Muamba urges young players to look beyond football

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Fabrice Muamba’s football dreams came crashing down last year after collapsing on the pitch suffering from a cardiac arrest, and the Bolton midfielder had to retire from football in August 2012.

Today, in conjunction with the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), he is warning young footballers that they should consider what to do after they are through with football. He plays in the backyard with his son, but will not return to the active pitch. He says that it would be great to come back but his health comes first.

Over 100 people leave the game every year so Muamba’s situation is not strange. According to the League Football Education (LFE) only 45% of apprentice footballers get a professional contract. In the following years many of them still drop out.

Fabrice Muamba has now been encouraging players of ages 16 to 18 to consider education, on his many visits to clubs. They need to consider their plans since only 10 – 15 will be accepted into the first teams.

The assistant PFA director of education, Oshor Williams, said that clubs have suffered even as the economy took a downward trend. Players who leave the football pitch and look for jobs find it tougher to secure these positions, and they are unable to adapt to a new career.

He goes on to say that this situation will be aggravated in future since the clubs are taking players into the team when they are aged as young as 9 years. When the player leaves the teams aged 18, half their lives may have been in elite development. Many lose their identity and also have poor self-esteem. This means that they need to redefine themselves as who they are, and not the profession that they had.

 

Two Welsh teams look forward to the start of the season in the Premiership

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The Premier League will include two Welsh Clubs, for the first time, this season following the promotion of Cardiff City in April, to join Swansea City who in 2011.

The Premier League has a global fan base, and the government of Wales wants to use these two teams as a way of marketing the country as a good place to invest. Edwina Hart, the Economy Minister, has said that this was a great opportunity for the country to advertise itself to the whole world. Welch tourism and businesses are set to reap rewards from the football that is beamed across the world.

According to the government, football clubs and politicians can work together and market the country to the many viewers across the world. Now they have Swansea jerseys being sold at the Seoul airport just like Man United shirts, a situation that was not possible 10 years ago.

In a sponsorship arrangement with the government, Visit Wales Branding can be seen inside and outside the Croesco Stand, which was originally named the Liberty Stadium’s North Stand, ever since Swansea entered the Premier League.

In a similar deal, the Canton Stand will be renamed in a £110,000 deal signed by the government and Cardiff. The question that remains to be answered is whether sports can be used to brand a country. Cardiff has hosted Teamworks, a branding company, for more than 20 years.

According to the commercial director, Tom Tribe, it is crucial for a country to create its identity and sell accurate perceptions to the global market. This kind of branding helps people to understand their identity.

He added that Welsh football has succeeded well recently, since the British and Irish Lions are mainly Welsh, and this success can be used to get the message out that although they are a part of Britain, they are also their own country too.

 

Footballers on holiday

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With the Barclays Premier League 2013/14 season just around the corner, Ashley Cole could be forgiven for making sure he basked in the bright sunlight of the Spanish climate right till the end before he started pre-season training this week. The footballer, currently plying his trade for Chelsea FC is on a holiday with his mates in Marbella. The fashion conscious among you would have spotted his weird combination of underwear beneath his Gingham swimming shorts.

As is custom among the young, rich and single footballers of the modern game, none of them can escape the glares of the media, as well female attention wherever they go, and this holiday was no exception. No one can blame the 32 year old Ashley for taking full advantage of his current relationship status and chatting to as many bikini-clad ladies as he possibly can.

“Ibiza here we come!” Chelsee Healey whisks her good friend Tulisa away on holiday as they bid to put the X Factor star’s recent troubles with the law behind her. Supermodel Heidi Klum brightens her Twitter followers’ day by tweeting a cheeky picture of her in a strapless bikini whilst on a beach during her holiday

No doubt it was a celebratory occasion for Ashley Cole and his friends as evidenced by them taking a couple of large alcohol bottles with them into the Ocean Club. For his sake, we hope the girls he was speaking to had not mistaken him for Daley, a contestant on the current edition of Big Brother, but rather the fact he is a footballer.

Last week the star tweeted his frustration at being constantly mistaken for the Big Brother contestant: “Apart from his thick eyebrows, Daley looks nothing like me”. He was one of the most played members among his colleagues after making 51 appearances in all competitions for his club last season. His return this week will coincide with the return of the Special One as he aims to the highs of their premiership prowess.

 

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Scores.co.uk announce they are to sponsor Carlisle Utd

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The online sports portal for all the latest scores, scores.co.uk, are delighted to announce that they have agreed a new deal to sponsor the League One team Carlisle united. Scores.co,uk is based in Carlisle, and their branding will now appear on the club’s home and away strips for the forthcoming season which will see Carlisle take part in the League One, Football league Trophy, FA Cup and League Cup campaigns.

This new agreement means that the logo of scores.co.uk will be prominently displayed all around the Brunton Park ground, further helping to establish them as one of the leading providers online of both scores and results.

Speaking about the new sponsorship deal, Scores.co.uk founder Andy Bell said: “It is a real honour to support Carlisle United for the forthcoming League One season.

“Carlisle United is a community club with a strong and passionate supporter base and I’m delighted that Scores.co.uk can be a part of what we all hope is a very successful season for Greg Abbott and the boys.”

Carlisle United’s commercial director Dick Young said: “We have a fantastic relationship with Andy and Scores.co.uk and we are delighted that they will be with us again this season.

“It is extremely important for us to build and foster partnerships like this as it is key to the way we want to drive the club forward.

“Scores.co.uk are fantastic supporters of the club and we welcome them on board for the 2013/14 campaign.”

 

Coventry and Northampton to share a ground for the new next couple of seasons

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It’s official; after much deliberation by the Football League, Coventry Football Club have been given permission to share grounds with Northampton Football Club up until at least the 2015/16 season, much to the disappointment of their Supporters Direct fan group

The football club, currently playing in League One had to relocate after falling out with the owners of their 32,600 capacity home ground, Ricoh Arena.

Football League board of directors are said to have ‘reluctantly approved’ the request made earlier this week by the Sky Blues’ administrator, Otium Entertainment Group to have the home games played almost 35 miles from their current home ground.

A statement by The Football League said the board had ‘deep regrets’ about the fact that Coventry Football Club’s administrators could not come to a mutual and amicable resolution with the owners of the Ricoh Arena. They also stressed however that the club are not in the clear yet as they still need to meet a number of pre-set requirements before they can be granted full approval.

The statement continued, “The Board wanted to ascertain where Coventry fans will be calling their home ground for the 2013/14 season which starts less than a month away. Despite this the Board wants to stress the fact that their go ahead was merely on a conditional basis. If the club ultimately wants the approval to be permanent then they need to exit administration in line with the conditions set forth in the League’s regulations, and successfully transfer its League share.”

The statement goes on, “The administrators, Otium will need to prove to the Football League, the intentions of the club to move back to Coventry in the near future. This proof is needed in the form of a £1m Performance Bond.”