Is this Scu’s last ride?

THE drawn-out Premier League rights tender, where two packages are still to be sold, has only increased speculation among top-flight clubs that this will be the last TV auction conducted by executive chairman Richard Scudamore.

He has already stayed at the helm for longer than many thought he would following a health scare in 2015, having become chief executive in 1999. After the PL’s unprecedented success, he would be inundated with job offers were he to seek another challenge inside or outside sport.

l IT is such a boom period for England rugby union under head coach Eddie Jones that research commissioned by the RFU has shown there is an estimated total demand for around 2.5million tickets for Twickenham matches against the strongest opposition. This means 82,000-capacity Twickenham could be sold out 30 times over for the big matches, according to a survey by specialist ticket price consultants Simon Kucher & Partners. Such enormous interest is partly created by the difficulty of buying tickets, when RFU statutes require 50 per cent to be sold through rugby clubs. There should surely be much more transparency around how these clubs distribute their Twickenham tickets. THIS column has previously heaped praise on the Football League for inviting members of the media to their pre-match functions in the Wembley Suite ahead of Carabao Cup finals and play-off matches — which the FA would never dream of doing. So it is only right to report that your Sports

Agenda columnist has been told he is no longer on the EFL guest list because ultra-sensitive chief executive Shaun Harvey did not like the personal criticism around the shambolic Carabao Cup draws this season. As one former FL director observed, it is ‘childish to say the least’.