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.

NEW iPHONE APP ENGAGES FOOTBALLING LEGENDS

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A unique penalty shoot out was held on 22nd March in London to promote the new boot shoot app for the iPhone from Hyundai. Taking part in the shoot out where the football legends John Barnes and Ian Rush.

Carly Cole, the fitness instructor and WAG acted as referee for the event, which had the ex Wales and England players going head to head before the two nations competed against each other in a European qualifier game on the 26th March. The two players hadn’t been on the same pitch since the FA Cup Final in 1996.

Barnes and Rush competed in a  live recreation of the new app, trying to score as many goals as they could. There were no goal nets however, the target was the boot of a Hyundai i20. They were fiercely competitive, and took shots from distance of 20 and 10 yards.

The new Hyundai Boot Shoot app, which features the very latest technology to give a realistic 3D in-stadium feel, allows players to score points by flicking footballs into the open boot of a Hyundai ix35. As the game advances, additional points can be scored by targeting shots at the body work and windows of ix35’s speeding around on the on-screen pitch.

Available to download for free from Apple iTunes from Saturday 26th March, the app will provide users with details of the Hyundai range as well as allowing them to arrange a test drive through their nearest dealership.

Watch the video from the event

Millennium stadium pulling out all the stops for Wales v England

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Millennium stadium pulling out all the stops for Wales v England After a heavy schedule of rugby matches having hosted Six Nations rugby, the ground staff at Millennium stadium is feverishly working to get the pitch ready for the Euro 2012 Wales sellout against rival England. Stadium manager Gerry Toms says the pitch will be ready for the first football match to be played in 18 months at the stadium.

In the past, when qualifying games for major tournaments had been staged at the Millennium some high profile stars such as Craig Bellamy and James Collins had been very outspoken and critical of the status of the pitch. Saying things like the pitch is not good to play football on or than it was horrendous.

There have been complaints that rugby players and their games get preference over those of football saying that it is not a great pitch because it is a rugby pitch and that they are not looked after here at this stadium.

The stadium manager Toms is confident the pitch will be ready and in excellent shape for the Football Association of Wales mentioning that because the stadium is multi-event stadium the criticism in the past has been quite fair but that they work hard to get the best surface possible for every event that is staged.

The last match was Wales against Ireland at the Six Nations on March 12, so the pitch will have had a very important two weeks without any competitions. The improved weather conditions in the past couple of weeks are a relief after one of the worst winters in years and a busy schedule and this will give additional help to getting the pitch in shape for European qualifying.