Jobs in Sport

closing this week (end of business up to 28th Sep)

Marketing Coordinator -England Squash

Membership Coordinator

Sales and Marketing Manager

Logistics Coordinator - Women's RFU

Community Programmes Manager - Fulham FC

Curriculum development Consultant - Youth Sports Trust (position in India)
- othe roles with YST here

Regional Press Officer - Rugby Football Union (part-time)

Next Week

Sponsorship Manager - Royal Yachting Association

Operations Manager - Welsh Amateur Boxing Association

Reporter/Researcher on business of TV Sport

hi all,

click on the title for the offer

no closing date advertised but posted on the 9th of Sep

A new site for jobs and sport in East London

Click on the title to display positions available

Sport and physical activity have a rich tradition within East London, from the spiritual home of community football at Hackney Marshes to the world famous London Marathon, from the vast network of green and open spaces to the numerous annual dance Melas. Yet whilst many in East London’s communities have long used sport and physical activity to interact, compete, volunteer, work and stay healthy, many significant barriers to participation exist.

Against this backdrop, in spring 2006 PRO-ACTIVE East London was established with the aim of developing existing and establishing new ways of using sport and physical activity to bring about positive change in the social and economic well being of East London’s communities.

To deliver our goals we have set up a Community Sport and Physical Activity Network (CSPAN) in each borough. These will bring together partner organisations, policy makers, investors and local deliverers to work towards achieving the one percent increase in participation. Our work covers ten London boroughs Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, City of London, Greenwich, Hackney, Havering, Lewisham, Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets.

Voluntary Opportunites at London Legacy 2020

Hi all,

I have been in discussions with Tom Soper who is the Sport Project Manager for London Legacy 2020 (more details of org found here). On October 6th Jason Fergus and his team at Pro-Active East London are running a conference for sports volunteers on the Saturday 6th October at London City Airport.

They are looking for volunteers to run 3 x one hour-long workshops for up to 25 people on Business Planning, Financial Management and Marketing & Communication.

Each workshop will be delivered twice during the day and could be led by an individual or several students.

The attendees will all be key players in East London sports clubs and the workshops will be designed by me for use at the conference.

I am looking for volunteers to assist me in delivering these workshops - it wouldnt be a 60 minute lecture but a structured workshp that you would need to help facilitate. From my experiences the volunteers are interested in assistance and know ther sports and participants very well. It is in the areas of business planning that they need assistance. I only received this info today and will be working on it over the next couple of weeks so if you require any furtehr info please send me an email on p.kitchin@londonmet.ac.uk

Cheers

Paul

Olympic Logo - A fantastic case of mis-use

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6972224.stm

interesting......

Horse Flu in Australia

Horse flu outbreak costs Australian racing millions
Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Monday August 27, 2007

Guardian

Australia's multibillion-dollar horseracing industry has been plunged into turmoil by an outbreak of equine influenza, with race meetings and other events cancelled across the country in an effort to contain the spread of the virulent disease.

An unprecedented nationwide ban on the movement of most horses, ponies and mules has also been put in place with owners facing a A$44,000 (£18,000) fine or up to 12 months' imprisonment if they try to move animals from their properties.

The ban will remain in place at least until tomorrow until the extent of the outbreak becomes clearer but the government has warned that it may be extended. There are fears that the crisis, which comes as the spring racing season is about to start, could lead to a delay in the start of the popular Victorian Spring Racing Carnival, including the highly lucrative Melbourne Cup. There is also concern that the thoroughbred breeding season due to start on September 1 will be affected.

The agriculture minister, Peter McGauran, said the outbreak - the first of its kind in Australia - was the biggest crisis the industry had ever faced. "We must leave no stone unturned at containing the outbreak," he said.

Equine influenza, or horse flu, is highly contagious and can put horses out of action for weeks. It can be fatal for foals. There is no risk to humans.

The first case was found in a stallion at Sydney's Eastern Creek quarantine station last Thursday, one of several animals which had been in Japan for the breeding season. Japanese racing has just restarted following a three-week shutdown after an outbreak of the virus.

Suspected cases have now been found in Sydney, in other parts of New South Wales and in south-east Queensland.

So far, no thoroughbred has shown signs of sickness but a delay to the start of the breeding season would have a serious impact on racing for the next two to three years, according to one of Australia's top studmasters, John Messara.

It was the first time since the second world war that Australia has seen such a widespread racing blackout. The cost of the cancellations has been put at A$40m.

Press and Communications Officer - English Table Tennis Association

Press and Communications Officer

Organisation: English Table Tennis Association

Salary: 18,000 PA

Location: Hastings

Type of contract: Full time / permanent

Job Description

The English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) require a Press and Communications Officer to pro-actively promote the activities of table tennis and respond to media enquiries in order to enhance the standing and influence of the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) within its field, nationally, regionally and internationally.

The roles responsibilities include to;

• Edit national publications using both traditional and new media processes
• Produce press releases, articles and statements to pro-actively promote the work of the ETTA and respond appropriately to a constantly changing news agenda to gain maximum press and broadcast coverage for table tennis.
• Respond quickly and appropriately to news stories
• Possess the ability to liaise across the organisation at all levels to generate interesting and informative content
• Work with the Communications Manager to develop PR strategies and contact database
• Produce support material for external publications and proactively search for new communication channels
• Secure reviews/editorials across all our target media
• Thrive on working within a fast paced environment

Knowledge and Experience Required

• Experience of writing and editing
• Excellent working knowledge of MS Office and Adobe Indesign
• Web savvy with the ability to adapt and learn quickly with new technologies
• Experience of working in a membership organisation, charity, national governing body or similar organisation is desirable

Skills required:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work authoritatively, knowledgably and confidently with journalists, volunteers, external organisations and colleagues at all levels
• Excellent news sense and ability to identify pro-active stories
• Ability to use own initiative, manage competing demands, prioritise workload and meet deadlines
  Creative and imaginative

This role is intended for a graduate wishing to gain experience within the sports media environment.

How to apply

Download applications pack via the English Table Tennis Associations Website:- www.etta.co.uk

Closing date: 03/09/2007

Interview dates: TBC

The English Institute of Sport

Services Manager

Organisation: The English Institute of Sport

Salary: £29,514 - £39,031 p.a.

Location: EIS Yorkshire, Coleridge Road, Sheffield

Type of contract: Permanent

Job Description

Your role

• Facilitating and co-ordinating the delivery and access to support services for World Class
• Programme athletes in the Region and across the EIS network including sports medicine, physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, physiological testing and performance lifestyle, performance nutrition, performance analysis and psychology
• Working with the Yorkshire team and other regional network points to create a world class high performance training environment
• Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team delivering services to athletes and coaches.

