Wenger vents anger over new Premier League rules demanding increased media duties from players and managers

Wenger vents anger over new Premier League rules demanding increased media duties from players and managers
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger led the complaints about the new Premier League media regulations at a heated meeting set up to explain the procedures to the top-flight bosses.
Wenger openly showed his annoyance about one player as well as the manager now having to answer three questions pre-match before every game to service the Premier League’s £5.5billion worth of TV rights holders around the globe.
Wenger wanted to know who had made the decision and why he had not been consulted on this contentious issue before it was presented as a fait accompli. He was backed up by a number of other managers in the southern area summit held at Premier League headquarters in London.

Unimpressed: Arsene Wenger is unhappy about the Premier League's new media regulations

Ironically, Arsenal had a representative on the Premier League media working party that debated the changes, but he had supported the views Wenger expressed so forcibly at the meeting.
A Premier League spokesman said that media regulations — to which every manager including Wenger had complied this season — were all voted in by the Premier League clubs at the summer meeting.

 

Gareth Southgate, the new England Under 21 coach, is to relinquish his analyst duties with ITV.
Southgate, who will command all England junior sides, sensibly believes his full-time FA duties could be compromised by also working as a high-profile pundit.

Sacrifices: Gareth Southgate will no longer work with ITV in order to concentrate on his coaching role

 

Nottingham Forest’s chief, who has introduced draconian measures to greatly limit media access to players, may not have passed the Football League’s owners and directors test.
Jim Price, cousin and agent of Forest manager Billy Davies, is effectively the CEO at the City Ground, which requires him to be certified by the FL. But they declined to comment on Friday when asked about Price’s FL test status.
Solicitor Price, a consultant to Forest’s Kuwaiti owners, is under investigation in Scotland for alleged financial irregularities following the collapse of law firm Ross Harper, where he was one of the managing partners.

 

When Jimmy Anderson received a silver ball from the England Cricket Board for his record wicket-taking haul in all formats, he chose for the handover to take place in the privacy of the Lord’s Long Room.
However, the publicity-conscious Kevin Pietersen, England’s equivalent top run-scorer, had his silver bat ceremony on the outfield during Friday’s lunch break. ECB chairman Giles Clarke, another lover of the limelight, presented the bat to KP.

Contrast: Jimmy Anderson (left) chose to receive his silver ball in private, unlike Kevin Pietersen

 

A sledging from Merv
It's fair to say former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes wasn’t impressed with Sports Agenda’s balanced reports about his lunchtime corporate hospitality turns at The Oval — with the items reflecting the audience’s love of the content, however politically incorrect.
An angry Merv came storming off his long run, barging into the press box to berate Sports Agenda from frighteningly close quarters that he had a living to make and that I was a ‘f****** p****’.

Angry: Merv Hughes was unhappy about Sports Agenda's reporting of his corporate hospitality role

 

The ICC may have already fined Australian coach Darren Lehmann around £2,000 for accusing Stuart Broad of ‘blatant cheating’ and inciting crowds ‘to give it to him from the word go’ in the return Ashes series. But there is understood to be annoyance within the England camp that there has been no sign of any apology to them — nor is one likely especially as Cricket Australia took no action.
A Surrey and ECB initiative has seen over 200 Test tickets confiscated having been bought from online secondary sites including Seatwave and Viagogo in breach of ticketing regulations. Both England cricket and England Rugby 2015 have been campaigning to no avail about football-style Government legislation around ticket touting to be brought in for major events. ER 2015, who continue to push for Whitehall action, will now have Oval evidence to help their cause.

 

Mo Farah, who hasn’t had great PR advice, has signed with talent management agency M&CSaatchiMerlin. Ricky Simms of PACE sports management will continue to look after Farah’s running career, but his new agents will manage publicity around his upcoming autobiography.

New direction: Mo Farah has signed with talent agency M&CSaatchiMerlin