Rik Sharma- 31 October 2011

Genç yıldız adaylarının üst düzey kulüpler tarafından çok ucuza sözleşme imzalatılmasına karşı İngiltere'de oluşturulan ortak girişim grubu,  yapacağı protestolarla bu gidişi sona erdirmek istiyor. Football League matches face kicking off in near-empty stadiums on Saturday as fans protest against a controversial new policy which threatens the future of youth academies.

A group named The 72 Unite have urged supporters of all 72 Football League clubs to boycott the first five minutes of Saturday's matches in protest at the decision of Football League

Football League matches face kicking off in near-empty stadiums on Saturday as fans protest against a controversial new policy which threatens the future of youth academies.

The group fear the new academy system could be 'the final nail in the coffin for the survival of professional football outside the Premier League'.

The EPPP is a new four-tier academy system which the Premier League demanded replace the existing set-up, threatening to withhold youth development funding for Football League clubs if they did not accept it.  

The plan, due to come into effect at the start of the 2012-13 season, means the top clubs will be exempt from the rules preventing them from signing under-16s who live more than 90 minutes' travelling distance away (or an hour for under-12s), allowing them to scout and sign players from anywhere in the country.

Warning: Peterborough chairman Barry Fry fears for youth academies

The plan also replaces the tribunal system, which asks each club to justify its valuation of the player involved before it decides on a fee considered fair. The new rules mean a selling club is paid £3,000 per year for every year of a player's development between the ages of nine and 11. The fee per year from 12 to 16 will range between £12,500 and £40,000.

Peterborough Director of Football Barry Fry warned the move could have serious repercussions for smaller clubs.

'What frightens me is that a lot of clubs will pull out of having a youth system altogether,' he said.

Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey said the plan marked 'a dark day for football'.

'Take Luke Garbutt as an example who left here for Everton, despite offers from us to stay. A tribunal agreed a fee of £600,000 with a further £750,000 on appearances and a 20% sell-on. Under the new system we would have received £134,000 instead of £600,000 with further contingent payments based on appearances', he said.

But a Premier League spokesman insisted that the system was a great example of English football working together to raise its standards.

'There is widespread support for many of the ideas and aspirations contained within EPPP at Football League level', he said.{jcomments on}

Monday, 17 October 2011 11:57 UK

Owners want to scrap Premier League relegation, says League Managers Association chief Richard Bevan.

Several foreign-owned Premier League clubs want to scrap relegation, according to League Managers Association (LMA) chief Richard Bevan.

Bevan fears that if more clubs are sold to foreign investors they may have enough votes to force changes.

But the Premier League said relegation and promotion were part of its rules and added to the league's strength.

Bevan hopes that a parliamentary inquiry into football governance would also help prevent the proposal.

"We're very keen that the report is successful in helping the Football Association introduce a licensing programme for clubs," he said.

"Because there are a number of overseas-owned clubs already talking about bringing about the avoidance of promotion and relegation in the Premier League.

"If we have four or five more new owners, that could happen."

PREMIER LEAGUE FOREIGN OWNERS

• Aston Villa (Randy Lerner)
• Blackburn (Venky's Group)
• Chelsea (Roman Abramovich)
• Fulham (Mohamed Al Fayed)
• Liverpool (Fenway Sports Group)
• Manchester United (Glazer family)
• Manchester City (Sheikh Mansour)
• Sunderland (Ellis Short)
• QPR (Tony Fernandes)
• *Arsenal's Stan Kroenke is a majority shareholder

Nearly half of the Premier League's 20 clubs are under foreign ownership, with rules stipulating that if changes are to be made to the format, 14 clubs must vote in favour of any new reforms.

Blackburn joined the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea in this class when they were taken over by Indian-owned Venky's Group last season.

But the Premier League told BBC Sport that the move would be a non-starter, with the Football Association retaining the power to veto any proposals.

The Premier League clubs have not formally discussed any such move since Bolton chairman Phil Gartside proposed his two-tiered structure two years ago, an idea which was soon dismissed.

However, Bevan still believes it is a possibility, arguing any new owner of a Premier League club would not need to be foreign for them to see there would be money to be made from scrapping relegation.

"It doesn't really matter if you're from overseas or not, does it?" he said. "It doesn't matter whether you're from Birmingham or you're from Burma."

A Premier League spokesman said that they did not recognise LMA chief executive Bevan's claims, which come a week after the government demanded changes to the way that football is run.

Sports minister Hugh Robertson said that an FA-led licensing system would be brought in to safeguard against issues such as financial mismanagement, asset-stripping owners and tax avoidance.

The government also asked for rules to manage club debts and an overhaul of the FA board.

