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Another step towards the exit of Portsmouth FC from administration and its acquisition by the Pompey Supporters’ Trust has been taken with the provision of a £1.45m bridging loan by Portsmouth City Council. The loan will enable the Supporters’ Trust to take control of Fratton Park along with property developer Stuart Robinson once the court case with Balram Chainrai’s Portpin group has been resolved.
Paris Saint-German, owned by the multi-billion pound Qatar Investment Authority, are contemplating making a bid for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.
If they made a bid of £40m, as has been suggested, it would have to be considered seriously at Old Trafford. At £250,000 a week, he is United’s most expensive player. Undoubtedly skilled and talented, he is 28, has a constant battle with his weight and has had injury and illness problems. Whether he would adapt to Paris as well as the cosmopolitan David Beckham is an interesting question.
Npower is to end its sponsorship of the Football League. The current three year deal worth £21m concludes at the end of the season. Npower is changing its brand positioning and market strategy to give it more of a retail emphasis, emulating brands such as John Lewis and Marks and Spencer.
BT is buying ESPN’s sports television channels in the UK and Ireland as it steps up its challenge to BSkyB in the pay-tv market. Last June BT agreed to pay £738m for the rights to 38 Premier League matches including 18 ‘first picks’. The move removed ESPN’s status as the only rival to Sky and made the US company’s withdrawal from the British market more likely.
The latest six monthly results for Arsenal show that profits are down year on year but cash reserves are up. This will increase the pressure to spend money on players in the summer, although Arsene Wenger still claims that the club can finish 2nd in the Premiership this year.
When discussions about the formation of the Premier League were taking place, Everton were regarded as one of the top five clubs in English football. They remain serious contenders and in David Moyes they have one of the most respected managers in English football, often referred to as a possible successor to Sir Alex Ferguson.
After eleven years in charge at Goodison, Moyes is waiting until the end of the season before committing to the club. Everton’s form has faded recently, and with the chances of refreshing England’s contribution to the Champions League.
Bradford City will consider withdrawing from the Europa League next season should they qualify by beating Swansea City in the Capital One cup final at Wembley tomorrow.
The club is concerned that it lose money by competing. They think that the cost of staging matches and funding travel would outweigh any income from television and prize money.
Involvement in one Europa League qualifying round tie alone was worth about £77,000 per club last season. The club also earn additional money from sponsorship of matches and even of away travel.
Taking Portsmouth out of administration and into the ownership of the Pompey Supporters’ Trust (PST) has never been a straightforward process. As PST spokesman Colin Farmery said today, ‘We always expect the unexpected.’
Some ‘ambiguities’ emerged in today’s High Court hearing which suggested for a time that the Football League might be wavering in its support of the PST bid and considering again that led by the Keith Harris consortium.
The New York Cosmos were the star team of 1970s soccer in the United States, doing a great deal to spur interest in the game among the young. In 1975 Pelé signed a contract with them said to be worth $4.75m, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world at the time.
The squad was full of international greats such as Franz Beckenbauer who had led Germany to World Cup victory in 1974. As many as 77,000 fans came to the Giants Stadium where the Cosmos played for a time. Attendances fell when Pelé left in 1977 and eight years later the team was disbanded.
Arsene Wenger has been the target of fan fury and media speculation since the club’s defeat by Blackburn in the FA Cup and their 1-3 loss at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But Wenger retains the support of the Arsenal board with owner Stan Kroneke expected to emphasise his backing for the belaguered manager at today’s monthly board meeting.