<![CDATA[MUST - the independent Manchester United supporters' trust]]> http://www.joinmust.org/forum This is the discussion forum for MUST, the independent Manchester United supporters trust en Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:27:14 GMT vBulletin 120 http://www.joinmust.org/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[MUST - the independent Manchester United supporters' trust]]> http://www.joinmust.org/forum Waiting game with Glazers suits Red Knights http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69320&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:24:27 GMT Waiting game with Glazers suits Red Knights Malcolm Glazer is a reviled figure among sections of the Old Trafford support James Ducker Northern Football Correspondent The Times September 8 2010 The Red Knights remain bullish about the prospect of buying Manchester United and have... Waiting game with Glazers suits Red Knights

Malcolm Glazer is a reviled figure among sections of the Old Trafford support

James Ducker Northern Football Correspondent
The Times
September 8 2010


The Red Knights remain bullish about the prospect of buying Manchester United and have indicated a willingness to play a waiting game with the Glazer family.

The Knights — a group of wealthy City financiers-cum-United supporters — believe the Americans may have to sell as the club’s debt grows. They say they are prepared to sit tight for as long as necessary, despite suggestions earlier in the year that they had abandoned a takeover bid.

United’s total debt, including the Payment In Kind (PIK) loans for which the Glazers are personally responsible, stood at £716.5 million according to the club’s accounts for the year ending June 2009, but estimates have suggested that it might take a bid in excess of £1.5 billion to tempt the owners to sell.

With United making interest payments of about £45 million a year on their £504 million bond issue and the PIK debt rolling up at an annual interest rate of 16.25 per cent, though, the Knights hope the Glazers may come under pressure to sell.

“The potential funding that we have uncovered is much more than we expected,” Paul Marshall, the co-founder of the Marshall Wace hedge fund and one of the original Knights, told Prospect, the current affairs magazine. “We are delighted to wait while the Glazers acclimatise themselves to a double dip.”

The Knights have not finalised the structure they would put in place at Old Trafford, but it has been reported that they might combine a membership scheme with a long-term plan to sell a minority stake in the club to a trust held by supporters.

Hugh Robertson, the Sports Minister, is expected to address an MPs debate today on supporter ownership and the desire for better governance for football. The Manchester United Supporters Trust, vocal opponents of the Glazers, have contacted 631 MPs to try to persuade them to put pressure on Robertson to deliver on his promise to “take a serious look at reforming the governance and structure of football” in England. ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69320 Football Club wound up over unpaid tax http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69319&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:18:25 GMT *Ilkeston Town Football Club wound up over unpaid tax* Ilkeston Town Football Club has been wound up by the High Court over an unpaid tax bill. Lawyers acting for the club had pleaded with the court to give it more time to pay the outstanding £50,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). They... Ilkeston Town Football Club wound up over unpaid tax

Ilkeston Town Football Club has been wound up by the High Court over an unpaid tax bill.

Lawyers acting for the club had pleaded with the court to give it more time to pay the outstanding £50,000 to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

They said the sale of one of the club's star players was expected to generate £20,000 within the next two weeks.

But HMRC pressed on with the winding up petition with the club being described as "plainly insolvent" by the court.

The court heard Ilkeston Town's chairman, Gary Hodder, was negotiating with investors interested in purchasing the Blue Square Bet North club.

It also argued that it could afford to pay off its tax debt by instalments of £1,000 a month from income from the start of the season.

After a two-minute hearing, court registrar Christine Derrett sealed the club's fate when she said: "I'm sorry, the company is plainly insolvent and I therefore make the final compulsory order."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-11231856 ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY Tat http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69319 Let fans net a say in running of football clubs says Walton MP Steve Rotheram http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69318&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:28:12 GMT Let fans net a say in running of football clubs says Walton MP Steve Rotheram Sep 8 2010 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Echo WALTON MP Steve Rotheram was today calling on the government to give football supporters a greater say in how their clubs are run. The newly elected MP, whose... Let fans net a say in running of football clubs says Walton MP Steve Rotheram

Sep 8 2010 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Echo

WALTON MP Steve Rotheram was today calling on the government to give football supporters a greater say in how their clubs are run.

