Sheffield Wednesday chairman Milan Mandaric has moved to distance himself from rumours linking him with a potential takeover of struggling SPL side Glasgow Rangers.

 

Mandaric was replying to unconfirmed reports that he met with the Scottish club’s administrators, Duff and Phelps, about a possible takeover.

 

“I can categorically deny there is any substance to these stories and I am disappointed that such articles are printed without foundation,” he said.

“I have never had any dialogue [with] anyone relating to Rangers.”

And he added: “Glasgow Rangers is a huge football club with a great heritage and history, but I already have that here at Sheffield Wednesday.

 

“For clarity, I have not instructed any of my associates to register an interest in the administration process at Glasgow Rangers and I have no interest, now or in the future, of becoming involved in the club.”

 

The search for potential investors continues as the club look to pull out of administration and secure the financial security needed to keep afloat.

 

Sir David Murray sold Rangers to Craig Whyte in May last year for £1 with the new owner clearing the £18m debt owed to Lloyds Bank. Since then, Rangers’ dispute with HMRC over the use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) during Murray’s reign has meant there is a potential tax liability of £49m hanging over the club.

 

But it was a £9m unpaid tax bill for VAT and PAYE, accrued since Whyte’s takeover, that tipped the club into administration on Tuesday and brought a 10-point penalty from the SPL that effectively ends Rangers’ title defence.

 

By Marc Sibbons

MP & Silva has inked a deal with SBS Australia to distribute the media rights for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil in all territories in Oceania, excluding New Zealand.

The package includes all 64 live matches and ceremonies of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil as well as daily 45-minute highlights. This includes the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Tahiti and FIFA Futsal World Cup in Thailand. The term is from 2012 to 2014. 

Ken Shipp, the head of sports at SBS, said: “MP & Silva are well placed to distribute the TV rights for the 2014 FIFA World Cup as leaders in football distribution in Asia. We are excited with the prospect of reaching out to more football fans in the Oceania region.”

Andrea Radrizzani, MP & Silva’s group CEO, added: “MP & Silva has done a great job in leading the distribution of football content in the Asia-Pacific region. Being appointed by SBS is a worthy recognition of our leadership in the market and we are very excited to use our network of broadcasters to improve audiences of international football in Oceania.”

look helvetica, capsule sans-serif;”>China’s top football referee Lu Jun was sentenced to five and a half years in jail after he was found guilty of taking bribes in order to fix matches.

 

A full investigation has been in place for some time now with corruption proving to be an on-going problem in the Chinese game.

 

This has led to the arrest of 9 people, including Lu Jun, being arrested this week, and several others waiting to hear their fate.

 

Lu Jun’s greatest career highlight was officiating at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan where he was in charge of two group stage matches.

 

The Asian Football Confederations also named him referee of the year on two occasions.

 

He was found sentenced to prison after admitting taking bribes worth more than $128,000 (£82,000) to fix the results of seven league football games, some in 2003.

 

These bribes relate to four Chinese top-level clubs, one of which is Shanghai Shenua, who have recently signed French star Nicolas Anelka.

 

The court, in the north-eastern city of Dandong, heard how the Shanghai club had spent nearly $1m bribing officials and referees, including Lu Jun.

 

In China, corrupt referees are known as ‘black whistles.’  This latest scandal is sure to tarnish it’s already damaged reputation but it is hoped the convictions this week lead to kick starting the campaign to clean up Chinese football.

 

By Marc Sibbons

Time Warner Cable SportsNet announced today that it has entered into a long-term agreement with the West Coast Conference (WCC) and will air a minimum of 15 live WCC men’s basketball games this season, sale as well as other sporting events throughout Southern California.

The network’s WCC schedule will feature Southern California schools Loyola Marymount, viagra buy Pepperdine and the University of San Diego, as well as BYU, Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.

Nine of Time Warner Cable SportsNet’s WCC telecasts will air as “WCC Game of the Week” matchups on Saturdays this winter. Those games will be paired with a weekly half-hour program dedicated to WCC Athletics.

“West Coast Conference schools like Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and the University of San Diego are an integral part of the Southern California sports landscape and we’re happy to give them a local TV home in Time Warner Cable SportsNet,” said Mark Shuken, Senior Vice President and General Manager, TWC Sports Regional Networks. “Our networks promise to give sports fans more access to their teams than they’ve had before, and our partnership with the WCC allows us to do that through more live games as well as more team programming.”

