It was only in February this year that the proposed Russia-Ukraine joint league first reached the stage of formal meetings between clubs to discuss the viability but tonight a showcase tournament between top clubs from each country gets underway tonight. It is hoped the formal joint league will start this time next year when the top nine teams from each country will form the Unified First League.
Despite discouragement from Fifa, Uefa have insisted only that proper procedures are followed to give their ascent to the league. Gazprom, the Russian energy giant and Uefa Champions League sponsor, has underwritten the project with a commitment of 1 billion euros per annum.
As we know, in football, money talks, and the Russian and Ukrainian clubs, together with their national associations and Uefa, have been talked happy to make change possible.
In order to become competitive with their rivals in the west while meeting Uefa Financial Fair Play rules, Russian and Ukrainian clubs need to increase income, which the Unified First League would go a long way towards. Uefa president, Michel Platini, has long accepted that regionalisation was a viable way forward for domestic leagues, while former powers in smaller leagues have become disenfranchised from the game’s top table.
What does it mean for us?
Well, we don’t have a Gazprom, not yet, anyway, but once Gazprom’s financial and political muscle establishes the principle of regionalisation, that principle is available to all. Former Yugoslavia countries are already in talks, while Scandinavian countries have already had a few abortive attempts at (underfunded) regional cup competitions.
The British region.
Welsh football has managed to retain its national identity, provide an infrastructure for provincial and community clubs, while federating with the FA in England to allow their larger (sic) clubs to find their competitive level.
The model is already established for Scottish football, which has realised living with one (or two for that matter) massive club which completely invalidates their league competition as a ‘competition’ is no longer the best way to order their affairs.
Financial recklessness caused the collapse of one club a year ago while the recklessness of a Lithuanian bank has put another in jeopardy. A handful of other top-flight clubs now realise their financial commitments, not to mention sporting objectives, are no longer viable, with or without the crumbs from the table thrown in their direction when TV cameras and a few thousand fans arrive a few times per season.
Federate with England, just as the Welsh did. It will bring ‘competition’ back to our competitions, put thousands of everyone’s gates and provide access to viable commercial contracts.
Why are our leagues and Association not speaking to the English about this right now? The Football League in England is every bit as much a basket case as Scottish football right now, they also need to change the structural model and, unlike the equally lunatic (English) Premier League, appear to be self-aware in this respect.
Go talk to the Welsh FA, Cardiff City, Swansea, Wrexham or New Saints FC (!) and ask them what organising their game along the lines of the Scottish model would do to them.
Scottish football must federate or it will die. As such, if we stand on the precipice of crisis, let’s make it a good one. It’s the only thing which will get things moving.
Get Downfall here on Kindle or Heart of a Lion below:
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I must be getting old – I remember the day I could recognise everyone on question time
morar-man
21:34 on 27 June, 2013
Hail my good Lhads and Lhasses. Long long term lurker here and a great admirer of this site. Can I ask you all to send prayers or just positive thoughts the way of my sisters tonight. Lets just call them Morar-ghirl and Doncaster-ghirl. Morar-ghirl will tomorrow morning donate a much needed kidney to Doncaster-ghirl. They are both obviously nervous and would, I’m sure, appreciate your kind thoughts.
Hail Hail CJ % AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What an incredible thing to do for anyone.
My vocabulary comes up short on this one,I’m afraid.
I so hope everything goes well for both your sisters.
.
McGeady to Everton for 6M..?
Do Celtic have a sell on Clause..?
Summa
bournesouprecipe
23:19 on 27 June, 2013
Allez LeCoist
pictured on the new Sevco Bus
Image has been removed. Anyone screen scrape it?
praecepta
Cheers, so I was half right, good enough for my argument >}
………………………..
sipsini
Could be worse >} getting hotter by the day, too hot at times, but you get used to it, hit 40 today, and will prob stay there for the next couple of months, very dry heat though, so not so bad.
HH
Mortar man
Prayers for both.
This is a truly selfless action and I hope the recipient will cherish the act.
Morar man
Your dear sisters will be at the top of my list tonight when I pray for good health for those in need of strength.