The newly elected MP, whose constituency covers Liverpool FC and Everton FC’s grounds, has called a parliamentary debate on enshrining the right of fans to help run their own clubs. He said as an LFC season ticket holder he had a conflict of interest but that the issue is much bigger than just his club.

The Labour MP wants the coalition to deliver on its pledge to “encourage the reform of football governance rules to support the cooperative ownership of football clubs by supporters.”

He said: “There is a crisis of governance at the top end of the football industry which – for all the commendable efforts of the previous Labour Government – remains largely unresolved.

“A range of mutual or co-operative governance models currently exist both at home and abroad.

“Here in the UK there are many successful examples of inclusive governance practice at the lower league and non-professional end of the game. What I am aiming to do is re-ignite a debate that’s already begun, so that this practice might be extended throughout the club hierarchy.

“The All Party Parliamentary Football Group commissioned a report in 2009.

“It said each of the 92 teams should have elected supporters represented on the board.

“That is fine in itself but it does not get to the heart of the issue.”

“Look at what’s happened at Anfield.The fans there do not feel engaged. The owners have seen the supporters as part of the problem instead of the solution.

“It’s not the only reason I have done this, this is an issue that affects football clubs right across the country.”

He said he had been contacted by a number of Conservatives who support his effort to raise the profile of the fan involvement.

Mr Rotheram added: “The only time fans seem to be called upon is when there is a crisis and they are asked to step in to salvage the situation.

“Supporters’ Trusts must be actively helped to achieve representation, control and even outright ownership.”

He praised Arsenal FC for its Fanshare scheme which allows supporters to set up a direct debit to save money towards buying shares.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...0252-27223504/ ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY Chorlton Red http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69318 Sheffield Wednesday left dangling by need for Co-op finance http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69315&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:55:39 GMT Sheffield Wednesday left dangling by need for Co-op finance

• Sheffield Wednesday back in high court over HMRC debt
• Club's tax bill has reportedly risen to seven figures


* Matt Scott
* The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010


Six weeks ago Sheffield Wednesday were on the brink of being wound up
following an application from HM Revenue & Customs which the club's
lenders, the Co-operative bank, took the unusual step of publicly describing as "disappointing". Today the club will be back in court with the threat of administration greater than ever.

So where has the Co-op gone? In July it said it had been "working extremely hard to explore ways to ensure [Wednesday's] future stability", marrying its robust language with pledges to support the club. On 11 August the courts responded by providing a 28-day period in which to pay their £550,000 tax bill. Now the tax bill has reportedly risen to seven figures and the Owls face a fresh winding-up hearing at the high court today.

Wednesday always made it clear to the Co-op that to survive this season they would need £3m of interim financing. Yet at the close of business yesterday no new money had been received and a Co-op spokesman refused to say why, citing "customer confidentiality". One thing is clear: if the £3m Wednesday last month believed they would soon be receiving from Co-op materialised, it would preserve the club today.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...ednesday-co-op ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69315 Birmingham fear tax hit http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69314&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:54:40 GMT Blues fear tax hit Series: Digger * Matt Scott * The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010 Birmingham City are the second Premier League club to admit they could owe the taxman more than £5m in unpaid tax and National Insurance contributions relating to image rights. A note in the... Blues fear tax hit

Series: Digger

* Matt Scott
* The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010


Birmingham City are the second Premier League club to admit they could owe the taxman more than £5m in unpaid tax and National Insurance contributions relating to image rights. A note in the accounts of the club's parent company, Birmingham International Holdings (formerly Grandtop International), states: "HM Revenue & Customs [has] raised protective assessment for £5,024,000 in respect of tax & National Insurance Contribution relating to contractual arrangements with certain employees."

The note adds that Birmingham are contesting HMRC's claim with an appeal to a tribunal and that they are not the only club in HMRC's crosshairs. Indeed they are not. Manchester United's bond-issue prospectus in January detailed a similar contest with HMRC over a disputed sum of at least £5.3m in NI contributions "amongst other things". It appears that Birmingham and United are only two of several top-flight clubs facing a potential multi-million-pound headache.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...ednesday-co-op ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69314 Fixing: Germans get tough http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69313&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:53:38 GMT Fixing: Germans get tough

Series: Digger

* Matt Scott
* The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010


Germany's football league has enlisted Transparency International to act as a watchdog on match fixing. The tie-up with one of the "big four" European leagues is the biggest admission yet that football has just as much to fear from the scandal engulfing cricket as any other sport.

