Louis Saha: My family values

The Tottenham and France footballer talks about his family

My father comes from a strict Caribbean culture and he replicated that in the way that he brought up his own children. He tried to balance my football with the rest of my education. He knew that there were a lot of talented players out there and not everyone could make it so he wanted me to realise how important the rest of my education was. So he made the right choices to push me and make sure I got enough education away from football. But when I started to progress as a footballer, he was behind me all the way in helping me mature as a footballer and as a man.

My dad is really competitive. He hates losing, he loves challenges and he's a sports addict. He used to run for fun and football was his passion, so he wanted me to be as successful as possible and he was the one that gave me that virus of being obsessed with football and of wanting to win. And my mum – she's very generous and she's been working in a hospital so she's very caring, very loving. I'm very much a product of both of my parents.

I've got one brother and one sister. My brother is 21 and my sister is 25. I left home quite early when they were very young, so I didn't have the time to build a closer relationship with them. I try to see them as much as possible but they are in France and I am in Britain so it's a bit difficult, but I speak to them on the phone regularly.

Without my Caribbean ancestry I wouldn't be where I am today. My parents were born in a little town called Sainte-Protais, Sainte-Anne on Guadeloupe and I love going back there to visit my grandparents. I think it's very important to connect with your roots, and I have total respect for my grandfather and his ancestors for the sacrifices they made for future generations. Without their fighting spirit I strongly believe my talent would not exist. Their history has given me that competitiveness and that desire to play football as hard as I can. We love and respect what our people have done for us, even as far back as times of slavery. For me to be allowed to enjoy my football; I owe it to them.

Being a father has changed everything for me. I would advise young players to find the right girl as quickly as possible because it gets harder and harder to find the right one when you're older. I've got three children now and players with families are way more likely to be responsible and not go out partying until the early hours. I love being at Tottenham and I love London but it's been hard being separated from my family for four or five months, as they're still up in Manchester. It's really tough for me but I have to balance my career choices and keeping a sense of continuity for my children. That's the sacrifice you have to make.

The birth of my son Enzo, three days after I was suspended from playing for France in the 2006 World Cup final, put my life in sharp perspective. For 72 hours after the final I was depressed, speechless, destroyed – but I snapped out of it when Enzo arrived, and I was crying tears of joy not pain. That sort of thing keeps your feet on the ground and makes you realise life is good. And if Enzo decides he wants to be a footballer when he grows up, I will encourage him in whatever he decides to do. I will try to give him the right advice and I will try my best for him. That's what a dad is supposed to do.

• Louis Saha's autobiography Thinking Inside the Box is out now, published by Vision Sports Publishing Read More [category Sport][tags Tottenham Hotspur, Football, France, Family, Life and style]

Manchester United's bid for Kagawa rejected

• €16m bid for Japanese midfielder rejected by Germans
• Deal for Kagawa may go through next week for €17-18m

Manchester United have had a bid of around €16m (£12.8m) for Borussia Dortmund's Shinji Kagawa rejected, according to a highly-placed source at the German club.

The offer for the 23-year-old midfielder was not accepted as Dortmund value Kagawa closer to €20m. But as he cost just €350,000 when the German champions bought him from the Japanese club Cerezo Osaka two years ago, it is thought that the deal may go through next week for around €17-18m.

Sir Alex Ferguson watched Kagawa a fortnight ago when he scored in Dortmund's 5-2 win over Bayern Munich in the German Cup final. He scored 13 goals in 31 league games as Dortmund won the Bundesliga from Bayern by eight points and would fit the profile currently adhered to by United of a young player who could improve and not cost a premium price. Read More [category Sport][tags Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Transfer window, Football, Sport]

Barton will not appeal against 12-match ban and fine

• Queens Park Rangers conducting internal investigation
• Barton and his team are co-operating with QPR

Queens Park Rangers have announced that the midfielder Joey Barton will not appeal against his 12-match ban for being sent off and reacting violently at Manchester City on the final day of the Premier League season.

