Is the Phoenix League a genuine breakaway threat to the Premier League?
So, the Phoenix League. If we are to believe what the Daily Mail says, and who wouldn’t, “revolution” is afoot. Some-time soon, possibly next season, more likely in 2004 when the current TV deal expires, 14 clubs will leave the Football League to form a second tier of the Premier League, where they will be joined by two clubs demoted from the top level, together with Celtic and Rangers.
Dave Jennings gives his impression on Bradford City – years of under achievement, home supporters and what went wrong last season
Why have City underachieved for so long?
Bradford may be a big city, but in recent years it hasn’t been prosperous. Not many people have a lot of spare cash, and City have never had an exclusive claim on the sporting public. Until 1970, soccer loyalties were divided between two lower- division clubs: City and Park Avenue. The latter then lost their League status and folded four years later, but City still have to compete with the highly successful rugby league team, Bradford Bulls. At least there’s no danger of their fixtures clashing, as they are currently groundsharing at Valley Parade.
Tuesday 2 Nine Austrian players refuse to fly to Israel for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier. “It is far too dangerous there,” says one of them, Walter Kogler. Joe Royle says he is suing Man City for a £500,000 pay-off, on the basis that they were still a Premiership club when he was sacked in May, even though they had finished in a relegation spot.
Anthony Hobbs talks QPR – what's gone wrong in recent years, bad signings and mergers
What has been the main reason for the club’s steady decline over the past few seasons?
The then chairman Richard Thompson failed to invest in the squad six or seven years ago, at a time when a moderate outlay might have paid dividends through revenue generators such as UEFA Cup qualification (don’t laugh, we weren’t that far away). His successor, Chris Wright, was much more willing to invest at first. Sadly, he and his managers almost seemed a bit too desperate to buy players and showed all the judgement of the bloke who bought £70,000 worth of Railtrack shares the day before they went belly-up.
Suddenly, all official club websites look alike. It's another triumph for commerce over diversity and independance, says Jan Lotze
In a move which proves that the desire for money will always overrule quality, all 72 Nationwide League clubs, and a handful in the Premiership, have effectively handed over control of their official websites to Premium TV, a subsidiary of the broadcaster NTL. Lured by an initial six-figure fee, and with the promise of further revenue dependent on traffic and the number of “referrals” to an online betting shop, clubs have opted to buy and operate the PTV software for the next five years.