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Mid-Day Ticker: West Ham agree to Olympic Stadium deal; Hodgson casts doubt over Rio’s England future; and more

OlympicStadium (Reuters)

By VINCE MADURI

West Ham has agreed to a 99 year deal to become the primary tenants of Olympic Stadium, ending long marathon negotiations between the London Legacy Development Corporation and the club.

The deal gives the Hammers the right to use the facility for all home games for the next century but will not own property interest in the stadium.  If the club sells for a profit in the future, taxpayers will receive a cut of the revenue earned.

“One of the things that has been agreed are arrangements that would protect the public sector should a sale of the club generate significant profit,” a senior source to the Guardian said.

West Ham had been announced as the preferred bidder in December of last year.

HODGSON TO ‘WAIT AND SEE’ REGARDING RIO FERDINAND’S NATIONAL TEAM FUTURE

In the wake of Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand declining his recent call-up to the English National Team, then heading to Qatar for a media engagement, Roy Hodgson has cast doubt over the central defenders future with the team.

“We should just wait and see,” the manager said when asked about Ferdinand’s chances of being part of England’s future plans.

Regarding Hodgson’s thoughts on the defenders trip to Qatar, the manager had little input.

“I don’t have any serious thoughts on it. The fact is I was disappointed when he couldn’t accept our invitation.

“What he actually does now and how he operates in the coming couple of weeks, that’s his business and his club’s business. I’m only interested in the players I’ve got here. That’s where I prefer to have my focus.”

Ferdinand had been invited to the English camp for the first time since 2011 but declined citing his desire to not disrupt a pre-planned fitness program.

GREG DYKE TO SUCCEED DAVID BERNSTEIN AS FA CHAIRMAN

The FA unanimously approved the nomination of Greg Dyke to succeed David Bernstein as FA chairman.

Dyke was a director with Manchester United until the late 1990’s and has been a non-executive chairman at Brentford since 2006.

“I am very excited to take on this role with the FA,” Dyke said in a statement.  “At the grass roots seven million people play football every weekend, women’s football is booming and the ambition is for it to be the second-biggest team participation sport in England behind only the men’s game, we have the best known, most successful league in the world with the Premier League and the Football League is so much stronger than it was eight years or nine ago.

“Having said that I am a big supporter of financial fair play which, in both the Premier League and the Football League, will have a big impact and hopefully bring a degree of financial sanity to the professional game.

“I do see one of the most important tasks for the FA is, over time, to make thoughtful changes which will benefit the England team.

“The FA have made a great start by rebuilding Wembley and developing great facilities at St George’s Park but it is essential that the FA finds a way to ensure that more talented young English footballers are given their chance in the professional game at the highest level.”

The 65 year old will succeed the current chairman in July.  Bernstein has been in the position for two and a half years on July 13.

Comments

  1. interesting comments from Blatter today regarding the World Cup. but this particular item was surprising to hear:

    “Blatter also said the 2022 World Cup is still set to be played in the northern hemisphere summer, with the hosts yet to apply to move the competition, despite worries about high temperatures in the Middle East.

    ‘It’s quite simple,’ he said.

    ‘The Qatar World Cup was chosen to be played between the months of June and July. For that to change and for the competition to be played in winter, it’s necessary for the host nation, Qatar, to request this. And they still haven’t.

    ‘They know that if they do, and in doing so they will affect the basic conditions of the World Cup, they risk another of the 2022 candidates complaining to FIFA and the vote being re-run. The selection of Qatar was a surprise for the whole world.’

    essentially, he is saying that if Qatar were to officially request a winter World Cup, then it would be a very real possibility there would be a new vote. being that the parameters for the original vote revolved around a summer World Cup.

    Reply
  2. Haha.

    Is anyone surprised that the new head of the FA was a Manchester United board member for a couple years and director of the BBC? It’s just too easy.

    Reply
      • No, seriously. (Howard Webb aside, sure.) No other teams players get as harsh of suspensions over trivial things (Rooney), no manager gets fined as harshly as Sir Alex. We lost the 09/10 title to Chelsea on Drogba’s a million miles offside call. I could go on, but I know that only United fans will concur with me.

        It never ceases to amaze me, though, how Chelsea/Spurs/Arsenal/Pool/City/Barca/Madrid supporters think they’re morally better because they don’t support United. For all of us Americans who follow overseas clubs, let’s just admit we’re all pots and kettles.

      • Fair enough, Old School.

        slowleftarm – Louisville, KY is the Falls City. We don’t have a “local” MLS team, but I do support the Crew and follow them as best I can. I do support local soccer though – U of L Cardinals! MLS vs. Europe doesn’t need to be either/or.

      • Since you’ve clarified, too, I’ll follow suit.

        Native of KC, so SKC is my team (even through the days of the ugly Wizards colors/uniforms).

        I regularly attend Fire games since I reside in Chicago and I’m a huge fan of Ajax.

  3. Two questions regarding the Olympic Stadium:

    1: Does it have a track inside?
    2: Are they keeping the track inside?

    I recall this coming up when I’ve read about it previously but I don’t recall the outcome.

    Reply
    • If I remember what I’ve read, there are also retractable bleachers for matches. One of the reasons why West Ham will be a tenant, and not the owner.

      Reply
      • West ham will be building the retractable stands, and possibly tearing down part of the roof as well

      • Obviously this made economic sense to all parties involved, but we all know teams require the multiple revenue sources owning a stadium provides (naming rights, stadium advertising, luxury boxes, concessions, etc.) to remain competitive. I’d be curious how West Ham operate going forward with these presumably going to LLDC.

        Additional ticket sales will be a plus but the rent is most likely signifiant too. I hate to see what a home game would look like should they fall to the Championship again.

        Are the going to demo Upton Park? My only thought is there is a lot of growth in East London. Maybe their going to sell off for condos like Arsenal. “Upton Park Square”?

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