David Conn - Recent posts
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- Five Days From Now: The Asian Football Awards: Nominees Include Tony Fernandes and Lakshmi
Mittal...Also a couple of other QPR Nominations
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For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the
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One emerging problem with the "benefactor model" of club ownership is "what happens next?"
Blackburn Rovers have struggled with this problem since their 1990s benefactor, steel magnate Jack
Walker, died in 2000. And current owners Venky's are not, yet anyway, the solution. Walker, who
famously took Rovers to/bought the 1995 Premier League title, made some post-benefactor plans,
forming the "Jack Walker Settlement" (JWS), a trust based in the Jersey tax haven, where he lived
from 1974, when his riches attracted taxes which the great benefactor was.
Its a form of 'Pass the Parcel'. A crowd of Russian, Israeli, Hungarian, Hong Kong and even
British businessmen sit in a darkened room and spin poor old Pompey around until it ends up in the
hands of one or more of them. The holder then has to keep it going until he finds an exit strategy.
Then it goes back on the table with the same players and gets spun around again.
I was still researching Watford owner Laurence Bassini's last no-show at a fans' forum when the
headline "Watford owner to face fans' Q&A" appeared on the BBC Football website's homepage. By the
time I'd done my research and clicked onto the story itself, Bassini had "no-shown" again. It is
remarkable and depressing the lengths to which some fans will go to justify actions taken by their
own club and/or its owners.
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- One Year ago: Briatore Speaks about "Dreaming" about Lippi as QPR Manager.
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(Photos from Bushman's Archives) - NEXT: CHELSEA
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Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates,
comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and
off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.
Hillsborough disaster: a case of class injustice? | Michael White
Monday's Commons debate on the tragedy sounded like a prime example of old-fashioned class
justice meted out to the working class by their old foe in blue – the police Despite David Conn
's excellent articles in the Guardian, I must admit to a sceptical shrug when catching the start of
Monday's Commons debate on the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster.
The Hillsborough disaster's legacy of lies | David Conn
Had responsibility for the football tragedy been accepted early on, there would be no need for a
parliamentary debate The families of the 96, mostly young, people who died on the terraces of
Hillsborough have waited 22 years, not only for the authorities culpable to acknowledge their
responsibility.
Liverpool have good day at the office as owners seek an equitable life | Paul
Hayward
Kenny Dalglish's men have begun to turn the corner in their efforts to rebuild Liverpool's
standing in the market place Until this week there was the sense of it being one long handshake –
one big nod to the Kop tradition – but now Liverpool's new owners are getting down to business,
coveting a larger share of overseas TV rights and bemoaning the cost of modern players.
I think anybody who follows this blog on a regular basis will be current on what has happened in
Indonesian football this year and certainly I have no intention of rehashing the year so
far...again.
We've had the Liga Primer Indonesia start, go into a mid season break then end with a whimper,
their slogan of Change The Game quietly shunted to one side when it was realised the only change
was in the people running the game.
Many years ago, I listened to prize-winning author and ultra-famous Arsenal fan Nick Hornby
reading extracts from the book which made his name, Fever Pitch. And the reading was a
disappointment. Hornby was good, but just not as funny as the voice, indeterminate and certainly
not my own, in which I'd read the original.
John W Henry turns from Red Sox to red shirts for the global gains | David
Conn
In the second of our exclusive series, the US owners of Liverpool talk about their investment
motives, the merits of Kenny Dalglish and the players he signed – and that thorny stadium issue
In his apartment on the 11th floor of Boston's five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Liverpool's
principal owner, John W Henry, and chairman, Tom Werner, watched on Fox Soccer Network what could
be Liverpool's most significant match of the season, last month's 4-0 demolition by Tottenham
Hotspur.
David Conn on the ramifications of Liverpool's overseas TV deal plans
View the full story here: Talksport
A news article on 2011-10-12 18:44:28 from: Talksport
This news item has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the
opinion of Kop That.
