Daniel Levy should always wear a suit and tie, but that's mainly because he looks bloody weird when he doesn't. It's like when you see referees wearing normal clothes. It doesn't look right.
Just fuming (again) whenever I hear about the deal to build Hinkley Point C. Certainly the specifics of the arrangement are a disaster for the British taxpayer, but I have a deeper concern because I worked for the pre-privatised electricity industry (the CEGB), actually in the nuclear part. This should (but it never gets brought up on the news) be a constant reminder of the folly of selling off all our national industries, and for a fraction of their actual value I might add. And has it saved the taxpayer / energy consumer any money in the long term? No, it wrecked a perfectly viable British industry and put it in the hands of, well allegedly privatised interests but how many of the British voters actually realise that the industries are actually still nationalised - but now run for the benefit of the Chinese and French state instead of ours! It seems that everyone is allowed to benefit apart from the British public. It makes me quite nauseous to be honest. And then when these "privatised" (using the term very loosely of course) industries fail to strategically plan for stuff like future production requirements, who sorts it out - yes subsidy from the British taxpayer!!! You couldn't make it up. It's not really privatised business at all, it's the British government subsidising the French and Chinese (who incidentally will now have strategic control over a vital UK commodity). Meanwhile the benefit we apparently get is a completely incomprehensible bill and the need to go to specialist firms to change "suppliers" for us (even though the power probably comes from the same power station). I would love someone in government to explain how the current situation is better than when the CEGB produced electricity, we had a generating surplus (even exporting electricity to France by the way), and an industry that designed and built our own power stations.
Spurs Legends batter some Rabbis: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/163333/rabbis-havent-a-prayer-against-spurs? That's... I... WTF?
FIFA to end their association with the Ballon d'Or - so hopefully this means somebody other than Messi or the oily rat is going to be considered for a change.
Having buggered my knee in mid-week, I am watching a lot of Paralympics with the offending leg raised and coated in ice. It's good stuff but some of the commentary and interviews can be a bit iffy. I just heard wheelchair racer Smantha Kinghorn interviewed after qualifying for the final of her event. She was speaking about the recent loss of her grandfather and was obviously very moved by the experience. Iwan Thomas, the anchor, cheerily says: "Sammy Kinghorn, she's lost her grandfather... but gained 4 seconds on her personal best...that's great for any athlete." Hmmm. Back to the drawing board, methinks.
Just over and over and over... I'll give him a little leeway and assume that he didn't know about her grandfather and was trying to think on his feet and failed. It's still bad, but I can see how he might've stumbled into that stupid statement in those conditions. Still bloody insensitive, though.
It seems to be a big Spurs news day and here's details of an interview with Daniel Levy from ESPN. Nothing startling in it but here it is: Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has told ESPN's Ashley Fox that he plans to stay at the club "very much for the long term," but admits he must consider any takeover bids once the new stadium is completed. Joe Lewis -- the chairman of ENIC International Ltd., the investment vehicle that owns a majority 85.5 percent of Tottenham -- reportedly values the club at over £1 billion, and in September 2014 a potential takeover bid from Cain Hoy Enterprises was abandoned by the U.S. investment company. Spurs hope to open their new £400 million stadium for the start of the 2018-19 season, while they are building a £5m player lodge next to their state-of-the-art training facility in Enfield, with ENIC, which bought a majority stake of 29.9 percent in the club for £22m in 2001, standing to make a huge profit if it sells once the projects are complete. Asked if this was likely to happen, Levy -- in an interview with ESPN.com -- said: "I've been chairman of the club for nearly 16 years, and we have maybe 30,000 small shareholders -- we used to be a public company -- and my response to that question is always the same: We have a duty when we've got 30,000 shareholders to consider any proposals that anyone wants to make the club. There's a board of transfer. But I've been here 16 years, and I'd very much hope to be here very much for the long term." ENIC has made a concerted effort to increase its shareholding since 2001 and only 14.5 percent of the club's shares are outside the company's control. Lewis, who was at Wembley to watch last week's Champions League match against Monaco, owns 70 percent of ENIC, with the Levy family owning the remaining 30 percent, while few of Tottenham's remaining shareholders own more than one percent of the club. Meanwhile, a report last week in The Times said Spurs have opened talks with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) about a naming-rights deal for their new stadium, claiming it was one of more than 300 companies, institutions and investment vehicles approached by the club about sponsorship. Levy admitted that talks are under way with potential sponsors but said a naming-rights deal remained some way off. "We've started engaging in various markets with a number of potential candidates," he said. "I would say at a very early stage, it is our intention to sell naming rights but we have to go through a process and I think it will be some time before we pick the right brand for our stadium."
And there's more... Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has told ESPN's Ashley Fox that the club would be willing to share their training base with an NFL team in the future. Tottenham hope to open their new £400 million stadium for the start of the 2018-19 season, while they are building a £5m player lodge next to their state-of-the-art training facility in Enfield. The new stadium will host at least two NFL matches per season for 10 years from 2018 in a deal announced by Spurs last year, and Levy, who has previously told ESPN that he is open to hosting a permanent NFL London franchise, said the club could share their training base. "The NFL, a number of times when they've come to the UK, has used our training facility and, when a foreign organisation goes to another territory, I think being in partnership with a local operator brings enormous benefits," he said in an interview with ESPN.com. "I think the NFL has understood that one thing we've got is we're a well-run organisation and we really believe in the word 'partnership.' "So we've encouraged them to engage with us in a wider way, not just in relation to using our stadium once or twice or three times a season, which at the moment is the current arrangement with the NFL -- a 10-year deal with a minimum of two games per season." Spurs' deal with the NFL is not exclusive and both Wembley Stadium, the club's home for European games this season, and Twickenham will also host matches in the future. Asked if Spurs' new 61,000-seater stadium could host the eight home games per season needed for a permanent franchise, Levy said: "It can expand to however big either party wants it to be. "We're going into this, hopefully the intention is our relationship will expand over time and we're working very closely together. But I think in terms of training facilities and things like that, we have discussed that with the NFL, but again that's something for the NFL to decide upon."
The mythical figure was that if Uncle Joe can make 500m in profit from a sale then ENIC will sell THFC. With Levy OTOH I suspect this is more of a labour of love / 'told you I could do it on a sound business basis' thing than merely raking it in from a sale.
Hats off to Alistair Brownlee There's been a lot of controversy about whether he broke the rules in assisting another competitor, but I don't think he saw further than just helping out his brother in need. The Brownlees are some athletes, but I don't think you can prepare for the Mexican heat at Wuthering Heights
Who in the last 8 years has deserved it more than Messi or Ronaldo? Those 2 are the best ever. Stop moaning and appreciate it.
