Mourinho says he is ready to takeover at Man U if asked

September 30th, 2009 Kraft given Nov 9 deadline to bid on CadburyLONDON — Britain's Panel on Takeovers and Mergers says Kraft Foods Inc. has until November 9 to either make a firm bid for candy maker Cadbury PLC or walk away.

August 27th, 2009 National Express receives takeover approachLONDON — National Express Group PLC, the train and bus operator that is handing back its loss-making London-Edinburgh rail franchises to the government, received Thursday a 688.5 million pound ($1.12 billion) takeover approach from its largest shareholder and CVC Capital Partners Ltd. The offer from CVC and the Cosmen family of Spain, which holds an 18.5 percent stake in National Express, values the company at 450 pence per share.

August 24th, 2009 Centrica ups stake in takeover target VentureLONDON — British gas distributor Centrica Group PLC said Monday it has accumulated a 50.3 percent majority stake in its takeover target, North Sea drilling company Venture Production PLC. Centrica said it bought 8.4 percent of Venture on Monday for 845 pence a share — the offer price under its 1.3 billion pound ($2.1 billion) takeover offer — taking the total it owns to 40.1 percent.

July 13th, 2009 Friends Provident rejects takeover offerLONDON — British insurance and pensions provider Friends Provident PLC said Monday that it had rejected a 1.7 billion pound ($2.7 billion) takeover offer from buyout company Resolution Ltd. Friends Provident said the proposed offer of 0.8 new Resolution shares for every Friends Provident share was "wholly inadequate." It also said Resolution's governance structure would offer "less transparency" than its shareholders were used to "and a structure significantly different from recognized public company best practice." Resolution said it was considering making another offer.

April 14th, 2009 LONDON - Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck indicated that the club is preparing to off-load several players over the summer. Speaking at a fans' forum Monday, he also insisted that temporary manager Guus Hiddink will leave in the summer, and said that there would be no return for former manager Jose Mourinho.

March 30th, 2009 LONDON - Inter-Milan boss Jose Mourinho has launched a thinly-veiled attack on England mid-fielder David Beckham, accusing him of going to America for money only. Beckham became one of the highest paid players in football when he left Real Madrid to join LA Galaxy in July 2007.

March 14th, 2009 LONDON - Greater Manchester Police confirmed that they are investigating an allegation of common assault against Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho. It has been alleged that the former Chelsea boss punched a fan near his team bus outside Old Trafford following Inter's 0-2 Champions League defeat to United Wednesday.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON - Inter-Milan football team coach Jose Mourinho has rubbished claims that he is after Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson's job. Interviews at the weekend had quoted Mourinho saying he was ready to replace Fergie as United chief and would defeat him in the second leg.

February 27th, 2009 LONDON - Lloyds Banking Group Friday reported 2008 losses of 9.9 billion pounds ($14 billion) following its growth into a 'superbank' through the emergency takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) last September. Lloyds core division made a pre-tax profit of 807 million pounds in 2008, but HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, had suffered losses of 9.9 billion pounds, the banking group said.

February 21st, 2009 LONDON - Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba hit out at former Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and has pledged his future to the club. Drogba has been much criticised for his poor form this season, and Scolari questioned his commitment shortly before his dismissal last week.

February 21st, 2009 LONDON - Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba hit out at former Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and has pledged his future to the club. Drogba has been much criticised for his poor form this season, and Scolari questioned his commitment shortly before his dismissal last week.

February 12th, 2009 LONDON - Sacking coaches has proved a costly proposition for Chelsea. Severance money paid to Jose Mourinho and Avam Grant saw the London club register losses of 65.7 million pounds in the last financial year.

February 9th, 2009 LONDON - Russia coach Guus Hiddink said that he was in talks with Chelsea to see the London club through as the manager until the end of the season but also wanted to continue his present role with the national team. Hiddink is not happy with his current employers over the late payment of his wages and that prompted him to express his interest in taking over as Chelsea coach after Luis Felipe Scolari was sacked.

February 9th, 2009 LONDON - Quite a few names are doing the rounds but there isn't any clear contender to replace Luis Felipe Scolari, who was sacked as Chelsea coach Monday. Frank Rijkaard and Roberto Mancini are among the initial front-runners while former coach Avram Grant, who was assistant to Jose Mourinho at the London club, is also understood to be a back-up option.

February 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Fulham completed the signing of French midfielder Olivier Dacourt on loan from Inter Milan. The 34-year-old, who has played for both Everton and Leeds United, has fallen out of favour since the arrival of Jose Mourinho as manager of Inter in the summer.