Liverpool's owners battle boom and bust after Boston Red Sox stumble | David
Conn
The Boston Red Sox success story came crashing down last month but John W Henry and Fenway
Sports Group believe the same approach can benefit Liverpool For the owners of Liverpool Football
Club – John W Henry, Tom Werner and their partners in Fenway Sports Group – the honeymoon is
over.
Tearing up the pooled TV deal is a recipe for the rich to get richer | David
Conn
Since the establishment of the Premier League clubs have divided TV revenue between them, but
this is under threat So, in relaxed, celebratory mood a year on from the court battle which ousted
Tom Hicks and George Gillett from Liverpool and installed new Americans, Fenway Sports Group, as
the club's owners, the managing director, Ian Ayre, mused out loud about breaking up the Premier
League TV deal.
What on earth is happening at Leeds? I was at Elland Road last Saturday among 600 Pompey fans
and the change in atmosphere since last season was palpable. Last year, the atmosphere impressed
with fans in good voice and scarves whirling. This year, though, Elland Road is not a happy place,
evidenced by the draconian, 1980s style crowd control methods and the strangely messianic images of
the club's chairman in his seat flashed onto the big screen above our heads.
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From the Bushman Archives: Loftus Road Pre-QPR (For other Photos from Bushman's Collection, See
Photo Archives)
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Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates,
comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and
off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.
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- Identify The Players
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Forty Years Ago Today: Trevor Francis vs Gerry Francis (Gerry and QPR won!)
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Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates,
comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and
off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.
Hillsborough families say documents should go through independent panel | David
Conn
Why the Hillsborough families back the documents going through an independent panel, rather than
being released to the public first The most important point to make about the controversy over
government documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster is that the issues at stake are not
as substantial as they appear.
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Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates,
comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and
off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general....Also Follow:
QPR REPORT ON TWITTER_____________________________________________________________________________________
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It's takeover announcement day (Hopefully!
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- The QPR Team of 1898! For More: See Bushman's Photo History of QPR's Founding Years
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Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates,
comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and
off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.
The Premier League has priced out fans, young and old| David Conn
Ticket prices have soared way beyond the cumulative 77.1% inflation rate for 20 years and
excluded traditional support bases In the 20th year since the First Division clubs broke away from
the Football League to keep the new satellite TV fortunes and form the Premier League, money has
transformed the game – and the price of watching it.
The question comes up time and again: "Is there still such a thing as mainstream football
media?"
I'll leave the question aside in a North American context, but there clearly is in some parts of
the world, namely England, where the football league's tussle with the mainstream press over the
latter's reluctance to be monetarily extorted has resulted in some interesting apologetics, most
notably from the Telegraph's Henry Winter.
With everybody now seemingly on Twitter, it is difficult to know who is worth following especially
if you're looking for decent football opinions. So it is that I've tried to compile a list of the
best people out there who are well worth following. Be warned, however that as a rule I tend not to
follow player - do they ever have anything really of interest to say?
It seems to me there are three distinct types of football writing.
First, we have the straight-up, journalistic, newspaper style match-report. There are some
intriguing variations on this approach, like Michael Cox's Zonal Marking with its intense tactical
hermeneutics, or the florid style you might sometimes find in a strange place like the Mirror,
incorporating all sorts of colourful, often mixed metaphors that end up featured in the opening
pages of When Saturday Comes.
One of things I've been interested in since the recent FIFA corruption debacle and its subsequent
disappearance under the regular news cycle is the transformation of the impartial sports journalist
into anti-FIFA crusader.
I don't think this is necessarily a negative development, and we're far off from seeing any
editorializing in actual news articles, but the line is slowly blurring.
It hasn't been the best of weeks for the Premier League. If it had thought that its jettisoning
of funding for Supporters Direct would be largely uncommented upon by the press, they were perhaps
under-estimating the effects of their hasty decision. The pick of the bunch came from Marina Hyde,
whose systematic takedown of Richard Scudamore bordered upon the artful in cutting
through the PR talk and mealy-mouthed justifications for their swingeing actions, but there were
also worthy comments of note on the matter from David Conn, Martin
Samuel and Dan Roan of the BBC.
