Showing articles from the year 2011
Clear filterThe Football Supporters’ Federation welcomes the willingness of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC to engage in dialogue with its supporters over the issue of standing. This contrasts with the attitude of some other clubs and football authorities to this difficult issue. The FSF will be pleased to accept the invitation to attend a future Fans’ Parliament at Wolves to look at this issue in detail.
Last Sunday’s 5-0 Manchester City victory against Sunderland guaranteed a happy weekend for the vast majority of Blues fans. The club had strengthened its position in the Champions League places and even, for the more optimistic supporter, kept alive their title challenge.
We know some players celebrate with a backflip after they’ve scored but we’d never seen someone do it before they scored – that was until FC Baar’s Joonas Jokinen cropped up. The youth player completes an amazingly athletic somersault as he strikes the penalty. We’re off to try it on the five-a-side court over the weekend, wonder how many bones we’ll break?
The FSF’s Safe Standing Petition now has more than 10,000 signatories – click here to sign the petition if you haven’t already done so. If you’ve signed the petition, that’s enough, right? Wrong. There’s plenty more to do – we hope every fan in the UK sees our petition and for that we need you, the FSF member and football fan, to get cracking.
Fulham fans unhappy with the unveiling of a Michael Jackson statue outside Craven Cottage can “go to hell” and support Chelsea, according to Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed. The statue was commissioned in the wake of Jackson’s 2009 death as Al Fayed hailed the singer a friend and legend.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has announced a new campaign targeting “unacceptable” behaviour by players and managers towards referees. The initiative will come into play at the start of next season and comes in the wake of Sir Alex Ferguson’s five-match touchline ban for an outburst at referee Martin Atkinson following Manchester United’s defeat to Chelsea.
Brazilian keeper Rogério Ceni has achieved the almost unbelievable feat of 100 career goals after scoring a free-kick in Sunday’s Sao Paulo derby victory against Corinthians. Since making his debut for Sao Paulo Ceni has played more than 900 games for the club and made 17 appearances for Brazil. As Sao Paulo’s regular penalty and free-kick taker he’s got a goals-game ratio that is not incomparable to one or two Premier League strikers.
The newest issue of The Football Supporter is coming to a pub near you. We’ve tried to get one for every ground in the country, and while that’s not been possible in every case, we’ve done our best, and still clocked up an impressive number of pubs and bars where you’ll be able to pick up a copy of The Football Supporter (while stocks last, of course, because these will go like hotcakes).
As a young pro trying to make your way in the brutal world of football the one thing you could probably do without is a legend of the game showing up for training one day and making you look a little bit silly. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to one young keeper as Zidane’s feints, flicks, and general trickery sees the stopper in a bit of a spin. At least Zizou says sorry to him afterwards.
The Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) believes that football supporters should have the choice to watch football from a safe standing area, if they so wish, at matches in England and Wales.
We, the undersigned, believe that football supporters should have the choice to watch football from a safe standing area, if they so wish, at matches in England and Wales.
Sunday evening saw the glitz and glamour of the 2011 Football League Awards, and it wasn’t just players and clubs that took home the honours. Kevin Monks, Coventry City fan and vice-president of the Football Supporters’ Federation, was presented with the npower Fan of the Year Award in front of guests from clubs, sponsors and the football industry.
We’re offering the chance for five lucky fans to get their hands on a pair of tickets for the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy between Carlisle United and Brentford at Wembley on Sunday April 3rd for absolutely nothing. That’s right, free tickets!
Inspired by the success of last year’s Non-League Day a group of fans in the North-East have launched their very own version. Northern League Day will take place at English football’s traditional kick-off time of 3pm on Saturday 9th April 2011.
Mario Balotelli’s Manchester City career hasn’t exactly got off to the best of starts. Sent off last night as City crashed out of the Europa League to Dynamo Kiev he’s managed almost as many cards as goals or starts. Never one to hide from picking on an easy target And Finally… found Balotelli’s latest struggle with the most simple of day-to-day tasks, getting himself dressed, most amusing.
Too many football clubs pay only “lip service” to customer service, according to a comprehensive review of Premier League and Championship club charters by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF). It is 12 years since the government-appointed Football Task Force Report proposed that all clubs should adopt a customer charter.
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.
It was a week for unusual sending-offs and while Robin Van Persie’s dismissal at the Camp Nou might have gained the most column inches, it was far from the oddest. That came at Havant & Waterlooville v Dorchester where player-manager Ashley Vickers was giving his marching orders for tackling a pitch invader dressed as Borat, “mankini” and all.
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s ongoing inquiry into football governance continues, and next week it’s the Football Supporters’ Federation’s turn to give evidence. The session will take place on Tuesday 15th March (11.45am) at Burnley FC’s Turf Moor. Committees and parliamentary debates can be viewed online at Parliament Live TV.
