DERMOT DESMOND, the billionaire Irish businessman who controls Scottish Premiership side Celtic, has made a "late attempt" to thwart a £2.3B ($3.5B) merger between Ladbrokes and Gala Coral. Desmond, 65, who owns just under 3% of Ladbrokes, sent a letter to all shareholders ahead of next Tuesday’s extraordinary meeting urging them to vote against what he described as "the wrong deal." He said, "The real winners in this transaction are the Coral shareholders" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 11/18). ... Croatian football club Dinamo Zagreb CEO ZDRAVKO MAMIC was arrested on Wednesday for "inflicting financial damage on the club through dubious transfers, according to Croatian state television and a police source." State TV said that Mamic was arrested over 80M kuna ($11.2M) worth of damage suffered by the club related to "suspect player transfers" (REUTERS, 11/18).
JADUE TO TALK TO FBI: Chilean FA (ANFP) President SERGIO JADUE has gone to the U.S. to talk to the FBI as part of its "ongoing probe into corruption" at FIFA. Local police had served Jadue a subpoena on Friday as part of what the ANFP said was an investigation "into how it allocates salaries, hours after he announced he would take a 30-day leave for medical reasons." An ANFP spokesperson said, "The trip is confirmed. He traveled to Miami last night. He has a special permission for a 30-day medical leave and he continues to be the ANFP's president" (REUTERS, 11/18).
BOLTON CHAIR 'SERIOUSLY ILL': League Championship side Bolton Wanderers confirmed Chair PHIL GARTSIDE is "seriously ill" and that TREVOR BIRCH will lead negotiations "in any takeover talks in his absence." Gartside, "who has been in the role for 16 years, has been in poor health for several weeks." Birch has been involved in takeovers at Chelsea and Leeds, among others. Bolton Vice-Chair BRETT WARBURTON said, "Trevor is a football man who has great experience in dealing with clubs in difficult financial situations" (BBC, 11/17).
'A BIT WORRIED': Barcelona striker NEYMAR's father, NEYMAR SR., said that his son "will not sign a new Barcelona contract until tax 'concerns' are straightened out with the Spanish authorities." The player's father said, "We are talking about renewing but there are things outstanding still to resolve, which have us a bit worried. There cannot be these tax concerns from not knowing if we are doing things correctly. We must know if Spain accepts our situation. It is hard for us because we are receiving many attacks, from Brazil and from Spain, in tax matters" (ESPN, 11/18).
NOTABLE DEATHS: Former Slovenia slalom skier DRAGO GRUBELNIK, who had been head coach of the Bulgarian team since '13, "has died in a car crash in Austria." The 39-year-old, who competed at three consecutive Winter Olympics from '98, died on Tuesday after the car he was driving "swerved off a mountain road and rolled down a hill near the Austrian resort of Soelden" (REUTERS, 11/18). ... Former South Africa rugby player JOHN GAINSFORD, hailed as a "superstar of his generation," has died at the age of 77 following a "long battle with cancer." The midfielder earned 33 Test caps for the Springboks and scored eight tries during an int'l career that spanned between '60 and '67. He played in 71 matches for South Africa including tour games, and was the most-capped Bok centre until his record was overtaken by JAPIE MULDER in '01 (SKY SPORTS, 11/18).
