£175m carrot dangled in front of 4 premiership teams to play in Quatar dream league

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A recent report from four English clubs says that £175 million has been offered for each of them to play in a new Dream Football League team in Qatar along with other countries in the Gulf in 2015. Qatar will host games where Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal will be playing against foreign opponents.

Qatari organisers have planned astonishing projects that could completely change the footballing map around the world if it gains enough support. The funds are much higher than those available to Champions League teams, which has an annual prize of £595 million.

The plans, which will be released next month, will see these teams earn over four times that amount for simply accepting the invitation to compete in the matches in the Gulf. The four Premier League teams will be enticed to join the permanent DFL members, currently 16, plus eight other clubs worldwide which would compete on an invitational basis.

The DFL would take place over the next two years, according to a Times article, and the European Clubs Association has not yet replied to these proposals. It does remain unlikely that existing football teams would change their calendar or money structures even though these new offers are so much higher.

Right now, Qatar associations are considered as outsiders before they enter the 2022 Fifa World Cup, but their investment in elite teams from sovereign funds in Barcelona and other regions show a strong commitment to become a presence in football. Qatar Sports recently completed a complete takeover of the Paris Saint-Germain as well.

Coventry FC face possible administration

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Tim Fisher, CEO of the Sky Blues stadium, now admits that Coventry has prepared itself from a possible threat that could be coming in the form of an administration order and they are now working along with their advisers to reduce the damage that could be done to the football club. His statement comes after Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) which manages the Ricoh Arena said that it created an application sent to the London High Court to try and get them to have an administration order used against the club.

Sky Blues currently owe £1.3 million to ACL because of various unpaid debts over the past year. The ongoing dispute has seen the club’s bank accounts closed and other lines of credit shut down. In the mean time, City was also placed under an embargo after they failed to file an annual account of their finances in the required time frame. Sisu, owners of Coventry, are contesting the terms of their lease, but League One has the ability to impose a 10-point reduction from the Football League if the club goes under administration.

Coventry right now is set to go in front of the High Court later in the month and has been responding Wednesday to the recent development. Fisher told the press that this is one but many possibilities that could have befallen on the club, and they prepared for this eventuality since the ACL ended negotiations last semester. They are consulting with advisers to find out what possibilities they have to contest this order. The result may see this club have some big difficulties to receive funding and continue playing.

ACL manages the stadium on behalf of the Coventry City Council along with Alan Edward Higgs Charity, and they said that talks had collapsed about the ongoing rent issues without reaching an agreement. This latest action will see the High Court take a decision during the next few weeks whether this club can keep going in the series.

Finances not improving at Liverpool

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Liverpool Football Club has revealed that its financial troubles are not getting any better. In fact, the challenge is getting much worse as the European elite team has reached an unprecedented £87 million of debt, an impressive increase from £22 million in 2011, a sobering result from the economically harsh landscape in Anfield.

The current owners of the team, Fenway Sports Group, tried to offer various explanations as to why this situation has come about. The arguments surround the Champions League but concerns raised by some observers point to the figures covering the period between August 2011 to early 2012 where Ian Ayre, the managing director of the team, oversaw the biggest debt increase thanks to payment transfers. Former employees were paid over £30 million a year such as former manager Kenny Dalglish, leading to the impact we can now see.

In a recent press event, the team has tried to reassure fans and supporters that this is just a temporary setback and that the next European season including the Champions League would help bring the finances back under control. But many are still unsure where the enormous amount of necessary funds will be coming from.

Some of the reveals in these figures include a £120 million package that was used to refinance the team from the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Bank of America. These types of financial moves do not help to bring more confidence in the management of the Liverpool club, and could make it hard for the manager to gain back the fans’ respect.

 

David Beckham takes up his role as global ambassador for China

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Football is gaining ground in China and now David Beckham has become the global ambassador for China in order to help manage the country’s image and reputation at the big game. The Chinese Super League is the name of the national team and it has recently been under a lot of scrutiny as players have left the team to join other brands instead. Didier Drogba is one high profile player who left, plus the group has suffered from a scandal about match fixing recently which certainly does not help its case.

At 37 years old, Beckham will help the team while still maintaining his day job playing for St-Germain in Paris. In a recent press event, he said that this was an important role for him, and that this was time for the country to help shape Chinese football in history. In this new role, he will help China set matches up and promote the team to children and others. He also says that there are a lot of potential football fans in China which need to discovery the sport with proper marketing efforts.

The Chinese team has had a hard time getting into matches recently, with Ivory Coast recently removing the China position in their matches for Turkish teams instead, a controversial move that China contested.

The recent player departures also did not help the team which may now be struggling to be able to participate in 2013 matches starting this month. Corruption has also been alleged in the Chinese Super League with many officials being banned by Fifa. Needless to say, Beckham may have his work cut out for him

Is the new Kate Moss as self destructive as the old one?

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The fashion industry has been looking for the next Kate Moss for the past decade or so, and it seems that they may have found it in Cara Delevingne who is stunning on the catwalk with her sleek and slim figure paired with blonde hair, bushy eyebrows, and pouty lips.

Ever since Delevingne was crowned Model of the Year this past November at the British Fashion Awards she has been seen on 13 of the top designers in New York and an additional seven during London Fashion Week. Earlier in the year she also was easily the star of the Burberry show.

This month Delevingne will grace the cover of British Vogue and she is already the face of Zara the high street chain. In addition, she is one of the Victoria’s Secret bodies and a face of Chanel. Privately educated, well connected, and well bred Delvingne has really made a name for herself with her pixieish looks that are surprising given her reckless energy and very outspoken manner in real life.

Sadly, it seems that Delevingne may already have some of Moss’s bad habits as well, as she was photographed stumbling down the steps to enter a private home at 5am in the morning after visiting four venues in a row while out partying. This was not a one-off for Delvingne who brags that she only needs about two to four hours of sleep every night and is regularly seen as a party animal on the British club scene.

She even managed to outdo and outlast Rihanna last week before leaving The Box in London only to be caught dancing on top of a limo outside. She also teases her fans that she is bisexual and has managed to date quite a few stars for only being twenty putting her on a path of self-destruction that disturbingly reads a bit like Moss’s as well.