Wednesday 13 May 2009
Swine flu may push Mexican football into MLS
When David Beckham headed to LA Galaxy two years ago it was considered the death knell of his career. But Major League Soccer could yet rival Europe as one of the twin centers of the world game following a political row over swine flu.
The emergence of the H1N1 virus in Mexico caused the nation's two leading clubs, San Luis and Chivas, to seek alternative venues for their home games after Copa Libertadores opponents refused to travel to their grounds. The MLS stepped in, offering Houston as one of the grounds to be used, booking hotels for players and clearing it with the North American confederation, Concacaf. Doug Quinn, president of the MLS commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing, told this column at the Soccerex conference yesterday that the U.S. Soccer Federation visas even organized with the State Department.
But Julio Grondona, the chairman of the South American confederation Conmebol, where Mexico play, blocked the move. Conmebol mandarins will go to the U.S. next week to meet MLS executives in an attempt at rapprochement. But despite the charm offensive towards MLS Conmebol the damage in relations between Mexico and South America has been done, leading to the withdrawal of its clubs from the Copa Libertadores and of the national team from the Copa America.
That will push it into the embrace of Concacaf and the MLS, whose long-term strategy, Fifa permitting, is to include Mexican clubs in its competition in a move that would make the U.S. league a genuine global player in terms of supporter interest and revenue .
Russian influence grows
Arsenal directors will discuss at a board meeting today how to respond if Alisher Usmanov offers a multimillion-pound cash gift to the club, but they will reject investment through a rights issue. As revealed here yesterday Usmanov's Red & White Holdings company will formally demand at its next meeting with Arsenal's chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, that investors inject funds into the club to pay off some of its £ 400m debts. Usmanov believes that a rights issue is the only way to provide transfer funds for Arsène Wenger. But there is a strong suspicion that Usmanov at Arsenal's challenge to his fellow shareholders is an attempt to engineer himself a larger stake in the club. If the rights issue is not fully subscribed then it would lead to a dilution of the equity holdings of existing investors, permitting the Russian to grow his share.
United the big spenders
Keith Harris can not find buyers for any of the 16 Premier League clubs Unofficially for sale but if there is one place he would like to effect regime change it is Manchester United. Without naming the club he has supported since childhood, the Dealmaker owners who put in to West Ham United, Manchester City and Chelsea disparaged the business model under the Old Trafford owner, Malcolm Glazer. "You can not seek to suck cash out of a business that absorbs cash," Harris said at yesterday's Soccerex conference. According to their most recent accounts United spent £ 81m on interest payments to service debts run up in the Glazers' leveraged buyout of the club.
Tevez agent outlawed
While Kia Joorabchian faces a legal fight with Manchester United to retain the right to a transfer fee for Carlos Tevez he will also be under scrutiny from the Football Association if he finds a different English club for the Argentinian. Joorabchian, who accompanied Milan to Manchester City in their attempt to buy Kaka, is not an agent licensed under FA rules. His involvement in any domestic transfer will be pored over for any evidence of "agency activity" including, but not limited to "introducing players to clubs."
Villa's dictatorship
Randy Lerner is running Aston Villa just like Doug Ellis, "according to one former senior executive at the club. Long-serving staff, said the former employee, are privately grumbling about Lerner's monocratic style, which they say amounts to a few junior managers and himself through his proxy, Paul Faulkner. The saving grace, says the former executive, is that Lerner "has money but some even doubt that the benefit will be felt in the transfer market this summer.
The emergence of the H1N1 virus in Mexico caused the nation's two leading clubs, San Luis and Chivas, to seek alternative venues for their home games after Copa Libertadores opponents refused to travel to their grounds. The MLS stepped in, offering Houston as one of the grounds to be used, booking hotels for players and clearing it with the North American confederation, Concacaf. Doug Quinn, president of the MLS commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing, told this column at the Soccerex conference yesterday that the U.S. Soccer Federation visas even organized with the State Department.
But Julio Grondona, the chairman of the South American confederation Conmebol, where Mexico play, blocked the move. Conmebol mandarins will go to the U.S. next week to meet MLS executives in an attempt at rapprochement. But despite the charm offensive towards MLS Conmebol the damage in relations between Mexico and South America has been done, leading to the withdrawal of its clubs from the Copa Libertadores and of the national team from the Copa America.
That will push it into the embrace of Concacaf and the MLS, whose long-term strategy, Fifa permitting, is to include Mexican clubs in its competition in a move that would make the U.S. league a genuine global player in terms of supporter interest and revenue .
Russian influence grows
Arsenal directors will discuss at a board meeting today how to respond if Alisher Usmanov offers a multimillion-pound cash gift to the club, but they will reject investment through a rights issue. As revealed here yesterday Usmanov's Red & White Holdings company will formally demand at its next meeting with Arsenal's chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, that investors inject funds into the club to pay off some of its £ 400m debts. Usmanov believes that a rights issue is the only way to provide transfer funds for Arsène Wenger. But there is a strong suspicion that Usmanov at Arsenal's challenge to his fellow shareholders is an attempt to engineer himself a larger stake in the club. If the rights issue is not fully subscribed then it would lead to a dilution of the equity holdings of existing investors, permitting the Russian to grow his share.
United the big spenders
Keith Harris can not find buyers for any of the 16 Premier League clubs Unofficially for sale but if there is one place he would like to effect regime change it is Manchester United. Without naming the club he has supported since childhood, the Dealmaker owners who put in to West Ham United, Manchester City and Chelsea disparaged the business model under the Old Trafford owner, Malcolm Glazer. "You can not seek to suck cash out of a business that absorbs cash," Harris said at yesterday's Soccerex conference. According to their most recent accounts United spent £ 81m on interest payments to service debts run up in the Glazers' leveraged buyout of the club.
Tevez agent outlawed
While Kia Joorabchian faces a legal fight with Manchester United to retain the right to a transfer fee for Carlos Tevez he will also be under scrutiny from the Football Association if he finds a different English club for the Argentinian. Joorabchian, who accompanied Milan to Manchester City in their attempt to buy Kaka, is not an agent licensed under FA rules. His involvement in any domestic transfer will be pored over for any evidence of "agency activity" including, but not limited to "introducing players to clubs."
Villa's dictatorship
Randy Lerner is running Aston Villa just like Doug Ellis, "according to one former senior executive at the club. Long-serving staff, said the former employee, are privately grumbling about Lerner's monocratic style, which they say amounts to a few junior managers and himself through his proxy, Paul Faulkner. The saving grace, says the former executive, is that Lerner "has money but some even doubt that the benefit will be felt in the transfer market this summer.
by erectusplus at 22:43 |
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