Transparency International is the global anti-corruption body that has struck several blows against corruption in governments and in corporations but it has never before been involved in sport.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...ednesday-co-op ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69313 Wayne Rooney: A new haircut and a restored sense of purpose http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69312&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:49:16 GMT Wayne Rooney: A new haircut and a restored sense of purpose

The striker's performance for England showed that, despite off-field distractions, he was fully focused against Switzerland

o Richard Williams at St Jakob Park, Basle
o The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010


Hair cropped and stubble removed, Wayne Rooney took the field last night looking like he meant business. That personal grooming decision, and the markedly slimmer silhouette that seems to speak of a rigorous pre-season fitness regime, gave him a closer resemblance to the stocky but slippery 18-year-old who terrorised the Swiss in Coimbra during the Euro 2004 finals than to the shambling nonentity of this summer's South African debacle.

Six years ago Rooney scored twice in that 3-0 victory as England progressed to the second of their three quarter-finals under Sven-Goran Eriksson. Last night he, Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard were the only survivors of Eriksson's team. What changes, in every sense, he has been through since Europe first sat up and took notice of the young striker's startling gifts and extraordinary self-confidence.

At 17 Rooney had a complete understanding of the game's fluid geometry. Like Glenn Hoddle and Paul Gascoigne, he carried the entire movie in his head, running a few frames ahead of the real-time action. His imagination was boundless, his dynamism unquenchable, his touch impeccable, his every movement seething with dangerous intent.

It was after he started to be featured in the news pages of the tabloids that he turned into a creature of mood, displaying fluctuations of temper that appeared to have little to do with events on the field. Last night he was being scrutinised with extra intensity by those who feared that the latest revelations about his private life might affect his performance on the field, particularly since he had shown improved form in a creative role in Friday's defeat of Bulgaria, when he played a part in all four goals.

He had told Fabio Capello on the plane to Basle on Monday that he felt ready to make a full contribution to the game, and once the match had started the proof was not long in coming. It took the form of his first international goal in 12 games, two days short of a year since his contribution to the 5-1 defeat of Croatia at Wembley. This was also the first time he had scored in 11 starts alongside Jermain Defoe – another nasty little statistic to be consigned to the bin, although one that had already seemed less important since the pair combined for three of England's four goals against Bulgaria. It was also his first goal in open play for anyone, club or country, since 30 March.

The credit for creating the opportunity to end his barren run went to Theo Walcott and Glen Johnson, the winger sending the full-back down the right flank with a fine pass. As Johnson prepared to pull his delivery back across the goalmouth, Walcott hared into the middle, where he and Defoe both ran across the ball and took the defenders with them to allow Rooney the time and space to race in and hammer the ball with lethal conviction.

There was no celebration, but his reticence probably had less to do with matters off the pitch than with the injury Walcott suffered while playing his part in the goal. As the winger fell to the ground, the referee signalled immediately for a stretcher. Rooney and Defoe were quickly across to show their concern for their stricken team-mate.

For all the excellence of Adam Johnson, Walcott's replacement, England missed the Arsenal man's speed. Rooney, however, continued to do good work, even if it was constantly evident that he has yet to regain his full measure of confidence. At the moment there is an unfamiliar lack of instant control when he receives the ball with a defender in close attendance, and a strange looseness when he opts to shoot from long range.

Midway through the first half, however, there was a chip delivered over the defence with delightful inventiveness only for Diego Benaglio, the Swiss goalkeeper, to reach the ball a fraction of a second ahead of Defoe. In the two minutes before the interval there were two balls floated from the left with Defoe as the target, the first encouraging the Spurs man to throw three defenders off balance before unleashing a sudden shot that Benaglio beat away, while the second, chipped from the byline with the goalkeeper stranded, saw Stéphane Grichting make a vital interception.

Rooney opened the second period with a promising move, making ground in the inside-left channel before aiming a diagonal cross towards the unattended Adam Johnson on the right, only for a first-time volley to fly harmlessly wide. The Manchester City player would make up for it later.

