Football this August just doesn’t feel normal

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Football this August just doesn’t feel normal Although we now consider it as part of the norm, football in August still doesn’t sit well as it is so synonymous with winter. It has been around for a while now but it still feels as if the start of the new season sounds the death knell for our summer, and the dark night will soon be upon us. It’s also a sad fact that football this August is like no other, as the usually high octane excitement of the first day of the season has been marred by games being cancelled.

This isn’t due to the weather or anything so innocent, this is due to the acts of mindless violence that have taken place across the UK over the past week; this is due to the riots. The decision to let other games go ahead has been said by many to be madness, as crowds of drink fuelled football fans streaming through parts of run down cities already decimated by the riots is a recipe for disaster.

Those police officers who have worked tirelessly for days to try and restore order on our streets will invariably now be deployed to try and keep order amongst a different kind of threat. This is an explosive cocktail of extra, yet easily avoidable, tensions that the country as a whole could do without. Those in power should have got their priorities right and delayed the start of the season, the thugs wouldn’t have won, the country would have.

Premier League and Football League media talks go into extra time

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Premier League and Football League media talks go into extra time Talks that were going on between the Premier League, the Football League and various media organisations regarding match coverage are finally back on after a standoff  which has lasted a week, leaving very little tile to get a deal hammered out before the new premier league season starts. The two sides effectively spat their dummies out last Wednesday and broke of all contact with each other.

This was after talks regarding an agreement broke down acrimoniously when the two footballing bodies walked away from the table. This included details about where the news media outlets were allowed to syndicate their material, the speed in which they could publish photos and to what extent readers could engage with the online content during a live match.

The media coalition including most of the national newspapers as well as worldwide agencies such as The Press Association, Getty Images and Reuters had cut back on their coverage opening weekend of the new football league season as well the Carling Cup first round matches. This was after they were locked out of the grounds after they refused to sign a temporary extension to their existing deal.

According to two separate sources with inside knowledge of the discussions, negotiations have now recommenced It is also thought that, despite their being an acrimonious dispute, common ground still exists between the two factions, and this increases the chances of a deal being agreed before the Premier League starts on Saturday.

The coalition, who are being represented by the Newspaper Publishers Association, have put forward demands that surrounding such things as a new deal picture and news agencies, a change in live match reporting and also the use of the social media networks, and these are thought to be not exactly poles apart from what the sport’s governing bodies have deemed acceptable.

They both agree that the existing deal is outdated, not surprising since it dates back to the 2003/4 season, two years before twitter even existed. A source, who is close to the footballing bodies, angrily dismissed the claims that they were old fashioned and trying to hold the game back from taking its place in the rapidly rising world of digital media coverage.

Footaballers get Twitter warning

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Footaballers get Twitter warning While the instant communication that comes with the social media explosion has brought about some new problems. Defining the limit of free speech on the anonymous internet, where the worlds of public and private collide, is one of the biggest challenges that today’s lawmakers face, according to ITV Football’s Sean Martin.

As usual, where politics go sport surely follows, and the recent furore over the super   injunction unceremoniously dumped the footballing world into the eye of a huge political storm. Whilst freedom of expression has been protected, and blanket censorship condemned, this hasn’t yet gone universal and similar protection has yet to be afforded to other sportsmen.

The fact that Twitter has now been banned by many sports teams is posing a real threat to the freedom of speech for players. Two of the teams from the Ryder Cup of 2010, the All Blacks world cup squad and the Leicester Tigers have already got bans in place and Alex Ferguson, who has expressed his disdain for Twitter more than once, is reported to be considering doing the same at Manchester United.

The censorship of Twitter is spreading like wildfire through sport, without any acknowledgement at all that this blatantly flouts their fundamental commitment to the freedom of speech. Freedom of expression needs reactive and not proactive censorship and should not be treat as if access to it is akin to drugs or firearms, as speech does not pose danger.

Jim Jefferies rejects Hearts offer

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Jim Jefferies rejects Hearts offer After being replaced as manager by the former coach of Sporting Lisbon Paulo Sergio, Jim Jefferies has turned down the offer by Hearts to become their director of football.

Jeffries sacking took place on Monday, and reports quickly emerged that 34 year old Sergio had been lined up to take over the reins at Tynecastle.

The one time Journeyman striker, who hails from Portugal, has been duly appointed and when Hearts confirmed his appointment they also announced that Jeffries had rejected their offer to stay at the club. Jeffries also released a statement, in which he voiced his disappointment at leaving the club, especially with the strong connection he had with the Hearts.

He went on to thank the club for the opportunity the club had given both him and Billy Brown over the past 18 months. He went onto say that while he appreciated the offer to stay at Hearts and develop in a new role, he didn’t think the time was right for him to make that move, but he may reconsider it in the future. He ended by wishing the staff and players the best of luck for the new season

The reports that Jeffries was on his way out the door first emerged on Monday following a meeting at the club. It’s understood that the players, probably thinking about their crucial Europa League second leg game against the Hungarian team Paks, were very unhappy when the news was delivered to them on Monday.

The players were the apparently told that they were getting a manager who had previous European experience and that they were to come to Tynecastle on Tuesday to meet that man. Ironically, Sergio’s Sporting Lisbon side were dumped out of the Europa Cup at the last 32 stage in February, by Rangers.

Arsenal pricing fans out of the Emirates stadium

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Arsenal pricing fans out of the Emirates stadium As well as being devoted, you have to be pretty well off to support Arsenal these days. It has been revealed that tickets for certain seats at the Emirates stadium are the dearest in the country. Not only do they charge £100 for these seats, they also have the dearest pies, with a chicken tikka filling coming in at a whopping £4.

Liverpool fans are the worst off overall however, their top tickets cost a much more affordable £48, but their cheapest tickets are £39, making them the priciest. This means that the cheapest day out for Liverpool fans adds up to £43.95, nearly three times what it would cost you at Newcastle.

The survey was held across all of the 104 clubs that make up the top 4 divisions in the English league and also the Scottish Premier League. It came as no real surprise that those who support London teams are often paying more for their match tickets. The top seats at Chelsea cost £87 while at Tottenham you will pay £80, but both clubs offer cheaper options, and a budget ticket at Chelsea will cost £23.50.

Further north they drop dramatically in price. The champions, Manchester United, offer seats for £35.60, while you can get into their neighbours Manchester City’s stadium for £25. Fans who support teams in the North West have the best deal, as some of the cheapest seats in the premiership, costing only £10, are available at Blackburn’s ground.

The prices of programmes also vary greatly, the dearest ones are £4 at Leeds, whilst Crawley charge a mere 50p.