Walter Smith gives his support to the new owners of Rangers

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Walter Smith, former manager of Rangers, declared that he supports the new owners of the club and the job they are doing at Ibrox. He is confident that they are working in the right direction and the club will restore its previous glory and condition. Smith was recently assigned as a non-executive director at Rangers, just five months after he tried to buy out the Sevco Scotland consortium owned by Charles Green.

Green declined Smith’s bid for the £5.5million consortium and persuaded Smith to become a part of his group. It seems like Green did a job as Smith joined the Rangers Board a few days ago. Green announced his plans to sell £20million worth of shares to investors and the supporters of the club.

Smith released an official statement as the new non-executive director of Rangers: “ I’m glad to once again be an official part of this legendary club. I want to assure all our supporters that the people in charge of the team are doing their best to reconstruct it and restore its previous condition. I’m confident that the club will soon forget this difficult period of its history.”

He added: “ I’m not just a former manager of Rangers. I’ve loved this club since a young child and I am just one of the thousands of supporters which the club has. As a fan, I assure you that I’ll everything in my power to help Rangers rise.”

It is no secret that Green isn’t the only person responsible for Smith’s decision to join the board. Rangers’ manager, Ally McCoist, has contacted Smith several times, convincing him to join the board and become a part of the club. McCoist stated: “Smith’s experience is welcome to the club. He has proven to be one of the greatest Rangers’ supporters and I believe that his presence at the club will help everyone.”

 

Despite the ‘Red Card’ system racism is still alive and well in football

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Racism in football has been a topic of much debate lately, and in all truth it does not really matter if you agree or disagree with the idea of a black players’ football union because the fact that the topic has even come up shows that racism is alive and healthy.

Many former and current football players have spoken up in favour of the idea of creating a black players’ football union, but there is of course obvious opponents as well. After all, by simply dividing the players into a separate union you lay the groundwork for further problems between the races.

Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, stated that he believes the creation of a new union would hurt the overall fight against racism in football, but Nathan Blake formally of Wales international believes the group would be able to have a larger impact.

Last weekend about thirty black players including Rio Ferdinand refused to wear the ‘kick-it-out’ shirts meant to inspire unity. A lawyer that represents black players interested in a union has stated that talks are starting but they are only in the preliminary stages. At the moment the group has titled themselves the ‘Black Players’ Association.’

The topic of support for black players really came into the lineup after the treatment of John Terry-Anton Ferdinand by the English Football Association. Many believe that the English Football Association did not deal with the situation properly.

Although the courts found Terry not guilty of using racist language on the field, the FA decided that he had and assigned him a whopping £200,000 fine along with a four game ban. After this type of situation it is easy to see how some players may truly feel as if their interests are not being represented correctly.

Manchester City announce that Txiki Begiristain to be their new director of football

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Manchester City announced that Txiki Begiristain will officially take over for the team as director of football in the place of Brian Marwood. The 48 year old Spaniard previously held the exact same position while in Barcelona and was chosen because Manchester feels he will be able to help the team become club world leaders.

Begristain was with Barcelona from 2008 until 2010 and City stated that he will step in and help shoulder some of the responsibility that first team manager Roberto Mancini has had to deal with when it comes to operations and first team recruitment.

Current football administrator for City, Brian Marwood, will not be moving far as he is slated to take the role of managing director when the City Football Academy opens up during the beginning of next football season (2013/2014). Marwood will then be responsible for the training, management, development, and recruitment of as many as 400 players.

Back in his active days, Begristain played for Barcelona and Real Sociedad. He stated that he is very happy to have such a thrilling opportunity in front of him and that with so many achievements at Manchester City already he is honored to be given the chance to help bring more success to the team. He added that he looks forward to building a strong future with Roberto Mancini, Brian Marwood, and chief executive of City Ferran Soriano.

Soriano also welcomed Begiristain aboard stating that sustainability has always been a top goal of Sheikh Mansour’s and therefore the long future of Manchester City is dependent on how well they develop and recruit new young players. Therefore, he is delighted that they have such caliber coaches that will bring leadership and skill to the club that will help to create a formidable team.

Dynamic ticket pricing in football

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Dynamic pricing is used in many places – hotel rooms, train tickets, flights, theatres, etc. Everybody knows that you buy your ticket in the last moment it will be more expensive and this trend is set to take over football as well.

Some teams have already accepted this price model and the price of their tickets increases during match day. If you ever visit a match of Derby County, Bristol City or Cardiff, then you might sit next to a supporter who has paid less for his ticket. These three teams are the first to use the dynamic price model in Britain and if this turns out to be successful, many other clubs will follow their example.

Dynamic pricing is quite complex and the price of the tickets is based on the attractiveness of the game. A ticket to a single game is usually a bit more expensive than the season ticket, but with the most recent changes, the price of a single ticket may not have a maximum limit.

If there are only a few tickets left and the interest is high, then their price will quickly increase. Thanks to the dynamic pricing system clubs can increase their average attendance and bring more money to the club’s bank accounts.

Supporters will also be able to choose between paying less or more for a ticket. This choice can be quite important, especially now when the economy is failing. The vice-president of operations at Derby, John Vicars says: “This new price model will make tickets more affordable to the supports who buy them in advance.

You’ll just have to accept that if you show up at the stadium 30 minutes before the game, you’ll have to pay much more than the fan who bought his ticket few weeks ago.” Thanks to this system, regular supports who don’t own season tickets will pay less for a ticket and therefore the average match attendance should increase.

 

Terry case finally reaches a conclusion

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English football is well-known for its aggressiveness and attractiveness, but its good reputation may be ruined by the ongoing John Terry affair which has been dragging on for over a year now. This is the opinion of David Bernstein, chairman of the FA.

If you follow English football closely, then you are familiar with the John Terry and Anton Ferdinand racism affair which started last season during the match between Chelsea and QPR. John Terry was handed a four-game ban and surprisingly he didn’t appeal this decision.

This has brought an end of this shameful chapter of English football and shows that the FA will certainly review all racism cases. Terry has already apologised for his behaviour, but he stated that he is deeply disappointed by the FA’s decision.

According to Bernstein, football is not a game which should have anything in common with law suits and the Terry affair has certainly had a negative impact on the English game. The FA is doing its best to get rid of racism and through the years they’ve launched many anti-racism campaigns. The Terry affair had many consequences – the resignation of former England coach Fabio Capello is one of the most notable examples.

Bernstein says: “Terry has been sanctioned and I’m glad that this case is closed. The Chelsea player apologised for his behaviour and this should be the end of this matter. We have learned a lot from this case.”

The late decision was criticised by many people, but Bernstein rejected this notion, stating: “This was maybe one of the most important cases in the history of English football and we had to be certain that every evidence and opinion has been reviewed.

We could have finished the case much earlier, but considering the impact it can have on individuals and families, we decided to take the necessary time and carefully review the facts before coming up with a final decision.”