You should have

• A qualification at degree level or equivalent in Sports Management, Sports Science or Sports Medicine or relevant discipline
• Extensive, demonstrable experience working in a high performance sports environment with athletes and coaches to improve performance. This experience should include extensive work with national teams and their athletes
• Demonstrated experience of strategic planning, implementation and monitoring of support services to high performance athletes

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THESE AND ALL CURRENT VACANCIES PLEASE
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT www.eis2win.co.uk/jobs

How to apply

Please send your CV, a covering letter, details of current remuneration and relevant contact details by 1pm (GMT) on the closing date to:

Email: jobs.yorkshire@eis2win.co.uk Post: The Business Administrator, English Institute of Sport, Coleridge Road, Sheffield, S9 5DA.
Please quote job ref: YOE87/07EIS

Closing date: 04/09/2007

Interview dates: 12/13 September 2007

All England Netball Association

Regional Manager - East Midlands

Organisation: All England Netball Association

Salary: £24,500 with a review at the end of the probationary period

Location: The Netball Centre, Loughborough University

Type of contract: Full time - Permanent

Job Description

England Netball has a vision for the future – to be a top 10 participant sport; the 1st choice sport for women and girls; the number 1 ranked team in the world.

If you share that vision and have the energy/work ethic/passion to deliver increased participation in the East Midlands year on year then we have an excellent opportunity for you. We are seeking to appoint a full time Regional Manager for our East Midlands Region, responsible for the delivery of the game through:

• Management of projects to achieve specific targets
  
• Building partnerships which widen the accessibility of Netball in the regions
• Strategically managing the implementation of England Netball programmes to meet key targets
• Maintaining a strong interface with internal and external partners
• Expertise, confidence, personality and the ability to influence

With a track record of achievement in sport management the successful candidate will also have excellent written and verbal communication skills and be a well-organised, highly motivated and influential team player. Knowledge of regional sports development and funding initiatives would also be advantageous.

How to apply

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Paul Clark, our Interim CEO, on 01462 428328 or 07738696362.

For a full information pack and an application form, please email recruit@englandnetball.co.uk quoting reference RMEM.

Closing date: 05/09/2007

Interview dates: Tuesday, 25th September 2007

ESPN and interest in non-US Sports

ESPN has acquired Scrum.com, the rugby union news, scores and information portal, from privately-owned Scrum Limited, boosting ESPN’s online presence into another top non-US sport.

ESPN already owns leading soccer/cricket news and information sites ESPNsoccernet.com and Cricinfo.

Other rugby rights held by ESPN include the IRB U21 and U19 World Championships and Women’s Rugby World Cup in Latin America. It also holds rights to the Argentine URBA Championships until 2011 and all Argentina’s national team matches in Latin America until the end of next year. Scrum.com’s three markets are the UK, USA and Australia.

X-Games and Viewing Increases in the US

The X Games in Los Angeles earlier this month, delivered record television ratings for ESPN and a record online audience for EXPN.com.

Peak-time television ratings were up 35% from last year, while EXPN.com, ESPN.com’s action sport hub, recorded its most overall traffic ever for an X Games. Almost 38 million fans watched television coverage of the games, a 13% increase, while coverage averaged a rating of nearly 1.0, a 19% increase on last year.

The site was accessed by more than 500,000 unique users and generated more than 3.2 million page views over the course of the games.

X Games video footage was also viewed on EXPN.com and ESPN.com more than 1.6 million times during the four days of the competition.

Mobile Rights Value

PL banked GBP 200m on internet and mobile rights

Ever wonder how much some sports can secure for clips of matches and content for mobile phones?

This artcile highlights (Click title) the figures and the potential battle to secure these rights, in the competitive market for sport broadcasting this is a developing frontier...

News from Londonmet: Events Management Knowledge

Events Management Knowledge

Visitors to the blog may not know that we have recently established a business partnership platform, Events Management Knowledege which will be working with organisations is the sport, tourism, hospitality, events management and creative industries sectors. You can find out more by visiting the EMK web pages (basically still a bit primitive - a page on how our students and graduates assist businesses in the sector is in preparation). A click on the title above should get you there.

Bob

Executive Certificate in Event Management

Hi all,

We are launching the followng executive programme in November. It is aimed at managers in the commercial sport, not-for-profit, general events who are wishihg to furtehr their careers in event management.

News: Gain your Executive Certificate in Event Management

The first London Executive Certificate in Event Management course will take place on November 6-9th 2007 at London Metropolitan University's training facilities at Canary Wharf.

The course was originated by the Australian Centre for Event Management (ACEM) and the London course will be jointly designed and delivered by ACEM and EMK. Read more...or click on the title above to download the course brochure and application form (PDF).

Suggestions for developing the site

Hi,

the blog has been going for a few months now and appears to be an useful source of news and job postings. Nevertheless I would like your feedback as to how to make the site better.

Please feel free to email me on p.kitchin@londonmet.ac.uk (you might have to copy and paste this address) if you have some suggestions.

Some ideas could include;

on job postings - are these what you are looking for, are they an appropriate level for you skills and qualifications, are they relevant to your region - should we widen the scope to cover Europe rather than UK?

on news postings - are these interesting or otherwise, do you have time to read them, are you interested in reading them, are there sports I have ignored and should focus on more, what are your concernsa bout posting items yourselves?

on London Met - do you feel there is enough news relating to LonMet activities, would you be interested in new developments, sizes of new cohorts, publications the university is producing, abstracts of dissertations. Would you feel housign this site under thge official London Met Blog Site would be a good move - this way all relevant information to Alumni would be in one area.

So as you can see there is lots here to think about - please reply to my email address that way I can ensure that your thoughts and comments remain between you and I.

Cheers

Paul

How Much Does Football Cost 2007/08

An interesting article from the Telegraph mentioning the total costs for watching English football this year

Job Opportunites

Closing 3/8/07

Athlete Suppport Manager - English Insitute of Sport

Closing 8/8/07

Finance Assistant - Uk Sport

closing 12/8/07

marketing and communications assistant - Derbyshire sport

closing 20/8/07

Business Manager - Bucks and Milton Keynes Sport Partnership

Ongoing

Pavillion Stewards - Lord's Cricket Ground

Deng 'slumming it’ at the Olympics to give Britain a rich reward

Luol Deng is a rising NBA force, but life was not always so bright. He tells The Times why he now wants to give something back

Matthew Syed in Bradenton, Florida

It is a late summer’s day in 1992 and the sun is beating down on a crumbling basketball court on the outskirts of the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria. The court, as ever, is populated by a small group of Sudanese teenagers, the children of families who have fled the brutal civil war that rages across Egypt’s southern border.

The backboards are falling apart and the rims are so badly damaged that the youngsters often have to rummage for screws to nail them back into place. Young Sudanese children line the perimeter of the court, wide-eyed as they watch their older brothers and cousins go through their paces. Among them is a seven-year-old called Luol Deng.

Unusually tall for his age, he is beckoned on to the court for the first time, his heart racing. Ajou, his older brother, talks him through the art of the lay-up, the first move that the group will practise today. He puts two pieces of paper on the floor to mark where Deng should position his feet and watches intently along with the rest of the group.

The youngster takes a deep breath and runs forward. He plants left foot, then right and leaps high, his small hand flicking the ball towards the backboard. After landing with a thud, he looks up: the ball has failed even to touch the rim.

