The Road to Rio

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Today sees the launch of The Road to Rio, a mini-guide to the destinations – San Marino/Rimini, Podgorica, Novi Sad, Stockholm, Split and Zagreb – hosting World Cup qualifying games this spring.

England, Scotland and Ireland travel to San Marino, Montenegro, Serbia, Sweden and Croatia – and the Libero Guide team has visited every stadium and half-decent pub, sports bar and hotel there to produce the Road to Rio website available at www.footballfansguide.co.uk

Libero (£1.49) is the football fans’ travel app, for Apple and Android smartphones, the most up-to-date travel companion to Europe’s most exciting destinations, city-by-city, club-by-club.

Packed solid with freshly researched information and thousands of original photos, Libero is massive – so massive it is best downloadable with a strong WiFi or via iTunes.

liberoguide.co.uk/liberoguide.com

Celtic Football Club Supporting Indian Youth Football Development

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Celtic Football Club Supporting Indian Youth Football Development

Neil Lennon with Celtic’s guests

Celtic Football Club are working to promote the beautiful game in India.  They have teamed up with the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge and as part of the programme two Indian teenage stars recently spent a week training in Scotland with the Glasgow giants.

The Mahindra tournament is played out in six cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Cochin, Goa and Calicut.

More than 3000 players from 192 schools took part and the winning teams from each centre came together in Bangalore for an inter-city championship. At the same time, the teams and their coaches received specialist training from Celtic coaches who flew out from Scotland.

Throughout the final stages of the tournament the Scottish coaches shortlisted the best individual players, who were then invited to Glasgow.

This year the honour fell to Gaurav Bora (14) from Delhi and 15-year-old Sufaid Ali Pookkodan from Kerala, both of whom are central defenders.

The youngsters spent an eventful seven days as guests of Celtic. On their first night in Scotland they found themselves in the centre circle during the half-time break in the recent Celtic v Kilmarnock Premier League match.

Gaurav and Sufaid Ali were introduced to the crowd and were given a warm welcome on a cold Glasgow night as Celtic went on to win 4-1.

During the rest of their stay they visited a mosque and a Hindu temple, enjoyed a tasty night out at Mr Singh’s, one of Glasgow’s top Indian restaurants, and trained with young Celtic stars of the future.

They even found the time to keep up with their studies at a local school.

This was the second year of a three-year commitment by Celtic to the Mahindra tourney and it is understood negotiations are currently taking place to extend the arrangement.

Celtic worked closely with Glasgow-based Oceanic Media Consulting, who organised many of the social and cultural events for the two visiting players.

A Celtic spokesman said: “We’d like to thank Oceanic who were crucial in assisting with the week’s activities.”

Novelist signs up as ‘The Daggers’ writer in residence

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Novelist signs up as 'The Daggers' writer in residence

Novelist signs up as ‘The Daggers’ writer in residence

Dagenham and Redbridge FC have announced that they have signed their first ever writer in residence, Ian Ayris, the sports fiction and crime novelist and lifelong fan of the Daggers. He will be joining the club in a number of projects that are community related in a bid to bring football and writing together.

Ian has been attending matches at Victoria Road for more than 3 decades and is delighted to be able to play a part in both the club and the community. Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club managing director, Steve Thompson said, “Ian is a great fan of the club and we are happy to be working with him bringing football and increasing literary skills into the community. This will involve projects in schools and at the club engaging young people and fans of the club.”

Ian said, “Football clubs have a lot of influence with young people and in the community in general, especially clubs like The Daggers who are still very much a family club with family values. So it’s great to be here at the club I love and be able to work with them giving something back. I am looking forward to working with the club not just in schools but also on a project charting the history of the club with fans which we hope to produce as a book.”

Steve Thompson continued, “As a club we want to reach kids who have an interest in football at all levels. Not all will want to play or have the ability to make it as a professional footballer, but by making the most of their education they can broaden their options. Some may want to write about football or just improve their writing skills, and that’s where we as a club working with Ian, can give them inspiration.”

Ian’s novel, Abide with Me published by Caffeine Nights Publishing, hit the number one spot in Amazon’s sports fiction chart and is still the highest rated title in that section with over 50 reviews, including 44 5 star reviews. Part East End crime fiction, part passage of rites tale with football at its heart, Abide with Me is a moving tale charting the life of two boys given a raw deal in life.

 

 

£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.