FOUR OPTIONS FOR FOREST’S NEW HOME AFTER RENT ROW
NOTTINGHAM FOREST have threatened to leave the City Ground amid a row with the council over rent. The club have leased the land since 1898 from the local authority, who are demanding the £250,000 annual rent is increased to £1million. Forest chairman Tom Cartledge told Agenda: ‘Since we made public our frustration with the city council, we have been delighted with the response from a wide range of organisations in the region. We have had four potential sites proposed to us. While we prefer to remain at the City Ground we are now evaluating those options.’
MORE tales from Chelsea’s American Revolution. Last week, Mail Sport revealed Manchester United’s Phil Lynch was to become the latest compatriot of co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali to join their executive team, alongside commercial boss Todd Kline and chief executive Chris Jurasek. Clearlake company man Jurasek has made an impression since joining last May. In a recent staff meeting, he was asked if he supported Chelsea. To paraphrase, he said he was ‘not really a football fan’, adding that he refers to the game as ‘a product and our fans as customers — which people get mad at’.
A MANCHESTER CITY season-ticket holder will play a key role in Manchester United’s plans to redevelop Old Trafford. Last week, United announced a task force to oversee plans for a new stadium and the regeneration of the area. Led by Lord Coe, the group also includes Gary Neville and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. The fourth member is Trafford Council chief executive Sara Todd. A Mancunian and planner by trade, she is also a trustee of the City in the Community Foundation and will be well-placed to speak about her club’s regeneration of east Manchester.
PAUL POGBA was due to speak about his range of investments outside football at the Bloomberg business summit in Saudi Arabia on Thursday — but, with an appeal over a four-year drugs ban pending, he pulled out. It is understood Pogba, who is determined to clear his name at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, did so because he does not want to disrespect the process and trial judges by stating his case in public before he has had the opportunity to put it before them. Pogba was due to discuss his business interests with Bloomberg but would inevitably have been asked about his failed test and ban.
TONY ADAMS has won a two-year battle to convert stables into a guest suite at his £3.5m Cotswold mansion after bats were found roosting in the roof. Adams, 57, and whisky heiress wife Poppy Teacher want to turn the former snooker room into a two-bedroom annexe with roof lights. A bat survey found the Cotswold stone outbuilding is being used as a night roost for lesser horseshoe, serotine and brown long-eared bats — a protected species. Planners at Cotswold Council gave the green light, as long as Adams builds a dedicated bat loft in a nearby garage and gym.
ENGLAND’S Six Nations victory over Ireland triggered a reaction from captain Jamie George on social media. One post on X showed a quote from Irish great Ronan O’Gara saying English rugby is at a ‘very, very low’ level. George liked a tweet that replied to O’Gara: ‘England boys: “Hold our beer ya doughnut”.’ Mail Sport’s Joe Marler was more tongue in cheek, ‘calling out’ Danny Care and Marcus Smith, his Harlequins club-mates, after they did not pass to him before Smith’s drop-goal: ‘Zero points in 92 Tests. I was walking it in... if I managed to catch it.’
A POSITIVE note to report from the chastening end of England’s tour of India. With Ben Stokes and Co changing their kit for the start of summer, players and staff decided to hand over their gear to the local association in Dharamshala. That means that from this week local children will be turning out with Joe Root and Stokes’s bats, pads and gloves. The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association are also providing T-shirts, tracksuits and shorts.