Uilleam

Yeah; it looks like great value if you are a petrolhead who loves Rugby League (all Rugby League). It does offer football in the form of the preseason International Champions Cup, a battery of glorified friendlies, designed to generate income for Clubs who don't really need it, and which takes place at all hours of the day and night. It would have been better, and I suspect more profitable for them, to offer the game as a one off, at less cost, or a 2 game package.

Latest Russia allegations raise big questions for Fifa – and football Fifa must deprive Russia from staging next year’s World Cup if possible doping offences by the country’s 2014 World Cup squad are found to be true Sunday 25 June 2017 19.13 BST Last modified on Monday 26 June 2017 07.59 BST https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/25/football-tainted-russia-fifa-sean-ingle'>https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/25/football-tainted-russia-fifa-sean-ingle Of course there were denials. There are always denials. It is part of the dance, the fast‑paced barynya, when it comes to Russia and doping allegations. No sooner had the Mail on Sunday revealed that the country’s entire 23-man squad for the 2014 World Cup was under investigation by Fifa for possible doping offences, than its deputy prime minister, and chairman of 2018 World Cup Russia, Vatily Mutko, put up the shutters. “There have never been and will never be any problems with doping in our football,” he said. “They have written some sort of nonsense.” He was similarly dismissive about allegations about doping in Russian athletics in 2013. So it goes. This, of course, is the same Mutko that a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation found might have personally intervened to cover up a failed drug test by a banned foreign footballer, which meant the sample was never declared positive and he was free to keep playing. And the same Mutko who was Russia’s sports minister during the period when the Canadian law professor Richard McLaren found that more than 1,000 elite Russian athletes across 30 sports had benefited from a state-sponsored doping programme. Strangely it did not harm his political career. In fact he was promoted. These latest revelations were a bombshell with a particularly long fuse. Last December McLaren told us that “the Russian team corrupted the London 2012 Olympic Games on an unprecedented scale”, and that the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow and 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were also perverted. He also revealed that over 30 Russian footballers were implicated but at the time appeared to be unclear who was involved. Now we see the picture in high definition. Yet it always felt strange to believe that football would be any less tainted than rowing, say, or athletics. Or that Russia would attempt to influence the Olympics but not the World Cup. The task, as always, has been proving it. Yet while Mutko and co are again in the dock, there is only a slim chance of conviction. As the Mail on Sunday notes, the key difficulty for Fifa is that the widespread cover-up means not all the sportspeople implicated in McLaren’s report can be shown to have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Some may be innocent. Their clean urine might have been swapped by the authorities, say, for another clean sample without their knowledge. That is why Fifa needs to throw everything at this. Of course it will be difficult to prove and prosecute. But one could say the same about previous investigations into Russian sports. Yet investigators such as Dick Pound and McLaren were able to find a way. Given what McLaren unearthed about the behaviour of the Russian government, which has been accused of having cheated, lied and obfuscated when it comes to doping its sports stars from 2011-2015, there is surely enough evidence to take the World Cup away from Russia. One look at Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, laughing away with Vladimir Putin at the Confederations Cup, suggests the chance of it happening are between slim and none. Still, these latest revelations leave Fifa with uncomfortable questions. And it is surely about time it started telling us what would it take to withdraw a World Cup from a host country. After all both Russia and Qatar remain under investigation by the Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, who is looking into 172 suspicious transactions which passed through Swiss banks in bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. What if he found that both bids were spectacularly corrupt? Common sense tells you it should change something. Fifa-sense tells you it wouldn’t. Qatar has also been the subject of a damning report by Amnesty International into how it has treated migrant workers building World Cup stadiums. After noting that many of them were forced to live in squalid accommodation, had their wages withheld and passports confiscated, it called the abuse of migrant workers “a stain on the conscience of world football”. Few would question that – except perhaps the bit about football having a conscience. Maybe it is also time that we are more sceptical about football’s lack of positive doping tests too. True, in the past prominent players have been found to have taken nandrolone, while the 211 blood bags of 36 former clients of Dr Fuentes are also said to include footballers. Yet the stink has been infrequent and never lingered. But would anyone be surprised if some of today’s top players were getting illegal pharmaceutical assistance? Especially as the game is so fast and unrelentingly furious? This year a study by the University of Gothenburg noted that in the Premier League high-intensity running has increased 50% in 10 years, “presenting new challenges in terms of fatigue resistance and ability to recover quickly”. Of course much of that is because players have to press harder than ever before. But even so the question remains: if athletes and cyclists are resorting to performance-enhancing drugs to thrive or survive, why wouldn’t footballers? The Mail on Sunday has a sobering analysis about the state of Russian sport after McLaren’s report. It claims hundreds of elite sportsmen and women suspected of benefiting from state-sponsored cheating continue to compete at world level, with “some not even being scrutinised by their sporting authorities, let alone prosecuted”. Perhaps Mutko is not the only one in denial. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/25/football-tainted-russia-fifa-sean-ingle As far as I recall, the Russian athletics doping programme was exposed by whistleblowers, who had to go into hiding, after revealing the/their story to a German magazine. Dr Fuentes was the guy who doped cyclists, from a base in Barcelona. Authorities seized bags of blood, only some of which related to cyclists, others seemingly belonging to footballers, tennis players, and other athletes. At one point, if memory holds, a Spanish judge ordered them destroyed, but I think there were legal appeals, and this may never have happened. Of course, no matter the evidence, I don't expect Russia to lose the World Cup, any time soon.

