Andy Robertson will captain Scotland vs England as players celebrate Euro 2020 qualification, Ryan Christie cries tears of joy and even Steve Clarke can’t hide emotions

Friday, November 13, 2020 SPORT No Comments

 Ryan Christie couldn’t control the tears, Andy Robertson fought them off and even Steve Clarke admitted he’d have a cry.

Scotland reached a major tournament for the first time since 1998 and the players enjoyed every moment of it in Belgrade.

Scotland made everyone watching back home proud and Andy Robertson hoped fans were able to party

Clarke’s side beat Serbia on penalties to reach Euro 2020 and will join England in Group D at next summer’s European Championship, which was confirmed when David Marshall saved Aleksandar Mitrovic’s decisive spot-kick.

Scotland had dominated the majority of the 90 minutes and led through Christie before Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic headed in a last-minute equaliser.

“It’s just an amazing night. From the start, we believed,” Christie told Sky Sports, welling up with tears from the start.

“Even the way the game went tonight, conceding that late equaliser, we dug in.

Christie was overwhelmed by the victory

“Penalties away from home and big Marsh comes up! Amazing, unbelievable.”

The 35-year-old Marshall has been through the heartache and is one of the members of Clarke’s squad who remembers watching Scotland on the big stage, with France ’98 being the last time they graced the international scene.

“Obviously I am a certain age now that I can remember old tournaments. It’s been so long and it’s just massively emotional.

“I am just delighted to be there. It has probably not sunk in. You probably saw Ryan Christie was in tears and it just shows how much it means to the lads to get there.

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David Marshall was Scotland’s hero in the penalty shootout 

Obviously families are willing us on, fans who can’t be here. Hopefully by next summer everybody can get the chance to go.”

Marshall did not immediately enjoy his penalty stop as he was wary of celebrating too soon in case he was penalised for encroaching.

“Immediately after it was a delay because the ref had said don’t celebrate if you save because there’s a VAR check,” he said. “I got the decision before the lads jumped on me thankfully.

“I just hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t order a retake because the lads were on their way They didn’t know it was being checked.

Scott McTominay was one of the successful penalty takers

Scotland’s players enjoyed the moment as they secured a place at Euro 2020

“But I did feel it was good. I had a tiny bit of doubt but the referee let us know pretty quickly.

“But when you have waited 22 years, what’s another four or five seconds?”

Robertson said he hopes fans partied at home.

“What a night, so hard to explain, tears everywhere and these lads deserved it. I’m just a boy who gets to walk out in front of them. We’ll look forward to the summer now.”

The Liverpool defender hopes fans will be in attendance at next year’s rescheduled tournament.

“I’ll say every sort of prayer I have to have a full Hampden.

“We’ve done it,” the captain added. “Twenty three years… I don’t even want to think about it because I’ll probably cry, but we’re looking forward to the summer now and everything builds up to that.”

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Greg Clarke: England Football Association chairman quits over 'outdated' reference to black players

Friday, November 13, 2020 SPORT No Comments

 

In this file photo dated Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, England's FA Chairman Greg Clarke poses for photographers as he arrives on the occasion of the 43rd UEFA congress in Rome.   -   Copyright  AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, FILE

The chairman of the Football Association in England has resigned over "unacceptable words" he used to refer to black players before a parliamentary committee.

Greg Clarke, also a vice president of FIFA, had apologised immediately for using the phrase "coloured footballers" while discussing racist abuse experienced by players.

But his remark prompted an outcry.

"My unacceptable words in front of Parliament were a disservice to our game and to those who watch, play, referee and administer it. This has crystallised my resolve to move on," Clarke said in a statement.

"I am deeply saddened that I have offended those diverse communities in football that I and others worked so hard to include."

The 63-year-old, who had been in the post since 2016, was put on the spot during the House of Commons select committee hearing by Labour MP Kevin Brennan, who asked him to retract the comment.

"If I said it I deeply apologise for it,” Clarke said. “I am a product of having worked overseas. I worked in the USA for many years where I was required to use the term, ‘people of colour,’ and ... sometimes I trip over my words."

Clarke also came under fire for other comments he made before the committee.

The ex-chairman claimed that South Asian people have “different career interests” than playing the game, and described sexuality as a “life choice” while talking about the lack of openly gay male footballers in England.

"His use of outdated language to describe Black and Asian people as 'coloured' is from decades ago and should remain consigned to the dustbin of history," said Sanjay Bhandari, executive chair of anti-discrimination group Kick It Out. "Being gay is not a 'life choice' as he claimed," Bhandari added.

