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Rio Ferdinand says it is “ridiculous” that any team bar Manchester United could be considered title favourites this season.

United have dominated the Premier League over the last five years, with only Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea having interrupted their stranglehold on the competition in 2009-10, and last season’s triumph saw them overtake Liverpool’s 18 titles.

Even so, some have expressed doubts over United’s squad in light of their comprehensive Champions League defeat to Barcelona, but Ferdinand feels it is the result of rivals clutching at straws.

“It is ridiculous,” he said. “It makes me laugh. We have won the league four times out of five. Half of it is that people want someone else to win it.

“Before I came here, Manchester United used to win the league and I would think it would be nice from a fans’ point of view to see someone else putting up a challenge. Your heart rules your head sometimes. Not that it bothers me.

“There is a challenge every year. You have to rise to it. Each year we have risen to it and come through.

“We have won four out of the last five leagues. It has not been easy and it will be another tough season this year, but we are looking forward to it.”

He added: “It was a weird summer. We won a 19th league title, which was obviously fantastic, but we lost the Champions League final.

“When you dust yourself down and analyse everything, it was a successful season. If someone had said at the beginning we would reach the Champions League final and win the league, we would have accepted it and I am sure the media would have thought we had done quite well. That is how you have to look at it.”

The Champions League final was a re-run of the 2009 event in which United were beaten 2-0 despite entering the game as favourites, and Ferdinand says that was far tougher to take.

“The time before in Rome, I spent my whole summer moping around even though we had won the league,” he said. “I just think you have to savour moments like that. The 19th title was a big event. We should enjoy it.”

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Yaya Toure has revealed Manchester City are expecting to win the Premier League title this season.

City have finally broken into the Champions League after finishing third last term, and they have already added Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic to the squad this summer with a big-name signing such as Sergio Aguero expected to follow.

Toure knows that things will be more demanding as they compete in Europe’s top club competition, but he believes City will win the title for the first time since 1967-68.

“The new season will be very, very hard and we need to improve, because this season the club will play in the Champions League,” he told the club’s official website.

“And we expect to stay in the top four of the Premier League and we expect to win the Premier League because now we are coming with more confidence, the players know each other better. I think this year will be fantastic for us.”

City will be boosted by the return of Yaya’s brother, Kolo, in September when he completes his six-month suspension after failing a drug test.

Yaya said: “Kolo’s well. He’s in New York with the family. We hope September will come quickly and we hope to help the club win something again next year.

“Now I think he’s more happy than anybody because he will come quickly back to the team, and for the team we need him because we know the Premier League is very hard and we need to have two or three players per position.”

Toure has also tipped 17-year-old Spanish teenager Denis Suarez, who signed from Celta Vigo earlier in the summer, to make an impact.

“He’s a midfield player with very, very good quality,” he said. “He’s young and he has an amazing ability to take the ball, like all the Spanish players, and I think it’s fantastic for the club.”

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QPR boss Neil Warnock has revealed he is unlikely to be allowed more than £1.25 million in transfer funds this summer as he prepares for life in the Premier League.

QPR secured promotion after winning the Championship this season but, despite the club’s rich owners, there have been concerns over new signings.

Those concerns were eased this week when England striker Jay Bothroyd and former West Ham midfielder Kieron Dyer joined on free transfers, but Warnock believes DJ Campbell is likely to be the only player he buys.

“They’ve made it clear to me we’ve got to try and get value for money, don’t spend transfer fees,” he told talkSPORT. “They’ve agreed to pay £1.25 million for Campbell but I can’t see any other money changing hands, other than DJ Campbell, if I’m honest.

“I thought I’d have a few millions, if I’m honest. I was disappointed but it’s not the end of the world. It would have been nice to have money to spend but its just another one of those things in my managerial career where I have to show what I can do.”

He added: “I look at the players I’ve brought in, Bothroyd and Dyer, and if I can get three or four more players of that quality, I’ll be more than happy. I’m not despondent. I’d love money, every manager wants money. But it’s not all doom and gloom.”

Warnock could also lose inspirational midfielder Adel Taarabt after he expressed an interest in joining Paris St Germain.

“We don’t know whether he’s going to go or stay,” he added on Sky Sports News. “It’s up in the air at the moment.

“We’re quite optimistic either way. If we lost him it would be easier for me in some respects, the money would come in handy, but I don’t think we’ll spend any of it.

