Search: 'Paul Ince'

Joao Pinto, one of Portugal's feted 'Golden Generation' and the scourge of England in 2000, has retired. Phil Town looks back at his career

So farewell, then, João Vieira Pinto. The diminutive forward has retired at the age of 36 after a colourful career that started stratospherically, with two World Cup winner’s medals at Under-20 level nearly two decades ago. Among the highs along the way was a glorious display and hat-trick in Benfica’s 6-3 away crushing of Sporting in 1994 – for which JVP was awarded an unprecedented 10 out of 10 by sports daily A Bola – and that sublime headed goal against England at Euro 2000. The lows included an ignominious exit from Benfica in 2000 – he was considered surplus to requirements by the subsequently disgraced club president João Vale e Azevedo – and a six-month ban from football after punching referee Angel Sanchez in the defeat against South Korea in 2002, an aberration that effectively ended his international career.

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Kenny Miller has just rejoined Rangers, causing more than one eyebrow to be raised in Glasgow, reports Douglas Beattie

A funny thing happened to Walter Smith during the white-knuckle run-in to last season’s Scottish ­Premier League. A desperate 1-1 draw at Motherwell had just put the title back in Celtic’s hands and yet immediately afterwards the Rangers manager was being asked on television about rumours that Scotland striker Kenny Miller was a summer transfer target. Smith bristled before tersely dismissing the question.

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The focus was on Paul Ince becoming the first black Englishman to manage a Premier League club but, believes Bruce Wilkinson, the headlines masked what is going on behind the scenes at Blackburn

Under the sensible stewardship of chairman John Williams, Blackburn Rovers have become the model of how far a well run team can be taken on limited funds. This stability is now threatened. With an increasing number of clubs prepared to risk millions to cling on to a Premier League place, Blackburn fans have been demanding more activity in the transfer market. But this pressure has come at a time when the trust that owns the club, set up by the late Jack Walker, is looking for buyers. The trust is said to be close to selling up to a consortium led by Chris Ronnie, chief executive of JJB Sports, which makes it unlikely that significant cash will be released over the summer. Ex-manager Mark Hughes admitted in a recent interview that he might have shunned Manchester City’s approach if the prospective takeover of Blackburn had gone through.

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Greece did as badly at Euro 2008 as many had predicted they would four years earlier. But despite his champions' poor performance, the knives are not out for Otto Rehhagel, as Paul Pomonis explains

You can safely recognise a team in deep trouble, the moment their coach turns to the supernatural for assistance. “Boys, pray for us,” Otto Rehhagel asked the Greek press before the crucial match against Russia. Unfortunately, no amount of divine intervention could save the Greece team this summer. To the surprise of many, their defence of their 2004 European title ended in abject failure, one that brought back memories of the legendary fiasco at the USA 94 World Cup.

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It wasn't a great tournament for Austria, writes Paul Joyce

The author Thomas Bernhard once remarked that the typical Austrian always distances himself from his country. By the start of Euro 2008, however, this distance had given way to a morbidly self-ironic fatalism. As the national side plummeted to 101st in the FIFA rankings, thousands of fans signed an online petition demanding Austria’s withdrawal from the tournament for crimes against “aesthetic beauty”. Spoof Euro 2008 T-shirts and Y-fronts bearing the motto Zu Gast bei Verlierern (A Guest of the Losers) sold like hot cakes.

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