Wage capping could protect clubs from financial hardship

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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.

Images released of new M&S suits for the England football team

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Images released of new M&S suits for the England football team

Images released of new M&S suits for the England football team

On the 23rd April, St George’s Day, came the official launch of the suits that the English football team will be wearing as their formal dress at the Euro 2012 competition.

The suits have been both designed and supplied by Marks & Spencer and the images show a traditional team line up with a bit of a twist; there are 3 real lions lined up alongside the players.

This is the fifth year that M&S has been the official tailor for the England team, having supplied them with their formal wardrobe since 2007. For these latest suits, their bespoke in house tailors have followed guidelines set down by the England team itself. They have sourced the finest British fabrics and finishes and made each suit a perfect fit for every player.

The suits have been specially created to be lightweight and comfortable in the hot summer temperatures of Poland and the Ukraine. Richard price is the director of menswear at M&S and he has said that this has resulted in modern and slim fitting Autograph two buttoned suits that deserve a place in the wardrobe of every football fan.

The two-button single breasted suit jacket is sculpted to a slimming modern block with sleeve head roll shoulders for a classic fitting, slim silhouette. Additional styling details include narrower lapels and slanted pockets, along with impeccably finished internals featuring the World Cup winners star. Trousers are flat fronted and slim fitting with an elegant modern shape. The suit is cut from 100% British wool fabric in bright navy, complimented by a navy stripe tie, crisp plain white shirt and pointed Gibson shoes.

“We’re really pleased to continue our relationship with M&S and are delighted with the latest suit that has been designed for the team. The players are all really happy with how it looks and feels and we’ve had a fantastic reaction to the iconic lions imagery, it really brings the partnership to life” said Sean McAuliffe, FA Group Head of Business Development.

To support the launch of the images and the campaign as a whole, M&S has partnered with the Sun Online to create an exciting online hub. Packed with behind the scenes video from the team photo shoot, exclusive competitions, quizzes and a virtual application that allows users to join the team. The microsite will also launch on St George’s Day.

 

 


Win tickets to the FA Cup final with ipadio Facebook app

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Win tickets to the FA Cup final with ipadio Facebook app

Win tickets to the FA Cup final with ipadio Facebook app

The Football Association is the governing body of British football, and cover a vast portfolio of the beautiful game that ranges from grass roots to the elite teams in the Premiership.

Social Media plays a vital part in the engagement strategy of the FA, and thanks to the work they are now doing with ipadio’s VideoInPage service they are providing a unique way of putting fans right in the heart of the game.

The FA Cup ipadio Facebook app allows fans to make their own commentaries on goals scored, as well as giving them a chance to win tickets to the FA Cup Final. The commentaries are to be judged by John Champion from ESPN and the winner will receive the much sought after tickets.

Charlie Boss is the FA’s marketing manager for the FA Cup and he has said that using the ipadio’s VideoInPage service is one of the most engaging and easiest ways to get involved with user generated content that the FA has seen for a long long time.

Mark Smith, ipadio CEO notes that, “ipadio strives to make the task of getting rich content online as simple as possible, so while our audio products make podcasting no more complex than making a phone call, VideoInPage is that same principle applied to video. This takes away the barriers to upload and allows organisations to easily place their people in the centre of their online presence.”

ipadio’s VideoInPage (VIP) service allows organizations and brands to collect user generated video from their stakeholders with no more complexity that pressing ‘record’. The VIP service works by detecting the presence of a camera and allows the user to record directly into the webpage. This video can then be moderated (or not!), embedded into your website or intranet, cross posted into other sites (eg. Facebook, YouTube), and automatically alerted to registered viewers.

The VIP service is white labelled, a key feature for corporate users, so they can brand their video with their logo, their messages, moderate and control where the video ends up. It’s these features that resonate with corporates – ipadio’s VIP provides them with the means of socializing their organisations – spreading audio and video content around their networks – but with the necessary control and brand protection.

Also, because VIP is cloud based and doesn’t rely on expensive camera crews and post production (brand elements, intros and outros are all applied automatically) the costs are significantly lower than typical in-house video production.

As with all ipadio services, VIP is provided as Software as a Service – set up times are minimal and the recorder and resultant videos are typically embedded inside the customer’s websites or intranets.

Why not give The FA Cup ipadio Facebook app a go yourself and see if you can win a ticket to The FA Cup final?

Anticipation grows as to who will make the England team for the Olympics

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Britain’s first football team to appear in the Olympics since the year 1960 is being picked specially for this summer’s Olympic Games. David Beckham, one of prospective squad players that are allowed to be of any age, is still in contention for a place in the squad.

Stuart Pearce, the Olympic football team manager has shortened his player list from 191 down to just 80 since January. The 18 squad players names are expected to be announced by June.

Beckham, now a midfielder for Los Angeles Galaxy team, has previously expressed the desire to be part of the London Games team despite the fact that his England team career is effectively over. Former England captain, Beckham made 115 appearances for England. This is the most appearances of any outfield player for England, the last of which occurred in October 2009.

Britain hasn’t had a football team in the Olympics for over 50 years as Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all feared losing FIFA independence. The federation has assured teams that their FIFA status will not be affected if they partake in the competition, although a combined team has still been blocked. Pearce is still hoping to include players from across the UK.

The 80-strong shortlist includes Liverpool’s Welsh striker Craig Bellamy, Gareth Bale, Tottenham’s winger, Scottish striker Stephen Fletcher who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chris Brunt, a midfielder for West Bromwich Albion.

Apart from David Beckham, there are another four English possible player’s names that have been disclosed. Joe Cole, Liverpool’s 30 year old midfielder on loan to Lille, Jack Butland, Josh McEachran and defender for Crystal Palace, Nathaniel Clyne are all still on the list.

Britain’s first women’s football team is also set to star in the London Games later this year. Both teams are going to be playing friendlies as warm-ups for the July 25th tournament start date.

 

Muamba could be returning to the pitch sooner rather than later

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Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton Wanderers’ midfielder could be playing football again within as little as six months, says a leading expert. Discharged from London Chest Hospital just yesterday, it’s been nearly a month since Muamba collapsed on the pitch and suffered from a cardiac arrest during the quarter-final FA Cup match against Tottenham.

78 minutes after Muamba suffered the cardiac arrest, Muamba, the international former England Under-21 star’s heart started beating again. Since then, he has made a remarkable recovery.

Within just two days, Muamba had started breathing independently, responding to questions and recognising his family members. A little over a two weeks later, it emerged that Muamba had been up and about, he’d been walking around in intensive care. The news that he’d been discharged has been accompanied by smiling pictures of Muamba next to two hospital doctors that had been caring for him after his attack.

A consultant cardiologist, Dr Richard Cooke, believes that it won’t be long before the football star is seen on the pitch again. “As long as his neurological recovery is complete, there’s no reason at all why he can’t resume playing professional football. Some footballers play, despite the fact they have defibrillators, it’s likely that Muamba will be one of them.”

“As his heart had stopped for so long, it’s an amazing thing to hear that they successfully managed to keep him alive. Of course, there is the concern that he could develop brain injuries but as long as there was adequate resuscitation then he should make a complete recovery.”

“It entirely depends on the amount of recovery he’s made already, and his recovery has been surprisingly good. It’s not too farfetched to think that he’ll be able to start playing football again.” The two clubs auctioned the football shirts that had been worn during the match, raising over £22,000 for London Chest Hospital and three other charities.