Former England player John Barnes deplored the fact that the controversy overshadowed the issues of funding for clubs and diversity in football that the committee was discussing. The ex-Liverpool star, who is black, suggested that more tolerance should be shown given that terminology deemed to be acceptable has evolved over the years.

"When I first came to England, I was told that you can't call people 'black', you have to call them 'coloured', so if you're in your sixties that's what you've been used to saying," he told BBC radio.

"If you're a particular age, every now and again you may have a slip of the tongue, but the intention is the most important thing," he went on. "Greg Clarke, he apologised straightaway... so I haven't got an issue with it."

But others said Clarke's comments undermined the FA's position over issues such as racism, representation and diversity.

Former England player Darren Bent, who is also black, tweeted: "Slip of the tongue was it, awful just awful."

The FA said in a statement that Peter McCormick would step into the role as interim FA Chairman until a successor to Clarke was chosen.

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Premier League footballer arrested on suspicion of rape and false imprisonment at his home

Friday, November 13, 2020 SPORT No Comments

 

A Premier League footballer has been arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment and rape.

 

Police said the alleged incident occurred at his home last month. 

 

Authorities confirmed that officers had executed a warrant at an address and arrested a man on suspicion of rape and false imprisonment on Wednesday, November 11th. 

 

The man has not yet been named for legal reasons but police are still investigating the case. 

 

In the statement to MailOnline, detectives said the man is no longer in their custody but an investigation is still ongoing. 

 

They said: "He has since been released under investigation pending further enquiries."

 

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‘My son committed suicide after losing N7m in SARS illegal detention’- Mother tells Ogun judicial panel

Friday, November 13, 2020 NEWS No Comments

 

A Nigerian mum has shared the sad story of how her son, Seyi Akinade, killed himself after losing N7 million in forex trading following his arrest and illegal detention by SARS operatives.

 

DailyTrust reports that Mrs. Funmilayo Akinade, on Thursday, November 12, told the judicial panel in Ogun state that her son was a student of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta FUNAAB. She said on February 3 this year, operatives from the Zonal Intervention Squad of SARS, a police formation at Obada-Oko, near Abeokuta, allegedly raided her son's hostel and arrested he and some other students.

 

The distraught mother said after the unwarranted arrest of her son, he became depressed and drank a poisonous liquid later confirmed by a medical doctor to be the insecticide brand “sniper”

 

Recounting his experience, a witness and a friend of the deceased, Damilare Adejoro, who was also among those arrested by the disbanded SARS operatives, said 

 

“On February 3, 2020, Inspector Babajide Adebusuyi and his three other colleagues raided and arrested all the 17 students staying inside Chocolate City Hostel at Camp, Abeokuta, detained and locked us all night inside the cell at the Station.

The officers did not tell us what our offence was but rather when we got to the station, we were locked up with other 52 inmates already in a small cell after we were asked to pay a sum of two million naira for bail which we could not afford to pay.”

 

Adejoro added that while in the police custody, his late friend who was a forex trader severally told the officers that he had opened a trading business online that would run into loss if not attended to, but they refused him access to his mobile phone, slapped and even made a jest of him which eventually made him lost over seven million naira.

 

Adejoro added that before his friend committed suicide on April 22, 2020, he went on his Twitter page and wrote severally, “this is my story in case anyone is wondering why I did it” . He told the panel that on Seyi's last day on earth, he wrote

“I guess it’s goodbye now…no one heard my cry for justice and this had to happen haha…bye world”.

 

Adejoro appealed to the panel to ensure that justice is done in the matter and also requested that the parents of his deceased friend be compensated for the huge loss that led to the death of Mr. Seyi Akinade.

 

Another witness, Olaleye Adejare, who was the landlord of the deceased, confirmed the incident saying the police officers eventually collected N120,000 before releasing the students without any just cause.

 

Reacting to their testimonies, the respondents, Inspector Babajide Adebusuyi said they arrested the victim, “but it was because they got information that some people were smoking Indian hemp in the house even though the deceased, as well as his friend, were not culpable.”

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Barack Obama admits his job as the US President took a toll on his marriage

Friday, November 13, 2020 NEWS No Comments

 

Barack Obama says that the stress involved in his job as the President of the United States caused issues with wife Michelle.

 

In his new 768 page memoir A Promised Land, he reveals how being the leader of the US took a toll on his now 28 year marriage to wife Michelle, 56. 

 

Obama said that behind the scenes, friends and even family treated her as “secondary” in importance to him.

 

Obama writes that once they were in the White House as America’s first family along with daughters Malia, now 22, and Sasha, now 19, “I continued to sense an undercurrent of tension in her, subtle but constant, like the faint thrum of a hidden machine.” 

