WAG musical is well received on opening in the West End

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The musical WAG has opened in the West End and has been well received. Jessica Lawlor, a real life WAG who plays mega-bitch Victoria, revealed that boyfriend Stephen Ireland was the more nervous of the two. Jessica said that it was a “constant battle” for her to get the Premier League star to relax although she was pleased for the support he had given her.

Jessica, 26 performed during the show’s premiere at the north-east London venue of Ye Olde Rose and Crown. The pub theatre was a grand venue as the blond bombshell gave a standout singing display and even starred in a catfight with Pippa Fulton. An appreciative crowd of over 150 people delighted in the raunchy comedy and ballads.

Jessica’s real life WAG friends include 26-year old Chantelle Tagoe, Manchester City Emile Heskey’s fiancée and Carla Kompany, wife of captain Vincent Kompany; all of whom have seen a dress rehearsal and boyfriend Stephen plans to see the show in a few days after his return from Los Angeles.

In the show, Jessica’s co-stars include Pippa Fulton, girlfriend of Clayton Donaldson the Brentford striker and former Eastenders star Belinda Owusu. Pippa, a former star of the Fame Academy says the musical plays on the well known stereotypes of football and people seem to love it.

Amongst a celebrity packed audience was 63-year old Paul Gambaccini, the veteran TV presenter and DJ who suggested the show had a bright future and was “very impressed” with the performances.

Gary Neville rules out a repeat of the WAG problems of the 2006 World Cup

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Gary Neville, a coach with the English football team, has said that there won’t be any repeat of the WAG problems that occurred during the World Cup in Germany back in 2006. Many families of footballers have also chosen to stay away from Poland and Ukraine because they fear that there might be some instances of racism.

In 2014 the competition is going to be held in Brazil and it is more likely that the WAG issue is going to re-occur then when the families of the footballers will probably want to go with them. Mr Neville has assured people that the chaotic scenes of the past are not going to occur again and the families of the footballers are not going to overshadow the footballers themselves.

Mr Neville has commented, “When we go abroad for a competition it is important that we don’t disturb the players too much, and that they have conditions that are similar to what they would experience at home. Between matches in the UK, footballers do not go out into the countryside, but they live in the city. This is why when we travel abroad, we choose to find accommodation in the city centre. This maintenance of normality is a way to ensure that the players perform at their best.”

This is Mr Neville’s first appearance as a football coach which is a great leap of faith when you consider the importance of the upcoming matches. Although he was a successful player, it is unknown about whether he is going to be able to translate that into coaching brilliance. Roy Hodgson chose Mr Neville as the coach after he was impressed by the various observations that he made while appearing as a pundit on Sky television.

Many people have been considering that the fact he was a television pundit might be a problem as he made comments about several of the players who he is now trying to work with. About this he commented, “Sure, I’ve highlighted mistakes, but I’ve always been honest and I think the players know this.”

English fans turning their backs on travelling to Euro 2012

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English supporters are not interested in buying tickets for the three away Euro 2012 fixtures in June. The tickets have been for sale on the Football Association website and 12,000 tickets (nearly half) have been returned to UEFA for the games against Ukraine, France and Sweden – all being played in the Ukraine. The tickets will now go on sale to the general public.

The FA anticipates up to 10,000 tickets may be bought independently by fans but expects that only another 3,000 tickets to the games will be sold. England’s fans pride themselves on their support of the national team and it means that its supporters will be outnumbered for the first time in many years at a UEFA fixture

Kevin Miles, of the Football Supporters Federation says the downturn in the economy has certainly contributed to the poor ticket sales, as has the cost of accommodation and travel. Prices at hotels have been “inflated” and the long distances involved mean airfares will be expensive anyway.

The other issue, according to Miles is that although the matches are being marketed as a holiday package, neither of the venues – Donetsk, or Kiev – are viewed as holiday destinations. Miles, speaking to BBC Sport told the program that the lack of attractions in the cities, such as a beach left fans wondering what they would do between games.

Another concern is safety. Sol Campbell, the England defender, speaking on the BBC’s Panorama program urged Asian and Black fans to “stay at home” and not travel to the Ukraine and instead watch the games live on television. The show featured film of Asian and Black students being assaulted and this would have clearly put the issue into the forefront of supporter’s minds.

For several years the Foreign Office has had an advisory caution in place for Asian and Black tourists considering visiting the Ukraine. The warning has been in place for several years and it would almost certainly have had an impact on these fans considering attending the matches in the Ukraine.

However, Miles feels that while potential abuse of fans could be an issue it is probably not the main reason for the poor return on ticket sales. He thinks the majority of fans have made up their minds for a variety of other reasons, including cost and the decision to attend other Euro games instead.

Lydia Nsereka becomes first woman to be co-opted onto FIFA’s executive committee

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President of the Burundi Football Association, Lydia Nsekera, became the first woman to be co-opted onto the executive committee of FIFA on Tuesday. She is a member of the Woman’s Football and the Woman’s World Cup committees and on the organizing committee of the Olympic Football Tournament. She has been on the International Olympic Committee since 2009.

Nsekera, 45, will take her place as a co-opted executive committee member at the 62nd FIFA Congress this week and the formal election of a woman onto the committee will take place at the FIFA Congress next year. Meanwhile FIFA is going ahead with its’ restructure of the ethics committee. There will actually be two committees now, one to investigate matters and another to adjudicate.

Due to the illness of one of the candidates for heading the committee, the announcement of who would chair them has been postponed. An extraordinary meeting will be held in Zurich in July after the FIFA Congress has approved amendments to the Statutes. Then they will appoint both chairs. The new Statutes will come into force 6o days after Congress.

Swiss-Italian businessman, Dominic Scala, did not have to wait for his appointment when he was made independent chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee. This will be made official at Congress. Other countries have been given the go ahead to play friendlies against Kosovo, taking them a step nearer full FIFA membership.

Elsewhere, FIFA named the six cities to host the Confederations Cup next year in Brazil. There are concerns over stadium building projects so there are contingency plans in place for only four or five cities being ready. The six cities are Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Salvador, Recife and Belo Horizonte. FIFA also said its insurance programme was being extended to cover players at the Olympics.

 

Manchester United named as the most valuable club in the world

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Manchester United named as the most valuable club in the world The chief operating officer of Manchester United, Michael Bolingbroke, has said that football clubs should not just be after quick money on offer from overseas sponsors’ interested in the Premier League. He said that clubs need to focus most of their marketing on the core fans or they run the risk of damaging the brand.

Bolingbroke was speaking at the annual Global Leadership Summit at the London Business School. Manchester United has 333million fans across the world and 139 million of these are core fans. These figures come from research carried out by TNS Sport in 2007. Brand Finance has labelled it the most valuable sports club in the world.

United say that their core fans are more important than any sponsors or broadcasters to the club’s marketing strategy. Bolingbroke backed this up by saying that getting the insight from these core fans had been critical in recent years to the club’s commercial success.

He said that although core fans are not a key revenue driver, they drive growth with the atmosphere they provide at the club and their invaluable insight. The club maintain interaction with their global fans by interacting with the core fans and Bolingbroke says this is more important to the future of the club than sponsors or broadcasters. He said that other clubs should be wary of alienating their core fans by going after quick money.

Manchester United make their strategy work by asking how core fans like to be treated as opposed to, say corporate fans. There are differences and United use these to make all their fans happy especially on match days. Manchester United have, however, also been one of the busiest clubs when it comes to overseas sponsorship, signing deals recently with telecommunication companies, Globul and Du.