D Tuesday, November 17, 2009 METROSPORT 23 McLaren move? Button formula one All-German team not in our plans Mercedes Mercedes say they will not tell ross Brawn which drivers to sign now they have taken a controlling stake in his title-winning team. ross Brawn is the boss of the team and it would not be smart for us to dictate to him anything like a driver decision, dieter Zetsche, chairman of Mercedes parent, daimler, said yesterday. We will talk and listen to what he wants to do and typically agree. Brawn won both titles this year with Britains Jenson Button taking the drivers crown while Brazilian team-mate rubens Barrichello won two races. Barrichello has since joined Williams while Button has yet to agree a new deal and has been talking to Mercedes-powered McLaren, who already have 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton and will retain their engine partnership with the German manufacturer. Nico rosberg looks sure to join Brawn as one of their drivers, with speculation that the team could have an all- German line-up with Nick Heidfeld available as his team-mate now that BMW have left the sport. clearly, Mercedes have been planning for some time to buy into Brawn and of course they are looking for two German drivers, former team owner turned pundit eddie Jordan told the BBc. so if thats a German team, that opens the door for Jenson to go somewhere like McLaren and creating this wonder team of British stars. Mercedes motorsport vice- president Norbert Haug said in a conference call that such talk was wide of the mark. This will be an international team Mercedes is a global player, he said. If you look back in our history, we very often have been criticised for not having a German driver so we were always open and we took the driver decision always together with McLaren. And this will be the same in the future. We want to have the best ones and we definitely do not want to have the pure German team or whatever. It is an international silver Arrows team. Jim Jefferies admits he is flattered to be linked with the scotland job but refused to reveal whether he was interested in succeeding George Burley, who was sacked yesterday. Burley was axed after just 22 months in charge in the wake of saturdays humiliating 3-0 friendly defeat in Wales. Now Kilmarnock boss Jefferies is the firm favourite to take over, having been touted as a successor to Burley even before yesterdays announcement. The 58-year-old former falkirk and Hearts manager said: ive been linked before with the position. i never comment on that. i have been linked and [it is] very flattering. The scottish fA acted quickly after the Tartan Army turned on Burley in Cardiff. sfA chief Gordon smith said: The decision was taken after a meeting with the board of directors and, subsequently, the national coach. The board was in unanimous agreement. it should be stressed the decision was not a direct consequence of saturdays unacceptable 3-0 defeat to Wales but, rather, a realisation the expectations of the supporters, the scottish fA and George himself were not being met. Burley added: i would like to express my thanks to my backroom team, the sfA, the players and the Tartan Army for the support they have shown throughout my tenure. Burley sacked after Scotland defeat Out: Burley SoCCer wOrLd cup pLay-Off SCotland Our task remains the same, insists TardelliBy david kennedy rePUBLiC of ireland assistant boss marco Tardelli insists nothing has changed after his sides first-leg de- feat by france. irelands World Cup dream is on the verge of dying after Nicolas Anelkas goal gave france a 1-0 lead going into tomorrows second leg in Paris. Only a rare victory over a major team away from home will now see Giovanni Trapattonis men into next years fi- nals. But Tardelli claims the irish are composed ahead of the second leg which will decide their fate. Nothing has changed. We need to win in france. We needed to win here but sometimes these things happen, said Trapattonis No.2. We have no injuries and we have a very high morale. There are no prob- lems. We are ready for the next match. He added: After the french scored, we tried to draw the match. We had three or four big chances and maybe we will have chances again. it is possible to play well in france. The players are ready. in training they have been very strong, also psycho- logically. meanwhile, defender Kevin Kilbane hopes his side can turn the tables on france by making the stade de france a cauldron for the home side. The french crowd garnered a repu- tation for being fickle over the course of the qualifying campaign and that is something Hull left-back Kilbane be- lieves can work against Les Bleus. speaking to the BBC, Kilbane said: i was talking to the scout at Hull and he was at their last qualifying game. He told me that once they started creating chances it was fine but ini- tially, when things werent quite hap- pening for them, there was quite an atmosphere in the stadium and the players started feeling a little tension. Were hoping if we can contain them early on we can make it a bit of a cauldron for them. wing men: aiden McGeady, right, and Liam Lawrence in training yesterday at Malahide Picture: Sportsfile premier league GOALs from eamon Zayed and robert Bayly, in a dramatic finale, sealed sporting fingals place in the Premier Division to relegate Bray after five years in the top flight. fAi Cup finalists sporting punished an error by Bray keeper Chris OConnor on 59 minutes, when he rushed off his line only to lose the ball to Gary ONeill, to take the lead on the night through former Bray player Zayed. John flood lobbed Darren Quigley on 83 minutes to give Bray hope before keeper OConnor remarkably headed Bray in front on the night from Gary mcCabes 91st minute corner. But sporting hit back immediately when Bayly tapped in. rOBIN van Persie claims he will be massaged with human placenta in a bid to speed up his recovery from ankle ligament damage. The Arsenal striker will travel to serbia to work with a doctor recommended to him by PsV eindhoven striker danko Lazovic. I will fly to the Balkans to meet with a female doctor who helped Lazovic, said Holland striker van Persie. she is vague about her methods but I know she massages you using fluid from a placenta. Im going to try. It cannot hurt and if it helps, it helps. Robin hopes to Serb a purpose Fingal promoted in dramatic style Bray WdrS......2 Sp fingal ........2 (Sporting fingal win 4-2 on aggregate) league of ireland mArK HUGHes has rejected claims manchester Citys season would be regarded as a failure if they finish outside the top four. After a short break in Abu Dhabi and a meeting with owner sheikh mansour, Hughes (pictured) is now ready to get Citys season back on track. The Blues in sixth spot ahead of this weekends trip to Liverpool after five successive draws. A top-four finish and Champions League qualification have been put forward as the minimum target for Hughes this season, but he said: With the resources we have, people are saying the top four is the minimum requirement. That is actually not the case. What we are looking for is progress and i would defy anyone to say we have not made progress from where we were last year. Top four failure not a flop, says Hughes index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html