Last Wednesday, Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre said the Premier League's overseas television revenues should be skewed in favour of big clubs.{jcomments on}

Pascale Harter/BBC Muhabiri, Barselona, 27 Mayıs 2011

Manchester United'la oynadığı Şampiyonlar Ligi Finali'ni kazanarak, 2010-2011 sezonu Avrupa Şampiyonu olan Barcelona'nın taraftarları için, takımları sadece futboldan ibaret değil. 

Bill Wilson- 5 October 2011-

Business reporter, BBC News 

Karen Murphy: "I'm glad I took it on even though it's taken up quite a chunk of my life"

A pub landlady has won the latest stage of her fight to air Premier League games using a foreign TV decoder.

BBC- 27 September 2011

 Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes television has too much power over English football.

In an exclusive interview with BBC North West Tonight, Ferguson said TV controls aspects of the game because of the vast amount of money it provides.

He claimed clubs did not have enough say when it came to fixtures and, as a result, those sides competing in Europe were worse off.

No matter how many times Manchester United appear on TV in Singapore or America and no matter where they finish in the table, each of the 20 Premier League teams splits the overseas television cash equally

"When you shake hands with the devil you have to pay the price," he said.

"Television is God at the moment. It is king.

"When you see the fixture lists come out now, they [the television companies] can pick and choose whenever they want the top teams on television.

"You get some ridiculous situations when you're playing on Wednesday night in Europe and then at lunchtime the following Saturday. You ask any manager if they would pick that themselves... there'd be no chance."

The 69-year-old Scot also reckoned that clubs are not even getting the kind of money they deserve from TV given that the Premier League now sells its product to 200 countries.

"When you think of that, I don't think we get enough money," he said

Former Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick agreed that football is now "super-reliant on television" but suggested that TV revenue had helped facilitate United's success under Ferguson.

"Sir Alex's comments always have to be taken seriously - he is a very wise and experienced football man," Barwick told BBC Sport.

Football 'super reliant' on TV - Barwick

"But I do think Manchester United have almost had a lion's share of TV revenue over a period of time and it has helped build a fantastic stadium in Old Trafford and helped build Sir Alex's teams with star players.

"Manchester United will always do well in the television market because a lot of people follow them.

"The Premier League should be applauded for the number of countries it has got the game to. It has been a massive success story."

The Premier League's television rights deal was last renewed in February 2009 when Sky reportedly paid in excess of £1.6bn to show five 23-game packages from 2010-13. Irish-based broadcaster Setanta paid £159m for one bundle of 69 matches over the three years. This package was later taken over by ESPN.

The record deal equates to clubs earning, on average, £4.3m for each game shown live on television.

THE RISE OF PREMIER LEAGUE TV REVENUE

• 1992-1997: BSkyB, 60 games per season, £191m
• 1997-2001: BSkyB, 60 games per season, £670m
• 2001-2004: BSkyB, 110 games per season, £1.2bn
• 2004-2007: BSkyB, 138 games per season, £1.024bn
• 2007-2010: BSkyB and Setanta, 138 games per season £1.706bn
• 2010-2013: BSkyB/Setanta (replaced by ESPN) 138 games per season, £1.782bn

In addition, overseas TV deals earned Premier League clubs just over £17m each last season.

Under the new deal, United earned more than £60m from television last season - a combination of fees for having their matches shown live and prize money based upon league position.

So far this season, the champions have appeared in six televised league games and are scheduled to appear three more times before the end of November.

In an in-depth interview with North West Tonight, Sir Alex Ferguson also discussed:

• The effect of losing to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League Final: "When Barcelona beat us in Rome there was an issue on how we could get to that level. We've made steady progress since then."
• On the club's youth policy: "We have a nucleus of young players aged around the 20-21 mark who can be the nucleus of what we regarded as the Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Beckham era."
• On his longevity at the club: "Nobody talks about sacking [me] so I can have the vision of looking two, three years ahead."
• On his rumoured dressing room tirades: "Myths grow all the time. If I was to listen to the number of times I've thrown teacups then we've gone through some crockery in this place. It's completely exaggerated, but I don't like people arguing back with me."
• On losing: "I don't like losing but I've mellowed. I maybe have a short fuse but it goes away quicker now."
• On football's future: "I feel sympathy for the working class lad. I've always championed about ticket prices and try to equate that to people's salaries. I look at some of those London prices when we go there and it's horrendous. But I think the Premier league is a strong product because there's a tremendous honesty in our game and fans play a part in that."
• On players' salaries: "You can understand that clubs are desperate to win something and their imagination stretches and they end up paying silly money for players you'd never consider."
• On turning 70 in December: "When I was 60-65 it didn't bother me. I am just glad to be here. Getting to Hogmanay at 70 - I'm delighted."{jcomments on}