Wayne Rooney has admitted that he was devastated by the three match ban handed down by Uefa after his red card against Montenegro, and would understand if Fabio Capello left him out of England’s Euro 2012 squad.
The Manchester United striker kicked out at Miodrag Dzudovic in The Three Lions final qualifying fixture in Podgorica, and the governing body punished the attacker with the maximum possible suspension.
With Rooney set to miss the entire group stage of the tournament in Ukraine and Poland next year, the FA has not yet decided whether to appeal Uefa’s decision, and Capello is tossing up whether to bring him to the competition.
“I am disappointed with it,” Rooney told The Guardian.
“I’ve got no excuse but I still feel the punishment is a bit harsh. All the details we have been waiting for came through so we will be making a decision as to whether we will be appealing.
“Obviously that is my own fault so I can’t really complain. It will be a bonus if it is cut by one game. And I thank the Montenegro player [Dzudovic] who has sent an email to Uefa saying that he felt the punishment was too harsh. He didn’t have to do that.
“It was stupid. I regretted it as soon as I did it. I honestly don’t know why I did it. It was one of those moments which I live to regret now. There was no tackle on me beforehand, so it wasn’t retaliation.
“I didn’t set out to ‘beat’ him; it just happened. I just can’t explain it but, obviously, it’s devastating for me,” he stated.
A national debate has ensued whether or not Rooney should be included in the European Championships squad, with opinion split down the middle. If he was omitted from the travelling party, Rooney would understand due to his three match ineligibility.
“I will understand if I am not in the squad because I’ll be missing out on those first three games at the minute and he has to look at other players – it is as simple as that. I want to play but I understand if I don’t,” he concluded.
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Fabio Capello is set to leave Rooney out of the international friendlies against Spain and Sweden, as the striker’s selection for Euro 2012 hangs in the balance.
The last week saw another example of fan revolt, as the seemingly ridiculous rumour that Alex McLeish was to become the new Aston Villa manager actually came to fruition. Without knowing every single Aston Villa fan, it felt like they were all disgusted by the move.
A demonstration at the ground ensued, fans expressed their disgust on message boards, TV screens and with threats of non-attendance in the future. Nevertheless, Randy Lerner ignored the swell of opinion and made the appointment. Was he right to do so?
In theory, yes. Clubs are sadly businesses (not all would agree, as will be mentioned later), and like it or loathe it, those who sit on the board make the decisions, for better or worse. Clubs can’t be making player and managerial decisions on the whim of fans, as the fans can barely agree on anything anyway. It took some Manchester City fans two years to work out Nigel De Jong was a great footballer. There will never be a consensus on how good/bad Mark Hughes was, or even how good/bad Roberto Mancini is now. How can such a group make such important decisions? But fans are the lifeblood of a club, and when their opinion forms such a broad consensus as the Villa fans displayed last week, then perhaps they should be listened to. On the whole however decision-making must be in the hands of a few, as the bigger the number becomes, the harder it is to agree on anything. The world of politics proves that.
Fans’ power over player acquisitions should certainly be non-existent. In England, the almost unanimous system is one whereby the manager alone decides which players to buy (supported by his staff, especially scouts). Abroad, directors of football take up that role and the manager is more of a coach. Whichever system you may think is best, there can be no other way. Fans influencing buys is almost as bad as the owner deciding. It would only end in tears. Especially when the tears are crocodile tears because this particular player once had the nerve to play for THEM.
Of course for many clubs, fans already have a say directly in the way clubs are run, and this is a more logical route to follow. This involvement was brought home by the loss recently of funding to the Supporters Direct organisation by an offshoot of the Premier League, after some fruity tweets from its Chief Executive Dave Boyle led to his resignation and an excuse for funding to be withdrawn.
