UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
FIFA takes agenda by scruff of the snood
There will be a lot of fashion-conscious footballers holding their breath for item “V.1.b” at the International Football Association Board’s annual meeting next month.
Forget goal-line technology and positioning of goal posts and the other very sensible items on the agenda, the one sure to get a few people rather hot under the collar is the “wearing of snoods” – those snugly neck warmers much loved by the likes of Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri.
Soccer’s rule makers will determine whether the fluffy accessories are a safety hazard in the “Any Other Business” section submitted by FIFA.
“There may be a safety issue – if for example a player was running though on goal and an opponent grabbed his snood, that could pose a potential danger to his neck,” a FIFA spokesman was quoted as saying by the BBC.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Beckham’s value is his values
Harry Redknapp does not need a right-sided midfield player and, with the depth of talent regularly available on his bench, he hardly needs to bolster his squad with a three-month loan signing.
Yet he, and several other Premier League managers, are trying to secure the services of 35-year-old David Beckham.
Best of Britain: Let it snow
For the past week, snow was more than just a single story, it encompassed many stories. This week’s Best of Britain features a selection of pictures ranging from a sheep in a winter landscape to students determined to protest despite the snow. There’s a West Ham United player frolicking after scoring a goal and the trace footprints of pedestrians walking down a London street.
Also included are photos of Elton John guest editing The Independent, the cries of anguish as a fallen soldier is lead through Wootton Bassett and football fans distraught that the World Cup will not be coming to England in the near future.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Liverpool board leads 2-1 in court cases with end now in sight
Here we go again. After another legal victory in the High Court for the Liverpool board and main creditor RBS, all eyes turn to Dallas, where a new hearing on the ownership battle is underway.
Wednesday's original ruling had, it seemed, paved the way for Liverpool to be sold for 300 million pounds ($479.8 million) to New England Sports Ventures (NESV) -- owners of the Boston Red Sox -- but that was before George Gillett and Tom Hicks obtained a temporary block in a Texas district court.
from Photographers Blog:
Yes, my job really is this glamorous
When people ask me what I do for a living, or they hear tales from my wife about me being away at the Olympics or shooting football or golf or a Papal visit somewhere, the usual response is to tell me how glamorous my job is, rubbing shoulders with all these famous sporting and political icons and how lucky I am to get to attend all these events and call it work!
Granted, I am incredibly lucky to have an office that regularly includes Premier League football grounds and other major sporting events, but glamorous......not a word I would often use, and last night was a perfect case in point.
from The Great Debate UK:
Luck is the residue of design—even in football
- Isaac Getz is a professor at ESCP Europe Business School and co-author of Freedom, Inc. (Crown Business, 2009). The opinions expressed are his own. -
This Sunday will decide the World Cup champion. Yet, most nations will ask themselves again what’s needed to build a world-class national team?
Country-house opera wonders where it will get its next million
There’s more to the English summer social calendar than sport – but it is in danger of being drowned out by the cries of disappointed football fans and sapped by lack of cash.
During the June and July evenings when much of Britain grinds to a halt to watch World Cup matches on giant screens in pubs and smaller screens at home, a different style of audience escapes to the countryside, wearing evening dress and carrying picnic hampers, for the 2010 season of country-house operas.
from The Great Debate UK:
In football, the biggest losers win
“Football is just a business nowadays, isn’t it?”
Well, actually no, it’s not, and it never has been - at least not if a business means an enterprise intended to maximise shareholder value.
In the “good old days” – so called because they were bloody awful – football clubs were financed by a Big Sugar Daddy, often the millionaire who owned the local mill or maybe a small chain of shops in the town.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
We predict the worst … you show us how it’s done
It seems like ages since we last managed a proper weekend programme* but at last, here we are, with an all-singing, all-dancing snow-free extravaganza, with the dubious attraction of Arsenal v Man Utd's traditional handbags at 10 paces highly competitive fixture being shown in 3D at select boozers across the land.
Below you will find the Reuters Soccer Blog standings and predictions for the week but remember, we'd like you to join in as well. If you're a newcomer, you get 10 points for correctly predicting the exact score from the weekend's Premier League game, or two for getting the right result. (If you've been with us for a while, it's five points and one point).
Is Fabio being beastly to the WAGS?
In keeping with the spirit of the times and with his own stern image, Fabio Capello has clamped down on the WAGS.
The wives and girlfriends, whose exuberance and excess often made for more interesting viewing three years ago in Germany than the games their HABS were involved in, have been banished to the stands.
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The Wall