Switzerland, surprisingly inert in the first half, showed greater spirit after the interval, particularly once they had been reduced to 10 men. Rooney foraged and prompted in the playmaker's role until his substitution with 10 minutes to go, never quite rekindling the flame of his very best days but labouring diligently enough to ward off any suggestion that his mind might have been elsewhere.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...land-euro-2012 ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69312 Much has changed for Fabio Capello since his first England game http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69311&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:47:53 GMT In England, the only thing Fabio Capello has definitely become is older

Fabio Capello's first game in charge of England was a friendly against Switzerland, but much has changed since then


o Paul Hayward at St Jakob Park, Basle
o The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010


Fabio Capello first opened the door on our manic cabaret 31 months ago with a friendly win against Switzerland, who have since beaten Spain at the World Cup while the imperious iron-fisted England coach has acquired the first traces of a thousand-yard stare.

"We are fresh, all the players are running, their minds are free," Capello said after this 3-1 victory over the Swiss, making it sound less like Basle than Woodstock. This is qualifying, not a tournament. These are September nights, not the burned-out ends of smoky Premier League campaigns. But at least there is more to talk about than dysfunction, assuming you steer clear of Sunday newspapers. Who would have thought that Adam Johnson could lead the mind from despair?

Back in February 2008, the new Englatalian reign started with David Bentley and Jermaine Jenas in the starting XI and the "cradle of football", as the president of the Swiss FA called them in his programme notes here in Basle, hopeful that Capello's exemplary record in the European club game would correct decades of technical and tactical ineptitude.

England were attempting to achieve on a macro scale what the Swiss pulled off in micro: a surge in competence, inspired by clever management. In the event Ottmar Hitzfeld's Swiss were the only country to beat the eventual world champions in South Africa while Capello's England came home under a blanket. Der General's work in a small country far outshines Don Fabio's in a big one.

But it all starts again now, with Hereford, Carlisle, Preston, Walsall, Herne Bay and Basildon still here to declare small-town England's love, and that lame phrase, "off-the-field issues" omnipresent to prove that voyeurism and schadenfreude are now mass entertainment.

Old delusions persist. "No Surrender to the IRA" is sung with renewed gusto, years after the Good Friday agreement, James Milner talks of other countries "raising their game against England", as if lowering St George's flag is some kind of historic feat, and energy and thrust in qualifiers is still mistaken for tournament‑winning potential.

The only choice is to go on, of course, and Friday night's 4-0 home win over Bulgaria did a fine job of concealing England's alarming defensive frailties while confirming their ability to smash less wealthy nations when Wayne Rooney is on song, Steven Gerrard is allowed to forage through the middle and a striker – any striker – is willing and able to bring more precision to the enterprise than Emile Heskey.

This time round – Euro 2012 is the latest Sisyphean target – Jermain Defoe, the second England player to leave this field on a stretcher, has finally started to resemble the goal-getter his publicists said he would be in his late teenage years. At 27 he has left it relatively late to lock down a starting place in Capello's first XI, but on his current form he has solved one of the England coach's most vexing problems: how to spin two credible threats to opposing defences out of a squad short on top-class international centre-forwards.

But there is another new spark in England's attacking play. For years they searched for reliable wide boys – from Stewart Downing to Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaaron Lennon – and now finally they have a found a pair in Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson, even if Walcott lasted less than 10 minutes before departing with a heavily strapped ankle. His replacement, Manchester City's Johnson, combines audacity with cunning, on either wing. His second-half goal showed there is an outcome to go with his speed and dexterity.

Milner's tenacity in wide areas is another virtue which Capello is now using to bring Gerrard in from his personal wilderness on the left. On that side Ashley Cole is still on overdrive as if fleeing a private forest fire. Soon we may need a special sliding scale (a Capello Index?) to measure emotional difficulty against performance, with super-injunction ratings thrown in.

After Capello's World Cup senior moments (not taking Johnson or Walcott, rushing Gareth Barry back, playing 4-4-2) extra vigilance is applied to every decision, and some still defy explanation. Against Bulgaria, Gary Cahill replaced the injured Michael Dawson and made an instant impression but in this second qualifier Joleon Lescott was promoted over Cahill to join Phil Jagielka in central defence. Why? Because Jagielka and Lescott played together at Everton more than a year ago?

England's back four remains an accident in waiting, especially with Glen Johnson in one of his prolonged scatterbrain phases. Strangely, for a Capello team, there is no strong sense that the whole side is adhering to collective defensive principles, as Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri demonstrated when cutting through their midfield and thumping a shot past Hart to halve England's lead before Darren Bent, on 86 minutes, closed the deal.