The examples of fan involvement in clubs are there domestically, though more widespread abroad. Supporters’ trusts sprung up after the 2002 collapse of ITV Digital, but while their intentions are always noble, they often struggled for success against teams with wealthy owners. And supporter-led ownership does not of course guarantee the best decisions or an imprint for success. Notts County’s supporters’ trust voted overwhelmingly in July 2009 to give away its majority stake to the Qadbak investment fund – not the best decision in hindsight. Stockport County, supporter-owned since 2005, went into administration in April 2009 and have finally fallen out of the Football League. Chesterfield and York City were also previously owned by supporters’ trusts, which saved their clubs from extinction in hideous crises, but then found they couldn’t take the club forward, and thus relinquished control.
A different approach can be found at myfootballclub.co.uk, where Ebsfleet United of the Bluesquare League are owned by the fans, as explained on the site:
Ebbsfleet United is owned by thousands of members, who each contribute small amounts annually, and vote on key management decisions like the budget, transfer deals, kit supplier contracts, kit design, election of Club officials, and even approve the Manager’s contract!
Abroad, supporters matter more. Barcelona and Real Madrid (amongst others) are fan-led in Spain. In the Bundesliga, most clubs are more than 50% owned by fans. Many a director would no doubt love to change this scenarion, with only 2 German teams owned by companies, but the fans’ power in maintaining this system has been impressive.
Back at home, Supporters Direct itself has also worked with supporters of the biggest clubs to form trusts either campaigning against damaging ownership or seeking a more active role.
And the aforementioned Dave Boyle would disagree about my earlier assertion that football clubs are businesses. He once said. “We believe very firmly that football clubs are community, sporting institutions, not private businesses.”
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The thought of clubs being run by supporters is also something Uefa back strongly, as they see it as the ideal model for football clubs, and they funded Supporters Direct to extend its work to fans in other countries. This is not surprising when we consider that UEFA believe that fan-led clubs will help achieve the objective of financial fair play, where clubs do not make repeated losses every year. And anything that Uefa believe promotes their idea of financial fair play was always going to be popular. They have a point though. Whilst wealthy owners will bring a greater chance of success, and bigger and bolder buys, a club run by its members is mor elikely to be managed within its means.
AFC Wimbledon are proof of the power of fans. So too are Exeter City, rejuvenated by their own fans, and Swansea City, dying on its feet a decade ago. Swansea are still 20% owned by the supporters trust, which has an elected representative on the board. Fans are the biggest constituent of a football club, and should of course be involved in its operation, direction, and whole ethos. But the only way to do that successfully sometimes is with direct involvement. All fans are entitled to their opinion and to demonstrate when they feel aggrieved, we are not robots or clones designed to turn up and accept whatever is served up in front of us, but it seems the route to greater success by fans can only be achieved by getting right inside the corridors of power. When Aston Villa fans allegedly caused Randy Lerner to abandon the idea of appointing Steve McClaren, they ended up with a far more unpopular choice. Most fans are simply hostages to their clubs’ fortunes, and you just have to hope for the best.
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On Tuesday night in the serene surroundings of Canada Water, 12 bloggers (myself included), one Sunday League team and decorated former England international Ray Wilkins descended upon Bacon’s College as part of Nivea’s enterprising ‘The Great Football Experiment’ campaign.
The event itself comprised a host of engaging activities, including FA coach-led skill sessions, fervently-contested seven-a-side contests, a mock press conference and the opportunity to quiz Wilkins himself.
Wilkins admitted that he would relish the prospect of working with former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti again.
The pair worked together at Stamford Bridge for 17 months before Wilkins was sacked in November 2010.
Ancelotti has recently been linked with a return to management in London, with Arsenal and Tottenham mooted as potential destinations.
“If he wanted me to back with him yes I would. He’s an excellent coach and a good human being – a nice fellow to work with,” he said.
“He’s already living in England so he hasn’t had to come back too far! He wants to work in England – he’s desperate to, but I wouldn’t know where.”
Wilkins also feels that his former side can challenge the two Manchester clubs for the Premier League title this season.
