Nike England deal in serious doubt
From Back Page market in which they have a virtual England squad monopoly. At Euro 2016, the only England players not sporting a swoosh on their shoes were adidas pair Dele Alli and Gary Cahill and Puma-backed Adam Lallana.
If Nike decide not to continue with their England kit deal, Under Armour would be the most likely successor. The other sports merchandising giant — German company adidas — would prove a more difficult fit for the FA. A Nike spokesman said they never comment about contract negotiations. CREDIT
to Jon Smith, whose football agency First Artist has been an enduring force in the business, for revealing some of the darks arts of his secretive trade in his modestly titled new book The Deal: Inside the World of a Super Agent ( Little Brown), published today. Smith is a far more rounded character than most agents — he ran a marathon at the North Pole to raise £100,000 for a seven-year-old boy’s specialist brain-tumour treatment. He has taken his company, run with brother Phil, in different directions, including in and out of the stock market. The latest move is a merger with Adam Wheatley’s Mission agency, where Kevin Pietersen is a shareholder. THE FA board could well end up supporting a failed candidate for a third time in recent football elections. They backed Jordan’s Prince Ali in his unsuccessful tilt for the FIFA presidency against Sepp Blatter and then Michel Platini (right) when Blatter stood down — only for the disgraced Frenchman to be banned.
Now the FA have announced their endorsement of Dutchman Michael van Praag in next week’s UEFA presidential election. This despite Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin being favourite to win. Ceferin is seen as more supportive of national associations, who have the vote, rather than close to the clubs like Van Praag.
Coincidentally, Van Praag worked alongside England’s David Gill, who has the biggest influence by far on the FA board, in the UEFA working group that has just agreed a new financial format for the Champions League with the European Club Association.
MARK WHITTLE, the FA’s highly respected main England spokesman before becoming a victim of job cuts after Euro 2016, is being linked with joining football agency Triple S. Their marquee client is England captain Wayne Rooney, who has worked with Whittle on international duty for more than a decade. Triple S is run by Paul Stretford and father and son Freddy and Kenneth Shepherd.
T20 facing screen test
THE need for a terrestrial TV rights partner for the new T20 tournament on which the ECB are banking their future is absolutely paramount to grow the game. But if the ECB can bring in their £40m-a-year target figure from BT or Sky, it looks likely the desperate need for free-to-air exposure will be swept under the carpet. Worryingly, terrestrial channels who have shown interest in T20 coverage have had no recent talks with the ECB or their consultants. JOHN
HUNT, BBC 5 Live’s outstanding horse racing commentator, is expected to accept a lucrative offer to call the racing for ITV when they start covering the sport from the start of 2017. As well as hosts Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani, the team is likely to include Alice Plunkett, Mick Fitzgerald, Rishi Persad, Ollie Bell, Hayley Turner and Sally Ann Grassick. Surprisingly, Sir AP McCoy, the biggest name in racing, has yet to commit to a pundit role despite being a close friend of Chamberlin. THE new Champions League model will see English clubs in the competition receiving 15 per cent of the TV revenue from the UK market — as opposed to 40 per cent in the previous agreement, with more money being performance related. This was part of the bartering that has seen England guaranteed four clubs in the flagship tournament. However, Manchester United’s Ed Woodward is reported to be the least happy with the arrangement that United football club director and UEFA executive member David Gill helped negotiate.