The Footy Mumble: Ferdinand brothers boycott, Granada to be kicked out?

Begovic: Cut points for racism

Stoke City goal keeper Asmir Begovic said that tougher punishments are needed to combat racism in football.

Amidst the recent racism controversy involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, and also the boycott of Kick It Out, Begovic says fans need to be deterred more from being abusive.

“Financial punishments are not a big deal, maybe teams should lose points”, Begovic suggested.

Interesting proposal from Begovic, and one that we hope the FA takes into consideration, as unlikely as it may be that it is actually used as a deterrent.

Hernandez for Atletico, United for Gundogan, Real want Cole

Manchester United continue to dominate transfer rumors as usual, and it seems that striker Javier Hernandez is a major target for Atletico Madrid.

Atletico Madrid will target the Mexican should any club decide to meet the release clause price in Radamel Falcao’s contract – a whopping £46 million at that.

Manchester City, Chelsea and even Real Madrid are interested in the Colombian while Fiorentina are also targeting Hernandez.

United have also been linked with Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, with many reports claiming him as a main target of Sir Alex Ferguson and not Robert Lewandowski.

The Daily Star claims Sir Alex Ferguson wants to bring the Dortmund man in January to shore up his midfield, and goes on to add that the German will be in the middle of a bidding war between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

Ferdinands boycott Kick It Out

Rio Ferdinand has stirred up trouble for himself after refusing to wear a Kick It Out campaign T-shirt during the warm-up before Manchester United’s match against Stoke last weekend.

Just on the previous day, Sir Alex Ferguson had publicly stated that all his players would wear the T-shirts, but Ferdinand decided not to heed the gaffer’s words.

A miffed Ferguson is now reportedly considering punishing the soon to be 34-year old, with a £220,000 fine seeming likely.

Rio was not alone in his protest against the Terry verdict, with brother Anton Ferdinand and a few other QPR players also not wearing the T-shirt.

Mark Hughes has however confirmed that he won’t be punishing his players.

Bolton rebuffed in Freedman approach, Blackburn want McKinlay

Bolton seem to have finally settled on a target to replace former boss Owen Coyle, with reports of an official approach for Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman.

But any hopes to sign the Crystal Palace boss have been dashed, after the Eagles confirmed not only the bid on their website, but also their rejection of the request to hold talks.

The Sun claims Blackburn are targeting Fulham coach Billy McKinlay.

After being rejected by Tottenham in their approach for Tim Sherwood, the Lancashire club have now turned to McKinlay apparently.

Although an unknown in management, The Sun says Shebby Singh and Blackburn have been impressed by his work for Fulham and Northern Ireland, and want him to succeed Steve Kean.

Granada to be kicked out of town

While in some cases we’ve heard of cities going to extraordinary lengths to keep popular football clubs in town, that doesn’t seem to apply to Granada CF in Spain it seems.

The Granada City Council seems determined to kick Granada out, claiming that the club had reneged on payments to the city, which the club proved false immediately with evidence.

And now the Council seems to have imposed new rules on the club, which could threaten the existence of the club in the city itself.

Although club officials were quick to confirm that next weekend’s match against Real Zaragoza would go on, the future seems uncertain after that, both for the club and its fans.