The Netto St. James' Park Stadium?
United Chairman Freddy Shepherd was back in front of his beloved Sky
Sports News Microphone last night discussing the possibility of St.
James' Park being 'renamed' if a company wanted to sponsor the North
East's oldest football stadium.
With Arsenal's new Ashburton Grove ground to be named 'The Emirates
Stadium' in light of a 15 year £100m shirt and Stadium sponsorship
deal by Chelsea's current shirt sponsors, no doubt Freddy Shepherd
fears we will be left behind. A quick phone call to his chums at SSN
to put out the feelers however may see our beloved home bearing the
name of a corporate company before too long.
What next - selling off the family silver?
Pay Up Or Hand Him Back
Sky Sports News are reporting that Newcastle must pay French club
Le Havre compensation for teenager Charles N'Zogbia after the Le Championnat
club won their appeal from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. N'Zogbia
initially on trial at Newcastle during Pre-Season, was snapped up
by United as a free agent... or so they believed. Le Havre, unhappy
at seeing a player they have educated leave for nothing then took
the case to FIFA who ruled in our favour. But it seems that we have
to now pay compensation for N'Zogbia who made his debut at home to
Blackburn at the beginning of September, coming on as a 90 minute
substitute.
The court ruled: "The player was not free of any deal when he signed
with another club and his transfer authorisation, even given temporarily
by FIFA, can not match the rules stated by them."
Shearer Pay Parity: Myth Or Reality?
This one has been doing the rounds since he first joined the Toon
from BLackburn in 1996. The story goes that Shearer's contract stipulates
that he must be the highest earner or be equal in the pay stakes.
This rumour has often been scoffed at but yesterday's preliminary
financial results may shed some light on this (or maybe not).
A snippet taking from the results:
Improved contracts were agreed with a number of key players, including
Alan Shearer, Jermaine Jenas, Andy O’Brien, Aaron
Hughes, Shola Ameobi and Steven Taylor.
Improved contract? Since when did Big Al get an improved contract
- have I missed something or could this be down to the arrival of
Patrick Kluivert, reportedly on £67,000 per week...
Either way he deserves it!
Update: Toon fan Martyn wrote in to confirm that
Shearer was handed a 1-year contract extension in 1993.
Probe Urged Into Ticket Prices
From the BBC, today:
The Office of Fair Trading is being urged to investigate claims
that football fans are being ripped off at the turnstiles. The Football
Supporters' Federation (FSF) is concerned about clubs varying ticket
prices according to the popularity of the opposition.
It says this unfairly penalises fans of big clubs, who are charged
more. And it says Premiership clubs charge far more for tickets than
their rivals in other European countries.
A study conducted by the Liberal Democrats at the start of the football
season found supporters of Premiership sides paid as much as seven
times more for a season ticket than fans elsewhere in Europe.
While the cheapest, Portuguese club Porto, charges £67, some English
Premiership clubs charge several hundred pounds.
At top German club Borussia Dortmund, it costs five euros (£3.50)
to get into the stadium for children, 10 euros (£6.90) for adults
to stand and between 15 and 30 euros (£10.30 - £20.70) for a seat.
These ticket prices even include free public transport for fans travelling
up to 100km (62 miles) to the stadium.
Ingo Hower, who runs the club's supporters group, says: "I've been
to clubs in England and it can cost £40 for a good seat. I don't understand
how people in England are prepared to pay such prices."
The increasing trend for clubs to categorise ticket prices according
to which team they are playing can mean wide variations between match
prices.
For example, fans travelling to Birmingham City to watch the team's
clash with Manchester United on 16 October will be charged £45 a ticket.
But two weeks later, when the club plays host to Crystal Palace, they
will pay just £28. The FSF says this means fans of popular clubs who
travel to away matches will be charged more throughout the season.
Popularity
A Birmingham City spokesman explained the difference by saying that
"some games are more popular than others."
It wanted to have its 30,000 ground at full capacity and that Manchester
United was more popular than Crystal Palace, he added.
The spokesman had no comment to make on the differences between UK
and European club prices, saying only: "We keep our prices in line
with British clubs."
The federation is also worried about the fees charged by clubs for
fans who book their tickets by credit card - when there is often little
choice of other payment methods.
Liberal Democrat sport spokesman Don Foster also says fans are being
ripped off. He has called for the Independent Football Commission,
set up three years ago as a self-regulatory body for the sport, to
investigate the issue.
The commission says it can look into ticketing policy but that it
cannot comment on issues of general pricing, which is a matter for
individual clubs. |
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