“We are proud to partner with Time Warner Cable Sports to showcase West Coast Conference basketball to our Southern California fans in an unprecedented capacity,” said WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich. “In addition, the WCC Game of the Week and pre-game show will help highlight our men’s basketball programs and further strengthen our position as one of the best basketball conferences in the nation.”

Administrators met the staff and players of Rangers Football Club on Thursday and claimed there will be no immediate cuts to staff or the playing squad at Rangers.

The first redundancies as a result of the administration process at the Glasgow club are not expected to take place until next week after a review of staffing levels.

Paul Clark and David Whitehouse from insolvency experts Duff and Phelps, who were appointed to take charge of the club’s finances on Tuesday, met manager Ally McCoist at Ibrox on Thursday morning, before talking to the players at the training ground Murray Park.

On Thursday afternoon, the administrators are scheduled to hold a press conference where they will talk about the progress they have made so far since being brought in to Rangers.

A spokesman for Duff and Phelps said: “The administrators will talk through the actual process with the manager and the playing staff..

“There will be no immediate cuts to the staff or playing staff, as a review of all employees will take place in due course.”

Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse took over the running of the club after a dramatic attempt by HM Revenue and Customs to get a court-appointed insolvency expert in at Ibrox. The late legal move by the tax authority came as Rangers had not paid £9m in PAYE and VAT since Craig Whyte took over the club last May.

Currently the club is also awaiting the result of a crucial tax case against HMRC, which Mr Whyte has claimed could leave them with a bill of up to £75m.

On Wednesday, the administrators returned to Ibrox where they began looking into the club’s current financial position, with a view to making significant savings to pay off creditors.

Craig Whyte flew to London overnight on Tuesday, his representatives have claimed he will return to Rangers soon, while it is not yet known whether he will attend Saturday’s game between Rangers and Ibrox.

The administrators are likely to cut costs wherever possible and that could see some players told that they are leaving the club in order to reduce the wage bill. A statement from Duff and Phelps on Wednesday evening stressed that they were confident that Rangers would continue as a football club “in broad terms”.

Meanwhile, Rangers official kit seller JJB joined their other sponsors by coming out in support of the troubled club.

Keith Jones, chief executive of JJB Sports, said: “JJB is extremely proud of its longstanding relationship with Rangers FC and we will continue to work with the club through this process.

“We were saddened to hear of the news that the Rangers FC had entered administration, however the club has our full support and we are in constant dialogue with them during this difficult time. We are committed to working with the club, the fans and the administrators to achieve a successful outcome to secure the club’s future”

In 2006 JJB Sports paid the club £18m to become the official kit seller, replacing Rangers stores across the country.

Ali Russell, chief operating officer at Rangers, said: “I would like to thank JJB Sports for demonstrating its support and commitment to Rangers during this difficult time for the club. We are working with the administrators to resolve the current situation and appreciate the professionalism in the way our partners are handling current events.”

The Premier League today announced that International Media Content Ltd. (IMC), health parent company of SportsMax Limited, has been awarded the live audio visual broadcast rights for all 380 Barclays Premier League matches from the 2013/14 to 2015/16 seasons in the Caribbean. 

Richard Scudamore, the Chief Executive of the Premier League, said: “We are extremely pleased that IMC has invested in our live broadcast rights in the Caribbean.”

President & CEO SportsMax Limited, Oliver McIntosh, said: “It is great news for fans of the Barclays Premier League in the Caribbean that IMC has been awarded the rights for the BPL through to the 2015/2016 season.

“For ten years now, SportsMax has provided coverage of the BPL, and this season we have increased the number of matches we show each weekend. Our coverage has attracted many new fans of the BPL across the Caribbean as SportsMax has enhanced coverage with its 
SportsMax Zone programme and media partnerships promoting the BPL. We look forward to three more excellent years.”

Newly-appointed Egyptian Football Association (EFA) president Anwar Saleh has announced the domestic league will resume behind closed doors immediately after investigations into the Port Said stadium disaster have concluded.

The Egyptian Premier League came to a shuddering halt earlier this month when 74 people lost their lives after violence erupted during a match between rivals Al-Ahly and Al-Masry.

Saleh, who has been handed interim power of the EFA following Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri’s decision to dissolve the previous administration, says safety and control must be of utmost importance as the country attempts to rebuild after the tragedy.

