Thatcher faces second inquiry
Ben Thatcher, the Manchester City defender, is at the centre of a second police inquiry into an alleged elbowing incident. Already being investigated by Greater Manchester Police over the challenge that left Pedro Mendes unconscious in City’s Barclays Premiership encounter with Portsmouth on August 23, Thatcher now faces an inquiry by Lancashire police after they received a complaint from Ralph Welch, 19, relating to an incident in a reserve match between City and Blackburn Rovers in February.
A spokesman for Lancashire police said: “We are investigating the matter.” Thatcher faces an FA hearing on September 12 over the Mendes incident, for which he has been fined six weeks’ wages and suspended for six matches by City.
Heavy price
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Mido will be fined if his weight rises above a level set by Tottenham Hotspur. The Egypt forward, who signed from AS Roma for about £3.5 million this summer, has lost more than 1½st since last season and is to be helped by a Brazilian physician. “It won’t affect my power,” Mido said. “It’s easier to keep the weight off when you are not playing games because when you are playing you have to eat certain food to give you the power for your muscles and your body to play 90 minutes.”
Murty gets stung
Graeme Murty, the Reading captain, missed Scotland’s wins against the Faeroe Isles and Lithuania to rest a slight hamstring strain so he would be fit for the home game against Manchester City on Monday night. However, his best-laid plans were in tatters after a bizarre incident in training yesterday. He was using a bungee wire during a running exercise when the line snapped and caught him on his left knee, which needed two stitches. “It was a real stinger,” Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, said.
Rosicky warning
Tomas Rosicky has said that Arsenal must start taking their chances. The midfield player started in the 1-0 defeat away to Manchester City when Arsenal failed to capitalise on a number of goalscoring opportunities. “The problem that we have right now is that we miss so many chances,” he said. “We need to try to change that.”
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TV bung dispute
A football agent is seeking legal advice in an attempt to block the broadcast of a BBC Panorama programme that shows him naming Premiership managers who have allegedly taken transfer bungs. The programme has no broadcast date as yet and last night a BBC spokesman said: “We are not commenting on work still in progress.”