“With his family all in France, and his girlfriend there as well, there’s so many things to tempt you. He’s going to be at a top club, (on) massive money.

“[Co-owner Flavio Briatore] is going to make the final decision on what money he accepts. PSG are close to making an offer. Whether it’s enough for Flavio I don’t know, but he’ll be telling me as and when he either goes or if he’s definitely staying.”

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The name Harry Kewell has been sullied, topped Twitter trends, and could be placed back at the pinnacle of Australian sporting icons all within the space of a week.

Reports in Australia suggest that Kewell’s switch to an A-League club, likely to be Sydney FC or Melbourne Victory, is imminent. However, the lead-up to this point has created fierce – and necessary – debate about the game in Australia.

Bernie Mandic, the Paris-based agent charged with looking after Kewell’s career, promoted the idea that his client was on the verge of signing for an A-League club some weeks ago. Recently, though, Mandic gave a rebuke to Football Federation Australia, claiming they were unable to facilitate the demands of Kewell – a claim since denied by Australian football’s governing body.

The subsequent public fighting and, as many see it, deliberately misleading information distributed by Mandic has left a bitter taste in the mouth of many a staunch football devotee. But, despite this, Kewell’s ultimate capture would help not only restore any lost faith in the player’s reputation, but could be the answer to the A-League’s perceived woes.

Firstly, it may help to explain why bringing a 32-year-old with a history of injury problems back to the A-League is such a hot topic Down Under.

Since bursting onto the scene as a precocious talent in the mid-90s with Leeds United, Harry Kewell has represented the ideal footballer in the eyes of many Aussies. Playing in a talented young Premier League side, Kewell showed a worldwide audience that Australians aren’t all uncouth oafs happy to “lump it long and get it into the mixer”.

No, this cocky kid instead breezed by some of the world’s best defenders using a nuanced drop of the shoulder. He displayed technique and poise comfortably the equal of Australians such as Paul Okon [Lazio] and Ned Zelic [Borussia Dortmund] before him, but as an attacking player who scored scintillating goals, he captured the hearts and minds of football fans in his homeland like never before. His goal for the Socceroos in the 1997 World Cup qualifier against Iran to silence all inside the intimidating 100,000-capacity Azadi Stadium sealed his place as a hero.

So, for Australians who have been following the game for many years, Harry Kewell isn’t simply a talented national team player returning home after an extended career in Europe, as so many have already done. He is a representation of the best the nation has to offer, and is therefore a yardstick for recruitment decisions made by all A-League clubs. He offers on-field ability, off-field marketability and a name to draw people through turnstiles.

Indeed, when Kewell turned up in Newcastle in 2007 to do nothing more than say a few words and wave before the Jets v Adelaide match, he attracted the club’s first attendance of over 10,000 for the season. That is the kind of people-pulling power Australia’s top-flight could certainly use right now.

The A-League is in definite need of a jump-start to restore crowd figures and public interest after the downturn over the past 18 months. And this upcoming season provides the perfect platform for such an injection, given the extended off-season to allow for the new October kick-off of the competition.

Right now, from the A-League’s perspective, is the perfect time to bring a player like Kewell home. So the FFA’s eagerness to get involved in his recruitment is understandable, if not orthodox. They have offered a reported $250,000 incentive for Kewell to return home, which would sit alongside the player’s additional earnings from increases in club sponsorships and memberships. The FFA, like everyone else, can see how Kewell being used as an A-League ambassador would impact on the bigger picture of Australian football.

Many pundits have argued against the governing body becoming involved in negotiations between the player and clubs. Others have heavily criticised the bait-and-switch methods used by Kewell’s manager. But, ultimately, whatever the technique used to get the Socceroo to come home, the debate created in the meantime must be used as a catalyst to invigorate what should be an exciting and dynamic competition.

When the A-League began in 2005, it was the place every 20-something wanted to be, and had the image that many sports in the Antipodes have since tried to emulate. It was young, fresh and cool. It had a funky soundtrack and swagger in its step.

And that is the crux of the issue. Clubs and Federations are remembering what brought the A-League success in its fledgling years, and subsequently realising that there is no need create a new identity for the competition within the vastly competitive Australian sporting landscape. It already has the perfect persona, one that other sports with older demographics would love to have. The football community, led by the very people trying to lure Kewell back home, need only keep this vibrant, youthful notion alive.

