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The ongoing takeover saga of Derby County does not look likely to find a resolution anytime soon.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to a claim made by Alan Nixon, with The Sun journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that there has been “no progress” with any of the proposed takeover deals reported concerning Derby.

Having seen two bids for the Rams fall through over the course of last season, there was talk of an American consortium opening up dialogue with Mel Morris regarding the purchase of the club, however, it would seem these talks have not gone anywhere as yet.

Earlier this month, Derby’s chief executive Stephen Pearce stated that the Rams were “still working tirelessly on the ownership model with multiple parties.”

Fans will be fuming

With the new Championship season now just a matter of weeks from kicking off, everyone involved with Derby would have hoped that a takeover of the club would have been completed, or at least well underway, by now.

Indeed, although the Rams were recently given a reprieve from their transfer embargo in order to add five new players to their squad, the ongoing uncertainty regarding the ownership of the club, as well as their disastrous financial situation, would not appear to bode well for Wayne Rooney’s side’s prospects in the second tier in their upcoming campaign.

And, with there not looking to be any end in sight to the club’s off-field plight in the near future, the potential for the Rams’ perilous circumstances to continue into the new season and beyond looks extremely likely, something that will leave fans of the club fuming.

However, for Rooney and his players, these are issues that they must simply attempt to ignore, as, if the 35-year-old does not give his full concentration to somehow steering a skeleton Derby squad away from the relegation zone next term, things still could get a great deal worse for the club next summer.

In other news: Rooney may finally replace Johnson with Derby swoop for “outstanding” £1.62m-rated gem

Mike Denness, the former Scotland-born England captain, has pinpointed Gavin Hamilton as the crucial player ahead of Scotland’s eagerly anticipated clash against England at Edinburgh on Monday

Cricinfo staff14-Aug-2008
Gavin Hamilton: the key player for Scotland © Getty Images
Mike Denness, the former Scotland-born England captain, has pinpointed Gavin Hamilton as the crucial player ahead of Scotland’s eagerly anticipated clash against England at Edinburgh on Monday.”England haven’t climbed the pecking order in one-day cricket (sixth) as much as they have in Tests (fifth) since goals were set in 2000 while the Scots have, in Gavin Hamilton, someone with a lot to offer,” Denness told . “Also, they won’t have to contend with Paul Collingwood on Monday because he is suspended.”Hamilton went on an England tour of South Africa but was out of his depth in the one Test in which he played. Denness insists, however, that his performance for England was not wholly representative of the talent Hamilton possesses.”Gavin was probably not handled very well when he went to South Africa with England and that whole period possibly set him back because he’d gone on the back of such a great summer,” Denness said. “But that still amounts to tremendous experience shared by comparatively few.”For example even those who don’t say very much when first in a Test dressing room absorb a lot which can be later passed on.”He’ll have more insight than anybody else in the Scotland team about how England will be approaching Monday’s game. As for England, maybe nobody will yet be able to work out exactly what Kevin Pietersen is planning. It is the case they have had their ups and downs in one-day cricket and haven’t developed into one of the forces yet.”

Many Wolves fans have been left lauding a transfer update involving Ruben Neves.

Speaking on his Twitch channel (via Talking Wolves), Italian football journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has claimed that it is currently ‘very quiet’ with regards to the future of the Portugal international at the Midlands club, amid interest from both Manchester United and Arsenal.

Neves is the true anchor in midfield at Molineux, having averaged more tackles (2.4), interceptions (1.8), shots (1.9), passes (54.9) and long balls (5.3) per game in the Premier League than both Leander Dendoncker and Joao Moutinho in the 2020/21 season (WhoScored).

Thus, the fact that there does not seem to be any developments on his potential exit will give WWFC supporters hope that he will stay.

Wolves fans on Neves transfer update

These Wanderers lauded the transfer update on Neves as it was shared on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that it was ‘encouraging’:

“That’s great news. We need to keep Ruben and build a team around him. The guy is 23! Can you imagine how good he will be when he peaks?”

