As England fans gear up for the 2010 World Cup, Terry Venables sings Elvis’s ‘If I can dream’ in this video clip being promoted by The Sun newspaper. See if you can spot a few football celebrities in the choir, including Ian Wright and Harry Redknapp.
Having paid out on Chelsea as winners of the Premier League on Friday top bookie Paddy Power are this morning facing the prospect of a £500,000 cock-up after Paul Scholes’ last minute winning goal in the Manchester Derby and Spurs unexpected 2-1 win over League leaders Chelsea has thrown the title race open again.
Reacting to yesterday’s results Paddy Power were forced to slash the odds on Manchester United winning the title from 6/1 to 11/8 and pushed Chelsea’s odds from 1/7 to 8/13.
Paddy Power said “I’m guessing it’s far too late to say our early payout on Chelsea was a belated April Fools joke? It looks like the football Gods are conspiring to teach us a very expensive lesson”
Paddy Power has long had a reputation for calling the title first for their punters each season. In the 2005/06 season the bookie correctly crowned Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea the champs as early as September after the London club raced into an unassailable lead. But the bookie hasn’t always got it right.
In 2003 Paddy Power paid out early on Arsenal (with a 12-point lead) as Premiership winners at the start of March. The Gunners surrendered their title with a 3-2 home defeat against Leeds United in the penultimate game of the season effectively handing the title to Manchester United and costing the Bookie a very expensive double payout on the Premiership that season!
LATEST TITLE ODDS
8/13 Chelsea (from 1/7)
11/8 Man Utd (from 6/1)
12/1 Arsenal (from 25/1)
Portsmouth plans to appeal to the FA in an effort to secure a Uefa club licence so that they can play next season in Europe.
The team led by Avram Grant had one of the finest shows of the season this week when they took on Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley and won 2-0 allowing them to move on to the FA Cup Final.
The stunning victory came just a day after they were once again confirmed part of the Barclays Premier League, but due to their financial plight there is a large amount of doubt about whether they will actually be allowed to take back a place in the Europa League.
As Chelsea has secured their chance to play in the Champions League, normally Portsmouth could claim the Europa League Place given to the winner of the FA Cup, but since the club is in administration they would not be able to formally apply for a Uefa licence which is required.
Portsmouth administrator, Andrew Andronikou, however has said that the team will appeal to the FA and are currently seeking legal advice and starting the process if the club is able to launch the appeal come Friday.
Andronikou continued to state that clearly they are qualified to pitch for the league, but in terms of financial covenants they may not be qualified.
He continued to say that although he feels that they do have grounds for an appeal, he is not certain but plans to act in accordance with the 100,000 Portsmouth fans and try to make the best move he can for the club.
The Premier League clubs have agreed that they will extend the period for parachute payments an additional two years, to four years.
Although the proposal will need to be approved and voted on at their June Annual General Meeting, at the moment the concept is understood to have universal backing.
Chairman Lord Triesman of the Football Association and Richard Scudamore the chief executive of the Premier League offered their backing to the plan and it is expected to pass in June without a problem.
All sides will benefit from the parachute payment extension and help to reduce the need for wholesale budget cuts directly before the Championship takes place.
Co-owner of the West Ham club, David Gold, was able to offer his support at a Thursday meeting and stated that this will be good news for the future of English football.
Gold stated that he is delighted with the Premier League decision and that the clubs back it completely and that it is a great first step for clubs that are relegated. He added that it will help the clubs that have been affected negatively by relegation and will also help all of the Football League straight down to the lower teams.
Additionally, he also revealed figures that make up the revised payment plan and claims that over the next four years clubs will get around £48m. He stated that it will be based on a percentage plan from available television monies, out of which there is now another 25% to add on to the third and fourth years.
Latest research undertaken by PRS for Music reveals that Three Lions proves to be the UK public’s favourite ever World Cup song.
| 1. | The Lightning Seeds | Three Lions |
| 2. | New Order | World In Motion |
| 3. | Fat Les | Vindaloo |
| 4. | England World Cup Squad | Back Home |
| 5. | Embrace | World At Your Feet |
| 6. | Ant & Dec | We’re On The Ball |
| 7. | Luciano Pavarotti | Nessun Dorma |
| 8. | Andy Cameron | Ally’s Tartan Army |
| 9. | England World Cup Squad | This Time We’ll Get It Right |
| 10. | Dario G | Carnaval de Paris |
If you are a budding musician, and feel inspired to try to emulate those in the list above, then check out the Sing Up England! competition. It is a free to enter competition looking for the best original song about the FIFA World Cup 2010 and runs from today until kick off on June 11th. For full details on how to enter visit www.m-magazine.co.uk/singupengland.