Harry Kewell, the footballer who has embodied that same dynamic spirit, is the perfect man to remind the masses of Australian sports fans why the A-League is here to stay.

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FIFA member Mohamed Bin Hammam refused to speak to investigators or provide his bank records during the probe into allegations he paid cash gifts to Caribbean football officials, according to a report to FIFA’s ethics committee.

The report, by Freeh Group International (FGI) Europe – the private investigative agency owned by ex-FBI chief Louis Freeh – concludes that while there is “no direct evidence” linking Bin Hammam to the offer or payment of cash there is “compelling circumstantial evidence” that the 62-year-old Qatari was the source of the money.

Bin Hammam, a FIFA executive committee member and president of the Asian Football Confederation, has been suspended since May 29 on charges of bribery. He denies any wrongdoing.

The Freeh report states: “Through his legal counsel, Mr Bin Hammam refused to speak with Investigative Counsel working for the FIFA ethics committee, but expressed his willingness to co-operate with and appear before the FIFA ethics committee.

“Also through his legal counsel, Mr Bin Hammam provided some documents, but refused to provide his banking records for review and said that requested telephone records do not exist. The lone banking record provided was proof of a wire transfer from Mr Bin Hammam to the CFU on April 28, 2011, in the amount of 363,557.98 US dollars.”

That sum was to cover the cost of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) delegates’ travel and accommodation to a special meeting in Trinidad, which Bin Hammam had agreed to pay.

Seven associations from the CFU have told investigators they were offered or accepted cash gifts of 40,000 US dollars in a room in the Hyatt Regency hotel on May 10 after Bin Hammam had made a presentation about his campaign to be FIFA president.

A witness from an eighth association said he avoided entering the room once he learned that cash was being offered there. A witness from a ninth association, Aruba, did not enter the room and expected a subsequent wire transfer of funds.

The Freeh report will be the basis for next week’s FIFA ethics committee hearing involving Bin Hammam and two officials from the CFU, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester.

Jack Warner, the FIFA vice-president who was charged along with Bin Hammam, will not face the ethics committee after FIFA dropped the investigation into him following his resignation from football activities.

Neither Warner nor Bin Hammam, nor Minguell and Sylvester, co-operated with the investigation, according to the inquiry team.

The Freeh report says witnesses stated Warner told the 25 CFU associations on May 11 that Bin Hammam had provided the cash gifts.

“Several witnesses advised that Mr Warner stated that the cash had originated with Mr Bin Hammam and the cash was given to them at Mr Warner’s suggestion, instead of a more formal gift, such as silver or a plate,” the report says.

It continues: “There is no direct evidence linking Mr Bin Hammam to the offer or payment of money to the attendees of the Trinidad and Tobago meeting. However, there is compelling circumstantial evidence, including statements attributed to Mr Warner, to suggest that the money did originate with Mr Bin Hammam and was distributed by Mr Warner’s subordinates as a means of demonstrating Mr Warner’s largesse.

“Indeed, the funds were offered to attendees shortly after Mr Bin Hammam’s campaign speech.”

The Freeh report says FIFA should consider charging CFU general secretary Angenie Kanhai after she provided a letter to the Puerto Rican association “explaining the purpose of the cash, so that the attendee could provide an explanation about the origin of the cash to Customs and to the bank”. That letter has been sent to the FIFA ethics committee as evidence.

The report also raised questions about Simpaul Travel, a travel agency connected to the Warner family, being used to provide the transport and accommodation for the CFU delegates.

“The involvement of Simpaul Travel in the logistics of the Trinidad and Tobago conference raises the issue of whether Mr Warner may have been the beneficiary of related parties’ transactions,” the report says.

Chuck Blazer, the FIFA member from the United States who first blew the whistle on the scandal, told the investigators that he discussed the 360,000 US dollar cost of the Trinidad conference with Angenie Kanhai.

The report states: “According to Mr Blazer, Ms Kanhai said that she had developed the budget and then ‘doubled the budget at Jack’s request’.”

The evidence accompanying the report also includes a copy of the sheet on which Louis Giskus, the president of the Surinam FA, wrote down the serial numbers of the bills he received in Trinidad.

Surinam and Puerto Rico still have the money in their accounts while they wait for instructions on what to do with it.

The Grenada Football Federation have already spent all but 1,000 dollars of the 40,000 dollars they received, investigators were told.

Bin Hammam did not respond when invited to comment.

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