Football leadership comes under government microscope

by

Football leadership comes under government microscope Football leadership is under fire over the Parliamentary Inquiry into Football Governance. A war of words has broken out between the two main governing bodies of the sport in this country, the Football Association (FA) and the Football League.

The former Chairman of the FA Lord Triesman hit out at Sir Dave Richards, the Chairman of the Premier League, accusing him of previously bullying FA board members into stifling reform, using the financial clout of the league. However, current FA Chairman David Bernstein paints a different picture, one of co-operation.

Richards immediately hit back, asserting that he was no bully and reminded Lord Triesman that he was one of the people involved in changing the FA constitution in 1996 to create a new, more progressive board.

It’s clear that a power struggle may ensue as Richards was in no mood to back down and added that if the FA wanted total control they would have a fight on their hands.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport sponsored inquiry has recently been taking evidence from all manner of interested parties, largely as a result of high profile press coverage of the governance of elite Premiership clubs.

Bobby Charlton aims for British football team

by

Bobby Charlton aims for British football team The London Olympics in 2012 could see an all British football team for the first time ever if Sir Bobby Charlton and Lord Coe have their way. All of the home countries compete together at the Olympic Games as Great Britain in every other sport except football.

Sir Bobby, 1966 England World Cup hero and one of Manchester United’s famous ‘Busby Babes’, speaking at the Laureus World Sport Awards, dropped very strong hints that this is a possibility, saying that Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Olympics, had asked him to help turn the dream into a reality. He added that, although, competing as a unified team might mean the home countries lose their individual passion and pride, he thought that they might be able to pull it off.

Previous efforts to create a unified team have met with resistance from all of the other home nations except England, because their national football federations have been worried that a joint team would weaken their position as individual nations, at least in the eyes of the governing body, FIFA. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said in the past that it would welcome a Great Britain football team.

The home nations used to compete in a series called the Home International Championship until 1983-4. This has been revived as a one-off for 2011, the Carling Nations Cup, with all home countries except England represented.

The great football pub TV war ignites again

by

The great football pub TV war ignites again Karen Murphy is a determined woman, and even though she was fined £8,000 about four years ago for breach of the Premier League’s copyright, she’s still fighting, and she may win.  If she does it will mean a major upheaval for the League’s broadcasting strategy.  Murphy is the proprietor of Red, White & Blue, a street-corner pub in Portsmouth, and her crime was bypassing the Premier League’s exclusive broadcaster, BSkyB and using a much less expensive Greek broadcaster to screen matches in her pub.

The Premier League said that Murphy had no right to go with the cheaper decoder, and sued her for copyright infringement.  They won at that level, but Murphy has taken the case to a higher court.  This week the Advocate General at the European Court of Justice, Juliane Kokott, ruled that Murphy did have the right.  Since the opinion of the Advocate General is followed in about 80% of cases before the EU high court, it looks like a good possibility that the decision will be passed to the High Court in London after the EU panel meets in three months.

BSkyB and ESPN are the only two networks authorized to broadcast Premier League football matches in the UK at this time, and that is a very lucrative operation for them, and for the League.  The current 3-year deal with BSkyB will make the League about £1.6 billion.  BSkyB makes about £200 million every year from sales of subscriptions to commercial customers such as pubs.  Both the Premier League and Sky are expected to fight the anticipated decision, on the basis that such a change in the structure of broadcast rights in the UK should be done through “proper legislative processes” and not through the courts.

All change at Wrexham Football Club

by

All change at Wrexham Football Club Following the step down of Chairman Ian Roberts and owner Geoff Moss from the board of the Wrexham Football Club the team is set to be sold. Stepping up as the new chairman of the board will be Robert Bickerton who has served in the past on the board of Macclesfield and Shrewsbury.

At one point it was thought that the club would be sold off by its parent club Wrexham Village Ltd but decide to keep the Racecourse Ground stadium.  However, now Van Morton Investments is now slated to purchase the facilities and grounds at a coming date.

There is still no word of how the sale of the grounds will have a permanent impact on the Blues Square Premier partners or what the Crusaders rugby league club will do now that it is sold given the fact that the rugby team practices at the grounds as well.

The North Wales club released a statement that announced the sale of the team and then later the ability to purchase the grounds and the training area at a later date.  The announcement also said that as a result of the decision to sell the team Robert Bickerton was chosen to take on the task of chairman of the board and that the board will also have a new director in Tony Allen who is responsible for running the football club as its chief executive.

Tony Allen originally went into administration working with Notts County and in the past has also been the secretary of Chester City, Wigan Athletic, and Port Vale. Van Morton Investments on the other hand is a new firm that is hoping to help attract funding to the team.

Alex Ferguson lashes out at agents

by

Alex Ferguson lashes out at agents Letting his irritation show forth, Sir Alex Ferguson vented about the unreasonable, and in some cases immoral, demands some football agents have put forward since he has been with Manchester United.

An unnamed agent demanded a block of flats to close the deal or his player would not sign. Another agent requested money for every goal scored by his player, but Ferguson pointed out that they were signing up and paying the player for exactly that. These incidents have been handed over to the directors of the club.

He was upset by the Blackburn Rovers’ agent, Jerome Anderson, because Sam Allardyce was let go. Sam is one of Ferguson’s good friends. Ferguson responded to sacking, “If Anderson had to pick something he couldn’t even pick his nose.”

During an interview with RTE Radio 1, he declared that the manager is the top of the heap at Manchester United and that if the player ever thinks he is more important it will destroy the team and they will never recover.

Ferguson also has strong opinions about the limitations that managers should have when negotiating wages for players. “A manager may phone me, and that’s when I get really irritated, when he asks for £1 million a year for a player who isn’t even a star. They believe they can work miracles like this.”

He clarifies, “The top paid players at Manchester United are getting paid what they earn. They are regularly out there performing in front of everyone, every time. Consistency and quality are the materials of star players. People expect them to perform well and it draws crows every week. That is why they get paid what we pay them.”