England lose Nationwide sponsorship

The Football Association have been left with egg on their red faces after Nationwide announced that they would not continue to sponsor the international team beyond the end of the current deal that ends at the end of this month.

Expecting the England team under the guidance of Fabio Capello to fare better than the mediocre showing in South Africa, the FA turned down a £5million per year deal from Nationwide prior to the World Cup.

It turned out to be an ill fated gamble by the FA who obviously imagined that a good run in the World Cup would have sponsors champing at the bit to improve on the Nationwide offer.

With England due to play a friendly against Hungary at Wembley in three weeks the FA will be exploring every avenue for a new sponsor before that game, but face an impossible task.

Already discounting ticket prices for the upcoming game, such is the disillusionment of the England fans with the teams performance in South Africa, the team are likely to play the friendly in front of a half full stadium of supporters.

Sir Alex Ferguson

“The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. He was not fit. It was ridiculous.” said Ferguson after watching United steal a point in the last minute of injury time, something else that irked the Scot who said that Wiley had not added time on after the equalising goal.

I half expected to hear Ferguson saying that Wiley had not allowed them to play on until they won the game like other referee’s do, but he stopped short of that.

Ferguson has been asked by the Football Association to explain his comments which also include the classics , “He was taking 30 seconds to book a player” and “He was also walking up the pitch for the second goal needing a rest. He was not fit enough for a game of that standard.”

Blackburn Rovers’ Sam Allardyce has managed to get away with his outburst after seeing his team beaten 6-2 by Arsenal. He did have a valid point though when he questioned why anyone would not give a penalty after Thomas Vermaelen’s blatant trip on David Dunn when the score was 3-2 to Arsenal.

Sam is big enough to accept that the best team won the game, but points to the ‘penalty’ decision as the crucial turning point of the game. He also added, “I try not to say too much publicly and say it through the system but unfortunately the system is not working so I have to be heard. People may say it is bitter or twisted, but I know I am 100% right because I am very professional in what I do. I research everything and Keith Hackett knows I am right.”

Finally, England’s World Cup qualifier in Ukraine on Saturday will be shown exclusively live to subscribers on the internet who will pay at least £4.99. The fee rises  the closer the game gets, settling at 11.99 if you pay for the match on Friday.

The rights to the game were originally purchased by Setanta but after going into administration the the digital sport specialist Perform was appointed to stream the game online.

The Odeon cinema will show the game live at eleven venues around the country, including Leicester Square, but the match will not be screened in pubs in the UK.

It is pretty amazing that none of the UK terrestrial stations made a bid for the match, although ITV do have rights to all England home games and has recently taken over Setanta’s rights for away friendlies.

The 25 year old has been charged with violent conduct regarding the incident with former team mate Robin Van Persie when Adebayor is alleged to have ’stamped on’ the Arsenal players head. Manchester City have until Wednesday 18.00BST to respond to that charge.

Adebayor is also charged with improper conduct following the incident immediately after scoring City’s third goal, when the player ran the length of the pitch and slid on his knees in front of the Arsenal supporters.

A separate date will be announced for second charge to be considered and the FA have asked for reports from the Greater Manchester Police as well as from officials of both football clubs, in order to identify any supporters involved in violent or aggravating behaviour.

Should the FA find Adebayor guilty of violent conduct as charged, the new FA fast track disciplinary system means he would be given an immediate three match ban, meaning he would miss the derby game against Manchester United. This would represent a big hit on City who are already without Robinho and Carlos Tevez for that game.

Arsenal’s Van Persie may face a charge himself,  not for launching himself into the tackle that was designed to take Adebayor out, but following a complaint from a City fan who says that the Arsenal striker mouthed ’swear words’ at the crowd when celebrating his goal in front of the City supporters.

After showing a yellow card to Damian Duff for simulating a dive worthy of any Vietnam war film, Howard Webb then succumb to an even worse attempt at cheating by Matt Taylor as Newcastle tried their level best to keep up with thier fierce rivals Sunderland in a frantic hard-hitting Tyne-Wear derby.

Furthermore, it appeared the Howard Webb’s view was impeded whereas his assistant has a clear view and kept his flag down.