Barton was banned and fined £75,000 on Wednesday by a Football Association-appointed independent regulatory commission after he elbowed Carlos Tevez in the face and then kicked out at Sergio Agüero as he left the pitch.

QPR are now carrying out their own investigation into the incident. The club said in a statement: "Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm it has now started a full internal investigation in relation to Joey Barton's dismissal and subsequent events against Manchester City on the final day of the 2012-13 Premier League season.

"The QPR midfielder will not appeal against the independent regulatory commission's decision made on Wednesday and he and his team are now working in full co-operation with the club to assist in the internal investigation.

"The club expects the investigation to last at least two weeks. During this period, no one from the club or Joey Barton himself will make any further comment." Read More [category Sport][tags QPR, Joey Barton, Football, Sport]

Athletic Bilbao 0-3 Barcelona

• Athletic Bilbao 0-3 Barcelona

And so the circle is completed. The first trophy Pep Guardiola won as the coach of Barcelona was the Copa del Rey with victory against Athletic Bilbao in 2009. On Friday night he took charge of his final match as Barça coach and defeated Athletic Bilbao to claim the Copa del Rey for a second time. Three years later this was his 14th trophy. He bows out as the most successful coach Barcelona have had.

Two first-half goals from Pedro Rodríguez and one from Lionel Messi made this a remarkably comfortable final. The difficult bit starts now, as the post-Guardiola era begins.

Barcelona had taken the lead after two minutes. Xavi Hernández's corner was headed on by Gerard Piqué and Javi Martínez was unable to control the dropping ball. It came off his thigh and into the path of Pedro, whose shot, though far from perfectly struck, found its way past Gorka Iraizoz. It had not even been Barcelona's first chance – Messi had already curled a shot fractionally beyond the post 27 seconds in – and it would not be the last.

Iraizoz made a sharp save from another Messi curler, again receiving on the right and coming inside on his left foot. And then Andrés Iniesta slotted Messi through in the inside-right channel. The Argentinian took a touch with his left foot and hit it high into the roof of the net at the near post. It was his 73rd goal of another astounding season. This was Messi's 14th final; it was the 13th in which he has scored.

Four minutes later Barcelona were 3-0 up. Xavi, Piqué and Pedro were again involved but the genesis of this could hardly have been more different from the first, Piqué striding out from the back, Xavi turning sharply and laying the ball off, Pedro curling his shot into the far corner.

There was a sudden flurry from Athletic and, with space opening up, from Barcelona too – a Pinto save, Messi's failed lob and Fernando Llorente's appeal for a penalty. It was a strong appeal too: turning Piqué, he appeared to have his shirt pulled and went to ground. The referee said no. Athletic's fans, easily a majority here, fell silent. It was happening again: two finals, two defeats. All that hope, all that illusion. Football, said Javier Mascherano before this game, has been unjust with the Athletic manager, Marcelo Bielsa. They had not deserved much more here but their season had.

The Argentinian coach has revolutionised Athletic Bilbao this season, changing their style and philosophy and leading them to two finals. Along the way they destroyed Manchester United; rarely had their supporters been so enthused – neutrals, too.

But they lost the Europa League final to Atlético Madrid and, looking both emotionally and physically burnt out, they collapsed in the final weeks of the league season, missing out on a Champions League place. Coming into this game they had not even scored for five matches. In Bucharest it finished 3-0. Here it was 3-0 before half time.

The second half simply drifted away, the end drawing slowly closer – both for Athletic and for Guardiola. Bielsa made two changes and the introduction of Ander Herrera especially gave bite and incision. He created the best chance for Ibai Gómez to chip over. There was a header, too, from Llorente but little else. In fact, the best moment was a Messi run from inside his half, past four players, which drew a sharp save from Iraizoz.

Eventually, the final whistle went – on this match and the Guardiola era. After the game, he said: "I am going to rest, then – I don't know when – if there is another challenge I will take it. I am tired. If I was on another bench I would [still] be tired."

Athletic: Iraizoz; Iraola, Amorebieta, Ekiza, Aurtenetxe; De Marcos (Herrera, h-t), Martínez, Muniain; Ibai, Llorente (Toquero, 73), Susaeta (Pérez, h-t).

