The Fan

Who to support for Euro 2008

The Fan adopts a country for June

With England having failed to qualify, how to decide which country to adopt?

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Cardiff City’s main financial backers have initiated legal proceedings against the club over claims they have not repaid more than £30m in debts.

 

The Cardiff board has been accused of financial mismanagement, and of misleading the public to the extent of the debt. The £30m sum is the combination of the original £24m loan, plus £6m in interest. The club had indicated that the £24m debt, which was raised when Ridsdale took over from Sam Hamman, had been written off for equity in the club.

Ridsdale has said:

“The statements released… seem to be an ill-informed mixture of fiction and general confusion.”

 

Ridsdale also claims that the club have been unable to speak to their creditors as they do not know who they are, and that previous chairman Hammam acted as go-between, refusing to reveal their identity.

See: BBC - Cardiff facing court over £30m and Guardian - Ridsdale fights back as Cardiff are hit by writ over £30m debt

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[Alex Ferguson] admitted that he has no intention of ending his interest in a player he believes will be a crucial addition to his squad.

Ferguson said: “I would imagine that we can all get things done before the deadline, but we would wait for Tevez anyway if we have to. We’ve gone so far now, there’s no point stepping back.

 

Perhaps, if Ferguson had not fielded a weakened team against West Ham on the final day of last season, he could have relegated the Hammers rather than Sheffield Utd, presumably invoking a release clause in Tevez’s contract.

From: Man United to tough it out for Carlos Tevez - Telegraph

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League chairman Brian Malwhinney: “In re-branding The Football League we made a serious, long-term commitment to encouraging a new generation of supporters to our matches. We aim to get more families and more young fans going along to watch their local Football League club. This new policy will ensure that doing so does not have a negative effect on their health.”

From: Bulls News

 

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Striker offers to play for free

Veteran Claridge aims to reach 1,000th game

40-year old striker Steve Claridge is offering to play for free as he aims to clock up his 1,000th appearance.

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My favourite:

“To put it in gentleman’s terms if you’ve been out for a night and you’re looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they’re good looking and some weeks they’re not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She weren’t the best looking lady we ended up taking home but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let’s have a coffee”

More from: Wikipedia

 

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Plymouth manager Ian Holloway entered the row over women officials in his own inimitable way:

“I don’t care what sex, creed or colour you are… as long as they’re in the right areas of the ground. I don’t want them coming in the dressing room looking at everybody with the wangers hanging out! That’s not right…”

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The Football League has lost its claim for £150m in damages from its former legal advisers over a collapsed £140m television deal.

The League’s deal with ITV digital collapsed when the TV company went bankrupt. This left many clubs without money promised to them, which many clubs had already budgeted towards playing costs and ground improvements.

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Celtic striker John Hartson says he is shocked by the news that the SPL champions have accepted an offer for him from West Brom.

 

I’m shocked that West Brom have bid for John Hartson, but probably different reasons.

By the way (and I know I’ve said this before), I cannot believe John Hartson is only 31!

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England new boy Aaron Lennon took a pay cut when leaving Leeds Utd for Tottenham Hotspurs, despite rising a league from the Championship to the Premier League.

Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell explained: “The contract that he had was so prohibitive to Leeds - it came from the Premiership days - that there was no way we could afford to keep him.”

From: BBC

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