It is an inauspicious start to a sporting journey that will take Deng into the fabled NBA in the United States and enable him to amass riches beyond dreams. The 22-year-old is on the brink of signing a five-year contract extension with the Chicago Bulls that could earn him more than $80 million (about £40 million).

I am sitting opposite Deng at the IMG Academy in western Florida, where he is about to embark on a training session with his team-mates from the Great Britain squad. The players have been assembled from clubs around the world for one purpose: to make it on to the podium at the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

Many NBA mega-stars turn their noses up at the thought of slumming it at the Olympics. Not Deng. His ambition for 2012, if anything, is even more intense than his Britain teammates. He wants to give something back to the nation that granted his family political asylum in 1993, the nation that provided him with a home and schooling, the nation he calls home.

“Things were tough in Egypt,” he says. “We lived in a three-bedroom flat: me, my eight brothers and sisters and two aunts. Most of the time my parents were in London fighting for political asylum, so we were brought up by my older sister. When Britain gave us the chance to move I was 8 and did not speak English. But it changed our lives.

“I will always feel grateful that Britain opened its arms to us. We had originally left Sudan [when Deng was 4] for Egypt because my father was a victim of political persecution [he was Minister for Transport in the Sudanese Cabinet but was imprisoned for three months after the government fell in 1989]. It is difficult to know what would have happened to my family had we not been granted asylum.”

Deng spent two years living in Wimbledon before the family moved to South Norwood. At first he neglected basketball in favour of football, but after a trip to Brixton for basketball training with his older brother, his passion was reignited. His remarkable talent caught the eye of Jimmy Rogers, the coach of Brixton Topcats, and by the age of 14 Deng had been offered a scholarship to Blair Academy in the US. Five years on he hit the jackpot, drafted into the NBA.

“It was a magnificent break because thousands of youngsters are aiming for the NBA and the competition is intense,” he says. “I worked really hard at school to get noticed [in his second year at Blair he was rated the second-most promising high school player in the country after Lebron Jones, who is now with the Cleveland Cavaliers]. The first match for the Bulls was nerve-racking, but things have gone really well over the last three seasons. But there is more to life than basketball – much, much more.”

Deng is a young man of unusual depth: articulate, charismatic and deeply engaged with the world. He is among a tiny minority of athletes who regard sport not as an end in itself but an opportunity to do something grander with life. Conscious of his heritage as a Dinka, a tribe from southern Sudan, he is a spokesman for Nothing But Nets, a charity that combats malaria in Africa. “I have seen malaria and lost family members to it,” Deng says. He is also involved with Basketball Without Borders, the NBA’s community outreach programme.

Early next month he will spend a week in Reading to coach at a training camp for young English players. The Britain coaches describe him as “extraordinary”, “exemplary” and “one of a kind”. John Paxson, the general manager of the Bulls, said: “He really does epitomise everything I had hoped for as a person and a basketball player. I think it’s one of the reasons we’ve gotten to the level we’re at this year.”

The measure of Deng’s growing stature is that he recently won the NBA’s sportsmanship award in a vote by his peers. The award honours the player who best exemplifies ethical behaviour, fair play and integrity on the court.

“Right now I don’t feel that I can get involved in politics,” he says. “In Sudan, for example, the rival groupings are complex and the situation is very difficult. But I feel that I can do something to help those who are suffering and to assist the victims of war and illness. That is what I want to do. Playing basketball is something I am passionate about and I give it my all. But a large part of the motivation is that the better I get, the more influence I will have beyond the court.”

The next evening the Britain team are back in the gym for another training session. After the warm-up, the players divide into three teams of five who take it in turns to compete against each other. Although Deng is anonymous for the first few minutes, the gulf in class is soon apparent and his teammates take every opportunity to ship the ball his way.

The Britain team have not competed in the Olympics since the Games were last in London, in 1948, but it is easy to feel optimistic about any gathering of men spearheaded by Deng. “The prospects for British basketball have been transformed by Luol’s commitment to the cause,” Chris Finch, the Britain head coach, says. “Can we win gold in 2012? It is not beyond the bounds of possibility.”

National service
Aug 16 and 17 Great Britain v Ireland (international friendlies) K2 leisure centre, Crawley, West Sussex
Aug 21 Britain v Slovakia NIA Birmingham (EuroBasket)
Sept 1 Britain v Albania Meadowbank, Edinburgh (EuroBasket)
Sept 11 or 15 EuroBasket play-off Ponds Forge, Sheffield
— Tickets and event information is available at basketballgb.com

UK Sport responds to announcement of BOA Anti-Doping Commission

Responding to the announcement of an Anti-Doping Commission by the British Olympic Association, John Steele, Chief Executive of UK Sport, said: “The fight against drugs in sport is central to Britain’s sporting success and we are totally committed to maintaining the UK’s role as a world leader in anti-doping. At the same time there needs to be clarity about who is responsible for what in sport, and make sure that our collective efforts and resources are channelled to areas of greatest need in the build up to both the Beijing and London Games.

“We would never say that the BOA should not consider an issue as fundamental as doping, in particular their own bye-law, and the individual expertise on the Commission is not in doubt. However, as the body responsible for managing anti-doping in the UK, it would have been helpful for us to have the opportunity to help frame their work. Until there is greater clarity on the Commission’s purpose, therefore, it is difficult to see what value it is going to add over the next year and at a time when the UK system is already under close scrutiny.”

In addition to formal review of its activity through the work of Parliamentary Committees, official Auditing Bodies, and an Independent Scrutiny Panel, UK Sport has proactively instigated a number of recent investigations into global best practice in anti-doping. For example, as a key partner of the World Anti-Doping Agency, UK Sport recently hosted a WADA symposium looking at how legislation and greater co-operation between law enforcement agencies and government can benefit the fight against doping in sport. It has also met with officials from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) about the approach they take to anti-doping against that in place in the UK.

Steele added: “We are in no way complacent, and are continually striving to ensure the highest possible standards across all areas of anti-doping – both in terms of our testing and athlete education programmes. We are playing a proactive role in the current revision of the World Anti-Doping Code and through regular liaison other National Anti-Doping Organisations across the world we share best practice and take on board constructive suggestions for the further evolution of our anti-doping programme.

“Against that we must be wary of constant investigation and review, in particular where there is no formal mandate for it. The last thing British sport needs as we build up to Beijing 2008 and London 2012 is distraction, confusion about roles and duplication of effort. We all have significant roles to play – let’s just get on with them.”

R. Langley - 24/07/07

Digger in the Guardian

BOA doping initiative upsets UK Sport

Relations between the British Olympic Association and UK Sport reached a new low yesterday with the BOA's announcement of an anti-doping commission to examine drugs policy ahead of the London Games in 2012.

The initiative, led by the BOA chairman, Colin Moynihan, is seen by UK Sport as a hostile move, as among the issues the BOA's commission will examine is whether drug testing should be carried out by an independent body. UK Sport is responsible for drug testing and the funding of elite athletes and has interpreted the BOA's commission as an attack on its competence.

