Glasgow Rangers new owner Charles Green has waived away rumours he used to have business links with former owner Craig Whyte.

Rangers have been in administration since February and are yet to emerge, with the club hoping to achieve a Company Voluntary Agreement with its creditors.

Reports surfaced over the weekend that one of Green’s companies had business dealings with a finance firm connected to Whyte back in 2000.

But Green, whose consortium saw their bid to buy the club accepted by Rangers’ administrators over the weekend, has suggested there was no previous ties.

He told the Daily Record: “I met Mr Whyte for the final time last week when he signed the legal documentation exclusively with my group to pledge his shares and his debenture to this bid on the basis that the CVA would proceed.

“Have I ever met him before? Never. There was a comment in the press that I had a business relationship with him through a company which was a financial services company I was chairman of in 2000. That’s as serious as saying you all have relationships with him because you all shop at Tesco and so does he.”

“I was asked if I had paid him money for the shares. Yes. I paid him £1 because legally I had to.

“He paid £1 to David Murray, I gave him his £1 back.”

New football game, abortion I AM PLAYR have signed up ex Liverpool FC managing director, diagnosis Christian Purslow as their non-executive independent director.

The first-ever point-of-view online football game from online game publisher We R Interactive, seek lets you live the life of a professional footballer, pitting yourself against your mates and the rest of the world.

Purslow is said to have put a lot of his personal investment into I AM PLAYR. He left Liverpool in February four months after leading the club through its $431 million sale.

He said: “We R Interactive ticked all the right boxes for me both as an investment and also as an opportunity to be involved in its future development. I’ve been really impressed with the company, which has met all its objectives stated at launch, and delivered on everything promised. We R Interactive is taking social gaming to another level with a fresh user experience, truly innovative brand integration opportunities and diverse approaches to monetisation.”

I AM PLAYR is in the final stages of Beta testing and has already attracted over 250,000 monthly users.

The Cincinatti Reds and radio flagship 700 WLW have renewed their rights agreement to broadcast all regular and postseason games through 2017 continuing one of the longest broadcast partnerships in professional sports.

“The Reds and WLW have been linked together for almost 90 years, and our fans are very passionate about both,” Reds CEO Bob Castellini said. “We’re excited about continuing one of the best broadcast partnerships in all of sports.”

WLW, which carries a 50,000-watt signal, will remain the flagship for Reds on Radio, which boasts 93 affiliates across nine states.

First led by future Reds owner Powel Crosley Jr., WLW went on the air in 1922 and aired its first broadcast of a Reds game in 1924. The station has been the Reds’ flagship since 1969.

“There’s been no greater marriage than Reds radio and WLW radio,” said broadcaster and Radio Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman. “And it’s great for our fans to know that this relationship will continue.”

The launch of Liverpool’s new home shirt for the 2012-13 Premier League season has angered families of those killed in the Hillsborough disaster. 

Liverpool’s first shirt to be designed by American company Warrior was revealed on Friday, and while fans have welcomed the design, some have been left unhappy with the decision to move the eternal flames honouring the dead from the front to the back of the shirt. 

Liverpool met with the seven members of the Hillsborough Family Support Group  (HFSG) committee, but other groups were not consulted by the club. 

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC), which acts for a number of families in addition to fighting for the truth behind the tragic events that took place at Hillsborough on April 15th 1989, said the club had been “insensitive”. 

A HJC statement read: “We have noted that the Hillsborough flames and ’96’ will now appear on the back of the shirt ‘after consultation with family members’. 

“We can confirm that no bereaved families of the HJC were contacted or consulted. The first we were aware of this was via the minutes of the Supporters’ Committee March meeting. Once again LFC has chosen to ignore the HJC and their families. 

“The continued refusal of the club to acknowledge the HJC is insensitive, divisive and deplorable – 96 is more than a number. LFC would do well to remember that.” 

Liverpool responded quickly, with a spokesman saying: “The club consulted with the HFSG committee and shared a number of alternative designs which were considered. 

“The committee selected a design, which includes the number 96 to recognise those who lost their lives. Nobody has more respect for the 96 and their families than this football club.” 

The row has threatened to taint the launch of the kit, which marks the start of Liverpool’s six-year deal with Warrior which is worth £25million a year.

London 2012 organisers are calling out for 10, sick 000 people to volunteer for the opening and closing ceremony.

They will help perform the animation set out by artistic directors, viagra Danny Boyle and Kim Gavin.

