UK Roundup

Wilko second Sunderland manager to be sacked this season

SUNDERLAND, England (Reuters) -- Howard Wilkinson has been sacked as manager of Sunderland, the struggling English Premier League club announced on Monday.

"The board has decided it is in the best interests of the club and its supporters to make a change immediately and assistant manager Steve Cotterill has also gone," the club said in a statement.

Wilkinson took over from Peter Reid in October but failed to turn things round at the club who are bottom of the league after just two wins in his 20 league games in charge.

Sunderland said they would appoint a new manager before their home match against fellow relegation strugglers Bolton Wanderers on Sunday.

"The club and its supporters have faced disappointment over a drawn-out period," said chairman Bob Murray.

"This has been very difficult for everyone concerned but we are absolutely determined to arrest the decline and revive the club.

"We will be appointing a successor before our crucial game against Bolton at the weekend," Murray said.

The club had hoped the combination of 59-year-old Wilkinson's tried and tested experience with 38-year-old Cotterill, who joined him as assistant from first division Stoke City, would get them back on track after the sacking of Reid.

Wilkinson had been technical director for the England national team following eight years at Leeds United, with whom he won the last-ever old first division title in 1992. Leeds sacked him in 1996.

Under Reid, who had been in charge for seven years, Sunderland had won only two of their first nine matches this season after narrowly escaping the drop last season.

"The fans have been incredibly tolerant and supportive in the circumstances and I would like to thank them for that. We understand how people are feeling and regret this," said Murray.

"We all want to see the club get back to winning ways and putting in the type of performances that will give the fans something to cheer about," he said.

Wilkinson oversaw his first win with Sunderland against a second-string Arsenal side in the League Cup in November.

That was followed four days later by their first league win under his command -- a 2-0 home victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

Despite a strong run to the fifth round of the FA Cup, when they were beaten by first division Watford -- who are now in the semi-finals -- Sunderland only managed one more league win, a 2-1 win at home against Liverpool on Dec. 15.

Sunderland are bottom with 19 points, seven behind fourth from bottom Bolton.

Sheffield Utd faces Arsenal or Chelsea in FA semifinal

LONDON (Reuters) -- The winner of the replay between holder Arsenal and Chelsea will face first division Sheffield United in the FA Cup semifinals.

First division Watford will play Premier League Southampton in the other semifinal. The games, for a place in the final in Cardiff on May 17, will be played on April 13.

Victory for the two first division clubs would make history. Since the Football League was founded in 1888-89, the final has been contested by at least one team from the top flight.

Arsenal was held to a 2-2 draw by Chelsea in Saturday's quarterfinal at Highbury, a re-run of last season's final, and must now face Claudio Ranieri's side again on March 25 at Stamford Bridge.

Arsene Wenger, manager of eight-time FA Cup winner Arsenal, made it clear he would take nothing for granted against United if his side first saw off its west London rival.

"To me they look like a team with a style of play very close to the Premiership," Wenger told reporters after the draw made by England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"I say that for two reasons -- firstly, because they have good technical players and secondly, they have a good offensive attitude, they look to go forward."

United manager Neil Warnock, whose team knocked out Premier League Leeds United on Sunday, told Sky Sports: "Ours is the most difficult game, but we've come so far that now every game's a bonus to us.

"It's going to be a great occasion for us and the lads will give it their all. I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that we can go through against these two teams -- we're probably the only club that could."

Not foregone

United won their fourth and last FA Cup in 1925. More recently they reached the semifinals in 1993 and 1998. They beat Chelsea 3-0 in the 1915 final but lost to Arsenal in the 1936 final.

A win for Arsenal in their replay would line up a re-run of an unprecedented fifth round clash in 1999 when Arsenal won 2-1 but then agreed to a re-match because its winning goal against Sheffield United had been scored unsportingly.

Striker Nwankwo Kanu, making his debut for Arsenal, unwittingly intercepted Ray Parlour's throw-in towards the United keeper after their opponents had deliberately put the ball out of play to allow a player to receive treatment.

Kanu passed and Marc Overmars knocked the ball home, sparking furious protests. Arsenal won the re-match 2-1.

If Chelsea wins the replay, Ranieri's side will be a firm favorite to lift a third FA Cup in six years after victories in 1997 and 2000.

Southampton, whose only FA Cup victory came in 1976, will be strongly fancied to see off cash-strapped Watford, despite Ray Lewington's side having beaten two Premier League sides already this season -- Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion.

Southampton has had a good league season, losing only nine of its 29 games. It has beaten three first division sides in the Cup -- Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, Norwich City and Millwall, after a replay.

Manager Gordon Strachan told the Southampton Web site: "We will give them every respect. They have already beaten two Premiership sides... so we know they will be tricky opposition.

"I am sure Watford will be delighted with the draw because no-one wanted to play Arsenal or Chelsea at this stage."

Lewington, whose team narrowly avoided going into administration six months ago, told Sky Sports: "It's a good draw, but we're just happy to be there to be honest.

"We imagine the Southampton boys are jumping up and down at the moment thinking they've got the easy one -- I think we're the team that everyone wanted to play.

"But we've caused a few shocks on the way so there might be another one round the corner."

Bookmakers William Hill made Arsenal 6-4 favorites to retain the trophy with Chelsea 9-4, Southampton 5-2, Watford 12-1 and Sheffield United 14-1.

Tottenham chairman increases ENIC stake

LONDON (Reuters) -- Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy tightened his grip on the London football club Monday by agreeing a takeover of its major shareholder ENIC Plc at its current depressed share price.

Levy is taking advantage of the parlous state of football's finances to clinch a deal on ENIC, which also has stakes in Scotland's Rangers and Swiss club FC Basel.

He will offer ENIC shareholders some of the benefits if he ever decides to sell key asset Tottenham.

Levy set up his own company Kondar Ltd for the purpose of taking ENIC private in a deal worth 40 pence a share, valuing the group at 40.3 million pounds (US$64.29 million). He already has 51.94 percent support of ENIC shareholders.

As the families of 41-year-old Levy and 66-year-old Bahamas-based Joseph Lewis control 51.66 percent of ENIC, the group's independent directors have insisted on a clause so that ENIC shareholders would gain from any future sale of Tottenham.

Levy stresses he has no plans for ENIC to dispose of its 29.8 percent stake in Tottenham Hotspur Plc. But if he did sell in the next 18 months, ENIC shareholders would share in any deal proceeds above a Tottenham share price of 18 pence.

Tottenham shares traded up 1-1/2 pence to 18-1/2p by 1050 GMT, a far cry from the 87p seen in March 1999.

Levy argues that with many European football clubs suffering from a downturn in media revenue and a collapse in the player transfer market, it was inappropriate for ENIC to invest in football without giving its shareholder a cash exit route.

ENIC, which also has stakes in Slavia Prague, AEK Athens and Vicenza, has seen its fortunes fall in tandem with the financial healthy of football. Its shares traded up 3-1/4p at 39-1/4p, but down from a high of 405p in March 2000.

Levy, who announced his interest in an ENIC deal last month, emphasized football's problems by reporting an ENIC pre-tax loss of 9.4 million pounds for the six months to December 31, 2002, compared to a previous profit of one million pounds.

Last month, Tottenham reported a pre-tax loss of 8.6 million pounds for the same six-month period to December 31, compared to a profit of 2.9 million pounds last time.

 

Related information

Stories

Chelsea salvages 2-2 with Arsenal in FA Cup Sheffield Utd completes cup double over Leeds

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.