Moynihan said UK Sport was fully aware of the doping commission and referred to an exchange of letters with its chief executive, John Steele, in March in which Steele invited the BOA to contact him "if we can be of assistance".

Despite this UK Sport was taken aback at the extent of the commission's brief and insiders are angry that they were not shown terms of reference until yesterday morning. The hostility to the BOA's latest move was barely disguised in a statement that abandoned diplomatic niceties: "We would never say that the BOA should not consider an issue as fundamental as doping . . . [but] until there is greater clarity on the commission's purpose it is difficult to see what value it is going to add," said Steele.

The BOA is disappointed at UK Sport's reaction but maintains it is entitled to examine the issues.

Watery rescue
Yesterday's spat came after the British Olympic Association was among the victims of flooding last week, with the basements of its Georgian townhouse headquarters in Wandsworth inundated on Friday afternoon. Two of the basements were flooded by water from the road outside while the other two were filled with sewage from overflowing toilets. On Monday the chief executive, Simon Clegg, led the clean-up effort as a chain of BOA employees hauled furniture and valuables to safety.

Brook dammed
As expected the election for the new England and Wales Cricket Board chairman will be a two-horse race between Surrey's Mike Soper and Somerset's Giles Clarke. The process would have been far livelier, however, had television executive David Brook, the man who led the Keep Cricket Free campaign after the ECB sold its rights to Sky, made it on to the ballot paper. Brook was sounded out by former executives about standing for the post vacated by David Morgan, but failed to get support from any county chairmen. He did not expect to get the job, but was keen to use the platform to start a debate about the game's future. "I was never going to get on because you need two county chairmen to propose you for the post, and cricket is a closed shop," he said. "It is a shame because the governing body is seldom held to account by the wider cricket public, and the election of a new chairman is a perfect opportunity for debate."

Fletcher takes aim
One of the first issues the new ECB chairman will have to tackle will be the fallout from Duncan Fletcher's autobiography, the final draft of which was delivered to publishers on Monday by his ghost, Guardian writer Steve James. Fletcher has been in the UK finalising the manuscript with James for the last week, and several senior ECB figures including the chairman of selectors, David Graveney, can expect severe criticism for their handling of the Ashes campaign and the World Cup. Fletcher's departure was not warm, and he is likely to serve his revenge equally cold.

Familiar voice
Setanta has finalised its commentator line-up for its first season of Premier League coverage, with the seasoned ITV voice Jon Champion joining Setanta's Scottish Premier League commentator Ian Crocker. Champion, who has found himself down the ITV pecking order recently, will split his time between the two channels. The former Scotland international Craig Burley will be the summariser and studio pundits will include Steve McManaman, Emmanuel Petit and Tim Sherwood.


paul.kelso@guardian.co.uk

Malcom Conn on School Sport

He's a little late getting on board as most of the info is a tad old but its got FYI - click on title for article

Fundraising and Sponsorship

good entry level job in managing fundraising and sponsorship, well worth a go if loking to enter into commercial aspects of sport management - click on message title

Public Funding

Mathew Syed not afraid to make a controversial opinion - click on title for artcile

Tour de France

The news is a tad bit old but you may have seen the decision by the German broadcasters to pull coverage of this year's race due to the positive A sample from a T-Mobile rider, details here

A bit over the top and premature and if I was workign for Eurosport I would be chuffed. Obviously some political issues at work

Job Opportunities

Date indicates closing

Various roles at UEFA - click on the apply now to reveal the jobs here

16/7/09
Supporters Direct - Membership and Service officer here

17/7/09
Sales and Marketing Coordinator at World Academy of Sport here

20/7/07
Amatuer Swimming Association - Lifelong Participation Officer here

23/7/07
Institute of Swimming - Assistant Head of Workforce Development here

27/7/07
LOCOG are after more competition managers - I think this is readvertised or they just need a lot of staff - more to be found here

Sheffield United Lose Appeal

Not overly surprising but it looks as though Sheffield United will defintely be playing in the Championship this season.

I think is was a poor decision to contest it - as now their unfrotunate supporters technically get relegated twice in the one season all becuase the Board were looking to deflect the blame!

Some details from the Guardian here and The Times here

Government Changes to Ministers

On Richard Caborn

click here for UK Sport's version on his departure

where he is heading now

the Times view on who to replace him here

the replacement announced here

On Tessa Jowell

she has been moved to the Cabinet office and will take charge of the Olympics as opposed to the otehr functions of the DCMS

James Purnell is now in charge - details here

the CCPR's statement

NFL to Close World League

An interesting shift in the NFL's global marketing strategy - click on the heading to access the article

Job Opportunities

Just a few from the UK Sport site

Closing 2nd July

Racing Communications Officer - Royal Yachting Association

Closing 6th July

Operations and Development Manager - Welsh Yachting Association

Closing 9th July

Player Development Manager - Rugby Football Union for Women

Closing 13th July

Membership and Event Services Manager - British Cycling

Cricket: Crowd Trouble

Cricket has an interesting history of crowd trouble, it has been over - shadowed by football of course. Nevertheless the lenghts the ICC went to to keep spectators off the field during the 2007 WC may have been over the top but definetely a legacy of the sport's past. Click on the title for the article

David Conn on Wimbledon

an opinion of sort - click on the title to go to the link

Join the debate or post a new topic

Sorry to steal the tag form The Times but I just want to highlight some good comments that are coming up from the issues discussed on this site. I have entered them onto a main page as I feel they should be more public than hidden away in the comments section. I reiterate from previous posts you all have the ability to post these thoughts, articles, ideas yourselves – please do as it will make the site much more interesting for you……

2 Comments Close this window Jump to comment form

Rob Lewis said... This could be replicated for most sports as you say - and Oz haven't produced a tennis player since Hewitt and certainly no female top ranked player for a generation. I would have less worry about national champions as role models if there was a decent infrastructure for sport in this country apart from rugby and soccer- I think even cricket suffers although the ECB are at least addressing the issue.

Tennis will always be seen as an elitist sport- it is more class ridden than most sports, difficult to master, and usually poorly coached in schools (as the blog suggests). Each sport needs its own development strategy in the sense that it competes for 'customers' (read participants) and it would be interesting to know why the LTA thinks national champions are a desirable target rather than increased participation in the sport, coupled with increased facilities and access to affordable coaching.

As with cricket, getting young players to experiment with a 'short' version of the game should be encouraged ('short tennis' and paddle tennis is almost non existent outside specialist centres in my experience in the UK compared with, say, Spain). Monday, 11 June, 2007

Tarminder said... The article starts with the 'humiliating news' and it seems as a surprise that country like Serbia can do better than cash rich UK, ... they need to take another look at the amount of tennis played in UK and country like Serbia, Croatia, Czec … etc. Look at our University Tennis team, no British players (except last year we had Rob in the team) and we are all England University Champions. As the blog at the end of the article express lack of opportunity at participation level, it is even more so at the elite level.

