Sunday 24 March 2013

Benzema's anthem snub riles National Front

France’s far-right National Front party have demanded French international striker Karim Benzema be barred from playing for the national team after he insisted he would not sing the French national anthem before matches.

 The far right National Front party has demanded that Benzema, 25, who plays for Real Madrid in Spain, be sacked from the French national team for declaring he had never sung the French national anthem - the Marseillaise before an international game, and would continue not to.

Eric  Domard – sporting advisor to National Front leader Marine LePen – said in a statement on Tuesday that “[Benzema] shows an inconceivable and unacceptable contempt for the jersey he has the fortune to be able to wear.”

Labeling him a “footballing mercenary paid €1484 an hour,” Domard further declared that “since Karim Benzema sees no problem with not singing the Marseillaise, the French people should have no problem with him not playing for France anymore.”

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Hero or Villain: Greg Dyke

Ex-BBC TV DG to FA. Lovers of acronyms across the country will no doubt be cheering the news that Greg Dyke is to be the next chairman of the Football Association.

As for the rest of us? Surely Joseph Barton, that great sage of the modern game, summed up popular opinion when he offered via Twitter, "What the fuck does Greg Dyke know about football? Yet, another bureaucrat, placed in a position way to [sic] large for his domain expertise ... Football needs football people right now." Well, quite.

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Mourinho hints at stunning Chelsea return as Madrid boss ponders next move

Jose Mourinho has hinted he may return to one of his former clubs, claiming his next move could be to "somewhere I've already been".

The Portuguese's future has been the subject of speculation despite leading Real Madrid to the Primera Division title last term and the fact they are still going strong in the Champions League this season.

Mourinho won two Premier League crowns in three years with Chelsea before leaving in 2007 and has often been linked with a return to Stamford Bridge, where there will be a vacancy in the summer when interim boss Rafael Benitez departs.

And, speaking at the opening of an exhibition in Setubal, Mourinho did little to dampen such talk.

The former Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan coach was quoted by Football Italia as saying: "I have an adventurous spirit and do not know what will happen next season.

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Manchester City fan banned for using electronic cigarette

Football stewards are renowned for being a touch heavy-handed and pedantic

However, stewards at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium have surpassed themselves for taking away the season ticket of a fan they believed to be smoking, when the guy was simply chuffing on a perfectly legal electronic cigarette.

The fan explains the story below:

    I was on the concourse at half-time having a drink with a few mates. I took a drag of it and was asked by security to come into a room. I just thought I was going to be asked to explain what it was.

    I was told they were banned and asked for my season card which I handed over. I was then escorted out of the ground by police.

However, it appears that City offer warnings that e-cigarettes should also not be smoked in the ground. So despite there being no evident reason for such a rule, that might be that. With only a few games left and the title race over, maybe it was a deliberate ploy?


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Plans at exhibition show how landscape would radically alter

The pictures show that the scheme, which could potentially have ten tall towers the tallest of which would be 14 storeys high, would radically alter the landscape for residents in Chiswick. 

The Football Club is planning to move from its existing stadium at Griffin Park to a new purpose built ground close by. The plans being developed will provide a modern 20,000 capacity stadium and they hope to have it completed by 2015. According to Saturday's Daily Telegraph, London Wasps are in discussing with the Brentford F.C. about a ground share at the stadium. 

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NEW GLASSES SHOW HOW GOOD A FOOTBALL FAN YOU ARE

Scientists have invented glasses which show how good a football fan you are. We sent STEVE HUGHES to the Championship clash between Charlton and Millwall – with former England boss Graham Taylor in tow – to investigate.

Wearing a massive pair of specs ­attached to a laptop, while sitting next to one of the most ­famous faces in football in a ­stadium of 18,000 fans, I felt a tad self-conscious.

But however silly the equipment I was wearing looked, there can be no denying its technological brilliance.

The glasses track tiny movements in your cornea – the part of the eye which does the focusing – and records on to the laptop, inset, exactly where your eyes are looking.

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Olympics deal ‘is a pig’s ear’

A DEAL to allow West Ham Football Club to move into the Olympic Stadium should be ripped up because taxpayers will be paying for it for years to come, it was claimed last night. 

 The Hammers are set to move into the east London venue after it was agreed the club would pay just £15million towards the estimated cost of £190million to refurbish the stadium, making it a suitable venue for football matches and athletics.

