Rangers have announced all five of their directors have been re-elected to the board with Malcolm Murray, try Paul Murray, Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch failing in their attempt to be appointed.

The announcement was made in a statement to the London Stock Exchange following the annual general meeting at Ibrox.

Finance director Brian Stockbridge received 65.3 per cent backing from shareholders while his four colleagues all secured more than three-quarters of the support.

While Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Wilson and Murdoch – all polled close to 30 per cent of the shareholder strength.

Rangers chief executive Graham Wallace said the club are committed to improving communication with their supporters and urged them to get behind the board.

Wallace said in a statement: “The board sought a clear and decisive mandate from shareholders to provide a platform for stability and is pleased that the voting has provided this.

“The board recognises that improved engagement with supporters is a major area of focus and is committed to reviewing how the club engages with the wider supporter base.

“We now require a period of stability in order to take the business forward and I encourage everyone with the best interest of Rangers at heart to support fully the new board in developing the club and growing shareholder value.”

Rangers chairman David Somers, who was greeted by loud jeers when opening the AGM, added: “We are pleased that the board, with its focus on corporate governance, prudent financial management and strategic commercial development, has been decisively re-appointed by a high turnout of shareholders at the AGM.”

The London Legacy Development Corporation has pledged £2m towards a Paralympic legacy on the Olympic Park that will establish an annual festival of disability sport along with new sporting, leisure and employment opportunities. 

After the Games, the Legacy Corporation will turn the Olympic Park into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a new part of London that will champion inclusive design and opportunities for disabled people, families and older people.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to benefit from the £2m Paralympic Legacy Programme which will build on the success of the Paralympic Games.

The Programme will help to create new homes, public spaces and sporting venues that are accessible, along with introducing a range of sports for disabled people including wheelchair rugby, boccia, wheelchair basketball and Goalball in the Copper Box. It will also help disabled people to get jobs on the Park.

A new annual festival of disability sport will also be established, along with the creation of an inclusive map of the Park to guide people through accessible attractions and facilities.

Daniel Moylan, Chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation, said: “This has been the most successful Paralympics in the history of the Games. Thousands of people will be inspired to get involved in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and we want to make sure there are opportunities for everyone.

“Just as we have set the blueprint for legacy, we are also setting the standard for providing accessible venues and parklands, along with employment and training opportunities for disabled people.”

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “The Paralympics have captured our hearts and minds and the success of ParalympicsGB provides us with new heroes to emulate. With the Olympic Park set to become London’s newest neighbourhood, today’s announcement shows how the new facilities, training and job opportunities, and sports events will be accessible and open to everyone long after the Games have left town.”

Xavier Gonzalez, Chief Executive of the International Paralympic Committee, said:
“The International Paralympic Committee congratulates the London Legacy Development Corporation for their commitment to securing the Paralympic legacy of the Games. By working with the operator of the venues on the Park now, they are ensuring that paralympic sports will continue to be at the heart of the sporting legacy. Commitments like these give me confidence that London will continue to lead the way on having an inclusive and accessible legacy from the Games.

“The Legacy Corporation is working now to create a Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park that will be open to all to enjoy and in doing so, London is unique among host cities in their foresight in planning for both the Olympic and Paralympic legacy of the Games.”

The Seattle Seahawks will provide corporate suite holders with SpotlightTMS, a Software as a Service (SaaS) application that enables companies to measure the business impact of their ticket and suite assets, while staying compliant with various state and federal regulations related to corporate entertaining, SpotlightTMS announced today.

“We chose SpotlightTMS because it’s the clear industry leader. We believe our suite owners will enjoy the ease of managing their tickets and requests — as well as tracking their ROI — all in one easy-to-use application.”

“The Seattle Seahawks organization strives to enhance the services we provide to our full-season suite owners, and incorporating SpotlightTMS into our suite packages is a part of that philosophy,” said Amy Sprangers, managing director of suite sales & service, Seattle Seahawks & Seattle Sounders FC. “We chose SpotlightTMS because it’s the clear industry leader. We believe our suite owners will enjoy the ease of managing their tickets and requests — as well as tracking their ROI — all in one easy-to-use application.”

SpotlightTMS helps ensure that companies allocate their tickets and suites to the right people for the right business reasons. By providing SpotlightTMS as part of its hospitality suite packages in time for the upcoming 2012 NFL season, the franchise adds value to suite ownership at CenturyLink Field and enables the team’s corporate customers to increase revenue and ROI on the use of their tickets and suites. CenturyLink, the naming rights sponsor of the venue, has been a SpotlightTMS user for years.