“Absolutely. They’re just coming up on the rails aren’t they?
“It’s vitally important that they beat Manchester United once, Manchester City once and Tottenham once.”
The former Blues coach believes that Frank Lampard, whose role at club and country level has come under scrutiny, provided the perfect riposte to those who had doubted him. Speaking after Lampard scored a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 5-1 defeat of Bolton, Wilkins said:
“I think he’s just being what he is, and that’s a top professional. He hasn’t got anything to prove, it was a kneejerk reaction to give him grief, saying he was finished.
“It was his way at the weekend of telling everybody, ‘I am still about, alive and kicking.’”
Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zarifrasul
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Chelsea defender Ashley Cole did not taunt Manchester City players in the Stamford Bridge tunnel after his side’s victory between the teams on Monday, according to the London club.
Goals from Raul Meireles and Frank Lampard cancelled out Mario Balotelli’s opener to keep The Blues in the hunt for the Premier League title, and close the gap between themselves and the leaders to seven points.
Etihad Stadium boss Roberto Mancini had suggested that the England full back was ungracious in victory on Monday night, and may have teased the defeated team straight after the game, causing a fracas in the tunnel.
Despite the Italian coach’s comments, Chelsea have released a statement defending Cole.
“Contrary to reports, Ashley Cole did not say anything to the opposition in the tunnel after Monday’s game,” Chelsea’s official website states.
“Ashley has huge respect for the players and staff at Manchester City, many of whom he knows personally and calls friends.”
Chelsea travel to take on Wigan at the DW Stadium on Saturday, and will look to build on their win over City earlier in the week.
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Birmingham City have given notice of their intent to report Aston Villa’s alleged tapping up of Alex McLeish to the English Premier League.The Midlands rivals are engaged in a bitter tug-of-war over McLeish, who resigned from Birmingham in dubious circumstances on Sunday and is now being openly courted by Villa.
The Blues have suspected coercion from Villa since McLeish abruptly emailed his resignation to acting chairman Peter Pannu, who has demanded the club be compensated 5.4 million pounds as set out in McLeish’s contract.
Villa took the unusual step of publicly announcing their intention to interview McLeish ‘imminently’ for their vacant managerial role on Tuesday.
Feeling their suspicions have been confirmed, Birmingham have announced their forthcoming complaint to authorities in a bid to block any deal for the Scot’s signature.
“Birmingham City football club finds Aston Villa’s announcement today (Tuesday) to proceed with an interview with Alex McLeish a contempt of Premier League and FA rules,” a statement on Birmingham’s website read.
“The club feels this will taint football and give the game and the footballing authorities a bad name if this is allowed to materialise.”
“The club will do what is within its powers to prevent this and will lodge a formal complaint to the authorities tomorrow as there is now not the slightest doubt remaining about this tap up attempt.”
“Birmingham City stresses that this conduct, if condoned, will open up flood gates and set a very bad precedent.”
“This is also an attack against the intelligence and integrity of not only the Villa fans, but most importantly our fans who are badly let down after having just been relegated.”
“It is definitely a bitter pill to swallow for all fans concerned, both here and across the city.”
“Never have the two clubs seen such a strong unity between their rival fans and this unity is based on humility and integrity and what is right and fair.”
The club also responded to allegations from the League Managers’ Association that McLeish quit due to a lack of support in the transfer window and the sacking of his chief scout at St Andrews.
“The LMA’s announcement today is refuted as the club has a very rigid approval system where only players formally identified, and with approval forms signed and sanctioned by the manager personally are brought in,” the statement read.
“The chief scout was sacked only after Mr. McLeish was informed who at that time had chosen not to comment.”
“The allegations against the club, president Carson Yeung and the board are frivolous excuses and without foundation. The matter is now with Birmingham City FC’s lawyers and no further comments will be made.”