Of course, British Tennis is one of the richest associations in the world and those riches come at the cost of players they seek to produce. There are more opportunities in England to train or be coached (i.e. if you have the money to pay for it) at tennis then to actually play the game. Britain is the only country, where the most talented ones, who get all the funding, don’t actually get to play the sport. The coaches in this country think 'tennis coaching is a sport!!' Players are on court as long as coaches are on court. Moreover the competition structure is poor and insufficient to give enough match play to the players.

The only way to measure how well a country does at competitions is to see how much competition is there within the country. For instance, Croatia (neighbouring Serbia) holds four Women ITF $10000 tournaments (lowest prise money tournament for the players who are starting up on the tour) with a qualifying draw of 128 every summer (there are many more of these tournaments throughout the year in that area). This means many local players actually are able to play an international tournament at home - an opportunity to earn world ranking points at the door steps. In contrast, all the international tournaments held in England are so high profile that lower ranked or starter would not get in. In addition, even the ITF $10000 tournaments never have a qualifying draw bigger than 32, again a situation where only ranked players (who are normally foreigners) get in the tournaments.

While I was playing at one of the events in England, one of the coaches at the venue expressed the annoyance about the amount of business and money lost by conducting such events, therefore, the smaller the draw the better. Moreover, there are not enough opportunities for players to play tournaments at local level, leave alone International level. There aren’t enough tournaments, and the referees of the different tournaments will not coordinate to help players play more matches during the week. For most players, these tournaments are the motivating events and a fair chance to test the practicality to peruse career in full time tennis.

I am sorry to say but kids don’t feel motivated to do a sport watching their grandparents playing for social and that little bit of gentle exercise! And that is the age group which plays more tennis then any other in the country (visit of the private clubs on Tuesday morning). Aspiring junior players need to witness and be a participant in the real action of the sport. Tournaments like Wimbledon only create image of wowness and feeling impossibility to achieve that standard in the minds. Boris Becker, three time Wimbledon Champion said in one of his interviews that when he won the first Wimbledon title at the age of 17years, he didn’t realise at the time how big of deal was to win this prestigious title, for him it was just one of the many matches played as he enjoyed playing and winning.

Regarding coaching, as Rob mentioned coaching isn’t that great in the country, it’s actually too good to let players develop. Every coach is an expert, and they rarely listen to each other. (try academics!! - PK) That’s my experience of attending all the coaching conferences. They really don’t even list to the person conducting the conference and are too eager to express their opinion. Also the amount of emphasis is placed on the private one to one coaching for children, correct techniques (as if there is one) and even the money LTA subsidies for the coaching of the tennis players, is beyond my ability to understand. All throughout my training, I have never had a private lesson, it has been all about training. Here, juniors get up to 5 one to one lessons a week, if they are the talented once, the LTA subsidise that.

All I can say is thank goodness Nadal is not British, and if he was, by now British coaches would have spent all his playing time in correcting a funny forehand follow-through, poor backhand technique and not so powerful first serve ... the guy just won French open for the 3rd time in a row with all that, at the age of 21years. Whereas Andy Murray with technique and even the tennis talent level superior to Nadal, haven’t been in the list to title contenders yet, clearly the amount of playing of the game is missing even at Murray’s level. This is not just an opinion, I have been to the base training centre where Nadal and Moya have trained their. The full time players at the centre get 1 ball between the two to train, in England that will be considered very unprofessional on the tennis coaches’ part. Another comparison, Nadal's coach is his uncle who have never played tennis himself at any fancy level, where as the LTA spends close to £1million to hire his American coach, Brad Gilbert. Even the present LTA motto is to "place best coaches with best players!!" Please explain the meaning of the above. My observation of training and teaching in England is that coaches themselves are striving for the glory to be a coach of a champion rather then placing importance on the player or rather a person, an individual ... and giving an opportunity to the player to develop.

They seem to be responsible for every shot a player hits on the court. It has been pointed out in the past, that tennis is over taught in Britain and thus the British players are known to have the best techniques on the circuit. The most talented ones have everything planed for them, when they sleep, what they eat, what their backhand grip should be and etc ... (attention to detail is the name) and when it comes to playing, they lose to the most notorious of the kids from Spain and France (who are moaned at for running around, shouting in the corridors of the hotels in the middle of the night at the tournaments), .... One of the coaches in my interviews told me so. Another thing the LTA recently did was to promote tennis in inner city areas, thinking on the lines of Russian players’ success on the circuit and the fact that they do so well striving to get out of poverty. So what do they do, they officially put the charge on use of pubic courts in the area to structure the tennis. Result, now even on the public courts, tennis coaching is more popular sport then tennis. Does help a lot of tennis coaching to make a good living … I should be the last one to complain!

I don't think Britain should complain about not producing Champions, as the professionals surely do make a lot more money from the sport then any other country does ... (may be US but they have a big head start, and also the advantage from economies of scale). Blaming the bad weather, not enough infrastructures, coaches, no desire among the players ... bla bla bla … for not succeeding are only cover up excusing, for not making the change they really need to make. All the changes in British tennis are very business focused on finance and funding then on the performance. The required change to facilitating better and more playing opportunities (both at participation and performance level) have the potential to take away that elitism of the sport and may seriously affect the business of tennis coaching in the country. Also the secret that tennis is actually not that difficult, specially with the improvement in technology and advancement of equipment, might just come out and take away the sense of difficulty associated with mastering the game, … and may be more and more people will give the game a fair go.
Monday, 18 June, 2007

Funding athletes

a rather harsh view to single out tennis as other sports suffer from this also,

click on the title to reveal the blog piece- doens't seem to harm the australians

Sport Participation Manager

A Sport Participation Job at LOCOG is available, closing on the 22nd

the National Three Peaks Challenge

Dear everyone,

On 12^th July my team (Kevan Taylor, Brigid Macdonald, John Howard) and I (“Team LTA” – corny, I know!!!) will attempt to complete the National Three Peaks Challenge. The Challenge is a mountain endurance test which consists of climbing the three highest peaks of the UK in less than 24 hours. The mountains to be climbed are Ben Nevis in Western Scotland (1344m), Scafell Pike in North-Western England (978m) and Snowdon in North Wales (1085m).

We’re aiming to raise £3500 for Greenhouse Schools Project. Greenhouse Schools Project is a charity that uses sports programmes to teach 11-16 year olds life and social skills. They especially target children who are experiencing difficulties with learning and behaviour or who are living with a disability. If you would like to donate, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/nationalthreepeaks. You can also visit out blogspot http://3peakchallenge.blogspot.com/ to keep up with our training progress and sponsorship!!!

Many, many, many thanks

Nicole

New Logo for 2012

hmmm... maybe it will grow on me

click on the title off this piece to reveal the full press release

and then one for the Guardian Blog

Job Opportunities

Hi all,

Some jobs in sport that are open for applications - also see here for larger list

Week ending 8th June

National Sport Manager - British Wheelchair Sports
Schools Competition Adminsitrator - Lawn Tennis Association

Week ending 15th June

Communications Coordinator - Scottish Sports Association
European & International Officer at the CCPR
Development Assistant - Sport Structures Ltd

Week ending 22nd June

Athlete Services Manager - UK Sports Institute
Volunteer Members - UK Deaf Sport

CCPR's National Conference

CCPR's 35th National Conference took place in May at Grange City Hotel, London.

