Former Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon President JORGE GONÇALVES was found dead at the age of 67 at a hotel 70km from Luanda, Angola. The club confirmed his death on Wednesday on its Twitter account (SPORT, 8/12). ... JOEY BARTON will not be joining EPL side West Ham after the club "pulled out of talks over a potential deal following protests from fans." Some had criticized the move on social media, "citing the 32-year-old's chequered history on and off the pitch." West Ham Chair DAVID GOLD tweeted to confirm there would be no deal, while Barton posted a video to say he had "no hard feelings" over the matter (BBC, 8/12). ... NEVILLE NEVILLE -- the father of footballers GARY and PHIL -- died in Australia at the age of 65. Neville, who was originally from Greenmount, "was on holiday" with his wife JILL, and suffered a major heart attack. The couple was there to support their daughter TRACEY, who is "leading the England team at the Netball World Cup" (BURY TIMES, 8/12). ... DJ FORBES, who led New Zealand Sevens to six World Sevens Series titles, "decided to call time on his nine-year reign as captain" after consultation with coach GORDON TIETJENS. Forbes: "I've had an awesome run with this team and this is just a change of guard" (RUGBY 365, 8/10). ... West Ham striker DIAFRA SAKHO "has been arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage." He "was held when officers swooped" on his £3M ($4.6M) home in Hornchurch, Essex (London MIRROR, 8/12).
CARNEIRO WAS SUMMONED: Chelsea doctor EVA CARNEIRO, who has been "stripped of her first team duties" by Manager JOSE MOURINHO, was "twice beckoned onto the pitch on Saturday" by referee MICHAEL OLIVER to treat EDEN HAZARD ahead of "the incident which infuriated" Mourinho. Carneiro was told on Tuesday "that she would no longer be Chelsea's on-field doctor." Yet footage shows that "in the moments before the Chelsea medical team entered the field of play the referee Oliver twice turned to the bench after Hazard went down," following a challenge from GYLFI SIGURDSSON, and signaled for the pair to come on (London INDEPENDENT, 8/12). The Football Medical Association has backed Carneiro "in her spat" with Mourinho. The FMA said in a statement on Wednesday, "If a player sustains or appears to sustain an injury and indicates that he needs assistance, it is the duty of the referee to permit medical assessment and evaluation to be provided. At that moment the player becomes a patient of the medical team and it is the duty and obligation of Club medical staff to attend to that patient accordingly and without prejudice to the interests of anyone else including the Club employing them" (London DAILY MIRROR, 8/12).
ROMARIO'S NAME CLEARED: Brazilian senator and former footballer ROMARIO was "recently at the center of a very unusual scandal." Brazilian weekly magazine VEJA printed a Swiss bank document indicating that Romario holds an account with 2.1M Swiss francs. His response "was to fly to Geneva, with one of his ex-wives, who is fluent in French." After visiting the bank, he published on Instagram a picture of himself, saying, "Friends! I am disappointed... Just found out that I do not own 2 million euros ... The document presented is a fake one. We will make justice and sue Veja in court." He is now suing the magazine for exactly 10 times more than what VEJA suggested he had in the Swiss account -- more than €20M ($22.3M) -- "for moral damages and use of fake documents in the media" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 8/12).