They are targeting the dancers, abortion actors, musicians and general all-round performers for the positions.

“To deliver Ceremonies of this scale a significant amount of time commitment is required from the volunteer performers. Performers will be required to attend up to two or three rehearsals each week in London from March 2012 so applicants should consider this,” said, Bill Morris, London 2012 head of ceremonies, education and live sites.

“Previous performance experience is not required for people to apply, applicants simply need lots of enthusiasm, personality, a positive attitude, huge amounts of energy and a willingness to perform in front of a stadium audience and to millions of people around the world.” he added.

All applicants must be flexible as auditions will take place on evenings and weekends in November and December, located in East London. Then there will be weekly rehearsal sessions of up to four hours per session in March of 2012 and then finally a number of all day rehearsals in the final three weeks prior to the opening.

The last chance to apply willl be Wednesday August 31st. All applicants must be 18 years of age by 1 March 2012. If the organizers receive over 15,000 applications then a computerized draw will choose a short list for auditions.

 

A group led by former Sheffield United chief executive Charles Green is close to completing a takeover bid of Rangers FC, link according to the BBC.

The group has links to Singapore but little is known of the group. They entered the bid race late last week when Bill Miller opted out of his bid.

 

Green quit the blades a year after their floatation in 1997 and re-emerged in football shortly after as chairman of the football agency Proactive Sports. The Cheshire-based firm had a number of leading stars on its books, order buy | including Andy Cole, doctor Stan Collymore and Wayne Rooney.

 

But Green left Proactive in 2003 and has since held a number of directorships at medical science firms. He is currently a non-executive chairman of the Singapore-based Nova Resources Ltd.

 

There are currently four parties with bids on the table for Rangers, who have been in administration since February 14, and a decision on which bid will be accepted is expected on Saturday.

 

Singaporean businessman Bill Ng had previously bid for Rangers and was understood to have re-entered the fray after American Miller dropped out of the race.

 

Paul Murray earlier today confirmed the Blue Knights have withdrawn their bid to buy Rangers.

Sally Gunnell the former Olympic and World champion has been named by John Lewis as the ambassador of its Partners in Sport programme leading up to the Olympic Games.

John Lewis is the Official Department Store Provider to London 2012.

The programme itself allows its employees to engage in sport in the build-up to London 2012, Partners in Sport is an employee and community engagement initiative from John Lewis Partnership.

Gunnell, 45, will have the job in promoting the importance of a healthy lifestyle, in and out of the workplace, as well as using her own sporting experience to inspire and guide Partners in overcoming individual and team challenges over the next twelve months, the company revealed.

Gunnell is known for her brilliant Olympic gold medal at Barcelona 1992 and following that good form with a gold at the 1993 World Championships.

John Lewis Partners in Sport programme is also providing support and advice to partners and their close family members who are competing at a national level or above in their chosen sport, including target shooter and Commonwealth Games medallist Nick Baxter and Britain’s Paralympic judo star Lesley Reid.

Gunnell has already played an active role within the Partners in Sport programme and earlier this year gave a motivational speech to the management team in John Lewis Southampton. 

Over the next year Gunnell will also be visiting John Lewis Oxford Street, Milton Keynes, Stratford and Trafford to give similar team talks with partners in addition to working on a series of meet and greets at Waitrose shops, which are part of the John Lewis group. 

Simon Wardell, Development Manager, Partners in Sport, John Lewis Partnership, said: “We are delighted to announce Sally as the ambassador of our Partners in Sport programme and believe that her achievements in the sporting world will be inspirational to all our partners.”

“Not only will Sally be promoting the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle across the business, she’ll also be spending time with Partners to explain how they can transfer the skills they have learnt during the coaching qualification, back into their day-to-day roles.”

Sky Sports has further expanded into F1 by revealing they will broadcast the final pre-season test from Barcelona live.

Sky Sports F1 is already producing a half-hour round-up of the action from Jerez, with an accompanying ‘notebook’ feature from pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz.

“This is a special moment for F1 fans and exactly the kind of innovation and access that Sky Sports F1 promised,” driver-turned-analyst Martin Brundle enthused, “3D will show us the real challenges of the race track with added depth and perspective. It will be a new, immersive experience for viewers and I can’t wait to see what F1 action in 3D will reveal.”