Credit: @GabyCaizzo

“That sounds encouraging!! Give him a new long-term contract Jeff, the same with Traore & Jimenez. Then sign some quality to play with them. Squad isn’t anywhere near strong enough at the mo.”

Credit: @W4768721431

“Nice”

Credit: @haydenbd_

“GOOD”

Credit: @markperry65

“Good, keep it that way please”

Credit: @_joemorgannnn

“Good it can stay that way”

Credit: @Dan__Vincent

In other news, find out what other transfer update Wanderers have been lauding recently here!

A career-best 6 for 90 from Nathan McCullum, the offspinning allrounder, helped New Zealand A take firm control of the opening day of the unofficial Test against India A in Chennai

Cricinfo staff28-Sep-2008
ScorecardA career-best 6 for 90 from Nathan McCullum, the offspinning allrounder, helped New Zealand A take firm control of the opening day of the first Test against India A in Chennai. India chose to bat after winning the toss and were bowled out for 248 in 75.4 overs, after which New Zealand’s openers took stumps on 36 for 0.McCullum, the older brother of New Zealand international Brendon, triggered India’s downfall after a promising second-wicket stand of 71 between Shikhar Dhawan (27) and Murali Vijay (45). Both batsmen fell to McCullum in quick succession, and after captain Suresh Raina was bowled by left-arm pacer Trent Boult, McCullum picked up three more wickets to derail India.Jaydev Shah, the vice-captain, and Yusuf Pathan, who took a fancy to the New Zealand attack during the recent one-day series, were forming a good stand but were cut short by McCullum. Pathan (44) went trying to hit McCullum out of the ground, caught at long-on by Boult just before tea. Just after the interval, McCullum dismissed wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for 25, who had added 54 with Pathan. McCullum went past his previous best of 5 for 28 when he removed last man Sudeep Tyagi. McCullum bowled 30.4 overs unchanged after being brought into the attack in the 16th over.New Zealand’s openers, Aaron Redmond and BJ Watling, began positively in the remaining 12 overs of the day. Watling took a backseat as Redmond hit 31from 41 balls, with four boundaries and a six, struck off legspinner Amit Mishra in the eighth over.

Ireland beat Kenya by an innings-and-65 runs to reach their third successive Intercontinental Cup final

Cricinfo staff14-Oct-2008
ScorecardIreland beat Kenya by an innings-and-65 runs to reach their third successive Intercontinental Cup final. Kenya only needed a draw to reach the final, and in spite of showing a total absence of form in their first innings, they fared much better second time round. So much so, in fact, that the match went right down to the wire, with Ireland picking up the final wicket with just 20 minutes left in the day’s play.Ireland made a strong start to the day, removing Seren Waters, the debutant, for 75. And then the biggest wicket of them all, Steve Tikolo, who chipped a return catch back to Trent Johnston on 47. However, Kenya’s middle order led an impressive rearguard effort, thanks to Rakep Patel (32), Thomas Odoyo (61) and Jimmy Kamande (42), each of whom battled resiliently to take the game well past tea.At 294 for 6 Kenya were beginning to believe that a place in the final was theirs, but soon after tea Odoyo was caught in the slips by Andre Botha off the tireless Regan West. From there, Kenya slumped to 327 all out, as West held his nerve in the dying moments, picking up the final wicket to record figures of 3 for 81 from 42.4 overs.”We still had it all to do in the second innings because it was a good track and Kenya batted very well the second time around,” Ireland’s coach, Phil Simmons, said. “But our bowlers did really well to keep probing in the right areas and it paid off in the end.”The pitch did take a bit of spin so it was always going to be up to West and McCallan to do the lion’s share of the bowling because they were getting it to turn. And I thought they did really well.”After a period of uncertainty due to work commitments, Ireland’s former captain, Trent Johnston, made himself available for this tour and his four wickets in the second innings proved vital.”Trent is a great player for us and has been for a long time,” said Simmons. “His experience really came through today and he showed the younger pace bowlers how you need to adapt as a seamer if you are to be successful on different types of wicket and in different conditions. It is great that he’s back in the team again.”Looking forward to the final against Namibia, to be played in Port Elizabeth on October 30, Simmons was confident that Ireland were favourites.”I think that’s fair. We have beaten Namibia in Namibia and Kenya in Kenya so that gives us confidence,” he said. “But the final is a one-off game and anything can happen so we won’t be going to Port Elizabeth thinking we only have to show up to win it. It’s going to be a tough game and we will have to work hard if we are going to take the cup home to Ireland again.”