Owen Coyle will confirm his reputation as the best young manager in Britain if Bolton Wanderers reach the FA Cup final at Stoke’s expense.Coyle, 44, made his name in Scotland with St Johnstone, where he reached the semi-finals of the League Cup and Scottish Cup.
He took over at Burnley in November 2007, guiding the team to English Premier League promotion via the Championship playoffs in his first full season in charge.
Coyle moved to Bolton in January 2010 and secured the club’s top-flight status by finishing 14th.
Their transformation under Coyle this season has been impressive.
Stalwart Kevin Davies has formed an effective partnership with Sweden international Johan Elmander in attack, supplemented by the signing of Daniel Sturridge on loan from Chelsea.
South Korean Lee Chung-Yong and USA international Stuart Holden have impressed in midfield, although the latter has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
Gary Cahill’s performances in defence have earned him full international honours with England and made him one of the standout centre-backs in the Premier League this season.
Bolton are eighth in the table, just behind traditional heavyweights Everton and Liverpool.
After beginning their Cup campaign with a third-round victory over lowly York City, Bolton have beaten the likes of Wigan, Fulham and League Cup winners Birmingham to reach the last four of the FA Cup.
They must overcome more Premier League opposition in the shape of Stoke City if they are to reach the final, where one of Manchester United or Manchester City will await.
While not yet mathematically safe from relegation, Stoke are 12th in the table and appear set for a fourth consecutive campaign in the Premier League next season.
They have beaten Championship and League One high-flyers in the form of Cardiff and Brighton respectively, as well as Premier League opponents Wolves and West Ham to reach the semi-finals.
The two teams have one victory apiece from their league meetings this season, with Bolton winning 2-1 at home in October and Stoke coming out on top 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium in January.
As well as Holden, Bolton will be missing fullback Samuel Ricketts from the regular line-up for Sunday’s match at Wembley Stadium.
Stoke are without defenders Danny Higginbotham and Abdoulaye Faye, together with season-long absentee Mamady Sidibe.
On-loan striker John Carew is in doubt with a back problem.
Bolton won their last match 3-0 at home to West Ham United, while Stoke went down 3-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
It is the fourth time Stoke have reached the semi-final stage of the FA Cup, but they are yet to reach a final.
Bolton meanwhile have lifted the trophy four times in their history, but the last triumph was back in 1958.
If Coyle can take Bolton all the way and emulate that feat, it will not be long before one of the country’s biggest clubs come calling.
Last weekend was a family affair at Wembley as Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool went up against his cousin Anthony Gerrard’s Cardiff City in the League Cup final. While one family member was going to be pleased and one disappointed, it turned out that Anthony would be absolutely distraught.
The match itself was an enthralling one as both sides held a lead at one point (Cardiff in the first half and Liverpool in the second half of extra time). But the sides couldn’t be separated and so a penalty shootout would decide the winner as both Gerrards stepped up to the spot.
Steven Gerrard took the very first penalty, which was brilliantly saved by Cardiff goalkeeper Tom Heaton, but by the time Anthony stepped up as the 10th penalty taker, he needed to score to keep the Bluebirds in it.
In what was heartbreak for Anthony, he missed and handed the victory to Liverpool. Here’s Steven Gerrard consoling his cousin after the match, but what is Stevie G saying to Anthony?
Leave your suggestions below…
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Betting on football seems to be the new national sport, judging by TV adverts anyway. It is big business, around the world, though in some parts, for example the odd country or two in Asia, it is still illegal to bet. In Turkey I was only allowed to bet using the state bookmakers (though the owner of the local internet café knew a way round this). In this country we take betting on just about anything for granted.
Many footballers too love a bet, as we all know. Many a footballer has frittered away fortunes gambling, be it on football, horses, or in a casino. Under current regulations, a footballer can gamble on any competition which is team is not involved in, though the FA were apparently considering tightening these regulations a few months ago. There was a meeting planned, so it seems they’re pretty serious about it too.