Subs not used: Raul, San José, Gabilondo, Gómez, Iturraspe,

Barcelona: Pinto; Montoya, Piqué, Mascherano, Adriano; Xavi (Fábregas, 80), Busquets, Iniesta; Pedro (Thiago, 86), Messi, Alexis (Keita, 73).

Subs not used: Valdes, Bartra, Affelay, Cuenca. Read More [category Sport][tags Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, La Liga, Football, European football, Sport]

Hodgson urges England to prove they can cut it

• Manager hands Andy Carroll starting place against Norway
• 'I expect performances from the players,' stresses Hodgson

Roy Hodgson has urged his England players to seize an opportunity against Norway on Saturday night and "prove they should be involved" in his lineup at Euro 2012, with his focus already drawn towards the opening group game against France in Donetsk in 17 days' time.

The England manager will mark his first game in charge by handing Andy Carroll a starting place at the Ullevaal stadium, using Ashley Young in a role just behind the Liverpool forward, with Scott Parker, who has been suffering from a persistent achilles tendon injury, to play the first half alongside the captain, Steven Gerrard. Danny Welbeck, still troubled by an ankle complaint, will not be involved, though Hodgson suggested he would risk retaining him in his final 23-man squad to be submitted to Uefa on Tuesday.

The Manchester United forward trained away from his team-mates with the England physio, Gary Lewin, on Friday night and will need to be assessed on Monday – along with Glen Johnson, who has an infected toe – but Hodgson is hopeful the forward will be available to train fully by the time the squad arrive in Poland on 6 June.

"Danny Welbeck is the biggest concern," said Hodgson. "There's an element of risk involved, certainly, but we don't have many other alternatives of the 'Welbeck-type' up front.

"The only other forward in the squad who's remotely comparable is Andy Carroll because I want to have someone capable of playing as a lone striker. Welbeck fits that description. We have a couple more days [to make a final decision] but you employ doctors, physios and experts and you value their opinions. Whey they say: 'Don't worry, he'll be fit and OK', sometimes you have to accept that.

"I'd hate to dismiss him despite medical advice and then, in five days' time, hear he's running round with nothing wrong with him. I'm hoping I'm not taking a striker who's only 80% fit. I'm counting on him being fully fit and, as long as he gives me guarantees he can and wants to play, I'll take him."

Hodgson also experimented with Walcott in a central attacking role, behind Carroll, in Friday night's session, with James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who will make his debut at some stage on Saturday night, operating in turn on the right of midfield.

The England manager has lost the services of his third-choice goalkeeper, John Ruddy, after the Norwich player broke a finger in training at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday. Hodgson has assured Ruddy, who remains in Norway, he will be in contention to return to the fold when the World Cup qualifying campaign begins in the autumn.

Birmingham City's 19-year-old Jack Butland has been promoted from the standby list as a replacement and, with Joe Hart initially rested, Rob Green will feature night for the first time since his infamous error in Rustenburg handed the United States an equaliser in England's opening game of the 2010 World Cup.

No England manager has lost his first game in charge since Sir Alf Ramsey, a 5-2 defeat in France in 1963, yet Hodgson was keen to insist he considers the fixture against Egil Olsen's Norway merely "preparation", with the result effectively immaterial. However, he is keen for his squad to seize their opportunity to impress and prove there is cause for some optimism ahead of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

"If this squad is anything like as good as we think they are, and if the players we have in the pipeline making their way in the Premier League are anything as good as we make them out to be, then you have to believe that England has a future," he said. "I'd like to think I have the experience and knowledge to lead that nation into the future. But football's played by the players. They have to do a good job. There are a lot of people who, after South Africa, will want to prove they are good enough, and I'll be expecting performances from the players. It's an opportunity for them to prove they should be involved."