The one guaranteed legacy of the England job is that it will make the holder feel older. After an outburst Capello walks back to his bench these days with the tentative gait of a man walking in from his allotment. You can live and die a lot between two games against the Swiss.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...tzerland-older ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69311 Fans feel the love in lost property http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69310&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:46:11 GMT Not quite jumpers for goalposts at the Kassam Stadium

Oxford United launched an unusual appeal for lost property this week – and it's something we should be applauding

John Ashdown
Tuesday 7 September 2010 10.42 BST
guardian.co.uk


A blue jumper, yesterday. A blue jumper, yesterday.
Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

You wouldn't get it at Old Trafford or the Emirates. You probably wouldn't get it at Portman Road or Pride Park. In fact, you could go to almost any football ground in the country and not get this sort of treatment. Yes, if you're going to lose a jumper at a football match, it seems the place to do it is Oxford's Kassam Stadium.
Oxford yesterday launched an appeal on their website:

One of our supporters has reported the loss of a personal item following Saturday's home match with Morecambe.
The item - a light blue sweater - was lost around Row K, Seat 75 in the South Stand Lower after the end of the game.
Any supporters with information regarding the missing item are asked to contact the club on 01865 337500.
It something that Oxford have done in the past with some success, and similar appeals have led to the recovery of several lost items (including a bag of valuables at Luton last season). The philosophy is that there's no reason not to do it, it only takes a minute, and that it's in the interests of supporters.

It may make life at the Kassam Stadium sound a little bit like a village fete, but it does say something very positive about the club – that it doesn't consider itself too big, too important to care about this sort of stuff (and there was another nice touch from their players against the Shrimps at the weekend). In a world where football clubs are becoming increasingly aloof and distanced from fans, it's refreshing to see a the Us breaking the mould.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/f...kassam-stadium ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69310 <![CDATA[No point getting shirty over England's new-look kit]]> http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69309&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:43:02 GMT No point getting shirty over England's new-look kit

Experimenting with England's outfit is nothing new, but in the end everyone returns to the classics

o Rob Bagchi
o The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010



Kevin Keegan in the 1982 England kit that is remembered with with fondness by fans of a certain vintage.
Photograph: Bob Thomas/Bob Thomas/Getty Images


England have changed their kit so frequently in the recent past that it barely makes the news when the latest version is unveiled with a barrage of baffling pronouncements about technological improvements designed to keep its wearers smelling like a dandy's nosegay. If it seems a little rich that Umbro, the manufacturers, now seem to be operating on an 18-month cycle of renewal, instead of the traditional two years, you still have to concede the point that no one is forced to purchase one. It will be a success without coercing the public. The rise in the replica kit market from one essentially directed at children three decades ago when it took off to the current lust for wearing a symbol and proclamation of tribal identity will ensure that.

The design of the shirt doesn't concern me either. Much has been made of the shoulder details with red, green and blue crosses, the colours taken from the three lions' badge on the front and mixed together to form a fourth motif, purple, to emphasis England's diversity. Peter Saville, one of the four founders of Factory Records, whose work for Joy Division/New Order made each single and album sleeve astonishing and inspirational, devised that part and his desire to add another allusion to the product is an interesting concept that has resulted in a predictable backlash from those with robust views about the sanctity of the St George's Cross on various forums.

The granddad collar looks a bit too much of a cross between the favoured garb of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and When the Boat Comes In-era James Bolam for my tastes but then there are only so many ways you can do the neck and each one comes around again sooner or later. No, it was the shorts that left me with an eyebrow arching as high as Kylie Minogue's. The return to royal blue after 27 years in navy and a brief flirtation with all-white left England looking remarkably unfamiliar. In fact they looked like Finland.

The innovative manipulation of colour in kits is something that usually provokes a reaction. Gone are the days when it could be done on a managerial whim. Don Revie, of course, insisted Leeds United, in 1961 a bottom half of the Second Division side, change from their traditional blue and gold into the white of Real Madrid as a psychological gimmick to draw a line under the failures of the past and give his players an aspiration to emulate.