The fact is that as much as I love football, and will watch just about anything (including an Albania v Wales U18 match once to annoy a housemate who wanted to watch Buffy), without a distinct preference for one team in a football match, it simply isn’t that interesting, and a bet is a good way to solve that.
I used to do the odd accumulator to make games you had no interest in more interesting. Naturally two hours later you’d be cursing how Celtic managed only a draw at home to Caledonian Thistle, or how Everton lost 2-0 at home to Wolves. But now there’s a new addiction, it costs me only a couple of pounds every Saturday, namely the “goals, goals, goals” coupon, whereby you pick as many games as you want, and both teams have to score in each game at any point for the bet to come in.
And the array of things you can bet on are astonishing. The first thing to happen in the match (a booking is no longer an option since Vinnie Jones retired), the number of corners, time of first goal, first goal scorer, last goal scorer, number of fouls, number of substitutions, the number of players wearing gloves, even the number of times Drogba falls to the ground (to the nearest 10). But boredom makes you bet on the most obscure of games, and the most obscure combinations like the ones listed for the England game below. Chesterfield to win both halves was a successful one for me. Less so was Doncaster to be drawing at half-time but winning at full-time. More than 8 corners in the first half of Crewe v Accrington was tempting, but I resisted. It’s not just football of course – William Hill offered 16/1 on Kenneth Clarke falling asleep during this week’s budget statement. They paid out too!
On Saturday afternoon, Wales will take on England. Now you could just have a bet on the score. Perhaps a flutter on the first goal scorer. Or the two combined (the hard-to-win scorecast). But if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, how about a bet on whether there will be a penalty, which half has the most goals, how many substitutions are made, or a bet on England to win from behind, or to win to nil or win one half only, or to win by over two goals or there to be under 2.5 goals in the match or…….
Every single action on the football pitch has been covered by bookmakers. And everything off it too. A popular bet has been the “next manager to be dismissed” market. There’s nothing quite like betting on someone else’s misery. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Or more likely, you heard a rumour on twitter that William Hill had stopped taking bets on <insert name of under-pressure manager> to be the next Premiership manager to be dismissed. Or a mate knows someone who knows someone high up at Anfield who has heard that <insert name of out-of-work manager> will be appointed soon, they just need to iron out a few small details. It was such folly that made me bet £5 on Kenny Dalglish to replace Rafa Benitez, after someone on a football message board said he had heard from a “very reliable source” that he’d be appointed the next morning. Ah well, only 6 months out.
As a child I was allowed one bet a year – £2 was given to me to speculate on the Grand National, and I would spend days perusing the form, and the odds, before finally deciding on which losing horses to back. And when I reached my teens I would accompany my dad to the bookies, and all the other once-a-year gamblers were there cramming the place full, annoying the regular gamblers and sending them and their smoke out into the street. Nowadays bookies are much more sanitary places, but I have barely stepped foot in one in years. There’s no need when I can do it online, and even from my phone. There’s an app for that. It does take away one of life’s simple pleasures though – it’s hard to rip up a virtual betting slip.
There are swathes of offers from bookmakers as they compete for business, and they advertise heavily in newspapers, online and on TV. No live game is complete without Ray Winstone on your screen at half-time, doing his best “ooooh Betty” Frank Spencer impression as live odds appear over his left shoulder. Don’t talk to me about the lads’ Betfair couch though – I get the urge to commit violent acts just thinking about it.
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But the internet has offered another option to the sporting gambler. Rather than betting on games, why not offer the bets instead? Yes, instead of backing a certain bet, you can lay it, meaning you are now the bookmaker. From experience this is a far more nerve-wracking option, as the stakes are higher, but if in your mind you see no way that Manchester United can lose to Bolton, then laying a Bolton victory becomes in your mind a license to print money. What could possibly go wrong?
