Changing Room Chat: Yorke sticks boot into Aussie bid

Published on Thursday 4 December 2008 22:57

WHILE the Scottish Football Association is mulling over a joint bid with Wales for the European Championships in 2016, the English governing body has received a boost in its attempt to stage the World Cup two years later courtesy of Sunderland and Trinidad veteran Dwight Yorke.

The former Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa forward, the most high-profile footballer to have appeared in Australia's A-League, has dealt that country's 2018 bid a serious blow by claiming the domestic league's struggle to establish itself could prove costly. He said: "To be honest, 2018 is going to be difficult because the likes of England are desperate to get it too and there are a host of countries who want it. They're footballing nations, which does give them an advantage over Australia. They need something to spark the league a bit."

The former Sydney FC star added: "You look at Sydney getting 8,500 people. I know there's a credit crunch on and people have to look to save money, but to have 25,000-30,000 people when I was first playing and come down to 8,000 isn't a good look."

Inverness net Niculae pay day

MARIUS Niculae might be yesterday's man where his former club Inverness Caledonian Thistle are concerned, but the striker has left a parting gift for the Highland outfit courtesy of Uefa's payments to clubs for players involved in Euro 2008. The Romania international played for his country in Austria and Switzerland this summer, netting Caley 57,000 – based 'per-player per-day' payments. Celtic were the biggest recipients in the Premier League with 275,000, while Rangers netted 29,000.

Peloton policing taken seriously

THE long arm of the law cannot be ignored – even by the successful Astana cycling team. Spanish police stopped rider Chris Horner this week as he was not wearing a cycling helmet. Horner was riding alongside team-mate Lance Armstrong at Astana's preseason training camp when a police cruiser pulled the pack of riders over.

The team were allowed to continue after a routine identification check on Horner, who continued without the helmet since professional cyclists do not have to wear one in Spain.