Football Diary
by Patrick O’Connor
NO doubt Manchester City fans are still wallowing in the glory of their Premier League title success – but it has come at a price.
According to the latest figures, last year City made a loss of £197m – the greatest financial deficit in the history of football.
The 20 clubs in the Premier League collectively lost £361m, only eight made a profit.
Maybe City should look just across the channel at newly crowned French champions Montpellier.
Their annual budget of £29m is only the 13th in France and they outperformed such wealthy giants as the Qatar Sports Investment back Paris Saint-Germain who spent £37m alone on midfielder Javier Pastore.
Good news for those of us unwilling or unable to splash out on Sky TV’s football package, the
BBC has agreed a new deal to broadcast Premier League highlights until the end of the 2015-16 season.
The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said: “The free-to-air highlights are extremely important to the broadcast reach of the Premier League; allowing the competition and our clubs to be seen by the maximum possible number of fans across the country. The BBC has done a fantastic job for fans of Premier League clubs by providing quality coverage and analysis across their programmes.”
Now I know footballers are a pampered lot but this seems to be taking it to new lows!
According to a report in The Sun newspaper, England’s stars will be heading to Euro 2012 “without underwear.”
Apparently that is because the Football Association will provide the squad with everything from pants to branded clothing.
The Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy, quoted before injury forced him to quit the squad, said: “I’ve been told to take boots, gloves, trainers, a few casual clothes and toiletries. I’m under the impression everything else will be provided for me.
“We’ve got suits and they’re providing underwear for us. It’s surreal but that’s what being in the England squad is all about. The way you get looked after is second to none.”
If I was a supporter of Blackburn Rovers, I would be a very worried man now following their relegation from the Premier League.
The club’s co-owner Venkatesh Rao has admitted in a Sky Sports interview to a state of “confusion” at the club.
He said: “Everything is in confusion. In the next month, we will have a proper situation to talk about. Let us see what happens.”
On the future of manager Steve Kean he commented: “I really don’t know on that issue.”
I see that the QPR midfielder Joey Barton will be offered support by the Professional Footballers’ Association following his 12 match man for being sent off on the final day of the Premier League season.
Barton’s previous rap sheet includes:
*Stubbing a lit cigar into the eye of Manchester City team-mate Jamie Tandy during club’s Christmas party.
*Involved in an altercation with a 15-year-old Everton fan at City’s team hotel in Bangkok. Later fined eight week’s wages by City for his involvement.
*Drops his shorts in front of Everton fans following City’s 1-1 draw at Goodison Park. Suspended for the rest of the season by City after a training-ground altercation with Ousmane Dabo.
*Charged with violent conduct by the FA after allegedly punching Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen during a Premier League match.
*Transfer listed by Newcastle after a number of Twitter comments criticising the club.
Looks like he could do with some help.