Make sure you’re the Lucky One by following Skelton March 10, 2022 THIS is the time when punters all over the country are on tenterhooks ahead of the biggest betting week of the year. There is nothing like the Cheltenham Festival and with racegoers back in their droves after a two-year absence, expect a red hot atmosphere at Prestbury Park next week. The last big chance to [...]
Fit and proper? Time for a regulator to fix football’s broken market March 10, 2022 The word unprecedented is thrown around a lot, and often, it’s overdone. But it has to be said that a major Premier League club being pseudo-nationalised due to its Russian owner’s links with a warmongering dictator in eastern Europe is not something we remember happening all that often. In the immediate term, it is not [...]
Branding and product partnerships push football clubs into the fintech arena, and vice versa March 10, 2022 The fintech industry has never been fiercer. Funding levels have reached astronomical levels, as new ideas percolate throughout the financial ecosystem, meaning more and more fintechs are becoming experts and pioneers in a very specific aspect of the financial landscape. By adopting a collaborative as opposed to a competitive mindset, firms are given a platform [...]
Chelsea match given go-ahead by Premier League despite Abramovich sanctions March 10, 2022 The Premier League has said Chelsea can face Norwich City as planned this evening despite the sanctioning of Roman Abramovich. Uncertainty surrounds the future of the club after Abramovich had his assets frozen by the UK government over his alleged links to Russia and its prime minister Vladimir Putin. “Following the UK Government’s announcement that [...]
Number 10 ‘open to sale’ of Chelsea – but Abramovich would see none of the cash March 10, 2022 The government is “open to the sale” of Chelsea Football Club, but no cash would go to newly sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Boris Johnson’s spokesperson today said the Treasury would have to ultimately green light a potential sale of the club, but that “under no circumstances would any sale allow Roman Abramovich to profit [...]
Explained: What Roman Abramovich sanctions mean for Chelsea sale, matches and transfers March 10, 2022 The future of Chelsea FC has been plunged into uncertainty after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government today. Abramovich has had his assets frozen because of his links to Russia and its prime minister Vladimir Putin, and that has major ramifications for the Premier League club’s operations and his plan to sell [...]
Roman Abramovich facing sanctions as UK adds Chelsea owner to Putin oligarchs hit list March 10, 2022 Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been added to the UK’s sanctions list, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said. She said Vladimir Putin’s attacks on Ukraine involved “new levels of evil by the hour” and the Government had announced further sanctions “against individuals linked to the Russian Government”. “This list includes Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea [...]
Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Amanda Staveley should have waited to buy Chelsea instead March 10, 2022 I can’t help thinking that Amanda Staveley and her consortium have bought the wrong football club. Had they waited just five months they could have had Chelsea FC rather than Newcastle United. A mooted £3bn price tag may be 10 times the price paid for the Magpies, but still well within the means of Saudi [...]
Super League, Mbappe and at loggerheads over lunch: the feud between PSG and Real Madrid March 9, 2022 In the hours before Paris Saint-Germain beat Real Madrid in the Champions League last month, their respective presidents met for a traditional pre-match lunch that summed up the antipathy between the two clubs. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez arrived late to the Pavillon Ledoyen restaurant near the Champs Elysees. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Qatari president of [...]
Trevor Steven: PSG’s variety of goal threat gives them edge over Real Madrid March 8, 2022 Paris Saint-Germain take a slim lead to Real Madrid on Wednesday in an epic Champions League last-16 tie and a clash between potential winners of this year’s competition. PSG have spent the last decade bedding in at the top of European club football, reaching the final in 2020 and the semis last year, and are [...]