Carlton Palmer has backed Harry Kane to guide Manchester City to the quadruple if he manages to force through a move from Tottenham Hotspur.

Kane has made it clear he wants to leave his boyhood club before the transfer window shuts at the end of the month, with the marksman aiming to challenge for more trophies after growing frustrated with Spurs’ lack of progress on the pitch.

Although Spurs are eager to keep their star man, they suffered a further blow when the England captain failed to return to Hotspur Way for pre-season training on Monday.

Premier League champions Manchester City have been keen to do business with Spurs since Kane publicly confirmed his intentions to leave. Pep Guardiola’s side have been looking to sign top transfer targets Kane and Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish for a combined fee of £215million.

Former midfielder Palmer believes Kane, who is seventh in the Premier League’s all-time top scorers list after finding the back of the net 166 times, would get City firing on all fronts and bolster their chances of securing a first-ever Champions League title.

He exclusively told Football FanCast: “If he were to go to Man City, they would be looking at possibly the treble and maybe even the quadruple. They’d certainly be in great shape for doing that.”

David Morgan, the ICC president, has said that reversing the result of the controversial Oval Test was inappropriate and indicated that the ICC might reconsider the decision

Cricinfo staff29-Oct-2008
Draw or forfeit? The question still hangs and a change of guard in the ICC could see yet another change of result to the Oval Test © Getty Images
David Morgan, the ICC president, has said that reversing the result of the controversial Oval Test was inappropriate and indicated that the ICC might reconsider the decision. His comments come in the light of a recent recommendation by the MCC, the game’s law-making body, to reverse the result.”It was a decision that was made by the ICC and it’s a decision that I was not happy with,” Morgan said. “I was president-elect and I didn’t believe it was appropriate to change the result of the England-Pakistan match.”The ICC was reacting to a statement by Tony Lewis, the chairman of the MCC’s cricket committee, that reversing a result of a match would set a “dangerous precedent and cricket would only be worse off for this decision.” The Pakistan Cricket Board didn’t comment on the matter, stating that it was an issue between the ICC and the MCC alone.”The MCC World Cricket Committee is a very responsible group,” Morgan said. “It is made up of some of the world’s top cricketers and chaired by Tony Lewis and I would be very interested in hearing what has been reported.”I’ll be very interested to actually read their minutes and I’m sure they will make that available and it’s something we (the ICC) will have to consider very carefully.”Pakistan were accused of ball-tampering by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, causing the then captain Inzamam-ul-Haq to stage a protest and refuse to play after tea on the fourth day. Hair and Doctrove, under the laws, correctly ruled the no-show as a forfeit. IInzamam was later cleared of the ball-tampering charges but was banned for four matches for bringing the game into disrepute. England initially took the series 3-0 but it was changed to 2-0 last July during the ICC’s annual meeting in Dubai.

Michael Stewart has predicted Glasgow Rangers will need to sell players after failing to reach the group stages of the Champions League.

The Lowdown: Gers receive CL blow

After winning the Premiership last term, the Gers will have been hopeful of reaching this season’s Champions League group stages and securing the financial boost which comes along with that.

However, they fell at the first hurdle, losing 4-2 on aggregate to Malmo in the third qualifying round.

The Latest: Stewart makes prediction

Taking to Twitter following the 55-time Scottish champions’ defeat to the Swedish side, Stewart wrote:

“Champions League money isn’t coming into Ibrox and surely that’ll mean they need to sell players to try and balance this years accounts. Which will obviously have an impact on the team on the pitch.”

