Hodgson contradicts himself over John Terry

by

Roy Hodgson, the manager of England’s national football team, seemed to contradict himself recently in his views that football fans and players should be more Olympian in their outlook, then following that by saying that John Terry should be let off lightly after his abuse of Anton Ferdinand.

Hodgson was impressed with the way in which the Team GB athletes conducted themselves and said that the atmosphere they performed in gave mainstream sports, including football, food for thought. He saw London 2012 as a wake-up call that the hatred and abuse suffered by footballers is not necessary.

There was little abuse suffered by the Olympic athletes. It was reported that Hodgson believes the Olympic athletes set a new benchmark which should be adopted in football and other major team sports which expect to be under the spotlight.

He went on to reflect on the tribalism which is often on show during football matches and said that the public who watched the Community Day were very different to that which were in Olympic Stadium. Following his statements about how players and fans should be more Olympian he said that he hoped John Terry would be cleared of his racial abuse charge by the FA so that he would be able to play for England, thus trampling over his noble sentiments.

During July’s court case Terry was found not guilty of the charge that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand from QPR. He now faces a charge from the Football Association after he was caught on camera launching expletives and insults at Ferdinand during the game. This is something that the likes of Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah have never been accused of

Andy Carroll heads to West Ham

by

After much speculation that the Liverpool striker Andy Carroll would be heading back home to Newcastle, the story took a surprise twist today with the news that he will be instead pulling on a West Ham shirt for 2012/1 season. The Hammers have signed Carroll on loan for the season for a reported £2, and could sign him permanently if they stay in the Premiership.

Carroll, on the other hand, has been reported as saying that he want to go home to the Toon, and that he also wants to stay in Liverpool, so where he really wants to play is anyone’s guess. Liverpool have already apparently rejected an offer from Newcastle, who sold Carroll in January 2011 for a Liverpool club record of £35. After being the darling of St James’, he has struggled at Anfield scoring only 11 goals in his 56 appearances.

When Carroll left the north east for the north west, a social media campaign branding him a ‘Judas’ swept across the nation, and many posters displaying his face with the word Judas beneath it were waved at matches. The fickleness of sport, however, is evident as in recent weeks, staunch Toon supporters have said they would welcome the 23 year old’s return to a team looking to further improve on the top 5 finish they enjoyed last season.

Ex Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is the man in charge at Upton Park, and has spoken of welcoming Carroll into his squad. Allardyce was just one of many managers Newcastle went through in a very short period while they tried to settle into a routine of winning ways. Alan Pardew is the man at the helm now, and he is credited with turning the club around and once again making them a team to be reckoned with

Manchester United named as the most valuable club in the world

by

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.

Arsene Wenger calls for a change to football discipline

by

Arsene Wenger, the manager of the Arsenal football team, has recently spoken out against the current disciplinary system in the football world and says that he would like to see an ethics committee installed which will have the ability to over rule the decisions of referees.

The current rules from the football Association state that it is not possible for a player to be punished in retrospect if no officials in the match saw the incident where the rules were broken. The complaint has come about after a match last month where a player was injured by another but the game continued because no official saw the problem.

This was a decision that was met with a great deal of criticism and the whole situation has been made much worse as much smaller infractions have been punished much more heavily, suggesting that there could be bias among some referees.

Arsene Wenger has said that the system just lacks the common sense of systems in other sports and he would like to see it overhauled in the immediate future. He has commented, “The current system basically means that if it’s out of sight for a referee then its out of mind.

A player could openly punch another player and if no official saw it, then it will go unpunished, no matter what is revealed through video footage later on. For anyone who loves the game of football they should support a reform of these rules as they are clearly ridiculous and need to be changed.”

Mr Wenger added, “There are so many things in football to work well but this is an area where there is so much friction it can be very frustrating for fans as well as players. Of course, the decision of a referee should be respected, but there should be a higher authority.”

Wage capping could protect clubs from financial hardship

by

Something of a doomsday scenario has come over the Football League as clubs are struggling with the rules that limit the amount of turnover that can be spent on the wages of players. Championship clubs have also recently just voted to say that they would prefer to have the same financial rules that are seen in Leagues one and two.

The sort of rules that would be implemented in the championship would mean that it is less difficult for the clubs to fall into significant amounts of debt, and risk collapsing.

The chairman of the football league is Greg Clarke and he has commented, “These new regulations are going to create more financially sustainable football clubs. They are going to lay a foundation for creating a more responsible sport where clubs are less able to rack up large debts very quickly.”

The chairman has also said that the rules are going to be brought into effect next season and any clubs that are not being in compliance with the rules are going to face transfer embargoes as well as significant fines. He has also said however that these fines will not start being handed out until the season after that in order to give clubs an opportunity to get used to the new rules and restrictions.

A lawyer who specialises in sports at the law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, Daniel Geey has commented, “These sort of regulations are going to help ensure the football clubs are able to break even and that they do not take on a large amount of debt.

Fortunately, there is some leeway and it means that these rules will not be too restrictive on clubs, just enough to protect them from themselves. It is a good idea for them to have implemented the grace period before they started implanting finds in the 2014 season.”

Sanctions are also going to be put onto clubs that are not able to break even. Over the next five years these are going to be gradually increased so that clubs are able to improve their performance and not take unnecessary risks.