News

New City contract for Zabaleta

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 20/12/2009
Football betting

Full-back Pablo Zabaleta has agreed a new four-and-a-half year contract with Manchester City.

The 24-year-old Argentina international joined the Citizens in August 2008 from Spanish club Espanyol and has already made 55 first-team appearances for the club.

Can Manchester City claim a top-four finish this season? - Latest Football Betting

Championship side Watford have been saved from the threat of administration after majority shareholder Lord Ashcroft agreed to pay former chairman Jimmy Russo an immediate £4.88million.

Russo had threatened to put the club into administration after demanding immediate repayment of the loans he made to the club prior to resigning from the board on Tuesday.

He rejected an initial proposal to defer the payment as part of a £7.5million rights issue tabled by Lord Ashcroft.

However, the two parties have now come to an agreement which will avoid the threat of administration and a 10-point penalty being imposed on the club.

In rugby union, Stade Francais and France scrum-half Julian Dupuy has been banned for six months for eye-gouging.

Dupuy was handed the 24-week ban after an independent disciplinary hearing in Dublin found him guilty of the offence during last week's Heineken Cup defeat at Ulster.

The Former Leicester player, who has six caps for France, will now miss the whole of next year's Six Nations tournament, for which the French are the online favourites to win.

David Attoub, the Stade Francais replacement prop who was also cited for eye-gouging, faces a wait to discover his punishment.

Both players had earlier apologised and were penalised by their club for their actions in the game on 12 December which Ulster won 23-13.

Wales' most-capped player Gareth Thomas has publicly revealed for the first time that he is gay.

Thomas, 35, has spoken of the inner demons he has wrestled with for years before deciding to come out for the first time.

The Cardiff Blues utility back won 100 caps for Wales but kept his personal life private for fear of a negative response.

Tiger Woods is facing up to another major sponsorship blow following reports that Swiss watch-maker Tag Heuer is to stop using his image in their advertising campaigns.

Woods' recent admission of marital infidelity has tarnished his image and the world number one has already seen two other major sponsors - Accenture and Gillette - reveal that they intend to reduce their involvement with him.

Now Tag Heuer has confirmed its intention to move away from the troubled golfer.

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