The Front Pages
The fallout from Sunday’s tragic Donegal car-crash continues in the Irish Independent today, with a front-page photo of the family and sister of victim Ciaran Sweeney at his funeral yesterday.
As for the Independent’s main headline, Anglo Irish Bank is once again in the spotlight, with a report that the former financial regulator Patrick Neary told Taoiseach Brian Cowen that the bank was in good health only 72 hours before the Government stepped in to save it – with the headline reading ‘Neary gave Anglo green light on eve of bailot.’
Neither stories are featured on the front of today’s Irish Times, which instead runs with an article concering the Vatican clearing the way for lay involvement in canon law trials, the first major review of church in how it deals with clerical child abuse for nine years.
The Times also reports that former Minister for Justice Willie O’Dea has been informed by gardai that he will not face perjury case prosecution. A relieved O’Dea told the paper “I knew I hadn’t done that.â€
Tales from the Tabs
The fans wanted him ‘back for good’ and pop superstar Robbie Williams has officially rejoined Take That after 15 years, telling The Sun that “it feels like coming homeâ€.
The aging boy band will be recording a new album and are planning a massive stadium tour, thought to be worth potentially £15m each for the group members.
The Sun also exclusively revealed that group’s upcoming tour will take 54 dates and reach over three million fans.
An excited Robbie admitted “I get embarrassingly excited when the five of us are in a roomâ€. The group’s new album is expected to be released in November and will be the five’s first release together since 1995’s Nobody Else.
The Sports Pages
North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are ready to begin a bidding war for Ipswich starlet Connor Wickham, with Spurs offering £8m for the 17-year-old Tractor Boys attacker, according to the Daily Mail.
Roy Keane’s Ipswich, who are nearly £50m in debt, are understood to be under pressure to sell, and have yet to make any summer signings. Cashing in on England Under-17 Wickham is a likely scenario; with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger a big fan of the forward and also looking to bolster his attacking ranks.
Elsewhere, cash-strapped Ac Milan are attempting to scupper Man City’s bid for Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko by offering Dutch forward Klaas Jan-Huntelaar to Aston Villa and Tottenham, so say the Daily Mail.
Milan had been interested in Dzeko last summer, but baulked at his £25m asking price – one year later and Wolfsburg boss Steve McClaren has set a prohibitive £50m price tag on the Serbian striker. Bayern Munich is also keen to offload disappointing strikers in the search for Dzeko, and may offer Germany international Mario Gomez in a swap deal.
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