Smaller clubs cut squads

Wenger dismisses United's top slot in England

LONDON COLNEY, England (Reuters) -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed Alex Ferguson's claim that Manchester United are the best team in England.

Ferguson, whose side were knocked out of the Champions League semifinals by Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday, had been quoted as saying: 'We are still the best team in England.

"We've scored more goals than anyone in England and we've been the best team since Christmas."

But Wenger, whose men are riding high at the top of the premier league and who face Chelsea in Saturday's FA Cup final in Cardiff, would only give them top slot in Europe.

"In the Champions League, I would agree with that," he told reporters at their training ground on Wednesday. "They were the only team in the semifinals."

But the Frenchman added: "In the championship and the FA Cup it was Arsenal, because we are in the FA Cup final and we are five points clear.

"Only at the end of the season, when you see who is first in the championship, can you say who's the best team in England. And I believe it will be us."

However, Wenger was sympathetic to the United cause in Europe, which ended with their 1-1 draw at Leverkusen, who had earlier beaten Arsenal to a place in the quarterfinals.

Killing chance

"It looked to me that when they [United] scored the first goal they were very close to scoring a second one," Wenger said.

"They were unlucky in the first half because they had two or three occasions really to kill the game off. Leverkusen were lucky to come back in the final minute of the first half."

Summing up, he said: "Leverkusen needed luck to get into the final this year... against us they were 1-0 down and we were down to 10 men and in the final minute they scored.

"I would have liked Manchester United to win because I think it's important that English football is doing well, you get [UEFA ranking] points for European Cup matches and everyone gets the benefit of it."

The recent exchanges between Ferguson and Wenger will come to a head when the two sides meet at Old Trafford next Wednesday in the penultimate game of the season. A draw would hand Arsenal the premier league crown that United have worn for the past three years.

"We expect Manchester United to have a big game against us. Whether this [European exit] will make them weaker or stronger I don't know. We expect them to be at their best and us to be at our best."

Asked whether he believed Arsenal or United had played the better foot ball this season, Wenger had a quip ready.

"Everybody thinks he has the prettiest wife at home," the Frenchman said.

Wolves misery as Norwich reaches promotion final

Norwich City moved a step closer to a return to the Premier League and Wolves misery continued on Wednesday as the Canaries survived a 1-0 loss at Molineux to reach the division one promotion playoff final.

The other semifinal is on Thursday with Millwall and Birmingham tied 1-1 and the Lions holding home advantage over the Blues.

Kevin Cooper fired the only goal of Wednesday's second leg to give Dave Jones' Wolves a 1-0 victory on the night. But Nigel Worthington's Norwich, who finished sixth in the standings compared with Wolves third, had already won the first leg 3-1 and is on the brink of returning to the Premier League for the first time since 1995.

The result meant that Wolves' season ended in despair after it had seemed almost certain to make it back to the top flight for the first time in 18 years.

The one time powerhouse was in second place and held an 11-point lead over neighbor West Bromwich Albion with nine games to go.

But Jones team collapsed as the Baggies went on a streak of six wins in seven games. West Brom wound up three points clear as it captured the automatic second promotion place behind Manchester City and left its neighbor searching for promotion through the playoffs.

Smaller clubs cut squads to tackle ITV Digital crisis

English league clubs have begun laying off players, slashing costs and turning to their ordinary supporters for financial help to survive the turmoil caused by ITV Digital's meltdown.

The pay-TV channel, which is heading towards liquidation, owes the 72 clubs from the first, second and third divisions 178.5 million pounds (US$260 million) for the remaining two years of a three-year deal to screen matches.

Several clubs are already in the hands of administrators and more are likely to follow after they spent in advance the funds they had expected, but are now unlikely, to receive.

Many have begun reducing the size of their squads. Third division Torquay United and Lincoln City have also lost their managers in the fall-out from the cash squeeze.

"We've trimmed our squad a bit more than we would have done -- we've released eight players and we may have kept a couple of them if the TV deal had worked," a spokesman for Crewe Alexandra, relegated from the first division, told Reuters.

Smaller clubs, who attract only a few thousand supporters every week, have historically struggled to make ends meet, often relying on the generosity of local benefactors to survive.

With the ITV Digital money, many clubs had budgeted two or three years ahead, locking themselves into contracts with players whose wages they will now find it hard to pay.

Geoffrey Davey, chief executive of second division Peterborough United, said the club would "lose" 350,000 pounds which it had budgeted for next season.

"It will very difficult in the late summer and autumn for the majority of football clubs and quite how we are going to get round the problem we don't know," Davey said.

"We need to try and close the gap between incoming expenditure but it's easier said than done," he said.

Budget restrictions

Relegated Stockport County, playing in the second division next season, and Nottingham Forest have released five players, most of whom were at the end of their contracts.

Leyton Orient, who finished the season in the bottom half of the third division, are on the verge of letting Jeff Minton and Iyseden Christie go after failing to agree new contracts with them.

"We have reluctantly had to admit that with the budgetary restrictions we are working within, we can't come close to meeting Jeff and Iyseden's demands," manager Paul Brush told Orient's Web site.

Exeter City, also in the third division, have had to rely on loans from the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to help pay their wage bills this season.

Some clubs have raised money through selling top players or been lucky with cup runs, which attract large crowds.

Peterborough sold Tom Williamson to first division Birmingham City for 350,000 pounds during the season, ironically the exact amount they stand to lose without the TV money.

They also had a lucrative run in the FA Cup, meeting premier league Newcastle United in the fourth round, when they lost 4-2 after going 2-0 up.

No panic

Chief executive Geoffrey Davey told Reuters that Peterborough always tried to set a prudent budget.

"We will probably break even which gives us a better foundation for going forward to next year than clubs that will have lost quite a bit of money and there's quite a few of them," Davey said.

"We don't want to press panic buttons -- we feel that we have control of our football club and our finances, and that's not to underestimate our position, but we will not be queuing up to go into administration,' he said.

Crewe are another club that have always exercised tight control over their wage structure and benefit from their renowned youth academy, which has provided many top clubs with players and the club with much-needed revenue.

Clubs such as Lincoln and Bury have launched campaigns to save their clubs aimed at ordinary supporters involving seat sponsoring schemes and memorabilia auctions.

At Lincoln, a third division side faced with extinction, 4,300 seats have been sponsored, raising 55,500 pounds.

Game not over

Peterborough's Davey is convinced that the League could retrieve some of the funds owed from ITV Digital's owners Carlton Communications and Granada.

"We're not convinced the game is over yet -- we think there's a long way to go," Davey told Reuters.

"The Football League and all its clubs unanimously feel that Carlton and Granada have a major part to play -- they're saying very little in all this.

"We believe they are party to the contract that we have with ITV Digital and that they underwrote it and we will be looking quite clearly to Carlton and Granada for some recourse."

Failing that the League, led by chairman Keith Harris and chief executive David Burns, is likely to launch legal action against Carlton and Granada.

"I'm positive it will go to court if Carlton and Granada continue with the line they are seem to be doing that 'it's nothing to do with us'," he said.

John Batchelor, chairman of third division York City, says he wants to try to rescue ITV Digital.

"It is my intention to head up a bid for ITV Digital backed by a consortium of people from motorsport and football," Batchelor told York City's Web site on Wednesday.

"I don't have the money required, but I do have the ability to bring people together who do," he said.

 

Related information
Stories
UK: Cruising in league, Gunners face Blues for cup United set to finish season empty-handed
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.