“CenturyLink Field has the NFL’s first field-level boxes in professional sports, so they’re prime real estate for building business relationships and closing deals,” said Tony Knopp, SpotlightTMS CEO and co-founder. “The Seahawks franchise recognizes the importance of enabling its suite holders to tie corporate entertaining back to bottom line results. With SpotlightTMS, these companies can measure the impact of their suite investments and then use that information to drive revenue. This not only benefits the suite owners, but will no doubt affect the team’s suite renewal percentage.”

SpotlightTMS offers companies secure access through the Internet to manage ticket inventories, distribute tickets, analyze the results of ticket usage and acquire additional tickets from multiple sources. The software also helps companies meet IRS and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance reporting requirements and avoid violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is estimated that U.S. companies spend approximately $16 billion a year on sports and entertainment tickets, suites and sponsorships, but without a centralized, transparent tracking system, organizations risk steep fines if these assets are used improperly.

Brazilian contractor, medical Odebrechet will participate in building the most construction projects for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The contractor is participating in 4 projects out of the 12 arenas being built. Added together, vcialis 40mg those 4 projects are budgeted for $1.76 billion. The arena projects include Corinthians’ Itaquerao (São Paulo), erectile Maracana Stadium (Rio de Janeiro), Arena Fonte Nova (Salvador) and Arena Pernambuco (Recife). From those, Odebrechect is the sole contractor for arenas in São Paulo and Recife. On the Salvador Arena, they participate in consortium alongside OAS and Amsterdam Arena. On the Maracana project the consortium is Delta and Andrade Gutierrez.

Andrade Gutierrez, are second largest arena contractor for the 2014 World Cup. The company from the state of Minas Gerais, is alone in the projects for the Amazon Arena, in Manaus and Beira Rio Stadium, in Porto Alegre and also participates in consortiums for the Brasilia Arena and Maracana Stadium. All of their projects budgets, added together, are valued at $1.55 billion.

There have been concerns that the cost per seat is too high. Corinthians’ Itaquerao, in Sao Paulo, being developed by Odebrechet is the arena with highest cost per seat. The 68.000 seat arena will cost a total of $560 million, which means an average cost per seat of $8.221.

In second place you will find Maracana’s rebuilding process, with an average price per seat cost around $7.695. After those, the most expensive ones will those in Arena Fonte Nova, in Salvador, being built by Odebrechet and OAS for $ 7.433 per seat, and Amazon Arena, in Manaus, with a cost per seat around $7.080.

On the other side of the list you will find the Arena da Baixada, in Curitiba, where the cost per seat is going to be $2.841.

Soccer’s governing body, FIFA, have made a generous donation of $1 million in emergency aid for the humanitarian crisis currently afflicting Somalia.

The funds will be given directly to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in support of its programmes to help the people affected by the drought and the conflict in the country.

The ICRC will use the money to provide life-saving emergency aid, complemented by projects designed to revive or boost the livelihoods of the worst-off communities in a sustainable manner.

Approximately one-third of the donation will be used to finance the purchase and transportation of food, representing standard food rations for 25,000 families or 150,000 people over a period of one month, and the remaining two-thirds will support all ICRC activities in the country. Through this the ICRC hope to help about one million people in and around the southern and central Somalia where there are food shortages.

This initiative by FIFA is part of world football’s governing body’s solidarity programmes, which in recent years have allowed support to be provided to the people of countries such as Japan, Haiti, Pakistan, China PR, Chile and the countries of south-east Asia affected by the tsunami in December 2004.

Nike Inc reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings as revenue rose 14 per cent and futures orders gained 12 per cent.

Nike Inc president and CEO Mark Parker said: “In fiscal year 2011, abortion we delivered exceptional results in extraordinary times. Our business is organized to drive growth across multiple brands, tadalafil geographies and categories, as we manage through the ever-changing macroeconomic landscape.

“We continue to deliver compelling innovation to athletes and consumers, and strong returns for our shareholders. The global appetite for sports has never been stronger” 

Revenues increased 14 per cent to US$5.8bn. Nike Brand revenues rose 12 per cent, driven by growth in all geographies except Japan and Central and Eastern Europe. By category, revenues were up on a currency neutral basis in all key categories except soccer, which faced tough comparisons to last year’s World Cup. Revenues for other businesses increased 6 per cent with a 1 percentage point benefit from changes in currency exchange rates.

The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) has re-elected Michael van Praag as president at the association’s assembly in Zeist.

The 66-year-old succeeded the late Mathieu Sprengers as KNVB president in August 2008, and he has now been re-elected for a further three-year term.