With keynote speakers such as Tessa Jowell MP, Sports England’s Chair, Derek Mapp and Public Health Secretary, Caroline Flint MP the conference was inspiring and thought provoking for all.

To view speeches made by the speakers click here

Deloitte Review of Football Finance

This report was released today, there is generally some interesting information about football finance, the Times report here, and the guardian here

Burns Report in Football

some interesting stuff from Digger (Paul Kelso) in the guardian here

and also here

or some good background info from John Goodbody and Oliver Kay at The Times here

apologies for late posting

The Vice-Chancellor, Brian Roper, invites you to attend the Caribbean Studies Centre's third Sir Frank Worrell lecture by Tony Crozier, distinguished author, journalist and commentator.

'West-Indies Cricket: Past, present and future'

Thursday 31 May at 6pm

Room T220, Tower Building, North campus

RSVP:Juliet King-Malik j.kingmalik@londonmet.ac.uk

020 7133 3035

ECB Board approves Schofield recommendations

(please see Rob´s comments two posts from here)


The ECB Board received the recommendations of the Schofield review on the evening of Tuesday May 22.

In presenting his report, Ken Schofield communicated the background to each recommendation to the board.

The directors of the ECB board then discussed each recommendation with the chairman of the review.

On May 23 the Board reconvened and warmly welcomed the comprehensive nature of the recommendations, immediately endorsing 17 of the 19 recommendations contained in the review.

It was noted that the 17th recommendation would require a restructuring of the board’s management, including the possible recruitment of new staff.
A restructuring would require a period of consultation and detailed consideration of the implications by the ECB Board.

The Board therefore determined that the chief executive be tasked with bringing forward a report to the Board shortly to outline a process and proposal for a restructuring of the ECB England management structure in accordance with best employment practice and consistent with the vision contained in the review.

The Board further noted that in his presentation of the recommendations Ken Schofield acknowledged that recommendation 14 which relates to the volume of cricket and the prioritisation of one-day cricket should be addressed within the Domestic Structure Review Group which is reporting in the autumn.

The Board was therefore asked to note this recommendation for consideration by the Domestic Structure Review Group and this was agreed.

The Board was pleased to note that the recommendations endorsed the board’s decisions to strengthen the management of Team England, enhance the inclusivity of the first-class counties with Team England and welcomed the clarity of accountability proposed within the report.
David Morgan, the ECB chairman, said: “The Board wishes to express its gratitude to all members of the Schofield review team and in particular to Ken Schofield for his leadership of this review.

“The review was exceptionally well received by the Board and I am delighted that the prompt endorsement of the recommendations will enable the beneficial changes outlined to be implemented in the immediate future.”

Download the recommendations made by the Schofield review by clicking on the file link below:
Schofield Review - Step Changes (48 KB)

Job at London Irish (graduate position)

Community Development Administrator

London Irish Rugby Club are seeking to employ a dynamic individual with the necessary enthusiasm and commitment to help drive the expansion of their Community Development Programme.

The successful candidate will support the existing team by performing various administrative tasks, and will be heavily involved in developing exciting and sustainable community programmes with a particular emphasis on building successful working partnerships with sports clubs, local businesses and the public sector.

Reporting directly to the Community Development Manager, you will be responsible for the organisation and evaluation of our commercial and non-commercial community programmes, of which programme development, sales and fund generation will play an important part.

You must have excellent communication and organisational skills, have an ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

You should be of graduate calibre with an enthusiasm for sport and have a keen interest in sports development. It is essential that you can work independently and from your own initiative as well as being an effective team player.

Applicants must hold a full driving licence with access to a suitable vehicle, and if required, may need to work some evenings and weekends.

It is London Irish Policy that all members of the Community team are Enhanced CRB checked.
Salary: Up to £15,000 p.a.

Job Description
Role and responsibilities within the Community Department (inclusive but not exhaustive of):
• Undertaking of community clerical tasks and responding to public enquiries;
• Co-ordinating and supporting the activities of other London Irish Community staff;
• Organising meetings, training, coaching, tournaments and other events.
• Liaising with local sports councils, regional committees and national governing bodies;
• Consulting with fans, club members, community groups and local sporting organisations;
• Develop community programmes from concept to completion by raising funds/sponsorship, managing budgets, controlling finance and organising subscription
• Collecting, mapping, monitoring and evaluating data for all programmes.
• Promoting, marketing and selling all commercial community programmes.
• Producing Community promotional literature, reports and event materials;
• Presenting to grant-awarding bodies and/or relevant authorities;
• Arranging ;
• Supporting colleagues to encourage and develop sport, health and education in the local, regional and national community;
The potential candidate will display the following skills/characteristics to undertake the role:
• Graduate level or equivalent
• First class communication, organisation, administration and customer service skills
• Good understanding of sports development, sports marketing, education and responsible business
• An effective and positive team player, who is self motivated and can work from own initiative.
• Enthusiastic and passionate about sport
Candidates must also show competency of the following:
• Excellent organisational and planning skills
• IT and Numeracy Skills
• An enthusiastic personality and resilience to deal with uncertainty
• The ability to establish a good rapport and work well with people
• The ability to project a positive image of sport to people within all community sectors
• Commercial and political awareness affecting sports
• A sense of opportunism and creative thinking
It will be beneficial but not essential if the candidate shows the following characteristics:
• Experience with working with children
• Experience of working within sporting events
It is London Irish Policy that all members of the Community Team are Enhanced CRB Checked and all potential candidates will also be required to opt out of the European Working Time Directive.

Please send letter of application and a full CV to
Philippos Kyriacou,
London Irish RFC,
The Avenue, Sunbury-on-Thames,
Middlesex,
TW15 5EQ

or by email to philippos.kyriacou@london-irish.com by Monday 11 June 2007.

Schofiled Report for Cricket

in the lead up to the publishing of the Schofield report I thought I would put a few links up covering the issue

found here, and here , and here, some here and interesting info here also

sorry getting a bit carried away with the blogging :)

English Cricket Team Composition

An interesting article on the lack of afro-carribean players in the England cricket team, it presents an interesting case of how equitable representation is not a process where progress can be taken for granted.

Uefa chief attacks EU labour rules

now this is interesting... could have major conflcit between players and UEFA - and possibly some clubs

By Roger Blitz in London

Published: May 20 2007 22:04 | Last updated: May 20 2007 22:04

Michel Platini, Uefa president, says competitive football is under threat in Europe unless sports are exempted from EU rules on free movement of labour in order to counter the recruiting power of the richest clubs.

Transcript

For the full interview, including Michel Platini on his philosophy, the Tevez case, and the commercialisation and financing of football

Uefa and Fifa, the European and world football governing bodies, say the leading clubs are so wealthy that less well-off teams will struggle to compete on the pitch without some restrictions on the movement of players.