God bless all of you.
Please drop back in and keep us updated.
“@BBCchrismclaug: SPL and SFL finally agree to merge after a marathon meeting at Hampden. Still looking to elect a board tonight. #restructuring”
morar-man
No much you can say, thoughts with the girls.
HH
Was this the original bus planned for the Sevconians?:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=559711324071099&set=gm.524435227611718&type=1&theater
bsr…photo now removed?
CORKCELT et al.
I share your concern over the well being of MIKI67
I have been in regular e-mail contact with him for a fair while now,but sadly he has been offline for around ten days.
I console myself that no news is good news,and that were it otherwise,I think his brother,LB,who is an occasional poster,would have let us know.
On the other hand,I doubt he is off-line by choice…..
I know he will be heartened by the continued good wishes of so many on here.
MIKI,we’re shouting you on,mate!
Summa of Sammi….
CFC Marketing Dept missed a trick with our Sammi – they should have done a done an in-store run on ‘Holy’ pictures during the CL stages!
Remember when we used to use them as markers in the old Catechism.
:-)
.
Marc-Vivien Foe death: His legacy 10 years after collapsing on pitch
It was the brutal abruptness of Marc-Vivien Foe’s fatal collapse that made it so shocking.
In the 73rd minute of the Confederations Cup semi-final between Cameroon and Colombia at Lyon’s Stade de Gerland, the powerful midfielder was jogging along innocuously.
No-one was close to him and nothing seemed wrong, yet suddenly he collapsed to the ground in the centre circle. Medical and support staff attempted to resuscitate the player on the pitch, before carrying him on a stretcher to the bowels of the stadium, where attempts to restart his heart failed and the man known affectionately by his team-mates as ‘Marco’ was pronounced dead.
That was 10 years ago, on 26 June 2003, but the memories are still painfully fresh for Cameroon’s then manager, Winfried Schafer. The German says neither he nor his players had realised the seriousness of the situation at first.
Marc-Vivien Foe factfile
Born: 1 May 1975 in Yaounde, Cameroon
Position: Midfield
Clubs: Canon Yaoundé (1991-94), Lens (1994-99), West Ham (1999-2000), Lyon (2000-), Man City (2002-03 on loan)
International: 64 caps and 8 goals for Cameroon. Won African Cup of Nations in 2000 and 2002
Did you know? Man Utd almost signed him in 1998, but he broke his leg. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp had faxed an offer for him on morning of day he died
Died: 26 June 2003, after collapsing in 73rd minute of Confederations Cup semi-final
“We won the match 1-0 and the players were dancing in the changing rooms afterwards,” he told BBC World Service’s Sportsworld programme. “Then [captain] Rigobert Song came in and cried and said “Marco, Marco” and told us he was dead.
“Everyone was shocked and was asking why. All the players were crying. I went out of the dressing room and heard two ladies crying very, very loudly. Then I saw Marco lying there, on a table, with his mother and wife by his side. I touched his leg and I went outside and cried too.”
Pat Nevin, then chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, was broadcasting at the tournament and attended a special Cameroon news conference the following day.
“It was devastating for everyone involved, but there were some lifting moments,” he remembers. “Seven Cameroon players came out and they all spoke beautifully about their friend and team-mate and their desire to carry on in the tournament.
“It was a beautiful moment after a tragedy and I’ve been a Cameroon supporter ever since.”
A first autopsy failed to establish the cause of the 28-year-old’s death, but a second found he been suffering from a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
The big question everyone asked was how could a fit, athletic footballer with no known history of heart problems have died in such a way?
“When you looked at that Cameroon team, they were big, strong and tall, and Marc-Vivien epitomised that,” Nevin says. “He was a box-to-box player and his fitness was extraordinary.”
Thierry Henry was in tears before the 2003 Confederations Cup final
Sanjay Sharma, Professor of Cardiology at the University of London, who has worked with both Manchester City and Team GB at the 2012 Olympics, explains that the first sign of the condition is often death.
“People with the condition, which is characterised by abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, are about three to five times more likely to suffer a cardiac arrest if exercising vigorously than leading a sedentary lifestyle,” he says.