When was this? There is no date on the cutting.

If the 5Mill/8Mill figure emanated from the gub of the Yorkshire Stripper, then I would be inclined to file it, alongside the commercial deal with the Dallas Cowboys, etc, in the midden

David Holmes appointed a man who had never played in Scotland, who had never coached and managed at all, and who was running down his career in Italy, to the position of Player/Manager. Something of a risk, but he was backed in the transfer market, and it didn't work out badly, FS, not too badly at all.

Beat fhilthfootballclub four times in the League, twice in the Cups, and everything else will take care of itself.....

It has been drawn to my attention that Dave King has upset the sellik sycophants of the Sunday Liam. One Gordon Waddell offers this gem, copied & pasted below. For someone who makes a living from writing (tripe, there seems little doubt, but writing, nonetheless) it is interesting that he chooses to assert the primacy of deeds over words. Yet the article asserts, if anything, the importance to Waddell, of King's words over his deeds. 'Deeds' he says, 'are the measure of a man's character. Deeds earn a man trust. Deeds earn a reputation.' Yet he attempts to traduce a man's character, undermine his trust, and trash his reputation, and all in words, about his words. The sub text of Wadell's drivel is: The deed is mightier than the word, except where the word might be in any way whatsoever less than laudatory towards rasellik. Rangers chief Dave King should have accepted plaudits over retail deal and left ten in a row debate well alone Gordon Waddell looks back on a busy week at Ibrox and questions whether the South African learned anything at all from his “Going for 55” nonsense last summer. 06:00, 25 JUN 2017 Deeds, not words, are the measure of a man’s character. Deeds earn a man trust. Deeds earn a reputation. If only Dave King had left it at deeds. Then you’d have nodded, said fair play, and waited to see if this was truly Rangers’ fork in the road. Released them from a awful deal most of us believed would strangle his tenure for its full seven years, just out of sheer badness on Mike Ashley’s part. More a miracle than a deed, to be fair, even if the details are in short supply. Revived their commercial and retail potential overnight. Recruited a director of football with a decent rep and pedigree. Backed their manager with enough funding for a heavy-duty recruitment drive, acknowledging what he had inherited was substandard by a mile but without forcing him to get rid of the duds first. King has put his money were his mouth is and backed Pedro Caixinha's recruitment drive Obviously only time and results will tell whether Pedro Caixinha’s judgment was worth the backing. But after the season they just went through, discovering their enormous limitations, even their fiercest critic would have to acknowledge that they’ve addressed most, if not all of them. Not by talking about them. By actually doing something. Deeds. But the words? Dear oh dear, Dave, the words. If only he had left it at announcing the deal, accepted the plaudits, and got back on a flight. He couldn’t resist though, could he? Did he not learn his lesson from their “Going for 55” nonsense last summer? Has he never heard of hubris? In ancient Greece, the word originated with behaviour which upset the Gods, a foolish conceit, and in turn brought about that person’s nemesis, or downfall. Swap Gods for Celtic and you’re pretty much there. Does he not remember the last time their over-exuberance wound their rivals up? They hired Brendan Rodgers because of it. How did that work out for them? Listen, from our point of view as newspapers, it’s great value. If he wants to say it out loud and for it to appear on our back pages, that’s his funeral. But he can’t expect what he says not to be analysed or criticised. Two things. The first on the preposterous notion that Celtic are technically only at two in a row and not six. That any title earned without Rangers being there is worth zero. That any number in a row is only a contest between their teams. It’s an insult, not just to Celtic but to the rest of the game as well, to suggest their efforts every season are only validated by Rangers’ presence. Apart from the complete contradiction from when he took over in the first place and vowed to stop Celtic reaching 10, how does that stack up when, if they are there, they can’t even finish second? If you take it further, back to their joint holy grails of nine in a row, when Rangers won theirs between 1989 and 1997, Celtic only finished second twice. Dave King's logic means Rangers 1990 league title triumph was meaningless because Celtic finished fifth The Hoops were third four times, fourth twice, even fell as far as fifth in 1990. Were seven of Rangers’ nine actually meaningless because it wasn’t Celtic who were making it a contest? Do they not count because Hearts, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hibs all finished above them? Likewise when Celtic won theirs between 1966 and 1974, Rangers failed to get the runners-up spot three times, falling as low as fourth at one point. It’s hard to imagine King actually believes his own “We are the People” argument but if he does, what good does he think it’s going to do Pedro Caixinha by saying it out loud? The second statement he made – that Celtic should be further ahead – is also completely flawed. Celtic couldn’t have done any more than they did last season. They won cups, earned tens of millions of pounds by getting into the Champions League, and lost to no one as they only dropped eight points in a record-breaking league campaign which saw them score 106 goals. He’s clearly confusing how far Rangers are behind with how far Celtic are ahead. If the Hoops recruit well over the summer it’s possible they’ll maintain their superiority but inconceivable they can win the league by any more than that. If ever they needed an incentive to have a crack at it, though, King’s trying hard to provide it. He and Stewart Robertson have moved heaven an earth to get Pedro what he wants this summer. The real test for Pedro Caixinha will be on whether he has assembled a winning team to close the gap on Celtic If they can get Graham Dorrans and Jamie Walker in, their intake will reach double figures, their starting line-up will be unrecognisable as we know it needed to be. And the manager can stand or fall on his judgment and ability to put a winning team on the park. What he doesn’t need is his chairman providing their rivals’ team talks for him.

He's not wrong, is he?