The European Commission is drawing up a white paper on sport. Member states (especially sports ministers), MEPs, and national sporting bodies are lobbying Brussels to recognise the 2000 Nice declaration, which acknowledged the special status of sport in society.

“I hope they will listen to the world of sport,” Mr Platini said. “I am very afraid of the bad decisions they will take for the future of sport. It’s an important moment, and I hope they will understand what people want for the future of sport.”

The Commission is opposed to exempting sports clubs from competition rules, and says an overhaul of the current regime would require the unanimous support of 27 EU governments.

Sports bodies enjoy autonomy in setting the rules of their games, but they are subject to competition rules and all other EU legislation when it comes to their commercial activities.

“We recognise that sport is special, both culturally and legally. Sporting rules fall outside the competition rules, as they should. Where the competition rules do get involved is in the commercial side of sport,” the spokesman for Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, said.

Mr Platini told the FT national associations feared that without a change in the rules rich club owners would continue to use employment tribunals and court cases to keep their top players out of national squads.

The European Court of Justice is hearing a case brought by the Belgian club Charleroi and other elite clubs over whether players have the right to refuse to play for their national teams.

“It’s sport, it is not a product. It is part of our life,” Mr Platini said. “If they say it is a product, it is the end of our sport.”

Mr Platini, one of France’s greatest players and the organiser of France’s World Cup in 1998, was elected to one of the biggest sports governing jobs in January, and has just completed 100 days in the job.

He is bracing himself for a battle with Ms Kroes and Charlie McCreevy, commissioner in charge of internal markets, and says he is ready to appeal over the heads of unelected bureaucrats – who he says have no inkling of the importance of sport to society – to heads of government who are more sympathetic because of football’s popularity.

“You can’t kill the philosophy of 150 years of football, a social activity, because of a commissioner who has never played sport, because of the simple right that a sportsman is a worker,” said Mr Platini.

Mr Platini says he agrees with Fifa’s attempt to limit the number of foreign players in clubs, but such an outcome in Europe was “impossible” because of EU rules on freedom of labour.

Instead, he wants to strengthen football academies by enforcing rules that require teenagers to start their careers with the clubs that train them. “If you can buy the best youth, you never offer the chance for another team to win,” he said.

Uefa has a chilly relationship with the lucrative and internationally popular UK Premier League, but Mr Platini is looking to bring Europe’s elite clubs into Uefa’s fold more than previously, setting up places for clubs and players in a new strategic council that will be agreed at Uefa’s congress in Zurich on May 28.

Additional reporting by Tobias Buck in Brussels

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Ticket perks fall foul of the Inland Revenue

England players face tax demands

Cricinfo staff

May 20, 2007

A report in The Mail On Sunday claims that England's cricketers could face a massive demand for tax on perks they get for international matches.

England players get four tickets, including full hospitality, for each home Test and ODI. Over the summer that could amount to as much as 38 days cricket, and with each package valued at around £600 a day, that totals around £23,000 for someone who plays in all matches. As the players are all in the 40% tax bracket, that could leave them facing a tax bill of more than £9000.

It is unclear how far back the Inland Revenue are looking to go, and the players were only made aware of the issue when they received a letter along with their allocation of tickets for the Lord's Test.

It is understood that the Professional Cricketers' Association will be taking the matter up with both the ECB and the tax authorities.

© Cricinfo

Conservative Sport Policy

David Cameron has outlined his ideas for a conservative sports policy, they can be found here

I'd like to see what people think about this, please comment on any good points or points where Cameron could possibly do with a dose of LTP002N.

Cheers

Paul

Reception Centre Officer - Arsenal Footbal Club

If anyone is interested (probably current students) please see Joanna Rombel in the business placements office on the second floor of Stapleton House

Introduction

Arsenal Football Club has recently relocated to Emirates Stadium, a new 60,000 seat stadium on a 17 acre site close to our traditional home in Highbury. The £350 million project was one of the most ambitious ever undertaken by a Premiership Club and is an important step in the club’s continued development as one of the elite teams in both England and Europe.

The Emirates Stadium project has been great success. In addition to a season of sold out games both in the Premiership and in Europe, we have hosted two internationals and will hosting the Emirates Cup this summer.

This first season has also been an important one from our supporter’s point of view. Some are still acclimatising to their new environment and would like to explore the possibility of moving their seats for next season. The Club is committed to assisting it’s supporters wherever possible and so we are beginning a project this summer with two key aims. Firstly we are looking to resolve as many of the issues supporters have with their seats as possible. Secondly we are planning to contact a significant number of members from our season ticket waiting list with the offer of seats.

The Role

This is an important and demanding role at the heart of a unique and developing project.

The Reception Centre Officer will be responsible for all stages of the supporter service process. Each officer will be allocated a set of members and will be expected to guide them through the process of securing their required seat in Emirates Stadium.

This process will therefore include elements of sales, marketing, accountancy and communications. Each supporter’s issues are as individual as they are and so require a flexible, understanding and sometimes imaginative approach.

The position does not necessarily end with the start of the 07/08 season however. The officers will be required to assist in a variety of different operational roles as we prepare for the summer tournaments and the Premiership kick off in August. We are also keen to extend the opportunity to work on a part time basis with the club to the right candidates.

Required and desirable skills

The successful candidate should demonstrate competency in all ‘Required’ fields below. The ability to meet criteria in the ‘Desirable’ section, whilst not essential would be an advantage.

Required	Desirable
Familiarity with all MS Office applications	Experience of working with ticketing applications
Excellent customer service skills	Experience of working within a customer services environment
Well developed organisational skills	Interest and understanding of the issues facing a modern football club
Good oral and written communication skills
Good interpersonal skills
Ability to work effectively within the team

The Benefits

Salary

The starting salary for these roles will be £8.00 per hour.

Type of appointment

Initially these posts will be fixed-term appointments for three months with the possibility of further part time employment throughout the 07/08 season.

Extensive training and development opportunities

Arsenal Football Club are fully committed to training and development of all employees. We offer every opportunity to our employees to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to do their jobs well.

Working hours

Your hours will be the equivalent of 35 hours a week excluding daily lunch breaks of one hour. There will also be scope for overtime as required.

Holiday allowance

You will be entitled to 1.5 days of holiday allowance per month employed.

Diversity & Equal Opportunities policies

Arsenal Football Club believes a diverse workforce makes a positive impact on what we can achieve. We want to do everything we can to ensure that we reflect our supporters and community, valuing diversity every step of the way.

Eligibility

These posts are open to those UK nationals, Commonwealth citizens, nationals of EC and EEA states, and nationals of Switzerland who have the right to live and work in the UK.

We recruit and promote strictly on ability and performance. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals. We do not discriminate on grounds of gender, marital status, race, colour, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, community background or age subject to our standard staff retirement policy.

