Craig Thomson gets the boot after all

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Craig Thomson gets the boot after all Craig Thomson, the 20-year-old defender for Heart of Midlothian football club who was convicted last month of sexual misconduct on the internet, will not be playing again for the Scottish Premier League.

According to the announcement on Hearts website, Thomson’s suspension on June 28th will be permanent.  This decision is an about-face from the club’s original statement of support for the offender, reportedly following a meeting between owner Vladimir Romanov and Thomson’s family.

When the scandal first reached the media in June, Thomson’s behavior was put down to “outside influences” and underplayed by club spokespersons as a sort of youthful indiscretion.  However after the young man pleaded guilty to charges of “lewd, libidinous and indecent” contact with two underage girls in internet chat rooms, both the public and the team’s sponsors raised an outraged protest.

The outcry was enough to cause Romanov to retract or at least modify his former tirade against those he claimed were conspiring against the club.  Former Hearts player Alan McLaren was quoted as saying he hoped Thomson would never play for the club again, and one major sponsor, MacB Water, has withdrawn its support, with others likely to follow suit.

Liverpool still battling for a bigger ground

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Liverpool still battling for a bigger ground Managing director of the Liverpool Football Club, Ian Ayre, said in a statement this week that the new infrastructure needed by the club is facing major challenges in its realization.  Liverpool needs significantly greater capacity for its fans in order to compete with Arsenal and Manchester United, whose gameday revenues are much higher.  However, Ayre said, there are so many problems with land  acquisition and planning and environmental regulations that the process is painfully slow.

Over the past few months it has become apparent that the expansion of Liverpool’s existing Anfield stadium to a 60,000 capacity would be preferable both in terms of cost and in long-term benefit to fans and players compared to the option of a new stadium to be built at Stanley Park.  Unfortunately, this course of action presents an array of difficulties, for reasons that some feel are just bureaucratic maneuverings.

The fact is that refurbishing and enlarging Anfield would involve a temporary reduction of facilities during the process, as well as costs for acquiring rights to the surrounding property and conforming to many of the City Council’s requirements for such construction.  If Liverpool could make a deal such as the one Manchester just announced with Etihad Airways, which is reported to be worth around £150m over the next 10 years, it would enable them to go with a new stadium.

Mr. Ayre has noted that Liverpool is in discussion with several brands about naming rights for a new stadium, but so far there has been no inclination to rename the old one.  At present the decision about which way to go on the issue has not been made, but the club is under pressure to make a committment one way or the other.  Ayre insisted in his recent statement that the goal is to find the “best possible long-term solution” for the team and its supporters.

Rushden & Diamonds FC Limited goes into administration

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Rushden & Diamonds FC Limited goes into administration

Rushden & Diamonds FC Limited goes into administration

Troubled football club Rushden & Diamonds FC was yesterday placed into administration at the High Court. The Northamptonshire club has failed in its bid to attract new investors in the wake of it expulsion last month from the Football Conference. A last ditch attempt to secure investment from a property company in Japan failed on Sunday and the supporters group Save RDFC has also failed to raise the funds necessary.

Gary Carter, from the insolvency practitioners Carter Clark said afterwards that it was with great sadness that Rushden & Diamonds had had to be placed into administration by its secure creditor. He added that it was very sad that such a popular club had been unable to attract the funds that it needed to continue.  He concluded that his thought were with the fans who had tried so hard to save their club.

The debenture holder has appointed Alan Clark of Carter Clark as the administrator. He is not in a position to carry on trading as Rushden & Diamonds.

Formal notice of the appointment, together with a proof of debt form enabling creditors to lodge claims in the administration, are available from the insolvency notices section of Carter Clark’s website.

The club played in the Blue Square Bet Premier league in the 2010-2011 season.
For further details see www.thediamondsfc.com or fans website www.saverdfc.com. The fans forum is atwww.thediamondsforum.co.uk.

The FA were the failures in World Cup bid

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The FA were the failures in World Cup bid The Football Association failed to learn its lesson from previous attempts says a report from MPs about the failed bid to host the World Cup in 2018. The Cup was awarded to Russia as England only could muster two votes. A number of necessary components seemed to be missing from England’s bid the report said. It criticises FIFA’s respond to their trouble with bribery claims and said the FA should hold a review.

England was knocked out in the first round even though they had the help of David Beckham and Prince William as their figureheads of their December presentation in Zurich.

The culture, media and sport committee released the report and stated that it appeared lessons were not learned with regard to unity and composition of the bid team and what it needed to project. The FA responded by saying that were already working on issues that were related to the report.

An FA spokesperson said the FA made their position clear for the need of reform within FIFA at a recent congress held by FIFA and they welcome the committees shared views in this regard. The FA’s present focus is on working harder to become stronger with all football clubs in order to build more enduring and stronger international relationships.

The MPs also supported the decision of BBC to screen a documentary by Panorama with regard to corruption allegations within FIFA in the same week votes were submitted. Allegations into the unethical behavior made by the leader of the former England 2018 bid Lord Triesman towards four FIFA members which eventually lead to the FA commissioning James Dingemas to investigate the matter further.

Jay-Z and Ashley Cole to open sports bar

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Jay-Z and Ashley Cole to open sports bar Jay-Z and Ashley Cole will be teaming up to open in Pall Mall an upscale sports bar that will be staffed by people currently unemployed and set up as a WAG wannabe hangout. Cole said it was great to work with someone that is a star like Jay-Z. Also the fact that this will help people that are unemployed by training and putting them to work at a great place makes it all the more worthwhile.

The same as Jay-Z’s four places in the US, this club will be named 40/40 a term used in baseball which is quite rare when a player hits 40 home runs and steals 40 bases in the same season. That is similar to being one of the best left-backs in the world and winning your ex-X Factor wife back all in the same year.

Co-owner with Jay-Z in the clubs in the US, Juan Perez said the marketing behind the 40/40 is to create an atmosphere favorable for men as well as women with it being a combination of an upscale hip lounge and sports bar.

Without coming out and saying it, it is a call out to all those that want to be WAGS. Membership at the club in New York is £1,000. But with that you get access only to the second level private VIP room.

To get to the top you need the Purple Membership which will set you back about £1,700. Along with the usual comfortable arm chairs where you can catch some live sport members and their guests will hope to get a glimpse of a celebrity that is drawn in with the Jay-Z cachet.