Hardly performance enhancing, iIrc....... Russia’s entire 2014 World Cup squad face Fifa doping investigation • Investigators deem all 23 players in Russia’s 2014 squad ‘people of interest’ • 34 Russian footballers in total are among 1,000 individuals being looked into Martha Kelner Saturday 24 June 2017 23.11 BST Last modified on Sunday 25 June 2017 00.20 BST Russia is at the centre of another doping scandal after it emerged the country’s entire 23-man squad from the 2014 World Cup is being investigated by Fifa over possible drugs offences. Russia is currently hosting the Confederations Cup and in under a year will stage the World Cup but these allegations are likely to throw its suitability to stage such events into serious doubt. The 23-man squad, who were knocked out in the group stages of the Brazil World Cup three years ago, are among 34 Russian footballers being investigated by football’s world governing body. Five of the 23 players tested in 2014 are members of the squad that was knocked out of the Confederations Cup on Saturday. The state-sponsored doping and cover-up in Russia are well known but this is the first time top-level footballers in the country have been placed under investigation, although there is no proof of any anti-doping violations. However, a report by the Mail On Sunday alleged the footballers were among 1,000 “people of interest” to the officials charged with establishing where the tentacles of Russia’s doping racket extended. A Fifa spokesman told the Mail On Sunday: “Fifa is still investigating the allegations made against [Russian] football players.” It is understood Fifa is in possession of detailed evidence and intelligence. It is likely to face pressure to act on whatever evidence it has. Dick Pound, a former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), told the Mail On Sunday: “There is a huge onus on Fifa to reach a sensible conclusion on these matters before the World Cup takes place. It is incumbent on them to say what steps they are taking, what they find, and take whatever action necessary to protect the integrity of sport. Even within a governing body with as little credibility remaining as Fifa, if you were a senior official you wouldn’t want to be part of a body that ignores this. “There has been an institutional denial of doping in football for years … I’ve seen too many presentations by Fifa, straight out of fantasy land, about how they don’t have a problem. They absolutely have to take this case seriously.” The new allegations follow the publication of two reports commissioned by Wada and authored by the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. It found at least 1,000 people were assisted by what McLaren described as an “institutionalised manipulation of the doping control process in Russia”. More than 200 of those are thought to have competed in athletics with 13 other sports having competitors in at least double figures being implicated and several cases in other sports. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/24/russia-2014-world-cup-squad-fifa-doping-investigation I am assured, by those itk, that the only dopes in Scottish fitba' are the ones charged with running it.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15368546.Why_it_may_not_be_the_end_of_Mike_Ashley_s_association_with_Rangers/ Why it may not be the end of Mike Ashley's association with Rangers Martin Williams @MWilliamsHT Senior News Reporter FAN groups hope the ending of Mike Ashley's direct involvement in Rangers following his share sale for £2 million will usher in a new era for the club. The Sports Direct and Newcastle United supremo, who was the third biggest shareholder in the Ibrox club, sold his 7.3m shares to fans group Club 1872 and Julian Wolhardt, the chief executive of Dehong Capital Partners - a Hong Kong based private equity firm. The move sees Club 1872 become the second largest shareholder in Rangers International