Alex Ferguson lashes out at agents

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Alex Ferguson lashes out at agents Letting his irritation show forth, Sir Alex Ferguson vented about the unreasonable, and in some cases immoral, demands some football agents have put forward since he has been with Manchester United.

An unnamed agent demanded a block of flats to close the deal or his player would not sign. Another agent requested money for every goal scored by his player, but Ferguson pointed out that they were signing up and paying the player for exactly that. These incidents have been handed over to the directors of the club.

He was upset by the Blackburn Rovers’ agent, Jerome Anderson, because Sam Allardyce was let go. Sam is one of Ferguson’s good friends. Ferguson responded to sacking, “If Anderson had to pick something he couldn’t even pick his nose.”

During an interview with RTE Radio 1, he declared that the manager is the top of the heap at Manchester United and that if the player ever thinks he is more important it will destroy the team and they will never recover.

Ferguson also has strong opinions about the limitations that managers should have when negotiating wages for players. “A manager may phone me, and that’s when I get really irritated, when he asks for £1 million a year for a player who isn’t even a star. They believe they can work miracles like this.”

He clarifies, “The top paid players at Manchester United are getting paid what they earn. They are regularly out there performing in front of everyone, every time. Consistency and quality are the materials of star players. People expect them to perform well and it draws crows every week. That is why they get paid what we pay them.”

The Premiere League structure

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The Premiere League structure English footballs top flight is the Premier League, composed of 20 teams. There is also The Football League, which is divided into 3 classes, each with 24 teams. This total of 92 clubs are full-time professional clubs.

Each league has its own rules, but follows always the principle that all clubs play against all other league participants’ two games and three points for a win, one point for a draw and no points for a defeat. The table is always sorted by the number of points, with the club (other rules for sorting vary with the same number of points in the league) with the most points at the top.

There are different types of promotion and relegation rules every team and it is theoretically possible to climb to any level or fall from top to bottom. There are, however, minimum standards, such as the presence of a flood light or a certain number of seats in the stadium, which can lead to a club failing to climb the league regardless of its technical position.
The Premier League is the top division in English football and has 20 clubs. To win the Premier League is the biggest national success possible, and brings qualification for the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s biggest competition at club level.

The Premier League was founded in 1992, after the top clubs in England seceded in successfully improving their share of the revenue and to stay independent of lower-class clubs. At the end of each season three clubs from the Premier League are replaced by three representatives from the Football League Championship.

Scottish Football Association delays appointment of performance director

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Scottish Football Association delays appointment of performance director Despite his continuous search for a performance director, Scottish Football Association Chief Executive, Stewart Regan, believes it could be next season before an appointment is made.

Last April, The SFA published Henry McLeish’s Review of Scottish Football report. One of the main recommendations of the report was to provision the role of SFA Performance Director.

Supervision of the new academy structure in order to elevate the standard of footballers, will be the main priority for the new performance director. Therefore, it is essential for the SFA to get this appointment right and find the right person for the job, According to Regan.

The former chief executive of Yorkshire Country Cricket Club revealed that the SFA are keeping an open mind in their current search for a performance directory. The SFA will not limit themselves to looking in the football community. The search will extend to sports community, not only in Scotland but in other countries as well.

Regan declined to comment on whether Walter Smith is a potential candidate for the job.  Notably, by the end of the season, Walter Smith is stepping down as Glasgow Rangers Managers.

‘Commenting on individuals is incongruous,’ said Regan. ‘We would like to see the position filled in time for the start of the new season.’

Football Association selects new chairman

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Football Association selects new chairman The unanimous vote by the eleven-member board to nominate David Bernstein as chairman of the Football Association heralds what many feel is a great new era for football in England.  Even the man who was really the only other candidate for the position, David Dein, said that he knows and likes Bernstein and wishes him all success.

Bernstein certainly has impressive qualifications for the job.  He took over the chairmanship of Wembley Stadium in 2008 at a time when the FA was at risk of defaulting on their £341.5 million bank loan.  Working with the FA’s general secretary, Alex Horne, and with Roger Maslin, Wembley’s chief executive, Bernstein helped to negotiate a refinanced loan that eased the pressure.

Bernstein has extensive experience at several levels of English league football.  He spent nine years as a Manchester City director, five of those years as chairman, and during his tenancy in that office the club regained Premier League status.  As a chartered accountant, he has also spent many years on the boards of large companies, so he knows how corporate governance should be implemented.

The expectation seems to be that Bernstein will rise admirably to the challenges he will face, not least the less-than-cordial relationship between FA and Fifa following the World Cup vote.  Bernstein, whose appointment may have been a surprise in Nyon and Zurich, said he knows he’ll have his job cut out for him trying to repair the rift, but he appears to be up to the task.  He said he intends to work very hard to get a good grasp of the most pressing issues in the FA and the best way to deal with them.

Though the council still has to approve Bernstein’s nomination at its meeting on January 25th, there is little doubt that he will be dealing with those issues as of that date.

Henry McLeish wants summer Scottish football

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Henry McLeish Henry McLeish wants summer Scottish football thinks that Scottish football should be played during the summer season because the current schedule has forced players and teams to take on their matches in the cold for far too long.

McLeish, the former First Minister, ordered that the SFA be scrambled and after last week’s cold game it is predicted that a change is even more imminent.  He recommends that the season should start in July with a winter break to help bypass some of the colder times but he did not go into great lengths about the possibility of changing the calendar to match up with all summer months.

Last Tuesday, only a little over 3,000 fans turned out to see the Motherwell vs. Hearts league match due to the poor weather.

McLeish stated that with the climate being what it is Scotland will continue to have problems drawing in youngsters to play that have the potential to shine on the national team and possibly help England to the World Cup Finals.

He explained that the country is already thinking about moving the calendar around for women’s and kid’s football so that practice takes place in decent months weather wise and that if they are talking about moving around the minor football leagues why not consider it when it comes to the senior game.

He added that while he is not an expert on the climate change and what its effects may be, if this year is an indication of how the weather in Scotland is going to be over the next ten years then something should be done because it will be impossible to nurture great players with the current conditions.