Former Chelsea and Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff announced his retirement on Monday (Dec 21).

Duff came through the youth ranks at Blackburn before moving onto Chelsea, Newcastle and then Fulham.

The 36-year-old won two Premier League titles and the League Cup with Chelsea, lifted the League Cup with Blackburn and helped Fulham reach the 2010 Europa League final. He also won 100 caps for Ireland, representing them at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2012.

Duff returned home to Ireland to join Shamrock Rovers in July after a spell with Australian outfit Melbourne City, but has now called time on his 20-year career.

“After much deliberation, I have today decided to bring my professional football career to an end,” he said in a statement released by Shamrock. “My heart wants me to continue playing but my body has finally won the battle and told me to stop.

“I’ve lived every young boy’s dream and I know I am a very lucky man. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me along the journey from schoolboy football in Dublin and moving to England as a teenager right up to today.

“I am extremely proud to have won 100 caps for my country – it was always my greatest pleasure to represent Ireland and I have many magical memories from my international career.”

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Tottenham striker Clinton Njie faces up to three months on the sidelines after undergoing knee surgery, coach Mauricio Pochettino revealed on Wednesday (Dec 23).

The Cameroon international required an operation after sustaining an injury in Spurs’ Europa League win over Monaco a fortnight ago. “You never know because every day it’s about how the knee responds but maybe two months or a little bit more,” Pochettino said.

The setback leaves Tottenham even shorter of forward options with Harry Kane currently the club’s only out-and-out first-team striker.

Pochettino insists Njie, Son Heung-min and Nacer Chadli can play up front but all three are more comfortable in an attacking midfield role and Spurs are now likely to step up their search for another striker in January.

Tottenham moved into the top four for the first time this season after beating Southampton last weekend and a win at home to Norwich on Saturday could see them climb to third.

Pochettino refused to rule out a potential title challenge by his young side. “People don’t realise the effort we make and how hard our players work because we are the youngest squad in the Premier League,” Pochettino said.

“Sometimes they deserve more praise for the position they have. Maybe the team deserve more praise than we have so far. Can we win the title? In football, all is possible.”

“The last 10 games are very important and it’s how you arrive there to attack different objectives or achieve important things. It’s important how we arrive in the last 10 games.”

Danny Rose is available again after missing the win over Southampton through illness while Ryan Mason is also back in contention. The midfielder returned to training this week, having recovered from an ankle injury, but Alex Pritchard (ankle) is still out.

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FIFA’s suspended president Sepp Blatter says the world body’s ethics watchdog have dropped corruption charges against him over a suspect US$2 million payment.

FIFA have investigated the cash payment which Blatter approved to Michel Platini with both men set to discover their fates when the verdicts are delivered on Monday.

Aside from corruption, Blatter faces other charges, including accusations of mismanagement. If found guilty, both men risk receiving lengthy bans.

Blatter was interviewed by Swiss daily Blick on Sunday about his eight-hour hearing in front of the chief FIFA judge Hans-Joachim Eckert last week.

He told the newspaper: “The judge told me at the start ‘the corruption charges have been withdrawn’.”

FIFA investigators have sought life bans against Blatter and Platini and both men have signalled that appeals will be made.

The suspect payment was for work that Platini carried out as a consultant from 1998 to 2002.

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Jose Mourinho’s tumultuous second spell as Chelsea manager was ended “by mutual consent” on Thursday (Dec 17), with the club’s technical director revealing that squad disharmony was a significant factor.

Chelsea’s disastrous start to the season prompted owner Roman Abramovich to press the ejector button, with the club saying it was “in the best interests of both parties to go our separate ways”.

Nine defeats in 16 games have seen the reigning Premier League champions slither to within a point of the relegation zone and technical director Michael Emenalo said that Chelsea had had no choice but to act.

“Whilst there is huge sentiment for the individual who has done so much for the club, the facts of the matter remain that Chelsea Football Club is in trouble,” he told Chelsea TV.

“The results are not good. There obviously seems to be a palpable discord between manager and players. We feel it was time to act.”

Chelsea said that Mourinho, 52, had left “on good terms”, two years after returning to the club following spells at Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

He was pictured on Sky Sports News being driven out of Chelsea’s training ground in a black car, with his hood pulled down over his face.

The outspoken Portuguese is reported to have been informed of his fate in a meeting with club officials on Thursday afternoon, following two days of talks at boardroom level.

“His three league titles, FA Cup, Community Shield and three League Cup wins over two spells make him the most successful manager in our 110-year history,” Chelsea said in a statement.

“But both Jose and the board agreed results have not been good enough this season and believe it is in the best interests of both parties to go our separate ways.”

Hiddink front-runner

Chelsea said that Mourinho “will always remain a much-loved, respected and significant figure at Chelsea” and “will always be warmly welcomed back to Stamford Bridge”.