Football Club with 10.71% of the club. The Herald understands that the club have not ruled out continuing commercial association with Sports Direct after a newly re-drawn merchandise agreement ends at the end of next season. Mr Ashley sold just two days after Rangers chairman Dave King announced a truce with the tycoon over the sales of its merchandise in a move he described as "the single most important thing since regime change". It is understood the sportwear tycoon has made no more than £1m from the sale. Mr King who took control of the club three years ago, said the new one year commercial deal with Sports Direct involves at least a share of net profits through their stores, megastore and webstore. It came after a series of rows which ended in the courts over the amount Rangers were making from the sales of merchandise - said to be just 4p in the pound - that led to a fans boycott of kit sales. It was described by Mr King as a "toxic and acrimonious" relationship. HeraldScotland: The agreement ripped up the old seven-year deal with Sports Direct to be replaced by a new one which lasts till the end of next season, taking the club to the end of its five year shirt deal with Puma. It is estimated it could net Rangers an additional £5million a year via a huge increase in shirt sales. Rangers had said it meant the end of the Mike Ashley-controlled merchandising arm Rangers Retail, with the club now dealing directly with the sports retailer and that "by far the largest benefit of [the new deal] is going back into the club and in particular to the football squad". After the truce was announced Rangers fans flocked back to Sports Direct shops and club stores in their droves to snap up replica shirts which had been reduced in priced to around £20 before the agreement was announced. Drew Roberton, the general secretary of the Rangers Supporters Association, said he would not object to further involvement by Mr Ashley if the next year proves profitable for the club and Sports Direct. "We hope now that everyone moves forward in a positive manner," he said. "If we are sharing the profits now, it might not necessarily be the end of an association with Sports Direct. We have to see how it goes. "Maybe if Rangers are successful, Mike Ashley will see just now just how much money can be generated by the club." He said it was "unfortunate" that the money from the share purchase by shareholder group Club 1872, would benefit Mr Ashley, rather than the club. Club 1872 said: "We are delighted that our members’ support for Club 1872 has brought us to a point where we can acquire these shares and complete the process of restoring control of RIFC to those who view the footballing success of Rangers FC as being just as important as RIFC’s careful stewardship financially." Some hardcore fans who took part in the Ashley boycott have vowed they will still not set foot in Sports Direct-controlled stores, despite the truce. One said: "People have been saying that we cannot beat Mike Ashley. He is a billionaire. We just did. This is the way it was always going to end." With Ashley out the picture, the last remaining obstacle to a rights issue to raise money is also effectively gone, and Mr King has indicated his interest in this. It is believed the board could call an EGM to push through plans to raise £16m to pay off loans from King and shareholders Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor. During what was one of the most troublesome period of the club's history, secured and then after a fans furore gave up his rights to rename Ibrox, bought for £1. His control over the club's joint venture with Sports Direct over merchandising caused the biggest stink amongst supporters. The Rangers Supporters Trust even launched an alternative shirt for fans as they took on Mr Ashley in the war over Rangers Retail - and said all profits would be ploughed back into an increased shareholding in their club.