“Sadly, 80% of sportsmen who die from this condition have no prior warning signals and sudden death is the first presentation.”
After consultation with Foe’s widow, Marie-Louise, as well as his parents, Fifa decided that the Confederations Cup final between France and Cameroon should go ahead as planned. Many of France’s players, including striker Thierry Henry, were in tears as they lined up before the game.
A picture of Foe was shown on the big screen ahead of the game and Cameroon’s players held a huge photo of him during the trophy presentation to eventual winners France.
Foe was given a state funeral in Cameroon
The midfielder was given a state funeral in Cameroon in July 2003. Journalist Francis N-gwa Niba, who was there, remembers: “The funeral was huge. The president was there, [Fifa president] Sepp Blatter, everyone who was anyone in African football.
“Thousands stood by the side of the road outside the cathedral and I remember one banner in particular, which read ‘a lion never dies, he just sleeps’.”
Foe left behind a wife and sons aged six and three, as well as a daughter of only two months old. The player’s generosity had been legendary, and there were reports that he hadn’t much money left behind.
Foe was buried on the site of the football academy he had been having built in his hometown of Yaounde. He used to send a proportion of his wages home to his father Martin each month to fund the construction of the complex, but N-gwa Niba says it now “sadly has practically been abandoned now because of lack of funding”.
Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions have also been in decline following the death of their star midfielder. Going into the 2003 Confederations Cup they were the undoubted kings of their continent, having won the previous two African Cup of Nations tournaments, in 2000 and 2002.
Foe’s widow Marie-Louise with their baby daughter at his funeral
Since then, N-gwa Niba says “Cameroon football has been going down the drain” and they haven’t won another Cup of Nations.
Foe had been on loan at Manchester City from Lyon in the 2002-03 season, making 35 appearances and scoring nine goals. City retired his number 23 shirt after his death, while a street was named after him in Lyon.
A positive result of Foe’s death has been huge improvements in both the testing of footballers for heart problems and the treatment they receive during matches.
Professor Sharma admits he was shocked when he watched footage of the on-field treatment that Foe received.
“A player went down without any contact, his eyes rolled back, he had no tone in his body, so it was clear something terrible had gone wrong,” he says.
“It took quite a while for the penny to drop that this was not going to get better with the magic sponge or fluid being poured on his head though. As cardiologists, we like resuscitation to start within a minute and a half of someone going down, and for the defibrilator to be used within three minutes.
“That gives us an outcome of about 70% living. Yet a good five, six minutes went by before I could see any positive action with Marc-Vivien Foe. That was perhaps because this was the first time something like this had happened in football. After all, you don’t expect a champion footballer like this to go down and die.”
Fifa’s chief medical officer, Jiri Dvorak, admits big improvements had to be made following Foe’s death.
“We have done a lot of work to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac arrest since then,” he told BBC Sport. “At all levels, we have examination of players before arrival at a competition.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Genetic disease
Causes muscle wall of the heart to become thickened
About one in 500 people in the UK have the condition
Most common diagnosis is with ECG (which records the rhythm and electrical activity of the heart)
No cure, but can be controlled with medication or a pacemaker
“We have also trained the sideline medical teams in CPR and using defibrilators. We have a plan if something happens and the equipment – including for the team physicians of all teams. The medical personnel are adequately educated.”
Professor Sharma says such improvements were in evidence when Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match against Tottenham last March.
“If you look at the first minutes of him going down, it was clear the medical staff quickly realised the severity of the situation,” he said. “The first thing I noticed in the Bolton doctor’s hand was a defibrilator. They started resuscitation on the pitch and delivered two shocks before they moved him.”
There will be a tribute to Foe before Wednesday’s Confederations Cup semi-final between Brazil and Uruguay.
A decade on, football will remember a fine player who grew up in poverty in Africa and went on to play in some of the biggest leagues in Europe. Foe’s former team-mate, Shaka Hislop, says he will mainly remember a friendly, happy and down-to-earth man though.
Foe arrived at West Ham in 2000 as their club record £4m signing, yet could not have been more unassuming.
