The England Forum
Discuss everything in the World of English Football - from the Premier League, to the Coca-Cola Championship and beyond. Due to the worldwide popularity of the English Premier League, football in England has its own forum.
Latest England Entries
Total Threads: 55 | Replies: 339
BBC's World Football Programme Alleges Player Extortion
Category: England - Barclays Premiership (EPL)
Created by: chelsea4ever Create Date: April 17, 2010 Last Comment: April 19, 2010
A Premier League player is being forced to pay £15,000 every three months in protection money to a London gang, according to a BBC investigation. BBC World Service's 'World Football' programme claims footballers are becoming easy prey for organised gangs. A member of a south London gang told the BBC that one Premier League player had grown up with gang members and now had to pay them protection money or risk being attacked and having his career ended.
The gang member said: "The people above me have ordered this person that he has to pay them a certain amount of money every couple of months. That's just in case, so no one can touch you for three or four years but you are still paying that money every three months to keep yourself safe. It's £15,000 every two or three months, that may not seem a lot to a Premier League footballer but it's a lot of money."
The gang member said hiring private security would not protect the player, adding: "We know where your family, friends and the people close to you live and your security isn't going to protect them all the time."
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) said the claims underline the need for clubs to be aware of security issues surrounding players and their families. PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said "Football reflects society and sometimes society can be not very pleasant.
"If these threats are a reality it's a terrible intimidating thing for the player concerned. Clubs and players are a lot more conscious [about security], we have made them aware of this, and there's a strong need for private security to go alongside the police."
Another criminal from Merseyside claimed players filmed in lap-dancing clubs and brothels had paid blackmail demands of up to £100,000 to prevent the pictures being sold to newspapers.
[From tribalfootball and telegraph.co.uk]
comment | Total Replies: 2
Wenger: Birmingham Dragging Down EPL
Category: England - Barclays Premiership (EPL)
Created by: TheGoonerMotherShip Create Date: March 29, 2010 Last Comment: April 12, 2010
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has branded visiting Birmingham City as "hostile" and slaughtered the St Andrews pitch. The Gunners dropped two points in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Brum.
"I think the place is very hostile, but what is most important is the pitch is terrible," said Wenger. "You know, if we sell our game to international rights for £1.2billion next year and that means we have to offer something to people when we pretend that we have the best league in the world, the minimum we need is to take care of our pitches when you want so much money.
"When you go to a dentist you want him to have as bad instruments as possible to try to repair your teeth? No. If he is a good dentist he has good instruments."
Meanwhile, Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish has rubbished Arsene Wenger's criticism of Craig Gardner over his tackle on Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas. Wenger slammed Birmingham and Gardner after their 1-1 draw on Saturday.
"We aren't the bad guys in this," said Birmingham's boss McLeish, defending his side, "I feel we are soft. If you look at the way the game went, if you look at the fouls against us, this Arsenal team can lay in a wee bit as well. We had to weather a few rough tackles. The players kept their discipline and played through it. There was nothing wrong with Craig's tackle.
"If people are following through, taking the ball then the man, the authorities are worried about the impact. If you get it cleanly then there's nothing wrong. In fairness, Arsenal have had their fair share of horrendous injuries, so maybe he's paranoid about it now.
"But this is a smokescreen. When I read Arsene's words this morning, asking for the referee to watch the tackles, I felt it was good for us. All the pressure was on them. Make no mistake, they were worried about this trip.
"As for the pitch, I'm sure he has played on worse in recent weeks. We thought it was great compared to some we have played on recently. If we had a surface like Arsenal's it would be frightening to think what we could do."
comment | Total Replies: 8
SAF Strikes Out Against Media Frenzy About Rooney Injury
Category: England - Barclays Premiership (EPL)
Created by: chelsea4ever Create Date: April 5, 2010 Last Comment: April 9, 2010
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has slammed the media frenzy over Wayne Rooney's ankle injury. Ferguson can't believe the hype over Rooney's setback and what it meant for England's World Cup chances.
"The vibe we are getting from the media is that if Rooney isn't playing then England have no chance at the World Cup," said Ferguson. "I am sure Fabio Capello would be worried if didn't have Rooney, but I don't think he's going to cut himself up about it. He'd have to get on with it and think of an alternative. You can't into a tournament like the World Cup, which is your biggest chance of great success with England, and think that because you didn't have Wayne Rooney everything is going to fall apart.
"You just can't afford to think that way going into the World Cup. But wasn't surprised about the hysteria that surrounded Wayne's injury. The hype started straight away about England and lasted until announced the diagnosis.
"We couldn't say anything until we had the proper results of the scan so you have to be patient. But paranoia swept the country for a while.
"It was unbelievable - but I expected that because he's so important to England. And that's the point I've been making. I think that it's a problem more for England than us if Wayne isn't available.
"We have a strong squad with plenty of options - we are well capable of doing without Wayne. Don't get me wrong, we don't want to be without him but we are capable of getting on with it if necessary.
