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Police are intensifying their crackdown on chants of tragedy. A Manchester United fan was fined and suspended for mocking the Hillsborough disaster after his club’s FA Cup victory over Liverpool, and officers made another arrest at Old Trafford on Saturday.
This time it was a Burnley fan: Nathan Rawlinson, 44, was arrested at the away ground for allegedly singing about the Munich air disaster. Rawlinson, of Bacup, was charged under the Public Order Act and released on bail.
SKY LOSES INTERMEDIARY KEY WITH CLUBS
In a considerable blow for Sky Sports, the highly-rated Adam Craig is leaving and joining Gary Neville’s Buzz 16 production company.
Craig has been with the network for 23 years and is their main point of contact with the clubs. He is well regarded by top-flight team managers, with whom he maintains a close relationship to improve Sky access before, during and after matches.
A Burnley supporter has been accused by police of singing tragic chants after being seen making what were alleged to be airplane gestures towards Man United fans on Saturday.
A Manchester United fan was also fined and suspended for mocking the Hillsbrough disaster in their FA Cup clash against Liverpool earlier this year.
In a memo to staff, Sky praised Craig’s influence and his “reworking of Section K”, the media rights section of the Premier League regulations.
“It leaves an unbeatable contact book,” he added. Agenda understands that Craig’s successor has not yet been chosen.
FODEN IS STILL A HOME BOY AT HEART!
A spectacular season has made Phil Foden one of the favorites for the Footballer of the Year award, but the Manchester City forward is not willing to abandon his roots.
The 23-year-old English playmaker eschewed glitzy venues to host a recent baby shower at a venue near Edgeley Park in his hometown of Stockport.
Foden, who will surely be on the plane to Germany for the Euro Cup, is expecting a third child with his girlfriend Rebecca Cooke.
Phil Foden may be one of the favorites for the Player of the Year award but he has not forgotten his roots
It was interesting to hear Premier League chief executive Richard Masters condemn the increasingly congested match schedule, which he said had left the game and player welfare at a “tipping point”.
Masters was right to point out that the top flight has not changed its form, unlike international and regional competitions. However, the executive did not use statistics analyzed by FIFA showing that domestic leagues and cups account for 72 percent of players’ workload, compared to about 28 percent in elite continental competitions and of FIFA.
Some are also wondering how the Premier League’s ‘summer series’, created last year and which saw several teams travel to the US for a pre-season tournament, impacts this ‘turning point’.
Richard Masters condemned the increasingly congested match schedule, which he said leaves player welfare at a tipping point.
BRAVE MOVEMENT BY NICHOLAS OF MCC
Mark Nicholas has told MCC members that he will step down as president of Southern Brave if he becomes the next president of MCC. Members will be asked to support his nomination at the club’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.
MCC president Nicholas is also in line to be recognized in the King’s Birthday Honors in June for his services to cricket, after playing, commentating, writing and co-founding the Chance To Shine charity.
Russia’s response to the International Olympic Committee’s ban on participation in this summer’s Paris Olympics is to try to organize its own multi-sport Games for the world’s best athletes later this year. It’s ridiculous that the event is called the World Friendship Games.
To give this farce some credibility, Russia has created a global body called the International Friendship Association, based in Dubai. The IFA general secretary is none other than Jerome Valcke, who was FIFA general secretary during the huge corruption scandals under Sepp Blatter’s government. You couldn’t make peace.
Team GB will bring back a host of legends for this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Having opened the doors of Team GB House, the team’s hospitality venue in Paris, to fans for the first time, a number of British Olympic greats will be announced as part of a new series of ‘evenings with’.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is the first to be announced and will host two nights at Team GB House, with others to follow from the worlds of cycling, swimming and athletics.
Psycho will reunite with Johnny Rotten. Former Nottingham Forest and England left-back Stuart Pearce is a huge music fan and loves attending concerts around the country.
For his 62nd birthday, Pearce was given a ticket to an audience with John Lydon, as the Sex Pistols frontman, 68, embarks on a UK and US tour.
Nottingham Forest legend Stuart Pearce has been given tickets to an audience with Sex Pistols frontman John Lyndon.
Now that the dust has settled on this summer’s sports kit ads, it’s clear that adidas has won the big two battle with Nike.
Having seen Nike’s issues unfold with the St George’s Cross on the England kit, followed by a botched launch of Team USA’s Olympic kit (with an unflattering cut on the women’s track and field team ), adidas can safely claim victory with its simple Team GB retro kit for this summer’s Olympic Games.
