Barcelona manager Xavi has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season. Xavis position has been under the spotlight as the LaLiga champions have fallen behind Real Madrid and Girona at the top of the table. Following Saturdays 5-3 home defeat by Villarreal, Xavi confirmed Clark Griswold Men Jersey his departure in the post-match pre s conference. Xavi Hernndez: I want to announce that on June 30 I will no longer continue as the coach at Bara. I think the situation needs to change course, and as a culer, I cannot allow the current situation. FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) I want to announce that on June 30 I will no longer continue as the coach at Barca, Xavi said. I think the situation needs to change course, and as a culer (Barca fan), I cannot allow the current situation. Xavi continued: It is a decision that I have made with the president (Joan Laporta), with (vice-president) Rafa Yuste, with (sporting director) Deco. I think the club needs a change of dynamic. For the good of the players, I believe that they will free themselves. We play with a lot of tension. For the good of the board of directors, it is best that I leave. I will give my best. I think all of that will help the dynamic change. This is the me sage I would like Lance Bouma Jersey to give. I think I am doing the right thing. I wouldnt change my decision even if I won the Champions League. I will tell the players tomorrow. Im the most responsible one, so the players will finally feel free now. Xavi feels his decision will allow the team and club to move forward into the rest of the campaign, which will also see them in the knockout stages of the Champions League. This de-escalates the general situation, he said. Until today, good work has been done, but I think that our project, as a coach, is until June 30. This will remove tension. I have made the decision for days, and in a way, I have freed myself, but I dont want to be a hindrance. I have always wanted to be a solution for Barca, as I was two years and three months ago but thinking with my heart, I think it is best for him to leave office on June 30. I thank the president for his trust. All this will de-escalate the general situation.

Wayne Rooney has been sacked as manager of Sky Bet Championship club Birmingham. The former Manchester United and England striker has overseen just two wins in 15 games following his controversial appointment at St Andrews in October. Supporters called for Rooneys removal as the side slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Leeds on New Years Day. The result left the club 20th in the table having been sixth when Rooney took charge. Club statement: Wayne Rooney Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) A club statement read: Birmingham City has today parted company Gavi Jersey with manager Wayne Rooney and first-team coach Carl Robinson. Despite their best efforts, results have not met the expectations that were made clear at the outset. Therefore, the board feels that a change in management is in the best interests of the football club. Chief executive Garry Cook said: We are committed to doing what is nece sary to bring succe s to St Andrews. Unfortunately, Waynes time with us did not go as planned and we have decided to move in a different direction. The search for a succe sor begins with immediate effect and we will update supporters when we have further news. Blues new ownership group brought in Rooney at the expense of popular former bo s John Eustace, who had lifted the club from relegation trouble during a 15-month spell. The change in thinking had come after the takeover by a company owned by American busine sman Tom Wagner was completed last summer. Rooney said he did not feel he was given long enough by the club. Football is a results busine s and I recognise they have not been at the level I wanted them to be, read a statement. However, time is the most precious Vini Jr. Jersey commodity a manager requires and I do not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed. Personally, it will take me some time to get over this setback. I have been involved in profe sional football, as either a player or manager, since I was 16. Now, I plan to take some time with my family as I prepare for the next opportunity in my journey as a manager.

Another week, another contentious decision in English football. This time, it happened in the FA Cup replay between Championship side Bristol City and West Ham. Five minutes in, and with the home side already a goal ahead, referee Darren England failed to award even a foul for what was likely by Bristol midfielder Joe Williams on West Ham striker Danny Ings. This latest blunder cannot be blamed on the VAR it isnt used at this stage of the competition, but its not easy to understand how the referee couldve taken what Williams had done as a fair challenge. Furthermore, Darren England is already known for being involved most directly in one of the biggest officiating blunders the game has seen since the introduction of the VAR. Earlier this season, England was in charge of the VAR as Liverpool were denied a completely legitimate goal by Luis Diaz against Tottenham Hotspur, and that after the Merseysiders were already a man down as England instructed on-field referee Simon Hooper to review his booking of Curtis Jones and upgrade it to a red card. Most bizarrely, what Jones did was slightly milder than Williams tackle on Ings, though very similar. Communication between the people sitting in the VAR room and the on-field referee appears to be the biggest problem. When Darren England and Simon Hooper made their infamous blunder back in September, which incidentally still marks the only defeat Liverpool have suffered in the league to date, England believed Hooper and his a sistants had awarded the goal and used the expre sion check complete, which meant they agreed with the on-field decision. How they couldve mi sed the linesmans flag going up for (non-existent) offside AC Milan Jersey and Hooper signaling a Spurs free-kick, rather than a kick-off from the centre of the pitch, remains a mystery. And once the play had restarted, the protocol prevented them from interfering and having Hooper correct the mistake. It means the protocol was (is) set above the laws of the game and the correct decision being made, which practically defies the reasons for VAR to exist in the first place. Of course, its not only Liverpool who get on the wrong side of incomprehensible decisions, though PGMOL chief Howard Webb recently admitted another mistake at their expense when they werent awarded a penalty against Arsenal when Martin Odegaard handled the ball inside the Gunners box. Earlier this season, Manchester City and Spurs played a fascinating match which ended in a 3-3 draw. Interestingly enough, the man who marred this game was another one from the Spurs vs Liverpool fiasco Simon Hooper. The score was already 3-3 and the second-half stoppage time was in its fourth minute when Erling Haaland, under a clear foul, still managed to play Jack Grealish in behind the Bayern Munich Jersey Spurs defence. And just as it looked Grealish was on his way to grab a late winner for City Hoopers whistle sounded. He had suddenly decided NOT to play the advantage and to give the foul on Haaland instead. Haalands face screaming in anger at Hooper has since become a popular meme on social networks. This situation points to another problem, which has nothing to do with the VAR implementation sometimes the decisions of the on-field referees are simply mind-numbing and no technology can make amends for the injustice and frustration they cause. Leaving particular problematic decisions aside now theyve been numerous this season alone and mostly well-publicized the trend of officiating decisions so obviously wrong really puts a huge question mark over the claims of the Premier League being the best in the world. For the moment, players considering a move to the English top flight arent put off by it, but unle s the problems are dealt with in some way, its only a matter of time before it happens. Media in other countries have been ridiculing the VAR application in England practically since its introduction, and the years of experience gone since havent made the situation any better. No le sons have been learned, and the task of improving the standards of officiating in the Premier League remains just as daunting as ever. In fact, the scale of the problem appears larger by the week. There are no easy answers, but it appears clear that unle s the 20 clubs, the Premier League and the PGMOL start working together to find some suitable ones, itll only get worse with tribalism and managers denying support for one another when a team suffers from an understandably poor decision. Some tend to point out the fact that officials are human beings and that players and managers make mistakes in their work too. Theres no denying the truth in that, but players get dropped from the team when they underperform, managers get sacked when the results arent satisfactory. The match officials MUST be held accountable for the quality of the work they do as well.