“He was much-heralded and seemingly had the world at his feet,” says Hislop, “but he was as genuine and likeable as they come. Regardless of what was asked of him, he did it with a smile and I thought he represented the best of football and footballers.”
Summa
Dearie Me,
Spivs R us.
By GERALD IMRAY
Published on 27/06/2013 00:00
GARY Player will oppose a claim of $1 million by his former caddie and business partner in South Africa for an unpaid loan, the lawyer representing the golf legend said yesterday.
Former Rangers director Dave King gained an interim court order that potentially allows him to sue 77-year-old Player for assets the nine-times major champion and Hall of Famer holds in South Africa, including shares in a stud farm in the rural town of Colesberg.
King claims he loaned Player the money in 1999. Player denies it was a loan, although his lawyer did not dispute that the transaction took place. Player and King are the shareholders in the stud farm in central South Africa.
“Mr Player denies from his perspective that the funds advanced ever constituted a loan,” Player’s attorney, Rael Gootkin, told The Associated Press.
Court papers suing Player for the $1 million had not yet been filed, Gootkin said, and the parties are looking to agree on a September court date to argue the matter.
Gootkin said Player would oppose the interim order granted this week in a high court in Grahamstown, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, initially giving King jurisdiction to attach the golfer’s local assets to any claim.
Player also would oppose any action to sue for the money “if and when the summons is issued,” Gootkin said.
King is a former director of Rangers, and has caddied for one-time close friend Player at the US Masters.
South African media reported on Tuesday that a document submitted to the court states that the money was given to Player 14 years ago to repay a debt to his sports management company, and Player agreed in return to allow King to travel with him to international sports events.
Scottish-born King has also been involved in a long- running dispute with South African tax authorities. Two years ago, he had his £10 million vineyard, which made wine endorsed by Player, seized by the taxman.
The move was part of an attempt by the South African Revenue Service to claw back an alleged £250m unpaid tax bill from King, who is based in Johannesburg.
King, originally from Castle-milk in Glasgow, arrived in South Africa in 1976 with only £10 in his pocket. But he turned the pittance into a £200m fortune as a high-powered financial consultant.
However, tax officials were puzzled when the tycoon claimed to be earning only £5,000 a year. In 2002, following a two-year probe, they hit him with a bill for back taxes – insisting he was the richest man in the country.
Summa is Sammi an orthodox saviour
Awaiting moderation ffs.
By GERALD IMRAY
Published on 27/06/2013 00:00
GARY Player will oppose a claim of $1 million by his former caddie and business partner in South Africa for an unpaid loan, the lawyer representing the golf legend said yesterday.
Former Rangers director Dave King gained an interim court order that potentially allows him to sue 77-year-old Player for assets the nine-times major champion and Hall of Famer holds in South Africa, including shares in a stud farm in the rural town of Colesberg.
King claims he loaned Player the money in 1999. Player denies it was a loan, although his lawyer did not dispute that the transaction took place. Player and King are the shareholders in the stud farm in central South Africa.
“Mr Player denies from his perspective that the funds advanced ever constituted a loan,” Player’s attorney, Rael Gootkin, told The Associated Press.
Court papers suing Player for the $1 million had not yet been filed, Gootkin said, and the parties are looking to agree on a September court date to argue the matter.
Gootkin said Player would oppose the interim order granted this week in a high court in Grahamstown, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, initially giving King jurisdiction to attach the golfer’s local assets to any claim.
Player also would oppose any action to sue for the money “if and when the summons is issued,” Gootkin said.
King is a former director of Rangers, and has caddied for one-time close friend Player at the US Masters.
South African media reported on Tuesday that a document submitted to the court states that the money was given to Player 14 years ago to repay a debt to his sports management company, and Player agreed in return to allow King to travel with him to international sports events.
Scottish-born King has also been involved in a long- running dispute with South African tax authorities. Two years ago, he had his £10 million vineyard, which made wine endorsed by Player, seized by the taxman.
The move was part of an attempt by the South African Revenue Service to claw back an alleged £250m unpaid tax bill from King, who is based in Johannesburg.
