The chairman of English Premier League soccer club Birmingham City, Peter Pannu has admitted that concerns over the club’s attendances may lead to a redevelopment of their current home stadium, St Andrew’s, rather than a move to a new stadium.

The club’s parent company, Birmingham International Holdings, has unveiled initial plans for a £20m (US$32.4m) revamp of the Garrison Lane stand at the 30,000-seat St Andrew’s.

Having held talks with Birmingham City Council about the possibility of moving to a new ground since Carson Yeung became the club’s owner in 2009, Pannu has now acknowledged that an average attendance of less than 25,000 does not justify moving to a significantly larger venue.

According to the Press Association, Pannu was quoted as saying: “We haven’t categorically ruled out moving stadia completely but my prime concern is attendances. Our average attendance does not justify building a stadium of 50,000 to 55,000 at this stage.”

He added: “We have ample support from the local authorities but, with current attendances, it is just not right to do that sort of investment. In any case, a lot of our fans want to stay put.”

LOCOG chief Sebastian Coe has advised British athletes to forget about using Twitter during the Olympics.

“Personally I have found quite a close correlation between the number of tweets at competitive times and the level of under-performance,” he said.

“I have found a direct correlation between the amount of activity an athlete enters into on social media and their ultimate performance when it really matters – but that’s for them to figure out.”

Coe has his own Twitter account but says it would have had no interest for him had it been around when he was competing.

“I think it is a great way of communicating – and I live in that world, you couldn’t have four kids 20 and down without knowing the world they live in.

“But from a personal perspective when I was an athlete I just wanted complete and total focus. I knew it was my time and that they don’t come around that often.

“If I was focusing on trying to defend a title I wouldn’t be reading Twitter, I wouldn’t be interested in it, why would I?

“My gut instinct as a competitor is that there are no tomorrows. You are only here once.”

Infront Sports & Media has declared that its new LED systems, trialled during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany this summer, has been a success. The four new LED systems has upgraded advertising solutions offered to the company’s sports clients. 

Last Monday, the LED boards premiered in a national competition, when FC Bayern Munich achieved a 3-0 victory over Eintracht Braunschweig in the first round of Germany’s DFB Cup. 

According to Infront, the new system provides one of the fullest and most advanced visual brand communication options available on the market. The state-of-the-art technology in hardware and software has been specifically tailored to current requirements and the specific needs of Infront’s clients, including FIFA, the DFB (German Football Association) for the DFB Cup and DFB National Team matches as well as the Bundesliga clubs SC Freiburg, VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg.

The new LED advertising boards together with further developed media server software represent the latest technology available on the market with enhanced performance capabilities, particularly for television viewing purposes.

Infront claims that the technology has been designed to work regardless of the camera position and provides better visibility from all angles, including the side-line of the pitch.

Interim President of the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA), V.K Malhotra has sparked a row that could potentially jeopardise the participation of the country’s team at the London 2012 Olympics upon telling the Government that the National Sports Federations (NSFs) will reject a new law proposed by the Sports Ministry.

The proposed bill will limit the age and tenure of the NSF’s office bearers, however, having met with 25 of the 34 NSFs yesterday, May 1, Malhotra said that it was unanimously decided that the NSFs will defend their autonomy.

“All the NSFs present in the meeting have resolved to defend the autonomy of the Federations,” said Malhotra, who is President of the Archery Association of India.

“Most of the Federations were forced or compelled to accept the draconian guidelines and the the Sports Bill. 

“Obstacles are being created for them so that they may not send their teams in international competitions.”

Malhotra claimed the Government wants to have full control over sports at all levels, including at the state and district levels, which is against the Olympic Charter.

The Indian Government have been warned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on numerous occasions, that they are risking a suspension which could jeopardise their participation at London if they try to interfere in the autonomy of the IOA and NSFs.

Malhotra, who took over the President of the IOA last week following the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi on corruption charges, added: “We outrightly reject the bill and the Federations are prepared to accept any other suggestion of the Government which do not interfere in the autonomy of the national federations.” 

IOA secretary general Randhir Singh, who is also a member of the IOC, said that the matter is due to be discussed with the Government at a special meeting tomorrow, saying: “Today, 25 Federations, who will be present in tomorrow’s meeting, participated in the discussion and all the federations are going to oppose the bill.

“The Government is adopting a dictatorial attitude towards the Federations and this is not the proper way to run sports in a democracy.”

Malhotra claimed that the IOA were not against reform but refused to be dicatated to by the Government.

“The Federations have already accepted the principle of transperancy, fair elections, CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) audit, number of players in the management of Federation as per institutional guidelines etc,” he said.

“The Federations are also prepared to accept any other suggestion of the Government, which do not interfere in their autonomy.”

London’s world-renowned Lord’s Cricket Ground will be renovated by Almacantar after the company were selected as the preferred property developer for the job.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has confirmed that it will enter into a period of exclusive talks with Almacantar over the planned building of apartments on Wellington Road at the ground’s Nursery End. The two failing bis to be awarded the contract were from Capital & Counties and Native Land.

The MCC’s ‘Vision for Lord’s’ will see the capacity of England’s most famous Test cricket ground increased from 29,500 to 37,000, while an indoor cricket school and enhanced conference facilities have also been planned.

MCC secretary and CEO Keith Bradshaw stated:“We have been impressed with the quality of Almacantar’s submission, which demonstrates a high degree of inventive thinking; something entirely appropriate for such an iconic venue as Lord’s.

“We will now work with them through the exclusivity period to shape the emerging proposals for the Nursery Ground, Indoor School and residential opportunities so that we can refine the financial model before presenting back to committees,” he added.