 

Not only had Michelle’s duties amplified as first lady, she was also the subject of “scrutiny and attacks.”

 

“It was as if, confined as we were within the walls of the White House, all her previous sources of frustration became more concentrated, more vivid, whether it was my round the clock absorption with work, or the way politics exposed our family to scrutiny and attacks, or the tendency of even friends and family members to treat her role as secondary in importance,” he continued.

 

He said that caused him to lay awake at night next to Michelle, thinking of life before his presidency, “when everything between us felt lighter, when her smile was more constant and our love less encumbered, and my heart would suddenly tighten at the thought that those days might not return.”

 

Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land becomes available for sale on Nov. 17.

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#EndSARS: ‘We all love you’ — Tafa Balogun appeals to policemen to resume duty

Friday, November 13, 2020 NEWS No Comments

 

A former inspector general of police (IGP), Tafa Balogun, has appealed to police officers to return to their duty posts.

 

Many police stations were burnt and policemen were killed by the hoodlums during the crisis that broke out after the #EndSARS protests were hijacked by hoodlums. Police officers across the country have not fully returned to work as they complain that their morale to work has dropped. 

 

However, in a statement released on Thursday, November 12, Balogun who was the former police chief from 2002 to 2005, urged officers to forge ahead because their concerns are currently being handled by police authorities and the federal government.

“I urge all members of the Nigeria Police Force in our country to return to their duty posts and continue to provide the much needed security to our dear country, Nigeria; not minding the recent brutal attacks, arson, and acts of intimidation against the Police.

The Nigeria Police remain the first line of Internal Security as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution. Therefore, it behooves all and sundry not to betray the spirit of the Constitution.

I sincerely appeal and urge all my brothers and sisters in the Police Force to put the past behind us as the Federal and State Governments, as well as the police authorities, are positively and aggressively addressing the unprecedented provocative attacks on the police institution. We all love you.

Please, once again, I appeal to all of you to return to duty without further delay.”his statement read

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212 new cases of Coronavirus recorded in Nigeria

Friday, November 13, 2020 NEWS No Comments

 

212 new cases of Coronavirus were recorded in Nigeria on Thursday November 12, as confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). 

 

A breakdown of the new cases is as follows; Lagos-71, Imo-26, Plateau-26, FCT-19, Ondo-17, Kaduna-14, Rivers-9, Oyo-9, Katsina-6, Osun-4, Bauchi-2, Ekiti-2,  Nasarawa-2, Ogun-2, Kano-1, Kwara-1, Taraba-1. 

 

There are now 64,728 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the country and 1,162 deaths have been recorded. 60,790 patients who recovered from the disease have also been discharged. 

 

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El-Rufai sues Reno Omokri, Chdi Odinkalu and others for N1.5bn

Friday, November 13, 2020 NEWS No Comments

 

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has filed a N1.5 billion defamation suit against former presidential spokesperson Reno Omokri, Professor Chidi Odinkalu and others. 

 

Others joined in the defamation lawsuit filed by his lawyer  A.U. Mustapha (SAN) before the FCT High Court are Thisday Newspaper, Daniel Elombah, Elombah Communications, Barrister Joseph Onu and Auta Nyada.

 

In the lawsuit filed against Reno Omokri, the Kaduna state Governor said the statements contained in his publication titled: ‘El-Rufai’s email saying southern women youth corpers are seen as whores’ which was published by Thisday newspaper on Sunday 14th of June 2020 is injurious to his reputation and “malicious, unwarranted and defamatory”. He demanded the sum of N500 million in damages and an apology published in the newspaper.

 

In the lawsuit filed against against Odinkalu, Daniel Elombah and Elombah Communications, El-Rufai averred that the publication titled: ‘Litany of 25 critics who have suffered at El-Rufai’s hands compiled by Chidi Odinkalu’ which was published in Elombah.com on Wednesday September 2, 2020 is “malicious, unlawful and without any justification.” He demanded the sum of N500 million in damages and apology for the “defamatory and greatly injurious to his reputation.”

 

The Kaduna state Governor who also filed a lawsuit against Joseph Onu and Nyada, insisted that a letter that they wrote dated August 19, 2020 titled: ‘Request to withdraw the offer of platform at the 2020 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Malam Nasir El Rufai’ addressed to Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi, SAN, in his capacity as the Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP) Nigerian Bar Association and copied to DR. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, Chairman, Board of Trustee, Nigerian Bar Association and Mr. Olumide Akpata, the then President-Elect of the NBA and published in the media, is “defamatory and greatly injurious to the reputation of the claimant.” He also demanded an apology and the sum of N500 million in damages.

 

No date has been fixed for the lawsuits. 

 

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