“I feel really comfortable in this organisation,” said Mr Van Praag, a UEFA Executive Committee member since 2009 and a former AFC Ajax president.

“As [association] president, you have to be the cement between the bricks, but in Zeist [the KNVB headquarters] we now have a really close team – and this is what you see in the committees where professionals and amateurs are represented,” he added.

International Paralympic Committee President, Sir Philip Craven, closed the London Paralympic Games declaring it “the greatest Paralympics ever”.

Sir Philip, in a speech to the crowds at the Olympic Stadium, added: “These have been quite simply amazing Paralympic Games. These were not just London’s Games, they are for the entire United Kingdom. This country has enjoyed a real feel good factor like never before.

“The biggest cheer for London 2012 should be reserved as we say thank you to the thousands of Gamesmakers.

“Let us now thank another group of people who went beyond the call of duty – the British Armed Forces and emergency services.

“These Paralympic Games will live on for an eternity.”

The closing ceremony – billed as the Festival of the Flame – lived up to its name as flame throwers, blazing torches and a gigantic heart of fire lit up the Olympic Stadium.

Minutes earlier, the audience had been moved by the grit and determination of legless war hero Captain Luke Sinnott – who hauled himself up a flagpole to proudly fly the Union Flag.

The courageous 32-year-old lost his limbs in 2010 after volunteering to search an area “saturated” with improvised explosive devices to protect his comrades.

Comrades from the charity played a key role in the opening minutes of the ceremony to support Capt Sinnott. The team joined forces to manoeuvre a heavy-wheeled machine to raise the flagpole.

Fifty four drummers created an avenue through which the Earl of Wessex, representing the Queen, and International Paralympic Committee chairman Sir Philip Craven entered the stadium.

They arrived in a custom-built car that began life as a military vehicle used in Afghanistan and was driven by Captain Tony Harris, who lost his left leg below the knee when he was caught in a blast in Sangin, Afghanistan in 2009.

Blind autistic singer Lissa Hermans, who also performed at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year, sang the National Anthem.

The spectacular and moving ceremony was another display of creativity and British eccentricity, and featured global megastars Coldplay.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said: “Being asked to play at the closing celebrations for the Paralympic athletes in London is such a great honour for us. It was one of the biggest nights of our lives and we were excited to try to create a performance for the last night of the games that closed London 2012 in style.”

Related discussions: handing the flag to Rio

Atos have announced their dramatic vision for the future of the sport industry in 2020 with the launch of ascent at London 2012: a vision for sport and technology.

The international IT services company and World Wide IT Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games have set out how technology will change the sporting experience of athletes, asthma viewers from home, fans in the stadium and event organisers.

The unique study is the latest edition of the ascent thought leadership program and it predicts some truly radical changes.

Atos predicts that viewers in the future will be able to see the action through the eyes of the athlete, acting as his or her own director. They also predict that viewers at home will have the power to step virtually onto the pitch.

For the fans in the stadium, Atos believes that smartphones will allow spectators to order food and avoid queues, have an extra screen so they will feel as though they’re in the first row and be able to share their experience in real-time with friends and family.

The athletes of 2020 will be able to train smarter, change their tactics whilst competing thanks to smart clothing and get spotted by talent scouts or secure more lucrative sponsorship deals.

Giles Grapinet, Senior Executive Vice President, Global Functions of Atos said: “The technology and sport landscape has been changing at an unprecedented speed. Having been involved in every Olympic Games since 2002, our team of business technologists has witnessed this change first-hand.

“As Worldwide IT Partner for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we have the responsibility to think one step ahead and help our clients do the same. 

“Innovation is part of the Atos DNA and when it comes to the Games, we are very clear about what innovation truly means.

“This latest edition of ascent supports our vision of how technology’s new possibilities can power progress for the Games, providing a pan-industry view to help our clients create the Firm of the Future through our commitment to innovation.”

Guest editor and award-winning author Simon Kuper added: “It was a great pleasure to edit this special edition and meet the Atos Scientific Community, who are visionaries in their field.

“I look forward to watching London 2012 with new eyes and seeing how some of the technology developments we foresee in the magazine may become reality by 2020.”

Ascent at London 2012: a vision for sport and technology was produced as a special edition magazine for the London 2012 and Paralympic Games.

The study is designed to help the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) make key strategic decisions and anticipate challenges.

Contributors included IOC President, Jacques Rogge, London 2012 Chairman, Sebastin Coe, CEO of the IPC Xavier Gonzalez, President and CEO of Sochi 2014, Dmitry Chernyshenko and Head of Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Christian Hernandez.