"But there is a shortage of really top strikers in England and that's why the focus is always so much on Wayne."
comment | Total Replies: 10
Simon Kuper: Billy Beane Finds a Kindred Spirit at Arsenal
Category: England - Coaches and Chairmen
Created by: TheGoonerMotherShip Create Date: April 3, 2010 Last Comment: April 5, 2010
“When I think of Arsène Wenger,” says Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team, “I think of Warren Buffett. Wenger runs his football club like he is going to own the club for 100 years.”
Beane may be the world’s most influential sports executive. Using previously ignored statistics, he found new ways of valuing baseball players. This data revolution – documented in Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball – is now reaching other sports, even international soccer. Brad Pitt is about to play Beane in Moneyball, the movie.
However, Billy Beane’s own Billy Beane works in another sport across the globe. Arsenal’s manager Wenger is “the sports executive I admire most”, he says. “Does that sound like an American, to be both a Spurs fan and a Wenger fan?” Where others see Wenger’s stubbornness, Beane sees business sense.
For background: Beane is a soccer nut. On his cell phone from the A’s spring training camp in Arizona, he says: “Though I can’t watch all Arsenal’s matches live because of my day-job, I’ll go back and watch them. As we’re speaking I’m updating my pod with new soccer podcasts.”
Beane tries to learn from Wenger. “When he does things, I understand them,” he says. “As much as anything I enjoy watching Wenger’s demeanour on the sidelines. He’s viewed by some as an ‘academic’, but what you see on TV is this incredible will to win combined with superior intellect ... a winning combination in any business.”
He considers Wenger a rare sports coach who husbands his club’s money for the long term. He says: “When you think of the structure of most sports teams, there is little benefit to the person running the team on the field to think years ahead. The person who has access to the greatest expenditure ... has no risk in the decision-making.” Beane means that a coach is typically judged on winning games now, not on keeping the club solvent over time, and spends accordingly.
Wenger, however, usually signs cheap youngsters. “Nothing strangulates a sports club more than having older players on long contracts,” explains Beane, “because once they stop performing, they become immoveable. And as they become older, the risk of injury becomes exponential. It’s less costly to bring [on] a young player. If it doesn’t work, you can go and find the next guy, and the next guy. The downside risk is lower, and the upside much higher. It’s almost like he is managing a mutual fund.”
Like Beane at Oakland, Wenger knows he must pursue a different strategy from richer rivals. Beane explains: “If Arsenal and Man U and Chelsea want a striker, well, Arsenal will get the third-best striker. So they will probably develop a striker.”
In trading for players, Beane explains, “you’re basically paying for past performance. I think what Wenger tries to do is pay for future performance ... it’s an inexact science, so you’re not going to get it right every time.”
But then Beane says, “I love watching Arshavin play.” Hang on: Andrei Arshavin is an established star, Wenger’s most expensive signing at about £15m. Beane retorts: “Yeah. That’s the biggest misconception of what we’re about in Oakland: it’s not just about paying the least amount ... If you buy a player for £20m, you might have significant information that he’s worth £30m. When [Wayne] Rooney went from Everton to Manchester United [for about £27m], I’d say he was worth every penny and more.”
Beane suspects that, like the A’s, Wenger evaluates players using innovative statistics. He is not sure, he adds, because Wenger probably uses proprietary stats and models. Still, “the way he makes decisions leads you to believe he’s using objective data to resist the noise that surrounds those decisions”.
One day Beane hopes to meet Wenger. “For now,” he say, “I’ll just be an admirer from afar.” So his hero works in a distant universe? “No longer. That’s the beauty of the world today. It makes it a far more interesting place.”
comment | Total Replies: 8
Inter Turning Up The Heat on Veloso
Category: England - Transfers and Players
Created by: ultraroma Create Date: April 1, 2010 Last Comment: April 2, 2010
Inter are serious about signing Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso, according to Portuguese newspaper A Bola. The Nerazzurri apparently inquired about him in January after selling Patrick Vieira to English outfit Manchester City.
A deal wasn't struck though and Inter ended up agreeing a part-ownership deal for McDonald Mariga with Parma. Inter director of sport Marco Branca is said to be looking for a deep-lying playmaker this summer to complement Wesley Sneijder.
Veloso fits the bill and is being valued at around €10m. Inter feel they may be able to tempt Sporting into parting with another of their jewels by offering out-of-favour Ricardo Quaresma in exchange.
Quaresma started his career with Sporting and will be flaunted on the market at the end of the season after disappointing since his move from Porto in 2008.
comment | Total Replies: 1
Sharing Tools
Feel free to use one of the link sharing options below for blogs, forums or emailing to your friends. You will need to use the cut and paste controls found on your keyboard.
By providing your information and continuing, you are agreeing to the World Football (Soccer) Book Terms of Use and Online Privacy Policy.