"Maybe there is a bit of doubt about at the moment," added Gerrard. "A bit of a lack of belief in this group of players. I've heard whispers that people think this is the weakest group we've had a for long time with England. But we have a chance to prove this is a good team, and to start giving a bit of belief and confidence back to the public. We know that, if we perform like we did in South Africa, we'll be going home early." Read More [category Sport][tags England, Euro 2012, Euro 2012 Group D, Roy Hodgson, European football, Football, Sport]

Football: Barca mark Guardiola's farewell

Lionel Messi scores as Barcelona mark Pep Guardiola's final match in charge with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao to win the Copa del Rey Friday. It was the 14th trophy of his four-year reign.Read More[category Sport]

Postal Service offers $15,000 buyouts to 45,000 mail handlers

The U.S. Postal Service is offering buyouts to 45,000 mail handlers, part of the struggling agency's efforts to shed staff and cut costs.Read More[category Money]

Summer gas prices - as good as they'll get

As the summer driving season kicks off this holiday weekend, most Americans are enjoying lower gas prices than they might have expected when the spring began.Read More[category Money]

Creditors rule needs change in law

• HMRC mounted legal challenge which judge dismissed
• Present 'rule' does not break insolvency law

The controversial "football creditors rule" needs a change in the law if it is to be outlawed, a judge has ruled, dismissing a legal challenge by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Mr Justice David Richards stated that the rule does not currently break insolvency law, although he referred to it having been "subject to a good deal of criticism, in parliament and the courts" and said: "The Football League should not regard the result of this case as an endorsement of its approach to football creditors."

The rule applies when a Football League or Premier League club falls insolvent and goes into administration, which, the judge noted, was "infrequent" throughout football history until the late 1990s, since when there has been "a high incidence" of insolvencies. For a club to come out of administration and be a member of the Football League, usually via new owners, it must pay in full "football creditors" – other clubs owed transfer fees and players' wages.

Other debts, always including tax and VAT, local businesses, public bodies and charities, are settled for a fraction of the money actually owed. The judge referred to the recent administrations of Crystal Palace and Plymouth Argyle, in which "football creditors" were, as required, paid in full, while the other creditors, owed £27m in Palace's case, were forced to accept 2p and 0.77p in the pound respectively.

Players' very high salaries must be paid in full, while a tiny proportion of the tax owing on those salaries has been paid, leading to HMRC's frustration and legal challenge.

HMRC argued the rule was contrary to two specific aspects of insolvency law: that all creditors must be treated equally, and that an insolvent company cannot be "deprived" of a valuable asset, in this case the share of league membership, which is transferred to a new company when football debts are settled.

In his 31-page judgment, Mr Justice Richards said he had to decide whether the rule actually breaches insolvency law as it is drafted by statute, not make a moral judgment on how it affects creditors: "These proceedings are not concerned with whether giving priority to football creditors is socially or morally justified. The issue is one purely of law."

He concluded, based on the precise way the rule is operated, with a new company taking on the Football League share and the old company settling creditors debts for a smaller percentage of what they were owed, does not breach the law. Broadening insolvency's legal principles to outlaw the football creditors rule as HMRC argued would, the judge said, "require statutory intervention".

Welcoming the judgment, the Football League said it recognised that "Some regard the application of these rules as being imperfect. However, they remain an essential part of football's approach to handing insolvent clubs."

The league argues that the rule is necessary to maintain competition, because other clubs owed money would suffer financial problems if left owed money. If the rule were not applied, the league said, insolvent clubs would inevitably be expelled from the league because other clubs would not want to play them:

"This would have devastating consequences for the clubs concerned, their supporters and people living in their local community."

HMRC said it was "naturally disappointed" with the judgment and was taking time to consider whether to appeal.

