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FCupdate - a regular round up of world football news

FCupdate - a regular round up of world football news  Welcome to the latest edition of FCupdate, our regular round-up of news and views from around the football world that should appeal to fans of a supporter-owned club such as FC United.

We hope you enjoy the latest edition and do let us know if you see anything that we should be including in future issues.

New ‘pay-what-you-like’ football magazine launched
What would you pay to read 190 pages of some of the best football writers in the world, writing about the things that they wanted to? £5? £2.50? 50p? With The Blizzard, the newly-launched football magazine created by Jonathan Wilson (of The Guardian and Inverting the Pyramid fame), that’s precisely the choice you have. Other writers featured include Gabriele Marcotti, Philippe Auclair and Andy Brassell and the first issue is available for download on a pay-what-you-want basis. Find out more and subscribe at The Blizzard.

Debt and football – clubs living beyond their means
Football clubs from the Premier League and Football League owed the taxman £22m in “simple??? taxes – PAYE, NI, and VAT - at the end of last tax year, April 2010, according to findings from a Freedom of Information request by Sporting Intelligence. The Premier League’s 20 clubs alone owed £14.4m, while the Football League’s 72 clubs owed £7.4m. HMRC also served winding-up petitions against 19 clubs in 2010. Read more at the FSF website.

FC St Pauli – when punk and football collide
We’ve spotted another interesting article about FC St Pauli. This one is in Shortlist magazine and extols the virtues of their punk football’ approach and is well worth a read. Thanks to FC United season ticket holder and member Rob Evans for finding the article and letting us know. Read more in Shortlist magazine issue 166, page 36 and 37. Download it by clicking here.

Save Leyton Orient FC – fans launch online petition
Following the decision of the government and the Mayor of London’s office to endorse West Ham’s move to the Olympic Stadium, concerned Leyton Orient fans have launched an online petition to safeguard the future of their club. Members of the Leyton Orient Fans’ Trust and Leyton Orient Supporters’ Club are behind the petition which can be signed at the FSF website.

Taking it to Turkey – FC spreads the word
FC United is spreading the word in Turkey this coming Saturday at the “Let’s be Football Friends??? conference in Istanbul. FC United’s community and education manager Robin Pye is speaking at the event, which has been organised by Turkish sports agency FC Sports Marketing. Speaking ahead of the 9 April event, Robin Pye said: “It’s always gratifying to have the international reach of FC United’s reputation confirmed by invites such as this. FC members shouldn’t forget how our story and our achievements as a club have captured the imagination of fans across the globe.??? Further information by downloading this guide to the Football Friends event.

Supporters Direct Fans Weekend – details now available
The Supporters Direct Fans’ Weekend which includes the SD Annual Conference and SD Cup will take place in Chester, on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th July 2011. The Conference will be held at The Queen Hotel on the Friday and the SD Cup will form part of a Fans’ Day held on the Saturday at the Exacta Stadium, home of Chester FC. This year’s event promises to be the biggest one yet, with David Conn, David Goldblatt, Mark Bradley and senior figures from the Football authorities in attendance. Attractions for the fans’ day include stands for various organisations, a marquee that will host the speakers for the day, a BBQ and the prestigious Supporters Direct Cup match, contested this year by Chester FC and FC United. Full details can be found at the Supporters Direct website.

Club owners abusing fans and wasting their skills
We do like to bring you good football writing here at the FC Update and one of the latest posts on the TwoHundredPercent blog, “Business, Ethics and Abusive Owners???, is an excellent expose of the way that fans are treated by football club owners. Writer SJ Maskell likens the relationship between football clubs and supporters as being akin to an abusive relationship. Read more at TwoHundredPercent.

First openly gay footballer speaks out
Top-flight world football has no openly gay players, except one – Swedish midfielder Anton Hysén. The Guardian carried an interview with Hysén last week and asked him why did he make the move to come out publicly and what has been the reaction from players and fans? Read more at The Guardian.

Giving the name away – grounds for complaint?
News this week that Liverpool were actively seeking a stadium naming rights deal, led the club to issue a pledge that Anfield will not be re-branded. An increasing number of clubs are signing away their heritage by renaming their grounds after fatty snack foods, photocopiers, airlines and telephone companies. This feature on the Independent website explains more.

FIFA bigwig in new ticket scandal
And finally this week, just as Sepp Blatter prepares to meet the new FA chairman, David Bernstein, to try to secure England’s vote for the FIFA presidency, news just in that FIFA bigwig Jack Warner is alleged to have tried to sell South Africa World Cup tickets for a 60 per cent cut on the black market. So much for Blatter’s attempts to clean up the game as he looks to win a fourth term of office as the head honcho of the world game. More at again at the Independent website.

Andy Walker



First Posted ~ 11:46 Mon 4 Apr 2011
News ID ~ 3510
Last Updated ~ 22:13 Sun 5 Jun 2022