Arsenal goes to the yanks

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Arsenal goes to the yanks Stan Kroenke of Kroenke Sports Enterprises is soon to become sole owner of the premier football league club Arsenal.  The American Kroenke, nicknamed ‘Silent Stan’ because of his reluctance to talk to the media, has a good bit of experience in the world of professional sports.

His company KSE controls several American teams:  Denver Nuggets in basketball, Colorado Avalanche in ice hockey, St. Louis Rams in football and Colorado Rapids in soccer.  Kroenke has also been on the board of Arsenal for the past three years.  Chairman of the Arsenal board Peter Hill-Wood said they are confident Kroenke has the right values and will make a good ‘custodian’ for the club.

This purchase will make the Denver-based sports tycoon the fifth U.S. owner of a premier league team.  Kroenke’s acquisition of shares from Danny Fiszman and Nina Bracewell-Smith gave him a 62.89% stake in the club, and he has offered to buy the remaining shares from Russian investor Alisher Usmanov for 11,750 pounds each.

The majority opinion seems to be that Kroenke will keep the club’s best interests at heart; the club’s manager Arsene Wenger said that having worked with Kroenke over the last couple of years, he feels the American understands the club’s traditions and will not undermine its independence.

Kroenke stated that he plans to bring new success to the Gunners and help put them back at the top of the league.  Arsenal has not been in that position for several years, since they won the Premier League in 2004 and the FA cup in 2005.  Currently Arsenal is second behind Manchester United, with seven matches still to go in the season.

Leeds United football club ownership secrecy rumbles on

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Leeds United football club ownership secrecy rumbles on It was all over the front pages four years ago, when the chairman put it into administration but not much has been heard since. The thing is, even the fans aren’t sure who owns Leeds United football club. The club was in debt to the tune of £35m when Ken Bates and his fellow directors put the club into the hands of the administrators.

The question of its ownership has even made it’s way to the House of Commons, where the Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport has repeatedly asked who is the owner. The committee clearly think it’s a cause for concern that the clubs supporters. Who shell out their hard-earned cash; don’t know who their money is going to.

The C.E of the Premier League, Richard Scudamore, yesterday told the enquiry that if the team managed by Simon Grayson were to be promoted to the top flight, their rules need better disclosure as to the actual ownership than there is at present.

The Football League asked Leeds only last year to reveal who actually owned it. Bates, who is now living in Monaco, says that he hasn’t any connection with the owners, they have merely entrusted the day to day running of the club to him. The League rules at the time didn’t require its clubs to openly announce who owned them, so left it at that.

The League however, has since taken on the same rules as the Premiership. Leeds has since announced on their website that the club is owned via 3 trusts, which are administrated via Zurich, and no individual owns over 10%. As this is the case, they say they don’t have to name any of the individuals involved.

TV income falls and clubs feel the strain

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TV income falls and clubs feel the strain A new TV contract signed by the league for £23m less a season than the previous one, has put pressure on many of the teams that are already under severe economic pressure causing them to suffer yet another reduction of income.

There will be 75 live Football League matches and the return of the Carling Cup to exclusively pay TV are parts of the £65m deal that is for the three years from 2012-13. BBC is believed to have declined the bid for live matches this time while having the current £88m a year deal that has 10 Championship games a year and the Carling Cup final.

All insiders are saying that when ITV digital went bust is in no way comparable to the now drop in TV income because back then TV income dropped overnight by £84m when many players were in lucrative multi-year contracts.

Before the new deal will go into place over 80% of the players current contracts will have expired thereby giving owners time to reduce their cost base. A parliamentary committee was recently told that the Football League was heading toward the precipice and arriving quicker than thought, by Chairman Greg Clarke, and the recent reduced funds will worry many teams that face uncertainty over sponsorship and season ticket renewals.

The negotiation of television rights had been held in a very difficult climate because of the state of the economy and the lack of tension in the sports broadcasting market. Setanta’s collapse and the unwillingness for some broadcasters to bid left Sky as the only one to turn to and the only positive is that teams have the time to plan for the future, confidant that the clubs will see there is genuine interest because of the ongoing investment in their competitions.

Black player honoured at international match

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Black player honoured at international match It would only be telling a small part of an incredible story by suggesting that club cricketer, champion cyclist, professional footballer and record-breaking sprinter, Arthur Wharton could play a bit.

The story is finally receiving the attention it deserves after being lost for over 60 years where it ended in a pauper’s grave in 1930 hear Doncaster after having started in the Gold Coast of present day Ghana, in 1865. Now an appropriate ending will be written to Wharton’s story with his final chapter being written thanks to Shaun Campbell, a Darlington businessmen and Sheila Leeson a Rotherham grandmother.

A ceremony prior to Tuesday’s friendly between England and Ghana will be attended by the two and will celebrate the legacy of Wharton and him being the first black in professional world football.

Wharton came to England at aged 19 in 1884 the son of a Ghanaian princess and renowned half-Grenadian half-Scottish Methodist minister. Darlington FC proved to be impossible to resist even though he was supposed to study at Cleveland College to be a missionary.

He was spotted by Preston North End in his first season at Darlo as the fixture between the sticks and he joined the team from Lancashire the following year and helped them to their semi-berth in the FA Cup, football’s premier competition at the time in 1887.

He was much more than just a goalie, holding the world record for 100 years that he set in 1886 at Stamford Bridge at a first every 10 seconds flat and he set a record time for a bike race from Preston to Blackburn in 1887.

Jeremy Hunt calls for team GB for Olympics

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Jeremy Hunt calls for team GB for Olympics Jeremy Hunt, Culture Secretary, has urged Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales not to boycott, at the London 2012 Olympics, the Great Britain football team. Jonathan Ford the chief executive of the Football Association of Wales says by refusing to let players compete he is protecting the FAW’s independence even though Sepp Blatter, Fifa president has assured their independence would not be threatened.

Hunt also indicated he hopes other players besides just English could play saying how fantastic it would be have players like Gareth Bale. Adding that this is a time to think about the athletes and put aside the football politics.

At the 125th International Football Association Board conference, Blatter gave his assurances about nations’ independence this at the conference where goal-line testing technology was voted in favourably.

BBC’s Sport Wales was told by Hunt in response to him being asked if he was happy about the nations guarantee this month that if they are happy with the 124th meeting where technology was not going to be introduced, that changed as well. He also said that he took on Blatter’s words but that Blatters was only one among many at Fifa.

We will ultimately want is insurance that both now and in the future and we have a Welsh team competing and representing our country at the highest possible level going forth into the European Cup and the World Cup saying he did not want that to change nor does he think the English fans want that to change. By combining we would be eliminating an English, Scottish and Northern Ireland team now who would want that.