Premier League side back in front before Joleon Lescott made it 3-1 by nodding home a Wright- Phillips corner for his second goal in as many games. Carlos Tevez quelled any hope of an Iron fightback when he fired home from a Vlad Weiss cross before Michael Johnson wrapped up the victory with a 25-yard screamer. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html