Here is an interesting piece by someone called Mike Keegan, from The Daily Bedlam. It is interesting because it 'links' Mark Allen with a 'tapping up charge', but does not follow it up in the body of the article. . Guilt by association, then; it seems that that is what the writer intends. Manchester City academy chief Mark Allen made Rangers move after probe into young player tapping-up storm Mark Allen left Manchester City to become the director of football at Rangers City were last month banned from signing academy players and fined £300,000 Sportsmail understands that the ban seriously concerned the Abu Dhabi owners Allen was looking to leave before the inquest and exited the club on good terms By Mike Keegan For The Daily Mail PUBLISHED: 22:30, 23 June 2017 | UPDATED: 22:30, 23 June 2017 Mark Allen, former head of Manchester City’s academy, is leaving to become Rangers’ director of football after an inquest at the Etihad into why the club has been banned from signing young players. City were last month prohibited from signing academy players for two years and fined £300,000 for breaching youth development rules. The Premier League acted on complaints over the tapping-up of two schoolboys. Sportsmail understands that the ban, the second year suspended for three years, seriously concerned City’s Abu Dhabi owners. City say that Allen, 54, wanted a new challenge even before the Premier League verdict and that he left of his own volition, on good terms. Allen is known to have been looking to move on and has taken coaching badges. Many may see his arrival at Rangers as a coup for the Ibrox club who have much ground to make up on rivals Celtic. Rangers ended their hunt for a director of football by appointing Allen earlier this week Welshman Allen, at City since 2009 , was released by Swindon Town as a youngster. He moved to the USA to earn a business degree before returning as a managing director for music broadcaster MTV. He leaves City with homegrown faces still rare at first-team level and after a third defeat in a row in the FA Youth Cup final. In a separate development, a respected academy coach at City has been suspended after allegations of misconduct. Canadian Mark Burton, who insiders say has been behind the success of some of the club’s younger age groups, is under investigation. The situation is being monitored by neighbours United, who could make a move for Burton should he leave City. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4634126/Man-City-academy-boss-Mark-Allen-left-ban-probe.html#ixzz4kv4MMEsn

Ry Cooder, as it happens.

We could all chip in, invest as the heavy hitters on here would call it, and, do you know, we could get all kinds of tax advantages, through one of the many cunning and ingenious tax planning projects on offer. Oh, wait............

Finest Hour, my arse. DK's Finest Hour will be when he hoists the League Flag over Ibrox.

How can a poor man stand such times and live? I demand 48hrs recovery period after each "Big Announcement".....

You get mael? Since privatisation, a joke round here, mate.

If Waghorn is in the team, you will not get goals, even at SPL level. Usefulness outlived, as we say, well,.... just about everywhere.

Stop all this sycophancy, Frankie.

This would be a massive own goal, in my view. Anyone who peddles this proposal, either has no grasp of current, at last, positive circumstances, or is looking for an affirmative reaction to confirm some pre-judged notion of the Club and its support. PS God Bless the Pope.

I think that Dorrans would start; Kenny McLean, who seems a decent player, I'm not so sure.

Thought that that was Andy Carroll for a moment.....

The departure of Ashley is great news. I cannot help wondering why the turdbucket is doing one, so suddenly, hot foot and toute suite, when for so long his stance was so very far from cooperative. I cannot help speculating, and I confess, hoping just a little, that there is some kind of Force 10 shitstorm approaching, heading directly to envelop the Fat Bastard, and that he is clearing his decks, prior to arranging a disappearance, leaving only a cheap tracksuit, and an even cheaper pair of trainers, on the beach at Whitley Bay.

I think, but could not swear to it, that the obligation to buy 'surplus' at full price, existed only for one year. The unlamented Somers said as much at the Tent Hall AGM, iIrc, or maybe at another.

Collecting and collating the constant pro-sellik effusions would be seriously injurious to one's mental well being. It would be a brave fellow who volunteered. The scale of the task, too, would be huge.

You will be safe, on this site. Many -most- of the posters on here, and all of the administrators and moderators, do not have their own teeth.