Last year the parliamentary culture, media and sport committee said the rule should be abolished, and Damian Collins, a Conservative MP on the committee, repeated that, saying that the rule is "morally unjustifiable". Read More [category Sport][tags Business, Football]

Golf: McIlroy misses Wentworth cut

Rory McIlroy's grip on the world number one spot in golf loosened Friday after a disastrous seven-over-par 79 at the European Tour's PGA Championships at Wentworth saw the Northern Irishman miss the cut.Read More[category Sport]

Football: Woman makes FIFA history

Burundi's Lydia Nsekera became the first woman to be co-opted on to FIFA's executive committee as the Congress of the world governing body ratified her appointment Friday.Read More[category Sport]

Dimon asked to testify before Senate panel on June 7

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been invited to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on June 7 regarding the $2 billion trading loss his bank announced earlier this month.Read More[category Money]

Old methods hold sway again

With Wayne Rooney suspended for the first two Euro 2012 games, England have little option other than to turn to a big man

"You don't have to use short passes," Roy Hodgson was heard to tell his England squad during one of this week's training sessions, "not if you use your big man up front." An instinctive shudder of apprehension ran through England supporters with long memories.

Nowhere has the cult of the big, strong centre-forward retained its grip on the football culture more firmly than in England, and nowhere does it evoke such a mixed response. By urging his players to "use your big man" – Andy Carroll, in this case – the new manager seemed to be ushering in a new era by awakening a host of ancient fears.

In a world in thrall to Lionel Messi and the short-passing, small-is-good philosophy of Barcelona, is it wise to put a strapping 6ft 3in centre-forward at the centre of your strategy? Or is Hodgson the only one capable of seeing through a smokescreen of fashionable theory and recognising that the old values of power, pace and directness – embodied by a man whose £35m transfer from Newcastle to Liverpool 17 months ago prefaced an abject collapse in form – can still have a place at the top level of football?

Those English fears can be traced back to the trauma induced by a single event whose echoes stubbornly refuse to fade: a murky afternoon at Wembley in 1953 when the red shirts of Gusztav Sebes's Hungary emerged from the mist to destroy England's finest – Billy Wright, Stanley Matthews and all – with a magisterial performance revolving around the use of Nandor Hidegkuti as a deep-lying centre-forward. Hidegkuti wore the No9 on his shirt but spent most of his time in midfield, a tactic that was more than enough to confuse England's defenders, who had been reared on orthodoxy and were helpless as he found the positions from which to score three of his team's six goals.

England were used to big, bold, line-leading No9s like Tommy Lawton, with his 22 goals in 23 appearances between 1938 and 1948, and Nat Lofthouse, who scored 30 in 33 between 1950-58. Even as Hungary were unveiling the future, England's next battering ram was being readied for action. The burly Tommy Taylor of Barnsley and Manchester United received his first cap in 1953 and was being groomed as Lofthouse's successor; he had scored 16 times in 19 appearances for England when he perished in the Munich disaster, aged 26.

Alf Ramsey played in the 1953 match against Hungary, in which England were shown to have fallen behind not only in terms of tactical organisation but also in the development of ball skills and the use of individual imagination. Ten years later Ramsey took over as the manager of the national team and showed that he had learnt at least some of the lessons. Although he tried a handful of conventional No9s, including Alan Peacock and Frank Wignall, he would win the World Cup with a pair of strikers, Geoff Hurst – a converted wing-half – and Roger Hunt, who hardly conformed to the Olde English stereotype.

Big men who did fit the description came and went during the latter part of Ramsey's reign and those of his successors. The procession of those who excelled in the English league but failed to make a lasting impact on the international scene included Jeff Astle, Malcolm Macdonald, Joe Royle, Bob Latchford, Peter Withe and Paul Mariner, who made the biggest impression with 35 caps and 13 goals. Then, under Bobby Robson, came the centre-forward most reminiscent of Carroll in general approach: Mark Hateley, with nine goals in 32 matches, followed by Alan Smith (the Arsenal one), Kerry Dixon, John Fashanu and Steve Bull before Alan Shearer took over in 1992 and established himself as the first choice of Graham Taylor, Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan.

Shearer was one of those centre-fowards capable of scoring the perfect hat-trick – right foot, left foot, header – and proved a hard act to follow when he retired with a record of 30 goals from 63 games in eight years. Emile Heskey took over but finished with only seven goals from 62 appearances spread over 11 years, although his unselfishness was appreciated by his usual partner, the more prolific Michael Owen.