In 1965 a delegation of Arsenal players managed to get their emblematic kit ditched for the opposite reason. The club, they felt, was oppressed by its gluttonously successful history and the red shirt with white sleeves was too strongly identified with the stellar teams from the decades before and after the Second World War. They wanted to signal a new beginning and rid themselves of the stigma and unfavourable comparisons with their illustrious predecessors.

Astoundingly, for such a conservative club back then, the Arsenal board agreed and they played in all-red shirts for one season before it was dismissed as a wholly frivolous gesture after an even worse campaign and the white sleeves were restored. As for Ruud Gullit's insistence that Newcastle change from black socks to white because they were luckier, the less said the better.

Bill Shankly, too, changed Liverpool from white shorts and socks to red to match the shirts. Ron Yeats was his sartorial guinea pig, and he made him try the new strip on in the dressing room in front of all his team-mates. "Christ Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying," he told his centre-half and the die, or dye more accurately, was cast.

It was Revie who first put England in royal blue shorts during the sponsorship deal he arranged with Admiral when he was appointed manager in 1974 and they continued in them for nine years. There was something garish about the shade that seemed to fit in with the 1970s stylings of arm stripes and collar-bone flashes and players bouncing up and down on Top of the Pops. Who can see a 1982 England World Cup kit without an image of Tony Woodcock hollering This Time (We'll Get it Right) troubling their senses?

On the whole the simpler the international kit, the better it is. Brazil, before Nike darkened the hue of the shorts, Argentina, Italy, Holland, Germany are all iconic. They don't need pinstripes, piping, rib patches of colour, arbitrary horizontal bands circling the nipples or buttocks as Scotland's did in the mid 1980s. And in essence England's is also a classic. Meddle with the material as much as you like but if you attained perfection with the colours years ago it really is time to stop messing about.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...team-kit-shirt ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69309 Houllier agrees three-year Villa deal http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69308&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:40:26 GMT Gérard Houllier agrees three-year deal to take charge at Aston Villa • Frenchman will not be reunited with Phil Thompson • Villa keen to look after Kevin MacDonald * Stuart James * guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 September 2010 23.01 BST Gérard Houllier has agreed a three-year... Gérard Houllier agrees three-year deal to take charge at Aston Villa

• Frenchman will not be reunited with Phil Thompson
• Villa keen to look after Kevin MacDonald

* Stuart James
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 September 2010 23.01 BST


Gérard Houllier has agreed a three-year contract to become Aston Villa's manager and is set to be confirmed as Martin O'Neill's successor , after he has held talks with the French Football Federation about the terms of his departure.

Houllier, who has been working as the technical director of the FFF, has shaken hands on a deal with Randy Lerner and given the Villa chairman his word that he will accept the position. Although there are some minor details to be ratified, Villa do not anticipate any problems and expect Houllier to be presented to the media on Thursday or, at the latest, on Friday.

The Frenchman will not be reunited with Phil Thompson, who worked alongside him at Liverpool. Thompson had been tipped to become the assistant manager at Villa Park but will instead continue with his media work. It remains to be seen whether Houllier will turn to one of his former players at Anfield to fulfil that role or offer the position to Kevin MacDonald, who was placed in caretaker charge when O'Neill resigned five days before the start of the season.

MacDonald eventually put his name forward to be considered for the manager's position and, although he has missed out, Villa are keen to look after the Scot, whose coaching ability and work in developing youngsters at the club over the past 15 years are highly regarded by Lerner. At the very least, Villa will keep open the reserve team manager's position that MacDonald held before O'Neill stepped down.Houllier's first game will be at the Britannia Stadium on Monday night, when Villa face Stoke City in the Premier League. The 63-year-old will be only the second foreigner to manage Villa, following Jozef Venglos's brief reign between 1990 and 1991


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...-villa-manager ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69308 Scotland spared their darkest hour http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69307&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:38:08 GMT A 97th-minute goal spares Scotland's blushes against Liechtenstein

Stephen McManus's goal in time added to stoppage time turned imminent ignominy into unconfined celebration


* Ewan Murray at Hampden Park
* The Guardian, Wednesday 8 September 2010


Would it have been worse than the two draws with the Faroe Islands in 1999 and 2002? Almost certainly: those were both away. The 1990 defeat to Costa Rica? They were at least good enough to be at a World Cup. The draw away to Moldova under Bertie Vogts? Not even close.