Cricket Playing Issues..... again

It looks like the frictitious relationship between the International Cricket Player Union (FICA) chief - Tim May - and his counterpart ICC chief - Malcolm Speed continues. The players union published a report in the media here which is fairly negative about the administration and direction of the international game. The ICC reponded with this - which was quite interesting (maybe I should send them a research proposal to control for thier issues:)

For once I feel for the administrators as it is a pretty poor survey and poorly researched and released.

I will see if I can dig up an artcile I wrote for Cricinfo (which wasnt accepted) and post it here. It regards the Tim May - Malcolm Speed thing - it is from the burnout issue at the start of last year, but basically these two have been after each other since 1997.

West Ham Issues

Some clearer details on what is going on - here

I am not sure whether the clubs will win the case - an independent commission sat and found nothing wrong with the transfers, the penalties may not be correct based off past experience (precedence) but football is hardly an open, transparent business.

Will be interesting to see how it goes but I wouldn't advise Sheffield United to hold their collective breaths.

Thaksin closes in on Manchester City deal

By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok and Roger Blitz in London

Published: May 16 2007 18:54 | Last updated: May 16 2007 18:54

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's exiled former prime minister, is close to making a formal bid for Manchester City, the UK football club, and is understood to have identified a new manager for the Premier League side.

An announcement from both parties is expected “within days” according to people close to the deal.

Bangkok’s media has been speculating as to whether Mr Thaksin, who was de­posed in a military coup last year, would be able to release funds held in local banks. But it is understood that Mr Thaksin is funding the bid from private assets and has lodged monies for the bid with his financial advisers, to the satisfaction of Manchester’s board.

“It is there, they can see it,” one person close to the deal said. The club’s board members are also thought to be satisfied that Mr Thaksin has the right credentials for completing the deal.

Mr Thaksin, who built Thailand's largest telecommunications empire before entering politics in the 1990s, holds nearly all his publicly acknowledged wealth in Thai­land.

Mr Thaksin's administration was overthrown in September, after a long political crisis triggered by his family's controversial $1.9bn, tax-free sale of their stake in Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

Thai foreign exchange cont­rols require investors to obtain central bank sanction to buy a foreign business – and Thais have been speculating over whether such approval would be forthcoming for Mr Thaksin to buy Manchester City.

Many Thais believe Mr Thaksin has undisclosed funds outside of Thailand, but Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a Chulalongkorn University political scientist, said if the former premier tapped those resources for the Manchester City purchase, it would leave him liable to charges from the Thai government. "They could accuse him of hiding money off shore," Mr Thitinan said.

Yet as ardently as they wish for Mr Thaksin to fade from view, obstructing his takeover of Manchester City would be a high-risk move for the coup-makers.

"The Manchester City deal is going to be a big dilemma for the Thai authorities, for the central bank, and for the military," said Mr Thitinan. "If there is a transaction, Manchester City will stand for Thaksin. If the deal falls through, people will have sympathy for him because he is being bullied."

Talk of the takeover is generating intense interest among football-crazy Thais, much to the chagrin of the coup-makers who are desperate to erase the ousted leader from the public consciousness. Mr Thaksin was involved in the dismissal of Stuart Pearce, the club manager, this week and is said to have been in discussion with a potential successor who is managing a club in continental Europe.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

You thought there was a lot of cash in football??

Louis Vuitton Cup

---

Pleasure cruise aboard the ultimate rich man's toy

Matt Scott gets a taste of $120m of America's Cup action on Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle challenger

Matt Scott
Tuesday May 15, 2007

Guardian

If Roman Abramovich thinks he is getting a slice of the action with his £500m investment in Chelsea, perhaps he should take a look at Larry Ellison's toys. That is because Ellison, who with £10.6bn is 11th on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, compared with Abramovich's 16th, actually gets to be part of his America's Cup yacht-racing team. Every day Ellison clambers down from his super-yacht, Rising Sun, which at 450ft long is bigger than any in Abramovich's three-yacht fleet, to go racing aboard USA-98.

He is no Jonah. The computer magnate's boat has qualified as BMW Oracle for the semi-finals of the challenger series for the America's Cup after coming second in the 10-team round-robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Trophy and last week I was a guest aboard while they raced against the fourth-placed Desafio Español.

It seemed to me that Ellison did not do much beyond taking readings of the distance between his yacht and the Spanish to give updates on progress. With the race already won after two hours in the Mediterranean off Valencia, he did snaffle some of the glory by taking the helm from his skipper, Chris Dickson, as the boat ran across the line with its spinnaker flying. Where Ellison did come into his own, though, was in founding and funding this highly successful team.

In this America's Cup, BMW Oracle is the so-called "challenger of record", which means it organises the preliminary regatta (alongside the holders) on behalf of all the other challengers in what is sport's oldest international tournament. More pertinently, it has been brought to Valencia with an investment estimated at $120m (£60m).

Drawing an analogy suited to an Oracle-sponsored boat, the New Zealander Dickson refers to the equipment as "the hardware" and the 17-man crew as "the software", but soft they are not. The budget has assembled a team of elite yachtsmen from around the world: Dickson is a five-times America's Cup campaigner, as is the American navigator, Peter Isler.

Dickson's 33-year-old compatriot, Gavin Brady, is already in his fourth cup and holds world titles in four different classes. With such talent aboard, Dickson is able to turn his boat like a formula one car. In the pre-start, where two boats vie for the better end of the start line, their activity is furious as ropes and rigging groan under the pressure and water spills over the gunwales. But such is the practised precision of the sailors that there is a silent calmness to their activities.

Energy is saved instead for output. Two men occupy each of three energy-sapping grinders, large winch barrels for hauling in the halyards that raise the sails and the sheets that trim them. It is estimated that the grinders can burn 5,000 calories in a day's sailing; it is small wonder they have backs and shoulders like rugby props.

But sailing is not only a contest against human opposition but also the elements, and here is where the former Olympian Brady's faculties are priceless. Spotting wind shifts and gusts is one of his focal roles and his accuracy is breathtaking: several times he said fresh gusts were 40 seconds away and you could set your watch by his predictions. "Growing up on little boats and getting it wrong, you capsize and get wet, so you learn very quickly," said Brady. But, as in everything to do with these yachts, natural aptitude is enhanced by technology.

"You have to guess the way the wind will hit the boat and you can see that because of the type of glasses we wear. They are polarised to show different colours according to the wind direction. If there is a darker patch on the water, that is a puff of wind. Whether it is a lift or a header is about the angle that it hits the boat. Because we have a 120ft mast, it hits aloft 10 seconds earlier than it hits the hull because of the friction of the water."

Everything to do with these boats is expertly engineered, and even the Henri Lloyd clothing is designed to optimise the power and concentration of the sailors around the course. The Australian Rod Daniel, who is a boat builder by trade but is competing in his third campaign with BMW Oracle, explains why America's Cup racing is known as sailing's formula one.

"A lot of the people in the racing team are from a technical background who've wanted to get off the tools and put in place what they know," he said. "There are other guys with a sails background, and I had a few ideas about the hull design. The boat-building team have got the tolerances down to nothing. There is a lot of load - these are big brutes."

I'd say Ellison has his money's worth.