The rest of the bill will be met by taxpayers.

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Saturday 23 March 2013

England fan in coma after bar fight in Italy

An England football fan has been arrested in connection with a fight outside an Italian pub ahead of the match against San Marino that left another England fan in a coma.

Police said a 65-year-old man defended himself with a bar stool in a fight, was punched, fell and hit his head. He is now in an induced coma and his condition was described as “very serious”.

A 21-year-old man was arrested. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Italy on 21 March.”

Best News I have had in a long time

Chelsea transfers: Atlético’s Simeone hints at summer move for Torres

 

Chelsea transfers: Atlético boss Diego Simeone hints at a summer move to bring Fernando Torres back to the Vicente Calderón

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Club statement on recent events

Statement on behalf of Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Ltd
 
As fans will know, Coventry City Football Club Limited was placed into administration on Thursday.

This subsidiary of the Club held the lease and licence for the Ricoh Arena. This covered the permission to play home matches at the stadium as well as the rental of the Club shop and the Club offices.

Given this subsidiary is now in administration, the Club has taken the decision to protect its staff by moving them from the stadium to the training ground at Ryton, before finding a more permanent base.
 
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David Beckham dodges China corruption questions

David Beckham continued his tour of China in his role of “global ambassador” for the country’s youth football and Super League in Qingdao insisting he was not there to help clean up the sport in the country. 


After arriving flanked by suited officials, the former England captain signed autographs and had a brief kickabout – still wearing his shirt, tie and shiny formal shoes – with students at Qingdao Jonoon football club in a brief appearance attended by a large crowd of fans.

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Football world focuses on Istanbul draw

This coming Monday evening, the focus of attention for the global footballing family turns to Istanbul, as the Turkish metropolis hosts the eagerly-awaited group stage draw for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2013. Exactly 88 days before the tournament kicks off, and after the ceremony at 19.00 local time (18.00 CET) in the banqueting hall of the Grand Tarabya Hotel, the competing teams will finally learn who they must overcome in their quest to claim the most prestigious prize in youth football.

Eager anticipation, mounting tension
The 19th edition of the highly anticipated FIFA tournament takes place between 21 June and 13 July this summer. A starting field of 24 teams will contest a total of 52 matches in the seven host cities of Antalya, Bursa, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Kayseri, Rize and Trabzon. The eventual winners will succeed Brazil as world champions, as the winners of the last FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia two years ago surprisingly failed to qualify for this summer's showdown in Turkey.

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I was a football thug.

“I was a football thug. Some people are murderers and rapists, but they don’t admit it. I am not ashamed of what I did."

Former Blues hooligan Barrington Patterson reveals the story of his battles with life in new book 


 Former Blues hooligan Barrington Patterson lifts the lid on his extraordinary life in a new biography. The Brummie hardman talked about his colourful past of soccer violence, boxing champions and the Gladiators to MIKE LOCKLEY.

“I was born to fight,” growled Birmingham’s most notorious soccer hooligan, Barrington ‘One-Eyed Baz’ Patterson, his gold tooth glinting as the scowl succumbed to a smirk.

“I came out of my mother’s womb fighting,” the Handsworth hardman insisted, stretching his bulky, 18 stone frame in a show of indifference.

“I’m not the kind of person who walks away. If you don’t want trouble, don’t lay it on me.”

The 47-year-old former leading light in Birmingham City’s feared Zulu hooligan crew has paid for his penchant for punch-ups, with a record so crammed with violent offences it’s a veritable criminal double album.

“I’ve lost count, to be honest,” the nightclub bouncer muttered with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Maybe 20 - all for violence, but none football related.”

He stared into space for a second, wringing his shovel-sized hands for inspiration before apologising. “Oh yeah - there’s one robbery... and a burglary.”

“Am I violent?” he hissed, stung by the enquiry, his heavy gold chain swaying in a show of disapproval. “Don’t ask other people what I’m like, ask me what I’m like.”

I pointed out, diplomatically, I was asking him.

Barrington slumped back in his chair and mulled over the question. “I am what I am.

“But I don’t regret anything. The only thing I regret in life is having five kids by five different women.”

The bonds that tie thrice-wed Barrington to his extended family are loose. “Am I a grandfather?” he mused. “Not to my knowledge.”

Barrington, who channelled his blood-lust into a highly successful kickboxing and cage-fighting career - he held world titles in both, has paid for the self-imposed stains on his character.