King, originally from Castle-milk in Glasgow, arrived in South Africa in 1976 with only £10 in his pocket. But he turned the pittance into a £200m fortune as a high-powered financial consultant.
However, tax officials were puzzled when the tycoon claimed to be earning only £5,000 a year. In 2002, following a two-year probe, they hit him with a bill for back taxes – insisting he was the richest man in the country.
Echoeing (sp) the shout out to Miki67 !
Does anyone know why Philvis is no longer posting?
question time is strangely interesting tonight
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNm_9TWCYAADUZQ.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNm9XHKCAAAEGfk.jpg:large
Ritchie
Point noted – Miki67, Philvis, Narrowboat Tim and a few other longterm posters are conspicuous by their absence these days.
Trust all are OK and we hear from them in the near future.
Is that the fabled Ticketbus?
TET
Sincerely hope Blakey is in charge and Olive is the masseuse!
Bed for me – hope Sunday’s Final is a cracker.
Praecepta not forgetting the lesser spotted Cadizzy and SFTB
praecepta
Sleep well mi amigo, just going there masel.
HH
TET, I’ve read a few times that Gary Player had shares in the deid co via his association with King and how his links back to Ayrshire gave him good hun lineage.
So, just another example of hun on hun zombie action. Let it play out, enjoy it and just remember the only winners here are the ones on the side lines laughing.
P.S. I kind of hope the auld hun golfer wins this one:-)
Morar man
What a gift from one sister to another.
Bless both of them
HH
unew mike
Yes – well spotted. Lost count of SFTB’s 125 day sabbatical – won’t be long now.
TET – catch you later Mhate!
Summa of Sammi….
23:54 on 27 June, 2013
I really Love all of your contributions to this Blog. They are always humorous but they always have deep and meaningful thoughts behind them.
I think you have came through some tough times in your life and in the words of Lenny – “I’m Still Standing.”
At the end of the Day, it is Night. An argumentative Aussie exile would disagree. ;) Tom I am rooting for you Big Chap, we need to hear a lot more from you for many years to come, as you have penned some of the finest stuff on CQN about bygone days of the Celts.
We, well anyone who still believes in the Bible, are instructed to pray for those that would do us wrong, it is a Ki element and if enough people pray, God will change their darkened Hearts, who knows it may only take one prayer for someone that has done a lot of damage to really turn that persons life around for the Better.
Come on the Celts
Morar-man, I don’t do prayers and such but I’ll be thinking of you and your family tomorrow.
Hail Hail to you and your sisters.
P.S.
And hail hail to the surgeon, without great surgeons where would we be?
New SPFL board made up by representatives from Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hamilton Accies, Alloa and Stenhousemuir plus a chairman, chief exec and a non exec director.
My Dear 16 Roads….
I Would Be Intrigued To Know…..
Why You Would Consider Me..A Hypocrite
And What…..Is This “Culture Of Death”..
Of Which You Speak..?
Brother Walfrid….Will Be Taking A Keen Interest In Your Reply….
From His Wee Green Plot….
In Deepest D&G…..
Tell All the Huns You Know
The credibility of Glasgow-based Radio Clyde has been dented by new revelations from Twitter user Charlotte Fakes.
Within a few days, emails that Charlotte has put into the public domain appear to show a lack of objectivity among some of the most senior representatives of the radio station’s sports output, including head of news and sport, Lorraine Herbison.
If the emails are genuine, Ms Herbison and former regular contributor Darrell King have been shown to make maintaining a close relationship with Rangers and with the club’s former owner Craig Whyte more of a priority than helping listeners understand the facts surrounding the liquidation of that club.
On June 24, Charlotte Fakes made public an email that appears to have been sent by Stephen Kerr in the Rangers press office to Craig Whyte on September 1, 2011. In it, Kerr seems to take exception to remarks Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell, made that day about having received “a £29m offer for [Gary] Hooper, from an unknown agent, from an unknown club, from another universe”.
Mr Kerr tells Craig Whyte this is “clearly a dig” at Rangers because of the “Jelavic ‘bid’ news on SKY last night”. Only Mr Kerr would be able to explain why, if this were to be taken seriously, he felt it necessary to put quote marks round the word ‘bid’.