Gabriel Cisse had put Sunderland ahead after 32 minutes but Shola Ameobi equalised from the penalty spot in the 69th minute.  Even with the shocking penalty decision, a draw seemed a fair result as both teams also hit the woodwork and had plenty of chances to win the match.

Unlike the less exciting game at Anfield yesterday afternoon where the game was a pretty dull affair until Mike Reilly llivened things up when he wrongfully dismissed Frank Lampard in the 60th minute with a straight red card for a hard but very clean tackle with Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso.

Alonso and Lampard have history, but Lampard clearly got his foot to the ball while Alonso went over the top, kicking Lampard’s shin in the process.  Earlier in the match Steven Gerrard wasn’t even shown a yellow card for a similar type of lunging slide with studs showing, whereby he actually caught a Chelsea player without touching the ball.

Furthermore, the hapless Mike Reilly failed to even book Jose Bosingwa for a blatant and pre-meditated kick in the centre of Yossi Benayoun’s back in clear view of the referee and his assistant, as the Israeli midfielder attempted to waste time by shielding the ball by the corner flag.

Fernando Torres went on to score to late goals which I believe sees the end of Chelsea’s Premiership title challenge.  And though Chelsea had a poor game and deserved to lose, inconsistent and poor result-changing decisions are doing nothing for the spectacle of the game or indeed helping the Respect Campaign.

In their defence, referees have a split second to make important decisions without the help of a replay or a reverse angle.  But we now know the names of the Premier League referees as much as the players.  They have become too important; and like everything else in life, when too may wrong decisions are made you need to deal with the problem.

Chelsea will appeal for Frank Lampard’s red card to be resinded. But with key players injured and others not performing to their full potential, Mike Riley’s poor decisions have possibly left Chelsea more concerned with regaining their form so as not to miss out on next season’s Champions League, rather than pushing Manchester United all the way for this season’s Premier League title.

Last weekend’s Premier League games were again blighted by poor referee decisions.  Red cards and penalties again showed the FA needs to consider the failings of top referees.

The incident happened after Drogba foolishly celebrated his goal in front of the Burnley supporters and was hit by missiles thrown by a group of fans. The Chelsea player acting instinctively picked up one of the coins that had been thrown and aimed it back into the crowd.

Chelsea went on to lose the game on penalties and Burnley progressed to the quarter final stage of the Carling Cup.

Drogba immediately apologised for the incident, having acted in the heat of the moment. He was subsequently charged by the FA for violent conduct and accepted the consequences today. It was never going to be anything less than a three match ban following the precedent of a similar incident involving Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher against Arsenal a few seasons back.

It is a long time since Drogba has dominated the headlines for his footballing ability, this season has been hampered by injury as was much of the last season. The arrival of Nicolas Anelka to cover for Drogba while in the 2007 African Nations Cup may have looked to be temporary cover for the Ivory Coast player, but it is the Frenchman who is now on top of his game. It seems a long way back for Drogba if he is to recapture the excellent form he showed in 2006.

Triesman raised the issue of enforcing a salary cap to the Premier League, saying that “A sensible form of [wage] restraint would make sense and it is not inconceivable. It’s very hard to do anything unless all parties want to do it and everyone needs to want to do it. Preferably without being compelled.”

He also outlined proposals for a radical shake up in the regulatory structure of the governing bodies in English Football, claiming that “We are too fragmented with too many bodies responsible for too many parts of the sport. Greater clarity is needed about who is responsible for the fitness and future of the game. A clear sports law could clarify the position. The time has come for a comprehensive sports law apportioning responsibility and accountability.”

In a week when Premier League attendances have come under intense scrutiny, much of what Triesman says makes financial sense. The game of football has improved immeasurably in England over the past decade or so, but what we now have is a game that is too expensive for the fans to watch on a weekly basis. Football stadiums have been given over to corporate hospitality where finance has hitherto not been an issue.

But this too is likely to change in the face of the credit crunch. It is time to rethink the financial rules, clubs should be made accountable and run as any other business, where income controls outgoings.

What do you think. Are footballers paid too much? Will football prosper through the financial crisis or will we see a collapse of football clubs that cannot survive the recession?