An impatience with Heskey's inability to score regularly had coincided with the emergence of Wayne Rooney, encouraging Sven-Goran Eriksson to explore formations that encouraged a more flexible tactical approach, although the Swede also tried James Beattie and Peter Crouch in the No9 role. Crouch, now seemingly cast into international oblivion, has a record of 22 goals in 42 matches, although most of his success came against insubstantial opposition.

Steve McClaren launched Darren Bent's international career in the catastrophic Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia at Wembley, while Fabio Capello tried the unlucky Dean Ashton and Carlton Cole but felt compelled to recall Heskey for the 2010 World Cup. Carroll made a confident debut in the friendly against France in November 2010, and Bobby Zamora and Kevin Davies were also given run-outs before the Italian resigned in February.

If Hodgson views Carroll as his most potent attacking weapon in Rooney's absence, then he is planning to shape his pattern of play around a man who came into form only in the last month of the domestic season and has a mere three international caps to his name. The Liverpool player scored in his second match, a friendly against Ghana, but his experience of competitive international football amounts to one minute of last September's Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales at Wembley, when he came on for Rooney at the end of a pallid 1-0 win.

The new manager will be given a chance, of course, to test his theories and find a way of deploying his limited resources to the best advantage. It would be optimistic to imagine that he believes he has found an English Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a big man capable not just of intimidating defenders but also of bringing his team-mates into play and scoring goals marked by panache and unpredictability. Carroll has done little to suggest that he possesses the finesse for that role.

But, faced with Rooney's enforced absence from the opening Euro 2012 matches against France and Sweden, Hodgson has to find a short-term fix. Progressives will fear that, to borrow the words of the old Stiff Records slogan, he is reversing into the future. Read More [category Sport][tags Andy Carroll, England, Euro 2012 Group D, Euro 2012, Football, Sport]

Beckham takes 40% pay cut with LA Galaxy

• Beckham has a base salary of $3m, down by $1.5m
• Thierry Henry becomes highest-paid MLS player

David Beckham is no longer Major League Soccer's highest-paid player after his salary was cut by nearly 40% in his new contract with Los Angeles Galaxy.

The former England captain has a base salary of $3m this year and guaranteed compensation of $4m, according to figures released on Friday by the MLS Players Union. His previous base salary had been $5.5m with total annual compensation of $6.5m under a $32.5m five-year contract that expired after the 2011 season.

New York's Thierry Henry now becomes the league's highest-paid player, with a base salary of $5m and total compensation of $5.6m.

Henry's Red Bulls team-mate Rafael Márquez is second on the list, earning $4.6m total compensation, followed by Beckham and his Galaxy team-mates Robbie Keane ($2.9m base, $3.4m total) and Landon Donovan ($2.4m). Read More [category Sport][tags David Beckham, MLS, LA Galaxy, Football, US sports, Sport]

Guardiola signs off in style as Barca win Copa

Lionel Messi scores as Barcelona mark Pep Guardiola's final match in charge with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao to win the Copa del Rey Friday. It was the 14th trophy of his four-year reign.Read More[category Sport]

Lawyer: Accused Child Killer Is Mentally Ill

On the same day that a suspect is arraigned for the 1979 death of a 6-year-old boy, the lawyer for the accused says he's mentally ill and suffers from hallucinations.Read More[category World]

Observing Memorial Day

We'll be back Tuesday.Read More[category World]

Ad-skipping DVR prompts fight for the future of TV

It turns out that consumers like the idea of watching TV shows with no other ads. And, surprise, the television networks are less than thrilled.Read More[category Technology]

No.1 spot on the line as McIlroy misses cut

Rory McIlroy's grip on the world number one spot in golf loosens Friday after a disastrous seven-over-par 79 at the European Tour's PGA Championship at Wentworth sees the Northern Irishman miss the cut.Read More[category Sport]

Despite Facebook, privacy is far from dead

Amitai Etzioni says everyone seems to think that privacy is extinct, especially with the rise of Facebook, but in truth privacy is now better protectedRead More[category Technology]