Scottish football looking to move forward

by

Scottish football looking to move forward Craig Levein and Stewart Regan will sit down together in an effort to create a foolproof plan for the SFA that will help to increase the national side fortunes back to their former glory.

Regan is the new chief executive of the SFA and has reviewed the Henry McLeish report as a start in his work to make Scotland a powerful force in the world of football once again.  He replaced Gordon Smith as Chief back in April and has set his sights on finding resources and funding to make McLeish’s recommendations a reality.

Regan has a strong background in both sporting and business with previous work experience at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club and with the Football League.

However, even with his background Regan is aware of the fact that he has a large amount of work in front of him as he attempts to win back fans that are tired of the national team’s exploits and the current status of the game.

He stated that he is aware of the fact that acceptance of football and of him in the lead position will not happen overnight and that he plans to talk with Levein in regards to what the best way to bring football success to Scotland will be.

The last time that Scotland qualified to play in an international tournament was the France World Cup in 1998, twelve years ago.  As each year passes it becomes harder to get into a qualifier since the country loses its seeding and ranking.

Tony Pulis says clubs pay players too much

by

Tony Pulis says clubs pay players too much Boss of the Stoke City club, Tony Pulis, has commented in the past that some of the Premier Leagues clubs spend a ridiculous amount of money on wages, although he added that good luck to players that manage to get the wages if the clubs are willing to pay it out.

Pulis went on to say that the football industry is now all about glamour and if many of the rumoured wages are true then it is just absurd.

So far, Pulis has only signed one person to the team, Florent Cuvelier a teenager from Portsmouth that finished 11th in the League during 2009.

On the other side of the spectrum, Manchester City has spent the most this summer dishing out £20m to obtain high profile players such as Yaya Toure and David Silva.

It is claimed that Toure earned about £200,000 every week at Eastlands.

Pulis also said that he is tired of Stoke being marked as targets for transfer and has decided to halt signing any new players to the team.  He said that as of yet they have been linked with 138 different players and for now will just sit back as they have actually not been linked with any players that have made their shortlist.

The Stoke boss also stated that the best deals usually happen during the transfer window and so they are happy to sit back and wait for the deals they want to become available.

FA slashes England ticket prices

by

FA officials reduced the prices of the upcoming Hungary match on August 11th after the disappointing performance of England at the World Cup.

With the support for the team ebbing and the 2012 European Championship qualification hanging over them, the FA has stated that they may need to continue to reduce ticket prices in order to win fans back on their side after they were left disappointed, frustrated, and angry by the South Africa performance.

An FA spokesman commented that they have not rejected any ideas to make sure that as many England fans as possible are able to attend the Wembley matches.  The spokesman added that hopefully they will be able to restore the positive enthusiasm that was seen before South Africa, which will spur on some positive results in terms of stadium attendance.

FA slashes England ticket prices Tickets have already gone on sale for the qualifications campaign for England Euro 2012 set against Bulgaria on September 3rd but the FA is still exploring ways to make sure that their side of the stadium fills up which may damage the bid for the World Cup 2018.

The FA spokesman stated they are approaching the problem on a game by game basis, with tickets available for Bulgaria game right now but the possibility of price adjustments for future qualifiers.

The Football Supporters’ Federation on the other hand believes that the key to getting supporters back is the head coach of England, Fabio Capello which will help promote the team’s image.

Grassroots goal project takes off

by

Grassroots goal project takes off Fundraising for football games has received a large boost with a high street sports retailer as a large donation was made to Football Buster’s £1m Grassroots goal project.  As a result, Football Buster is now able to take applications from football clubs that are in need.

Last year www.footballbuster was launched and used as an empowerment tool for sports organizations and football clubs that are in need of fundraising efforts that can be pledged online.

Co-founder and Assistant manager of the Macclesfield Football Club, Gary Simpson, stated that no longer will football clubs be forced to go cap in hand looking for donations from local businesses or wealthy parents because now they can look for new revenue options.

Due to the unique football games and the £1m in donations the site has become quite popular among sports sponsors and football clubs which helped to inspire the latest large donation.

Nathan Griffin, the other co-founder, stated that this is a large breakthrough for grassroots football teams and proves that Football Buster is continuing to grow in popularity with many football clubs now following the example to set up football games online in order to raise the same funds that professional clubs gain access to.

Griffin added that they are working with a large football manufacturer and hope to provide football clubs that are fundraising with free footballs.

FC Barcelona ownership model – blueprint for UK clubs published by Co-opeatives UK and Supporters Direct

by

FC Barcelona ownership model - blueprint for UK clubs published by Co-opeatives UK and Supporters Direct A new report, published today, suggests that the way to improve English football following the dismal England World Cup performance is to follow the approach of leading Spanish clubs and hand them over to their fans.

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two leading teams in Spanish football, are co-operatives owned by 175,000 members. Of the 11 players who started out on the field for the winning World Cup team, 10 of them work for one of these two co-operatives.

A recent survey by Co-operatives UK and included in the report, 56% of respondents across the UK see the benefits of this approach, believing their club would be in better hands if it was owned co-operatively by the fans.

The report is published alongside the first English translation of the statutes of Spanish club FC Barcelona, the poster child of co-operative football.

Dave Boyle, Chief Executive of Supporters Direct and the author of the report, commented “FC Barcelona is a powerful example of how a club can be organised co-operatively and still successfully compete with rivals across the world. The club has long been known for being owned by its fans but, until now, we couldn’t see how things worked ‘under the hood’. Fans looking at what rights and powers they have in the club can only look on with envy.  Of course, co-operative football clubs are like all clubs – they are not immune from financial troubles during times of economic austerity. But it’s the ownership structure that really sets them apart.”

“There are a growing number of supporters’ trusts in the UK looking to give fans a greater say and stake in their clubs; our aim is to show how the co-operative model can run effectively and to the benefit of all involved.”

The new report, ‘Barca – fan ownership and the future of football clubs’, and the full FC Barcelona statutes are available on line at www.uk.coop/barca.