By general consensus, Scotland were seconds away from the most embarrassing result in their international history at home to Liechtenstein last night before Stephen McManus's 97th–minute winner. This morning, they will surely have the decency to be embarrassed at topping Group I of qualifying for the 2012 European Championship.

For much of the match, a draw would have seemed a mercy to the Scottish fans. Liechtenstein, ranked 141 in the world and with a population some 2,000 less than attended the game at Hampden Park, had taken a 46th-minute lead. Craig Levein's position as the Scotland manager, at that juncture, was even under serious threat less than a year after he accepted the post.

Kenny Miller's equaliser, a McManus header and Lithuania's shock win over the Czech Republic in Prague turned that scenario around completely, much to Levein's delight.

"We were able to retrieve the situation, that's the most important thing," said Levein, who lost his glasses while celebrating the winner. "It was a difficult situation, but their goal arrived early in the second half so we had plenty of time to retrieve things and I felt we deserved to. Results like that prove that you are never out of a football game. Maybe, at the end of our campaign, that goal will be looked upon as our most vital."

The Liechtenstein manager, Hans‑Peter Zaugg, after stressing he was "proud" of his players and with some justification, questioned why two minutes more than had been allocated for stoppage time was played.

"They showed five minutes and played seven," he said. "I could take half a minute, but no more. But we weren't cheated, Scotland scored a good goal."

Levein believed the extra minutes were justified. "The referee had every right to add on what he did," he said. "There was time-wasting going on."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...12-humiliation ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69307 Nigeria arrests ex-NFF officials over World Cup money http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69306&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:16:21 GMT Nigeria arrests ex-NFF officials over World Cup money BBC, 7 September 2010 Last updated at 12:38 Four Nigerian former football officials have been arrested amid accusations that some $8m (£5m) went missing during the World Cup finals in South Africa. The four, who include former football... Nigeria arrests ex-NFF officials over World Cup money
BBC, 7 September 2010 Last updated at 12:38


Four Nigerian former football officials have been arrested amid accusations that some $8m (£5m) went missing during the World Cup finals in South Africa.

The four, who include former football federation head Sani Lulu Abdullahi, are due to appear in court in the capital Abuja shortly, an anti-corruption official told the BBC.

The four were sacked over Nigeria's poor performance at the finals.

They have not yet commented on the accusations.

Their passports were seized in July.

After the Super Eagles' failure to qualify from the group stages of the World Cup finals, President Goodluck Jonathan banned them from international competition for two years, before relenting under pressure from the sport's world governing body, Fifa.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) spokesman Femi Babafemi told the BBC that the four - Mr Lulu, Bolaji Ojo-Oba, Taiwo Ogunjobi and Amanze Uchegbulam - would face a number of charges.

These include making payments to unauthorised delegates, chartering an allegedly faulty aircraft and paying $400,000 to stage a friendly match against Colombia in London, shortly before the finals.

The four have already been interrogated on these matters.

"This is a serious case of national interest hence all four men have been detained and will be in court on Tuesday," he said.

Meanwhile, a judge has ordered that elections for a new Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) leadership be annulled.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11213606 ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69306 Danish legend Laudrup vows to win battle with cancer http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69305&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:08:53 GMT Danish legend Laudrup vows to win battle with cancer By Andy Hodges The Independent Wednesday, 8 September 2010 The former Denmark forward Brian Laudrup has revealed he is undergoing treatment for cancer. The 41-year-old, who enjoyed a highly successful spell with Rangers from... Danish legend Laudrup vows to win battle with cancer

By Andy Hodges
The Independent
Wednesday, 8 September 2010


The former Denmark forward Brian Laudrup has revealed he is undergoing treatment for cancer.

The 41-year-old, who enjoyed a highly successful spell with Rangers from 1994-98, during which time he won three league titles, has been diagnosed with a mild form of lymphoma.

"I am obviously shocked by the diagnosis, but also know that there is now a tough battle ahead of me – a battle I will win," Laudrup told TV3, where he works as a commentator.

"Fortunately, I have had very optimistic reports from doctors to support me."

The former Bayern Munich, Fiorentina, Chelsea and Ajax star added: "I now want to use my energy to get over the shock and take time with my family and those closest to me, so together we can move forward after this diagnosis."

