The Mercedes F1 team has urged MICHAEL SCHUMACHER "to keep on fighting," as the former multiple F1 world champion continues to be treated for injuries in a French hospital following a skiing accident four weeks ago. The team tweeted a picture of the side of the new W05 car at Jerez bearing the message #KeepFightingMichael, "hoping to inspire their former driver to a full recovery" (CRASH, 1/27). ... The "cash-strapped" Fiji Rugby Union sacked coach INOKE MALE on Monday "in a money-saving move" less than a month before it starts its defense of the Pacific Rugby Cup. Male was one of five staff members dismissed in a restructuring that follows a damning Int'l Rugby Board review "which included the suspension of financial aid" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/27). ... Former Indian Premier League Commissioner LALIT MODI on Monday "expressed happiness" after the Board of Control for Cricket in India "conceded his victory in the Rajasthan Cricket Association presidential election but lamented the further delay in the official announcement of the result." Modi: "I am surprised that BCCI seemed to know the result before anyone else and before the court even pronounced it. But extremely happy that they think I have won" (PTI, 1/27). ... World Cup-winning former Brazil coach CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA has joined criticism of planning for the event in his native Brazil, warning that "the country is missing a chance to revamp shoddy infrastructure." Parreira told CBN, "We have lost a chance to show a different Brazil" (AFP, 1/27).
THE LONG HAUL: Arsenal Manager ARSENE WENGER "is to extend his contract." Wenger is in the final 12 months of his current contract. CEO IVAN GAZIDIS said, "Arsene will be extending [his stay] with us and at the right time we will make that announcement." Wenger, 64, has been in charge at the Emirates since '96. He is the longest-serving manager in the EPL (BBC, 1/27).
ECCLESTONE MAY FACE TAX BILL: F1 CEO
BERNIE ECCLESTONE has revealed that "he could face a tax demand for hundreds of millions of pounds as a result of lawsuits against him" in the U.K. and Germany. Ecclestone "will be put on trial" for allegedly paying a $44M bribe with his Bambino family trust to former BayernLB Chief Risk Officer
GERHARD GRIBKOWSKY. Ecclestone denies paying a bribe and claims that Gribkowsky "threatened to tell HMRC that he controlled Bambino," which he strongly denies (
London TELEGRAPH, 1/26).
TIME TO GO? Heading into his 11th year as CEO, adding to the three he had as football operations manager, there is a "feeling among some club officials" that Australian Football League CEO ANDREW DEMETRIOU "is considering a change." Said one club boss on Monday, "I think he will stay, but who really knows?" There is a feeling, if he was considering leaving, that "this would be the ideal year to do so, before serious renegotiations begin on the new television rights deal and a collective bargaining agreement with the players" (THE AGE, 1/27).
