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- In addition to this site, try the combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If your're interested in constantly-updated QPR-related news; QPR nostalgia; and some other broader football-related isssues: QPR Report Messageboard is there for you. All opinions welcome! Click to continue reading...

Some quotes by Managing Director Derek Llambias today details just how much the ownership of Newcastle is out of step with the fans. Mike Ashley completely out of touch with the fans Derek just doesn't understand where the fans are coming from and it seems like they don't want to. Here's what Derek Llambias said: "It's [. Click to continue reading...

International arts group METAL - based in Chalkwell Park in Southend - has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the longest line of continuous bunting.
The continuous stream of small flags, cotton and ribbon was created by more than 50 local schools and community groups. It's the exact length of Southend on Sea's landmark pier - 2158 metres or 1. Click to continue reading...

English Premier League club Liverpool may have had a difficult week on the pitch, but has had a great time off it, adding its second new sponsor in three days.
Halliwell Jones BMW will become the club's official supplier of motor vehicles this season, a position which entitles it to 'prominent exposure at Anfield, engagement with Liverpool Football Club's fan base and the opportunity to provide fans with unique football and motoring experiences. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle manager Chris Hughton is convinced St James' Park will always be St James' Park. Chris - seems to align himself behind the fans Owner Mike Ashley and Managing Director Derek Llambias caused further outrage yesterday when they said the 52,000-capacity stadium will now be known as the sportsdirect. Click to continue reading...

strong>In the latest salvo of the Ashley counter offensive, Newcastle United's managing Director, Derek Llambias, has been revealing the depth of Mike Ashley's financial black hole in an interview for Radio Newcastle. He moaned about the financial meltdown involved when a monster £70 million wages club that is supposed to be geared up for European [. Click to continue reading...

Oh Sweet Jesus!

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Newcastle United have angered fans with plans to rename their ground the sportsdirect.com@St James' Park Stadium until the end of the season.

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Big Story
So, despite protests from fans and politicians, Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has further cemented his unpopularity on Tyneside by announcing the renaming of St. James' Park apparently believing that adding an "@" symbol to it means the club is respecting history.

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Yes you read that right Newcastle United have decided to call their stadium -Â sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park with immediate effect. Managing director Derek Llambias said the famous ground would bear the name of owner Mike Ashley's Company until the end of the season, when naming rights would be sold on the open market. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez's future at Liverpool will be determined over their next three games amid growing concern from potential investors.
Liverpool's defeat at Fulham on Saturday was the sixth in their last seven matches - the worst sequence of results for more than 50 years.
And Benitez takes his crisis-hit squad to Lyon on Wednesday knowing defeat could finish their Champions League campaign. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez has claimed success at Liverpool should not be measured in trophies.
The Merseysiders pride themselves as being the most successful club in England, with 18 titles and five European Cups.
But Benitez, who takes Liverpool into a week that could decide their Champions League fate after Saturday's shock 3-1 defeat at Fulham, said: "I don't agree when people say that you have to win trophies. Click to continue reading...

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Of all the decisions to be made on head coaching positions in Major League Soccer this off-season, perhaps none is being watched more carefully than the New York Red Bulls' decision on whether to keep Richie Williams as head coach.

Hiring Williams would seem like a no-brainer for a club that watched him take a hopeless team and transform it into a respectable one that posted more points in eight matches (11) than it posted in its first 22 (10).

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Of all the decisions to be made on head coaching positions in Major League Soccer this off-season, perhaps none is being watched more carefully than the New York Red Bulls' decision on whether to keep Richie Williams as head coach.

Hiring Williams would seem like a no-brainer for a club that watched him take a hopeless team and transform it into a respectable one that posted more points in eight matches (11) than it posted in its first 22 (10).

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Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, news tonight emanating from St. James Park is that Mike Ashley has removed Newcastle United from the market and the club is no longer for sale.

Here is the press release in full from the club's official website:

NEWCASTLE United are delighted to announce that Chris Hughton has been named the permanent manager of the Club, his contract will run until the end of the 2010/11 season.

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What will that victory do for confidence at Anfield?
Liverpool desperately needed that win yesterday. They had gone into the game on the back of four successive defeats, which is almost unheard of at Anfield. You had to go back to 1987 for the last time that had happened and go back to 1953 for the last time they had lost five games on the spin. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow has backed under-fire boss Rafael Benitez and insisted the Reds will not fire the Spaniard even if they fail to win the Premier League.
Benitez has come under pressure in recent weeks after the Merseysiders suffered four defeats in a row and face Manchester United at Anfield today in desperate need of a win to avoid slipping 10 points behind their bitter rivals. Click to continue reading...

Saudi sports investor F6 claim George Gillett's talks with them were not about buying his stake in Liverpool.
Liverpool co-owner Gillett visited Riyadh this week to discuss possible investment opportunities with reports suggesting Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah could buy Gillett's 50 per cent stake in the English giants. Click to continue reading...

Southend is putting together an ambitious bid to become the UK's first ever City of Culture.
The year long accolade - beginning on 1st January 2013 - would enable the winning location to host big ticket national cultural events, as well as putting on a year-long programme of their own. Click to continue reading...