Laudrup scored 21 goals in 82 matches for Denmark and helped his country to the European Championship in 1992. He was named the Danish player of the year on four occasions.


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...r-2072990.html ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69305 <![CDATA[Wayne Rooney's return to form bad news for moral majority]]> http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69304&goto=newpost Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:58:29 GMT Wayne Rooney's return to form bad news for moral majority
By Kevin Garside
Telegraph: 9:28PM BST 07 Sep 2010


A first goal in open play since March. Why did Mi$$ JT not come forward sooner with her lurid claims? Wayne Rooney would have paid serious money to score as quickly in South Africa.

Conforming to the allegations made by Jennifer Thompson, Rooney did not mess about. The deed was done inside ten minutes His capacity for applying his trade in awkward circumstances has to be admired if not his judgment.

A bad night, then, for the moral majority, but not for English football, which as we know does not confuse ethics with duty. There was a slavish endorsement of Rooney from his Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand, who advanced the view via his Twitter social networking account that England would win by a goal to nil, with the goal coming from you know who.

Ferdinand was straight back on after the Rooney's finish. “I told you my boy would get a goal.” I bet that went down well with Mrs Rooney.

There was also support from the terraces, a constituency that appeared to be losing faith in Rooney following his ‘call yourself fans' rant down the camera lens in South Africa. “Rooney, Rooney,” they shouted as he emerged from the tunnel.

In the testosterone zone that is the England fan club there is no quicker way to re-establish credentials than to indulge in primal excess. And Rooney is the prince of primal.

Speculation that he was ready to stand his ground in the marital home was also well received. “He's a boy that Rooney” was the thrust of it, our champion. Not something many would try with the missus, mind you, which takes us I suppose to the heart of hero worship.

There is no knowing what goes through the mind of the ‘ubermensch' he who transcends the moral codes that govern the behaviour of ordinary souls like us with the ‘will to power'.

Rooney kicked and stretched his way through England's warm-up rituals untroubled by matters of conscience. Either the England dressing room is a paradigm of Christian sentiment, all tolerance and forgiveness, or the bloke does not give a monkey's. My money's on the latter.

The Swiss combat zone is perhaps as good a place as any to get the first public appearance out of the way. St Jakob Park was a cauldron of civility, at least that part of the stadium that did not house England fans booing the hosts' national anthem. Dissent does not come easy to flag-wavers with painted faces.

Rooney waited three minutes to get a touch. Taking a pass from Milner, his cross from the left was leaden, conceding possession clumsily. The cheers that flowed were not ironic. Like many commentators in the stands the England supporters subscribed to the professional argument that Rooney's responsibilities last night lay with the team not his family.

The goal was Rooney at his predatory best. In the immediate aftermath there might have been three more, with Rooney the pivot around which England pulsed. Rampant Rooney one might say.

This was supposed to be a difficult assignment. The defeat inflicted on Spain by Switzerland in South Africa was rolled out to support the claim. That performance proved as misleading as England's.

The swift reconstruction by Fabio Capello has been remarkable not only for the speed of transition but the resemblance of the product to that found in the Premier League.

At some point in the second half against Bulgaria and again last night England shed the chains of self-doubt. Rooney's cussed refusal to bow to the will of any has been at the heart of the transformation. England might have been Chelsea or Manchester United last night, playing with confidence and authority.

This was the attitude cultivated with Germany by the coach from nowhere Joachim Loew, who encouraged his players to humiliate the opposition in the World Cup. Supremacy is a tricky commodity to assert in Germany but it is no different to that paraded routinely by Brazil and Spain, teams who assume the peacock position by default.

For those who delight in the Continental augmentation of Capello's England there was also the cynical hack to admire. Outpaced down the right there was only one thought in the mind of James Milner as he chased down the red shirt across the half way line. Nicola Rizzoli reached straight for the yellow card. Milner was almost proud to take the hit for the team.

England survived a sustained pounding either side of the hour, and were perhaps fortunate to see Switzerland reduced to ten men. No comment from Rio about that.

In his defence the story was gradually moving away from Rooney. With 11 minutes remaining Rooney's work was done. By then Adam Johnson had added another sumptuous strike. What a player he is turning out to be.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...-majority.html ]]> WHAT THE PAPERS SAY TanyaT http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69304