He goes on to tell Craig Whyte that Darrell King has promised to do his best to fight Rangers’ corner on Radio Clyde that evening.
Eight days later, Darrell King wrote to Craig Whyte directly, according to the Charlotte leaks, apologising for being unable to convince senior colleagues at the newspaper he worked for, The Herald, not to run a report on Rangers being taken to court by law firm Levy & McRae over an unpaid bill. “I did everything possible to get the story pulled,” King says in his message, which seems to have been sent from a private rather than a business email address.
In spite of the admission from King that he had sought to put his relationships at Ibrox before his professionalism, when the links appeared on Twitter, Clyde sports reporter Alison Robbie posted a message saying: “This is all very boring. PR man asks journo to do club a favour – happens every day. Nothing in that email proves he did it.”
This appeared to irk Charlotte Fakes, who responded by saying: “Boring eh. How about I spice it up later by including emails featuring Lorraine Herbison and Craig.” Links to emails between the two followed soon after.
There are 15 emails in the chain, dating from between December 16, 2011, and February 7, 2012. Towards the end of it, Ms Herbison sympathises with Whyte over headlines that appeared in the Daily Record on January 31, 2012,when Whyte issued an open letter to Rangers supporters to contradict claims in that newspaper that Rangers owed large amounts of money in unpaid VAT and that Whyte had used season ticket money to clear a bank debt left by the previous owner of the club.
In a follow-up message on February 2, Ms Herbison’s tone is congratulatory over an article The Sun ran that morning in which, as the newspaper put it, Craig Whyte “comes out fighting”. If the Charlotte leaks are genuine, Ms Herbison tells Whyte: “Well, good interview in The Sun this morning! We have given it good coverage in the news and sport.” She then asks if Whyte will go on Radio Clyde, adding, “Hope you don’t think I’m becoming a pest!”, an unusual thought for a head of news and sport to express to anyone.
Similarly, in emails at the end of the exchange, dating from February 7, Lorraine Herbison appears to offer support to Whyte after Mark Daly had alleged on the BBC the night before that Whyte “may have lied in court”. The head of news at Radio Clyde says, if the emails are genuine, that she regards her fellow journalist’s work to be “much ado about nothing” and she says to Whyte: “You must be annoyed.”
Radio Clyde is owned by Bauer Media, a German firm that runs magazines, newspapers, TV and radio stations and direct marketing operations. It is proud of its radio output, although it makes it clear that it is aiming its media at the popular end of the market. Even so, the emails Charlotte has leaked appear to show that senior representatives of Bauer Media in the west of Scotland have fallen short of their own values when dealing with Craig Whyte and other people at Rangers.
On the Radio Clyde website, the station claims the sports programming on Clyde 1 is “in a league of its own”. It says it aims to highlight issues close to the heart of its listeners. That said, some observers might view the wording Radio Clyde uses in places to be slightly unusual. It says the station is “ever-ready” to highlight these issues on behalf of a “loyal local audience”. These are phrases that could be interpreted as being indicative of tendentiousness to Glaswegian ears and would be easy to avoid.
In any event, football fans who were relying on Radio Clyde to help them understand what was going on at Rangers in the club’s final season may well now have other reasons to suspect the objectivity of the station’s output, if what Charlotte has made public is genuine.
Lorraine Herbison and Darrell King have both, so far, failed to respond to requests for confirmation one way or another.
Please let Longmuir be defunct.
Pretty please :O(…
Gary Player has had more holes in one than Jobo Baldie. But gary’s a wee hun and Jobo isnay.
Jobo, jobo, jobo………………….:-)
Celtic_First
00:42 on 28 June, 2013
Thanks for the most excellent analysis.
Paul Cooney and the “Jimmy” of the radio were great things to hear as a Kid loving Footie.
Just seen the photos of Jobbo’s achievement on FB
Was it a fair weather shot from E.K. ?
I remember Paul Cooney’s super scoreboard as a student at Paisley Tech during the Centenary season