In the wake of the recent new sponsorship deal with London-based bank Standard Chartered, new Liverpool-Kop writer Joe Rimmer believes it's about time somebody praised the job that 'managing director' Christian Purslow has done since he arrived at Liverpool in June 2009.

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Criticise the Americans all you want, but the one thing they seem to have done well since they arrived from across the pond is to increase the commercial value of the club. Click to continue reading...

Despite Liverpool concluding a world record shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered earlier this month - a partnership the bank put down to the club's huge global fan-base - managing director Christian Purslow has warned that those same fans could put off other sponsors.
There has been great discontent at Anfield over the club's management by owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, which has manifested itself in a number of fan protests. Click to continue reading...

In the wake of Liverpool's new £80m shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered (nice touch ending both words with that beautiful -rd sound, btw), the club's managing director Christian Purslow (pictured above, far right) met with a delegation from the Sons of Shankly fan group, which has led the charge to drive Hicks and Gillett to sell the club.

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Tom Hicks, the co-owner of English soccer club Liverpool, has vowed that the club will not rest on its laurels after securing a world record shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered worth more than US$130 million over the next four years.
Hicks expects that deal - which will see Standard Chartered sell Liverpool shirts in its branches throughout Asia - to be worth more than it is at first glance, while the club's managing director Christian Purslow is spearheading a number of other commercial sponsorships, including one with outgoing shirt sponsors Carlsberg. Click to continue reading...

St. Louis will host a site visit Monday by a key member of the national bid committee attempting to lure the World Cup soccer tournament to the United States in either 2018 or 2022.

John Kristick, managing director of bid planning and operations for the USA Bid Committee, will evaluate St. Louis and the Edward Jones Dome as a potential site to host games should the U.

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Rafael Benitez has once again insisted that Javier Mascherano is not for sale and wants him to extend his stay at Liverpool.
The Argentina international was heavily linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer before Xabi Alonso completed his transfer to Real Madrid, ending any hopes Mascherano had of leaving Anfield. Click to continue reading...

The Sunday Sun is reporting today that Managing Director Derek Llambias could be  ready to  leave the club – even if Mike Ashley stays on as owner. Ashley and Llambias - the less than dynamic duo Apparently Llambias's position is under review , with Ashley considering appointing an experienced football administrator to run the famous Tyneside [. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool's new shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered is undoubtedly a major coup.
Few clubs could attract such a lucrative agreement, especially considering the recent economic downturn.
It highlights that after years of underachievement Liverpool now possess a commercial team capable of ensuring that off the pitch the club realises its potential. Click to continue reading...

Rafa worried that speculation may have affected player's form.

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Rafael Benitez has once again insisted that Javier Mascherano is not for sale and wants him to extend his stay at Liverpool.
The Argentina international was heavily linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer before Xabi Alonso completed his transfer to Real Madrid, ending any hopes Mascherano had of leaving Anfield.

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Christian Purslow, the managing director of Liverpool, has vowed to invest the proceeds from the club's record-equalling £80 million sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered, the London-based international bank, in team rebuilding and ruled out the prospect of income from the agreement being used to reduce debt. Click to continue reading...

Tom Hicks, the Liverpool co-owner, has joined the charm offensive after the signing of the most lucrative sponsorship deal in the club's history by promising to cut debt levels at Anfield and claiming a new era of stability is under way.
The Texan businessman went as far as to compare Liverpool's financial situation favourably with Manchester City, arguing that the business model at the City of Manchester City Stadium is "not sustainable". Click to continue reading...

The £80m raised by Liverpool's biggest commercial deal will be reinvested in the club, according to the new managing director, Christian Purslow. In his first interview since succeeding Rick Parry, Purslow said the four-year shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank would be the first step towards transforming Liverpool into "the biggest football team in the world". Click to continue reading...

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez today stressed he is working well with new Anfield managing director Christian Purslow – following the well-documented tensions which existed with his predecessor Rick Parry.
Said Benitez: "We are working very hard together, very close.
"I would say we have a meeting not just every week but every day. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool today announced a new shirt-sponsorship deal with Standard Charter, a multi-national banking group.The deal worth £20 million a year for four years will dwarf the £7.5 million a year that long-standing sponsors Carlsberg had been paying the club.Liverpool's Managing Director Christian Purslow said: ''This is a huge step forward for the club financially and that can only be helpful to create the conditions in which we can restart the stadium project. Click to continue reading...

Good News.

Standard Chartered Bank is to become the main sponsor of Liverpool football club after signing a four-year deal.
The agreement, which begins in July, runs to the end of the 2013-14 season and will end Liverpool's 17-year association with brewer Carlsberg.

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I've refrained from discussing the whole Paul Pogba/Le Havre thing for a few days, because I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. My goal is to do a fair amount of research and lay it out as best I can. For now, I thought you all might enjoy this gem that was uncovered over on RedCafe.

It seems that Pogba originally played with Roissy-en-Brie before joining U.

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The English Premier League was shaken up this week when it was announced that FIFA issued a ban for the next two transfer windows to Chelsea for "inducing" a player to break his contract with his club and join the club. Speculation has grown that Manchester United could be facing a similar ban over the signing of Paul Pogba.

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