It should go without saying that if you are looking for the best writing on the current car
crash that is FIFA at the moment, you should probably be following, amongst others, Matt
Scott, David Conn and Paul Kelso on Twitter, to say the
least.
Their Words "I said to Jack, 'What are you doing? In 21 years we have never bought a vote, we have
had elections and been in office all that time and never bought a vote'." CONCACAF general
secretary Chuck Blazer. Other Sources Jack Warner: analysing the Fifa allegations - from The
Guardian's David Conn: Doubts have long been expressed about how the Goal money is distributed.
JACK WARNER/SEPP BLATTER/FIFA CIRCUSAnd the train kept a rollin' all night long!
The Telegraph reports that Sepp Blater has been added to the list of people being investigated for
FIFA ethics violations.
David Conn of the Guardian asks and does his best to answer 10 questions regarding the whole farce.
You know an institution is a touch dodgy when the man many are hoping can overthrow its
questionable leader, is himself caught in the middle of a bribery scandal. Is this the start of the
end for Sepp Blatter, or will it just clear the field for his reign to continue unopposed. Chuck
Blazer, who seems to have walked straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel, has certainly set the cat
among the pigeons.
STARTERSBen Rycroft of Canadian Soccer News brings us a great inspirational video, and an ethos I firmly
believe: Support Local Soccer
-There is a funny part in there where a guy from Toronto begs you to love your local team, all the
while wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball hat.
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Photo from Bushman's Archive: Remembering QPR's 1968/69 Season (Their First-Ever in the
First Division)Any American or Canadian Readers of QPR Report/QPR Report Messageboard? (Or any QPR Fans
from Central or South America?)-
Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are
posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard.
New YSA Podcast brings together Unholy Union, Union Dues, Section133 and Union City Blue. What
man could make this happen? Earl Gardner, of course.
Reading United and Twin Valley Soccer Club announce a deal for the latter to become a
development partner. Very, very cool. The affiliation will promote both player and coach
development.
Since I first ventured onto these hallowed pages back in about 1924, there have been those
amongst the readership convinced that I've had to move aside my Aston Villa season ticket and
"Champions 1981" coffee mug to get to my keyboard, whilst Peter Withe winning the European Cup via
both posts from a yard and a half out plays on a constant tape loop in the background.
David Conn's article on the finances of the 20 Premiership clubs is a continued portrayal of
clubs living beyond their means. Some are better geared towards fulfilling the requirements of
UEFA's financial fair play rules set to kick in next season. Amongst them Arsenal is held up as a
standard because of their self sustaining model.
From David Conn.
The key in all this is always the wage bills. Fulham are in at £49m.
Chelsea: 174
City: 133
United: 132
Liverpool: 121
Arsenal: 110
Villa: 80
Spurs: 67
Sunderland: 54
Everton: 54
West Ham: 54
Fulham: 49
Blackburn: 47
Newcastle: 47
Bolton: 46
Stoke: 45
Wigan: 39
Birmingham: 38
Wolves: 30
WBA: 23
Blackpool: 13
These are 2010 figures, so may have shifted (City and Chelsea probably both up, United too I
guess).
Here we go again with Serie A Weekly giving you a list of five stories to read this lunchtime
that we have seen from around the web and enjoyed ourselves. Many of these will be about Italian
football of course but there is always room for something different and those will be here too.
Take a look at our recommendations, pass them on and be sure to leave a comment on these great
articles.
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Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are
posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR
REPORT ON TWITTER_____________________________________________________________________________________
TEAMS: QPR vs LEICESTERQPR v LEICESTER - TEAM NEWS
Posted on: Sat 05 Mar 2011
QPR: Kenny, Orr, Hill, Derry, Hall, Taarabt, Helguson, Buzsaky, Faurlin, Routledge, Shittu.
