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akabarrington

Listed below are comments made by akabarrington between Saturday, 11th July 2009 and Saturday, 21st November 2009.

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British sport can have its own Berlin Wall moment 12:14pm on 21 Nov 2009 Like it or not, if we want the 2018 World Cup in England we need to play the football politics. Belated recognition that too many members of the 2018 bid team were adding minimal value is at least one positive step.

Without any shadow of doubt Lord Triesman is the wrong person to lead this bid (which is different to the need to have him as part of the bid team). To persuade FIFA representatives, the front man should be an articulate footballing icon - not many of those around I hear you say. David Dein will be a good champion behind the scenes but we need someone prepared to put in the hours in front of the cameras and committees around the World.

Now that it looks unlikely that he'll be returning to manage Newcastle my money goes to Alan Shearer. But my money won't get him - the FA needs to put their hands into their pockets and offer him the necessary contract that will better his current media contracts. On top of that offer him a share to the rights of the book that explains how the bid was won.

And finally, let's spend a bit more time wooing the British media. Like the 2012 Olympics, this offers everyone the opportunity to show we have the capacity to put on a great tournament and be a welcoming host to the rest of the World. We need our own media to believe and write that before we go selling our case elsewhere.
Triesman on trial as England expects 11:42am on 19 Nov 2009 Like it or not, if we want the 2018 World Cup in England we need to play the football politics. Belated recognition that too many members of the 2018 bid team were adding minimal value is at least one positive step.

Without any shadow of doubt Lord Triesman is the wrong person to lead this bid (which is different to the need to have him as part of the bid team). To persuade FIFA representatives, the front man should be an articulate footballing icon - not many of those around I hear you say. David Dein will be a good champion behind the scenes but we need someone prepared to put in the hours in front of the cameras and committees around the World.

Now that it looks unlikely that he'll be returning to manage Newcastle my money goes to Alan Shearer. But my money won't get him - the FA needs to put their hands into their pockets and offer him the necessary contract that will better his current media contracts. On top of that offer him a share to the rights of the book that explains how the bid was won.

And finally, let's spend a bit more time wooing the British media. Like the 2012 Olympics, this offers everyone the opportunity to show we have the capacity to put on a great tournament and be a welcoming host to the rest of the World. We need our own media to believe and write that before we go selling our case elsewhere.
Time to tell Fergie to ref off! 3:59pm on 09 Nov 2009 I'd just like to say how appalled I was with the behaviour of the Man Utd and Chelsea players on Sunday. Arguing with the referee, diving and feigning injury appears to be accepted fayre at the top level.

Along with 300 other sad souls I ook part in a 500 mile sojourn to watch Tooting & Mitcham get beaten 5-0 at Stockport on Saturday. It was great to see the Stockport players applaud the Tooting supporters at the end of the game and the Stockport fans were generous in their appreciation of the efforts of a lower league team. One team in administration, the other endeavouring to climb the pyramid. To me,these matches have far more meaning than watching the overpaid prima donnas (not to mention self-obsessed managers) flouncing around in the Premiership.
New sports, same concerns for Olympic family 8:13pm on 09 Oct 2009 Great Britain and Northern Ireland - not quite the same thing but close enough. And I certainly agree with the football sentiments.
Medal hopes in credit thanks to team effort 09:04am on 01 Oct 2009 Worth recounting a bit of history here.

£300m was the additional amount of money (on top of the then grant to elite Olympic athletes) required to ensure that Team GB entered the largest most competitive team possible for our Home Games. The options were flagged up by UK Sport's in their funding paper to Government.

Government agreed to deliver the £300m but the then Chancellor (Gordon Brown) decided it would be a bit of a wheeze to limit the Government's part of this allocation to £250m with £50m to be raised from the private sector. I should grudgingly add that the Government should be congratulated for getting anywhere near the figure required.

This money should not be confused with the budget required for delivering the Games - this is capital financing for the infrastructure and is nothing to do with supporting athletes.

My outstanding concerns are:

1) This is a welcome but still small part of the money require. Where will the remaining £40m come from? Over the years, Visa have been at the forefront of support for both backing the IOC and the BOA - others don't have that history; and
2) Where does this leave the BOA's funding? Their long term Olympic rights currently rest with Locog and there must be a danger that when these riights return in 2013 that the corporate largesse of our Olynpic sponsors will all but be exhausted.

If only this was just about sport!!
New arguments, old problems for FA 9:47pm on 25 Sep 2009 And you only have to look at the make up of the 2018 World Cup Bid board to realise what the FA is all about. Jobs for the boys and politicians.
Transport questions that just won't go away 1:36pm on 24 Sep 2009 Adrian,

I think we need a fleet of speedboats ferrying spectators up and down the river - never much congestion their nowadays!
Money talks in heated 2012 venues squabble 7:12pm on 18 Sep 2009 I'm afraid Boris Johnson is showing that he completely lacks any understanding of the Olympics. Just for one moment step back and stop looking at the occasion as items on a balance sheet. I want my kids to enjoy this occasion - this is likely to be the only opportunity they will have in their lifetime to watch the Olympics in their own country. What a pity if they have to travel to venues miles from the Olympic Park where the Olympic atmosphere will be completely lacking.

The same goes for the athletes taking part. All of those athletes have trained for years to compete at the Olympics. They deserve the opportunity to compete as part of the Olympic family.

And yes Boris, I'm a taxpayer and a Council Tax payer living in London. We don't all agree that this is a waste of money - far from it.
Olympic plans already taking shape 9:30pm on 13 Jul 2009 While I support alphaMark1010's comments about covering our athletes in the lead up to 2012 please don't stop at athletics. Our gymnasts, rowers, canoeists, hockey teams and swimmers to name but a few deserve their moment in the sun.

London provides the BBC with its best possible opportunity to show what a fantastic range of Olympic talent this country has. Even a regular magazine programme highlighting the progress of our potential medalists would be welcome. So come on BBC - do your bit to support our Olympic superstars.
FA avoids major doping row 07:58am on 11 Jul 2009 It's a system that has been working effectively in Olympic sport for a number of years and will be managed by UK Sport (on behalf of WADA) in this country.

UK Sport have improved their communications with sportsmen significantly in the past couple of years and the system allows those subject to testing to update their whereabouts online, by text or by telephone. This is all about ensuring those sportsmen and women understand that the system is there to protect them from those who may want to win by unfair means. In a sport where the rewards are so high I can't believe that there will never be a problem - that view would be totally naive.

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