Football and Fashion |

If anyone has been waiting to pay £15,000 for a season football ticket, now is the time.

Don’t look for it at Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona, nor Real Madrid. It can only be had at the lesser Peterborough United.

Everyone is wondering what has gotten into the heads of this Cambridgeshire out fit, that they would sell their top ticket for more than any other of the 92 clubs in the English league, or any of the top teams throughout Europe for that matter. They are offering only 10 such Chairman’s Choice tickets to add to this year’s campaign.

The Posh ticket will get you a seat in the director’s box to watch the League One team at London Road. Aside from The Posh ticket, which is seven times more expensive than Arsenal, the top football season ticket is £1825 from Arsenal, then £1695 with Chelsea, followed by £1575 from Real Madrid and £1210 with Spurs.

If you buy the ticket at Peterborough United you will be made an honorary director for every single home game of the season. You will have your chance to meet in person the first-team squad and will be a director’s guest at one away game.

Michel Platini spoke to the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly more than three years ago in Strasbourg. Platini is the president of UEFA, so he gave a moving presentation indicating that football as a social resource for good was being attacked by terrible societal forces.

He made an argument that “special interests and the interests of corporations, especially when overwhelming in numbers, benefits the wealthy and powerful rather than the general population.” He tried hard to capture everyone’s hearts as he added, “Turning a profit is now the higher goal over triumphing in the sport.”

The Wembley Champion League season tickets are priced at £176, according to Platini’s group. Critics abound throughout Europe, declaring the fee is highway robbery. It is 15% up from 2010 ticket prices and is out of reach of the average person.

Not only has it increase by nearly 100% in the past two years, there is a £26 fee. The only explanation for this extra cost is administration.

The spokesperson to the media for UEFA, Giorgio Marchetti said, “We are not looking to milk the market.” He also said that there was no discrepancy between their prices and similar sporting events. He used the FIFA World Cup Final as an example from 2010.

50,000 tickets will be shared between the two clubs competing at Wembley, costing £80, which is not astronomical. Yet, there will be a whole batch of 11,000 tickets that will be sold for £150, £225, and £300. Add on the stamp fee of £26 for the final prices.

It is hard to hide this problem when there are numbers like these. Tickets are priced to take full advantage of the marketability of the events.

The UEFA website is a contradiction to their practices. Thrown in your face are photos of children in third world nations holding footballs. They are supposed to find escape through the sport while their families are being blown apart by war or starving to death. Yet, UEFA is raking in the money from the tickets for the sport.

When planned changes to the FA Cup by the FA leaked out, the Football Supporters Federation hit out with protest. Included in the changes are the possible kickoff of the final at 17:30 after the FA assured the FSF they would be involved in any changes in the competition.

The FA broke their word says FSF chairman Malcolm Clarke. If our support is wanted this is not the way to go about it we feel we are on the outside looking in, it was a big error on the FA’s part.

Other changes may include the abolishing of replays and Clarke is sure that opposition will be large against that as well as the proposed change in the kickoff time.

Even though there are differences he does agree with some of the changes. He likes the idea of Premier League teams facing lower league clubs more often so a change to the seeding he would favor.

To help convince teams to field their best 11 a Champions League place to the winners would be a great addition.

Ticket price reduction and regional match ups through the fifth round were other suggestions he would like to see in the future.

There is need for change but the need to see the entire package exists as well, so we can show out members.

The FA response was they are committed to consulting the fans and that no changes have been finalized.

The Premier league and Cup committee are keen to make changes quickly and presentations have been made to both. These changes, if any, will take effect for the 2012-12 season at the very earliest.

The Nationwide building society has ended its 11 year FA sponsorship deal.  Wondering what company was going to take their place did not take long to find out.  Six months after the sponsorship deal ended, carmaker Vauxhall took over with a three-and-a-half year, multi-million pound deal.

The car firm is very excited on their new sponsorship and has many ideas for the FA.  They have started to complete deals with national associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Vauxhall will sponsor not only the men’s national team but also the other 23 representative England teams.  The deal will cover sponsorship of the women’s teams, men’s youth teams and all the England disability sides.

BBC sports have stated that the car firm wants to revive the Home International championship that ran for 100 years until England and Scotland lost interest in 1984.  With the new sponsorship Vauxhall has become the official vehicle supplier to the FA.

In the time period of the sponsorship agreement they will be covering Euro 2012 in Poland-Ukraine and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  Managing director Duncan Aldred of Vauxhall has a strong history with supporting football.  He believes in not only an amazing senior team for England but also youth and junior football.

Henry McLeish thinks that Scottish football should be played during the summer season because the current schedule has forced players and teams to take on their matches in the cold for far too long.

McLeish, the former First Minister, ordered that the SFA be scrambled and after last week’s cold game it is predicted that a change is even more imminent.  He recommends that the season should start in July with a winter break to help bypass some of the colder times but he did not go into great lengths about the possibility of changing the calendar to match up with all summer months.

Last Tuesday, only a little over 3,000 fans turned out to see the Motherwell vs. Hearts league match due to the poor weather.

McLeish stated that with the climate being what it is Scotland will continue to have problems drawing in youngsters to play that have the potential to shine on the national team and possibly help England to the World Cup Finals.

He explained that the country is already thinking about moving the calendar around for women’s and kid’s football so that practice takes place in decent months weather wise and that if they are talking about moving around the minor football leagues why not consider it when it comes to the senior game.

He added that while he is not an expert on the climate change and what its effects may be, if this year is an indication of how the weather in Scotland is going to be over the next ten years then something should be done because it will be impossible to nurture great players with the current conditions.

David Beckham is stressing that he will always stay true to his British heritage even though he would consider making a bid for U.S. citizenship. He said that even though he considers himself, first and foremost, an Englishman, it might be nice to achieve U.S. citizen status.  The L.A. Galaxy footballer says he most strongly identifies with being English born.

He has said that he, his wife Victoria and their sons Brooklyn, Romeo, and Cruz all plan to remain in America in the future.

Beckham says that as long as his family remains happy in the United States, they will stay.  Beckham can become an American citizen without having to give up his English citizenship, as England allows one to have both.

Although David Beckham may no longer play England football, he was still named the most powerful celebrity in the UK according to Cebra and Milward Brown celebrity research.  The research group asked 2,000 consumers in the UK, 100 brands, and 100 celebrities to identify the most powerful celebrity and brand partnership in an effort to explore who has the best potential in the marketplace.

Beckham moved up two spots to take over the number one ranking beating out Kylie Minogue from her former top position which she held tight since the monthly research was started.

Media Development Director for Milward Brown Europe, Mark Husak, stated that even though Beckham now lives in the USA he is an ambassador for football and England which has kept him firmly affixed in the hearts of Brit’s.  Husak added that even though Beckham was not a part of the World Cup this past year, he was still a powerful liaison between the players and management.

Beckham shun brilliantly through all of the measures of power of a celebrity including as a positive role model, likeability, buzz, and familiarity.  Husak noted that his sensible and outgoing calm persona combed with his great refined image helped to break down many male stereotypes about grooming and sophistication which would make him a great potential match for brands such as Starbucks, Nivea, and Avon.

Sitting below Beckham on the chart was Ant & Dec followed by Kylie Minogue in third, Will Smith in fourth, and Lewis Hamilton in fifth place.   The only wag to make the list was Cheryl Cole in eighth place.