He was previously sacked by Abramovich in 2007 and his departure on Thursday came just seven months after he led Chelsea to a league and League Cup double.

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, 69, has been cited as the front-runner to take over on a short-term basis, having previously fulfilled the role in 2009.

Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone and Italy coach Antonio Conte are reported to be possible long-term successors, along with longstanding target Pep Guardiola, the Bayern Munich coach, and ex-Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti.

“The club is working vigorously and actively to make sure that the situation with regards to a managerial appointment is taken care of as soon as possible,” Emenalo said.

Chelsea have cancelled Friday’s scheduled press conference, when Mourinho had been due to address the media ahead of Saturday’s home game with Sunderland.

In his final interview as Chelsea manager, filmed for BT Sport before his departure was announced, Mourinho said the team’s travails had been a useful experience. “As a process, this is an amazing learning process,” he said. “This period was important for me. I’m better than I thought.”

In what proved to be his last game, Chelsea were beaten 2-1 at Leicester City on Monday – a club managed by Claudio Ranieri, who he replaced at Stamford Bridge when he first arrived from Porto in 2004.

Mourinho lambasted his players afterwards, saying: “I feel like my work was betrayed.” Emenalo’s comments confirmed reports of dissent within the squad.

Fabregas tribute

Mourinho also said that Chelsea could no longer achieve the top-four finish necessary to qualify for next season’s Champions League. They currently trail fourth-place Manchester United by 14 points.

Cesc Fabregas was the first Chelsea player to pay tribute to Mourinho, tweeting: “Thank you for all you have done for me. I owe you a lot and we will all miss you. Good luck in the future and I know you will be back soon.”

With Chelsea having swept to the title by eight points last season, their collapse has baffled pundits.

As well as floundering in the league, they were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Stoke City, although they have reached the Champions League last 16, where they will face Paris Saint-Germain.

Things went awry from the off, with Chelsea losing to Arsenal in the Community Shield and then drawing 2-2 at home to Swansea City on the season’s opening day.

That game was overshadowed by Mourinho’s criticism of his medical staff for running on to treat Eden Hazard, which temporarily left his team down to nine men.

Team doctor Eva Carneiro left the club in September and is now seeking a claim for constructive dismissal.

Chelsea then lost 3-0 at Manchester City and have also lost to Crystal Palace, Everton, Southampton, West Ham United, Liverpool, Stoke and promoted side Bournemouth.

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Jose Mourinho’s departure from Chelsea will have a financial impact on the club even though it is too early in the season to count the costs of a possible relegation, experts said on Friday.

“Of course it will affect the balance sheet,” said Giambattista Rossi, an expert at the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre in London.

Mourinho will reportedly get a pay-out of between €13.7 million and €16.5 million (£9.7m-12m; US$14.9m-17.9m) – a sum of little significance to Chelsea’s billionaire owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

But Rossi said any new manager will also need cash on the table to change players and the cost of a planned new 60,000-seat stadium on the club’s Stamford Bridge site has to be factored in.

“Every time you change a manager in the UK, you need to give him the power to change the squad,” Rossi said. “Probably in the next years financially they will have some concerns.”

The expert said tensions in the dressing room were so bad that Abramovich faced a choice between sacking Mourinho or 11 players.

“The easy decision is to change Mourinho,” he said. “A player like Diego Costa has strong market value. Next year if Mourinho was still in the club, he would have been sold for nothing,” he added.

Chelsea are unlikely to qualify for next season’s Champions League, which will also have a significant impact on revenues, said Rossi.

Manchester United’s revenues fell by 8.8 per cent – or €52 million euros – between June 2014 and June 2015 because of their failure to qualify for the competition.

Chelsea, champions in May by an eight-point margin, have been sucked into a potential relegation battle after losing nine of their first 16 games.

Wyn Grant, an expert in football business at Warwick University, central England, said Chelsea’s poor performance this season had hit revenues.

“There are financial implications in that corporate sales were dipping. Also a lower place in the table means less revenue,” he said.

“Boosting corporate hospitality income is a key part of the club’s plans for the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge,” he added.

Chelsea last month announced it had made a loss of £23.1 million (€31.7 million, US$34.4 million) last season.

The west London club also announced annual revenues of £314.3m, marginally down on the 2013-14 high of £319.8m.

The dip in revenues was attributed to Chelsea’s exit in the first knockout round of the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain, following their run to the semi-finals the previous season.

According to the most recent figures compiled by Deloitte, the club generated €85 million (US$90.1 million) in match-day revenue in the 2013-14 season in its current 41,798 capacity stadium.

In comparison, London rivals Arsenal, whose Emirates Stadium holds 60,260, raised €120 million, while Manchester United, who can fit 75,653 people in at Old Trafford, generated €129 million.

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