“This is groundbreaking,” executive producer Martin Turner concluded, “We’re as excited as the next fan to see what F1 will look like in 3D. It’s uncharted territory, but this is a big opportunity to experiment and innovate, and we’re grateful toFormula One Management for working with us on this.

“Sky is a world-leader in the field of 3D broadcasting so, in partnership with F1, we’re in the best position to answer public appetite and take up the challenge of bringing live F1 in 3D for the first time.”

A consortium headed by Charles Green has agreed to buy Rangers Football Club administrators Duff and Phelps confirmed today.

With support from backers in the UK, Middle East and Far East, the bid from the former Sheffield United chief executive was confirmed as the best of the four on offer.

The statement on the club’s website from joint administrator David Whitehouse said: “We are very pleased to announce that we have accepted an offer from a consortium headed by Mr Charles Green for the purchase of Rangers Football Club.

“Mr Green has secured, via a substantial financial commitment, a period of exclusivity to complete the purchase of the Club and this is expected to be finalised at a creditors’ meeting on June 6.

“The structure and quantum of the offer from Mr Green is such that it is acceptable to us as administrators and, having been in discussions with major creditors throughout the process, we believe this presents the best prospect of financial recovery for creditors.

“Mr Green, through a corporate vehicle, has entered into a binding commitment to inject funds into the Rangers Football Club plc so that the administrators can propose a Company Voluntary Arrangement which, if approved by creditors, will result in their claims being compromised for specific amounts and the company exiting administration free of the historic debt and with new owners. Work on issuing a CVA proposal has already started and will proceed with utmost urgency.

“If the creditors do not approve the Company Voluntary Arrangement, the agreement obliges Charles Green’s purchasing vehicle to acquire the business and assets of the Club on agreed terms, through a newco structure. It is Mr Green’s strong preference to achieve a CVA. 

“We would like to thank Rangers supporters for their patience as a purchaser for the Club has been found and hope they will now support a bid that has the capability to take the Club forward.

“We would also like to thank the professionalism and dedication all the staff at Rangers have shown throughout the sale process. Furthermore, we thank again the Rangers players who made a major financial sacrifice to ensure the Club could continue to function.”

Successful bidder Green commented: “I am delighted our proposal to purchase Rangers has been accepted and we are working night and day to finalise matters.

“This is a great football club with a tremendous history and we will preserve that while building a solid platform for the future.

“Rangers supporters have every right to believe their Club should be a success on and off the pitch and that is exactly what we will strive to achieve.

“At all times we will make decisions that are in the best interests of the Club. Not every decision at a club can be popular but I can tell every Rangers fan now that whatever decision is taken they will always be told the truth.

“We will do everything in our power to achieve a CVA and we already have a detailed written commitment from Mr Craig Whyte for the transfer of his shareholding.

“I look forward to working with everyone at Rangers, staff, players and supporters, in building a better future. It’s what this great Club deserves.”

The world’s leading television sports video news agency, SNTV announced that Gabrielle Guedj has been named Commercial Director.  She will be based in the company’s London headquarters and report to Martin Kay, SNTV’s Managing Director

In her new position, Guedj will be responsible for driving the company’s long and short term revenue growth strategies. Working with the sales and marketing departments, as well as the entire executive team, she will indentify and pursue new opportunities for business development.  Guedj will retain some of her IMG responsibilities.

“Gabrielle is a fantastic addition to our business, and joins us at a time of exciting developments for SNTV and its clients,” said Kay.  “Gabrielle’s vast experience of commercializing sports content, combined with her deep knowledge of SNTV from her time with our partner IMG will serve us and our clients extremely well.”

Prior to joining SNTV, Guedj was Senior Vice President, IMG Media Middle East and Eastern Europe since 1996.  In this role, she was responsible for sales and acquisitions of all IMG media content and services into the Arab world, also overseeing these activities within Eastern Europe.

In her time at IMG, Guedj consulted a wide range of clients, federations and associations on their various rights tenders and strategies.  She has also pioneered several sports productions and co productions with Middle Eastern broadcasters.

Before joining, IMG Guedj worked as a sales executive for Eastern Europe at Prime Time International (later Fox Sports International) where she negotiated the first output agreement between a Russian broadcaster and an international sports content distributor.

Guedj graduated with an MPhil in Sociology from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic in 1993.

SNTV is a partnership between IMG Media, the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming, with over 40 offices world-wide, and The Associated Press, the backbone of the world’s information system, serving over 16,000 media outlets globally with 83 bureaus in 67 countries.