The Verdict: Harsh but true

While this is something that many Rangers fans will not want to hear, it may unfortunately come to pass. Several Gers players have the ability to play at a higher level – Glen Kamara (Transfermarkt) and Alfredo Morelos, for example, competed at Euro 2020 and the Copa America respectively this summer and are entering the prime years of their career.

Neither have appeared in the Champions League before these two matches – they will likely want to play on that stage regularly.

Perhaps the one saving grace in some cases is that, if the Gers win the Premiership again this season, they will automatically receive a spot in the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition. Therefore, some of their top players may decide to give it one last chance at Ibrox.

In other news, Rangers fans were livid at this SPFL move.

Western Australia unearthed yet another top-order prospect as Wes Robinson ground out a century in his second game to offset a strong bowling effort from Dan Cullen and his South Australia colleagues

Cricinfo staff10-Nov-2008
Scorecard
Dan Cullen picked up 3 for 62 © Getty Images
Western Australia unearthed yet another top-order prospect as Wes Robinson ground out a century in his second game to offset a strong bowling effort from Dan Cullen and his South Australia colleagues. Robinson batted throughout the day and finished unbeaten on 109 with Steve Magoffin on 2 as the Warriors closed at 7 for 233.Robinson got his opportunity because Shaun Marsh was called into the Test squad and he proved a more gritty opener than the man he replaced, nudging his way to triple-figures from 246 balls. The problem for the Warriors was that it was almost a one-man show. Robinson had moderate support from three colleagues but none managed to post half-centuries.His opening partner Liam Davis made 39 in a 68-run stand that ended when Davis was caught off Cullen. The offspinner made it two in one over when he trapped Luke Pomersbach lbw without scoring and Western Australia stumbled to 3 for 83 when Marcus North also fell cheaply.Adam Voges (28) gave Robinson some assistance before becoming the third of Cullen’s victims. Fortunately for the visitors Ronchi, who had been battling for form, struck 49 in a 74-run partnership that ended when he was caught behind off Mark Cleary.It was a strong first day for the struggling South Australia, who were without their major striker Shaun Tait as he had been rested. Cullen said he was happy with his 30 overs, which brought 3 for 62. “Out there it felt like I had pretty good control of the ball,” Cullen told . “It wasn’t turning much but it was drifting a little bit.”

Manchester City have been dealt a blow to their hopes of beating Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with reports suggesting that Harry Kane could feature for the hosts, which could certainly make things difficult for Pep Guardiola’s side.

The England captain has been heavily linked with a move to the Etihad throughout the transfer window and made it clear that he was keen to leave Spurs earlier in the summer, with the North London side set for a second successive season out of the Champions League.

Guardiola’s side have already reportedly seen a £100m bid for the striker rejected, with Daniel Levy insistent that he will remain a Spurs player, despite Kane reportedly feeling that he had a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with the chairman to leave.

After an impressive summer at the European Championships with England, the 28-year-old was always likely to miss the majority of pre-season at Spurs, but reportedly failed to show up for training when he was expected back at Hotspur Way, which only increased rumours that he was set to depart.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-manchester-city-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Manchester City transfer rumours and news!”]

However, reports are now claiming that it will be increasingly likely that he will stay with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side this summer, with some claiming that he could even feature against the Citizens on Sunday in the opening game of their Premier League season.

If he were to start, then it would certainly give the hosts a huge boost, as regardless of whether he is fully focused on winning the game for Spurs, he is still a world-class striker who is more than likely to cause City problems.

Last season saw Kane finish as both the top goalscorer and top assister in the Premier League, despite Spurs’ less than impressive form, which emphasises just how dangerous he can be.

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Given that City have lost all three of their trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, failing to score a single goal despite dominating the games, you worry that the return of Kane could easily help to extend their away day hoodoo in North London.

And, in other news… Guardiola dealt huge injury blow ahead of Spurs, Man City fans will be fuming