Gambling should of course always be done for fun, with stakes that you can afford to lose, a principle that serves me well and avoids sleepless nights. But it’s not just about money – there’s a certain buzz to be had when a bet comes in, large or small. And smug satisfaction – you have taken money off a bookmaker, and it’ll be a good two days before they get it back again. Not smiling now are you Fred Done?
I certainly don’t want to over simplify our role, but for me PR has always been about;
1. Understanding the story
2. Understanding the media
3. The relationship that you have with the journalist
From a personal perspective, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some fantastic journalists (many of whom I still deal with) and some great brands and clients. While this doesn’t automatically make me the next Matthew Freud, it has allowed me to gain an important understanding of the media beast, what components need to be present to make a good story and the angles that the media will be interested in.
Like any good agency, Lineup Media has to be fully aware of the daily news topics and what the media are covering (club news, player speculation and match incidents). We get our daily news intake from the national newspapers, online sites, Twitter and the radio.
Having a news overview allows us to make a decision on what relevant PR opportunities we have at our disposal and how we can turn these into coverage opportunities.
In the case of clients like FFC, we work closely with them to create PR-able stories, which follow the current news agenda and focus around stories we think are of interest. A good example of this are the Fan Polls created on the FFC site. These not only reflect topical footballing issues but also give us a true indication of what real fans are thinking.
So how do we work with the media?
As you’d expect from the World’s favourite sport, football is covered in all of the UK’s main national media – print, broadcast, online, social – and thanks to the likes of David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, the sport has migrated from being purely back page news, to a more favourable position within the national news agenda.
The ‘celebrity’ footballer has also allowed PR’s an even greater opportunity, being able to target entertainment pages, fashion sections and gossip columns.
Targeting the online media, some stories can now go live within 20 minutes of being first sold in!
Our ‘pitch’ technique is all about understanding the media you are speaking to, ideally knowing the journalist you are about to call and knowing what the key points of the story are – meaning you grab the journalists interest from the start. There is nothing worse than having to ask if a journalist is still on the other end of the phone (which of course has never happened to me).
Knowing the above will allow the journalist to make a quick decision on whether it’s something that would be of interest. Just because one media isn’t interested, it doesn’t mean that another one won’t be!
With all of that said, we are only human and sometimes don’t always hit the sweet spot. It’s at these times we are happy to discuss with the journalist what it is they are looking for and what would work best for them – let’s not forget, a bit of give and take is how all good relationships work.
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Whether we’re working with online journalists, national newspapers sports desks or men’s magazines, it is all about offering them content that their readers will enjoy reading and engage with.
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Ali Sheik is the founder of Lineup Media, a national PR agency specialising in sports, consumer, food, digital and travel clients. A calm and logical Arsenal fan, he is happy with Arsene Wenger and knows that success is only a season away.
A late goal from Ryan Shotton has helped Stoke City to a 1-0 win over Hajduk Split in Europa League qualifying on Thursday.The visitors defended bravely in Split before Shotton popped up to score a fortuitous 90th-minute goal and seal passage to the play-off round with a 2-0 aggregate win.
Chances were few and far between in a tepid first half with Stoke simply happy to keep the partisan home crowd at the Poljud Stadium quiet and Hajduk lacking the quality to break them down.
After the interval the match initially followed largely the same pattern with Hajduk trying to dictate the game in the midfield and Stoke content to sit and try and break down the flanks.
As the half wore on, however, Stoke’s defensive line began to drop deeper and deeper and front men Kenwyne Jones and Jonathan Walters were reduced to the role of spectators as Hajduk repeatedly prodded and probed the visitors’ backline.
Time and again, though, the Potters’ committed and organised defending denied Hajduk space in the final third, and the Croatians were reduced to tame efforts from outside the box.
There was no late rally from the home side, and instead Tony Pulis’ side confirmed their place in the next round with a late winner.
Substitute Shotton heading home from Dean Whitehead’s inviting right wing cross, despite the best efforts of Split defender Ljubo Milicevic.