“The league will be resumed behind closed doors, but it all depends on the investigations results. Security is the priority of all Egyptians and if it was achieved the fans will return to the stands gradually,” Saleh told Ahram Sports weekly magazine.

“Resuming the competition is essential for several parties so I think that the clubs will not oppose playing the matches without their supporters. Egypt’s national teams will play all their matches as scheduled.”

by Ismail Uddin

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has secured the exclusive broadcast rights in South Asia including India for all Football Association (FA) Cup matches, the FA Community Shield and all Senior and Under-21 England team home matches for the next six years until 2018. 

The multimedia platform deal, which allows the content to be made available across television, internet and mobile, was made with international media rights company MP & Silva.

Starting from November 3, ESS will begin broadcast of the first round of matches all the way up to the Final in May next year. Chelsea are currently the holders of the FA Cup but are likely to be challenged for the prestigious title by the other Premier League teams including Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City, among others.

This latest agreement further strengthens ESS’ network as truly being the ‘Home of Football’ for the South Asia region including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal, with an unbeatable list of the biggest football properties including the Barclays Premier League, the Spanish Liga BBVA as well as the Italian Serie A, whose exclusive broadcast rights were recently secured from MP & Silva. 

“Having a season round offering of football is at the heart of our dominance of the Indian sports market, and the unique stories that the FA Cup creates every year is a very welcome part of our line-up. The FA Cup was seen in India long before the Premier League and the other European leagues, and we’re very proud to be able to continue the tradition,” said Peter Hutton, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports.

“ESPN STAR Sports has a stellar track record for growing the popularity of English football in Asia and we look forward to extending this strong relationship in the coming years,” said Stuart Turner, The FA’s Group Commercial Director.

Andrea Radrizzani, Group CEO, MP & Silva, added, “The FA Cup is another eagerly awaited football event on every football fan’s calendar, and we’re glad to see that it’s being broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports, as part of the network’s comprehensive stable of key football properties.”

Scottish soccer champions Rangers FC went into administration on Tuesday after running into financial problems and will incur a 10-point penalty which will effectively surrender the league title to Glasgow rivals Celtic as they fight for their future.

Rangers, one of the best supported clubs in Britain, are in dispute with Britain’s tax authorities and could face a bill of more than £50 million ($79 million).

Corporate restructuring specialists Duff & Phelps have been appointed by the club to run its affairs, and cost-cutting to try to balance the books is now inevitable.

Rangers will be docked 10 points by the Scottish Premier League, leaving them 14 adrift of Celtic.

The crisis facing such a big club, champions a world record 54 times, has sent shockwaves through British soccer where many smaller teams face a precarious existence.

The Scottish club had warned on Monday that it was likely to go into administration over the next few days but the tax authorities hastened the move when they took court action on Tuesday.

The focus for the tax authorities is believed to be unpaid payroll taxes, rather than the larger dispute which is due to be settled by a tribunal.

The “Old Firm” of Rangers and Celtic dominate the game in Scotland, with one of them having claimed the title every year since Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen won it in 1985.

However, the 12-team Scottish Premier League is a poor relation of its English counterpart in terms of television revenue and sponsorship.

Rangers chairman Craig Whyte, who bought the club for a nominal one pound last year, vowed on Monday that they would emerge as a “stronger and financially fitter organisation”.

Rangers sold Croatian international striker Nikica Jelavic to English Premier League club Everton last month and a prolonged period of turbulence would add to the root problem of Scottish soccer — a lack of genuine competition.

by Ismail Uddin

Global Smart TV provider NetRange, cheao ed in cooperation with sports rights agency Sportfive, denture has secured the exclusive global rights to broadcast qualifying matches for the 2014 football World Cup live on Smart TV.

Effective immediately, for sale over 140 meetings between the European national teams will be broadcast via the “Qualifiers 2014” app. All matches will subsequently be available on-demand. In total, fifty percent of European qualifying matches will be broadcast via Smart TV.

These include matches involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales, as well as those involving the current European and World Champions, Spain.

The “Qualifiers 2014” app is available on the Smart TV portals from the manufacturers Loewe, Sharp, Thomson and Ikea, as well as on all other connected TV devices equipped with NetRange portals.

“By offering this completely new form of football broadcasting, we are breaking new ground in the exploitation of media and sports rights, and may even be making television history” comments Jan Wendt, managing director of NetRange. “We are delighted to be able to offer users of our Smart TV portals world class sport with the highest image quality – live and on-demand.”