Van Gaal annoyed with long US tour
0Shares0000LONDON, July 23- Louis van Gaal thinks Manchester United are putting his chances of success in jeopardy by dragging the first-team squad across the US on their preseason tour.United start their build-up to the new Premier League campaign on Wednesday when they face Los Angeles Galaxy at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in California. It will be the first game of a two-and-a-half-week-long tour that could see United travel almost 13,500 miles if they reach the final of the International Champions Cup — the preseason tournament which includes some of the best clubs in Europe — at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium.After the game in LA, United travel to Denver, Washington DC, Detroit and they will then make the three-hour flight to Miami if they top their group, which contains Roma, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. In between the matches, the players have to appear at sponsor events while they are also duty-bound to conduct interviews for the club’s in-house TV channel.It all seems too much for Van Gaal, who made his annoyance perfectly clear at his first pre-match news conference in the U.S.When asked whether United’s commercial commitments were impinging on football matters, Van Gaal said: “More or less, yes because we have to prepare the season and when you have a lot of commercial activities also for the players, and you have to travel distances, you have to fly a lot, you have also jet lag, and that is not very positive for a good preparation.“But the tour was already arranged so I have to adapt, I shall adapt.”Van Gaal has only been in place for a week, but he has already made his disquiet about United’s commercial activities clear on two occasions.As well as Tuesday night’s complaint, Van Gaal said at his unveiling: “Within two days I know already how important Manchester United is, but also how important the sponsors are and I have to work and prepare a team and I have to adapt to this big club. It will not be easy.”Van Gaal’s blunt assessment flew in the face of comments made by his boss Ed Woodward less than 24 hours earlier. Responding to the comments made by Van Gaal at his unveiling, United’s executive vice-chairman said on Monday: “It doesn’t disrupt the football club.”Woodward said he was open to discussions with Van Gaal about where he thought the club should go on tour next year.Keen to maximise their profits and broaden their fan-base, United have been on long-haul tours for the last 10 years. Last summer they clocked up 23,000 miles travelling between Australia, Thailand, China and Japan.The club have been keen to tap in to the Asian market in the last few years and South Africa, as well as the U.S., has been a regular destination for the squad in preseason. Van Gaal has made it clear he will not accept such a draining tour as the current one next summer.“Manchester United shall do everything to adapt to my rules for good preparation,” the Dutchman said.When asked if he would like a shorter tour next year with less travelling, Van Gaal said: “Yeah, I hope that. They have already said that to me. And I am very confident that it shall be.”Around 2,500 paying customers sat in the stands at the 90,000-capacity Rose Bowl on Tuesday just to watch the squad train. A crowd of over 70,000 is expected for the match itself.-ESPN FC0Shares0000(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
Former England boss Sam Allardyce believes home-grown managers are considered second class in a “foreign” Premier League.Following the recent sacking of Craig Shakespeare and appointment of Frenchman Claude Puel at Leicester, the top flight currently has seven British or Irish managers.Allardyce, who back in 2010 once claimed he was more suited to Inter Milan or Real Madrid than the likes of former clubs Bolton and Blackburn, said the overseas influence in the Premier League was a barrier for coaches closer to home.“I think you are almost deemed as second class because it is your country,” he told beIN Sports.“It is a real shame that we are highly-educated, highly-talented coaches now with nowhere to go.“The Premier League is the foreign league in England now.“When you look across the owners, the managers and the coaches (and) the players, that is exactly what it is now.” Allardyce claims the Premier League is now foreign 1
The fallout from Hearts defeat at St Johnstone has continued after the club decided not to appeal against Sam Nicholson’s red card for spitting.Manager Ian Cathro said he believes his player’s explanation that he didn’t deliberately target assistant referee Stephen Mitchell but former ref Charlie Richmond has branded Nicholson as “disgusting”.Across the city, Neil Lennon is still fuming about the handling of his clash with Jim Duffy, saying he’s surprised at getting more disciplinary charges than his Morton counterpart. He’s also unhappy that the timing of his hearing could see him watching the Scottish Cup semi-final from the stands.Elsewhere, Lee McCulloch has made an innovative move in painting a pitch onto the floor of the Killie dressing room, while Stuart Armstrong has disappointed James Corden.
Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain said Motherwell players should have been “embarrassed” waking up on Monday after their controversial goal in the champions’ 4-1 Premiership win.Scott Sinclair and Odsonne Edouard had given the hosts a 2-0 lead but after the break Motherwell pulled a goal back in unusual circumstances.Celtic expected to be given the ball back from a throw-in but James Scott, making his first start for Motherwell, raced in on goal and had a shot saved by Bain before Gboly Ariyibi swept in the rebound.The Steelmen’s strike ended Bain’s run of clean sheets since replacing Craig Gordon between the sticks for the Hoops and left the shot-stopper furious. “It’s something I’ve never seen before and I’d honestly be embarrassed if I was one of them waking up this morning to get a goal like that.“We just move on and start the run of clean sheets again hopefully.”Bain added: “I thought he was surely just going to pass the ball back to me but he just kept coming and coming.“To take the shot on and then their player to follow it up and score, it’s embarrassing.“They weren’t looking like scoring any other way in the game. I enjoyed the third and fourth goals, I’m not going to lie.”Manager Brendan Rodgers has been linked with Leicester City after the Premier League outfit sacked Claude Puel on Sunday.Bain said he understands why the Northern Irish boss will be a wanted-man, but insisted the Hoops squad are firmly focused on on-pitch matters in the coming weeks.He added: “With a top manager there will always be speculation. We would love him to be here, there is nothing much we can do but we would love him to stay.“He fills us with confidence and the style of football is so attractive, he is very important for the club.”Bain continued: “We have a big game on Wednesday, every day is business as usual as you say.“We have a group of players who have shown how focused they are over the last coupled of years, it won’t distract us from our job.” He said: “I’ve never seen anything like it, I’d be embarrassed today if I was them waking up.“They had the chance to rectify the situation and let us score, they would get plaudits for acting like that, but it was really disappointing.“It was discussed heatedly that you just don’t do that in the game.“One of their players got a head knock in the first half and we played the ball back to them, we do that in any game.
7 February 2012While sipping on bottled water has become something of a lifestyle statement, a survey has revealed that most South Africans are happy with the high quality water that comes straight from their taps.The survey, conducted by the Water Research Commission and South African Local Government Association between March and May 2011, investigated urban South Africans’ perceptions of the quality of their water and the factors that influence these perceptions.It found that 81 percent of urban South Africans from all income levels perceive their tap water to be safe to drink. This concurs with international studies which found that most people in countries with a reliable water supply perceived tap water as having a low safety risk.South African water institutions are considered to provide some of the highest quality of drinking or potable water in the world.The survey covered adults aged 16 years and older from all race groups. A random sample of 2 437 urban households was drawn.Younger people more positiveThe study also found that women were significantly less confident about the safety of tap water than men. Women were also more likely than men to boil or filter drinking water, and more inclined than men to drink only bottled water.Younger people between the ages of 16 and 34 were more positive about the safety of drinking water than older people.Consumers in the metro municipalities perceived their tap water to be significantly safer to drink than consumers in other urban municipalities.Consumers in eThekwini Metro (Durban) had the highest consumer confidence in the safety of their tap water, whereas consumers in Mangaung Metro (Bloemfontein) had the least confidence.Consumers of non-metro municipalities in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga provinces had the lowest confidence in the safety of their tap water.Factors influencing perceptionsThere was a wide range of factors which determined consumers’ perceptions about the safety of drinking water, the main ones being the appearance of the water, its taste and smell, and people’s bodily reactions to it.A very small percentage of the population based their perception of the safety of tap water on what they heard or read in the media.The leader of the survey, Dr Sarah Slabbert, said: “Although the scope of this study was small, it provides a baseline within which to compare future studies.“It also gives the water sector and its stakeholders an understanding of how South Africans perceive the quality of drinking water. The findings have several implications for policy, management and further research.”The director for water use and waste management at the Water Research Commission, Jay Bhagwan, said the perception that tap water was clean and safe to drink and regularly tested was a major indicator of good municipal service.Source: BuaNews
Related Posts Tags:#Analysis#enterprise IT + Project Management: A Love Affair You would expect that if anyone has gotten deeply into social media, it would be college admins. For the past several years, researchers from University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research let by Dr. Nora Barnes have looked at how quickly this adoption has happened, and their latest report shows almost total immersion. The researchers interviewed 456 college social network administrators from last November to May at all sizes and kinds of institutions.They found that colleges are using social media to recruit and research prospective students, and that schools are becoming more sophisticated about which tools they choose to use. “Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogging and podcasting are the tools of choice for US institutions of higher education. All of them have realized double-digit increases in adoption in the past year,” according to the report.What is astounding is how quickly the admissions officers have adopted LinkedIn: from 16% last year to 47% most recently. Also interesting is how schools have evolved in their use of blogs. Back in 2007, 37% of those schools that had blogs didn’t accept comments, but now that has dropped to only 15%. “Schools are mastering the tool and embracing its true spirit of two-way conversation. For students or their parents looking to have a conversation online about particular aspects of university life, this increased interaction through comments can be significant.” Barnes also saw increases in usage of RSS feeds and email subscriptions on the school websites. Barnes surveys other market sectors about their online use and the higher ed sector is the only area where blogging continues to increase. (Click on the graphic for a larger version, showing the differences in usage in each sector.)When Barnes first started studying this sector back in the 2007-8 academic year, 61% of her respondents reported that they used at least one social network. Now it is 100%, to no surprise, given the ubiquity of these networks in the hands of their student population. Facebook is used in 98% of institutions, up from 87% last year. Podcasting has risen from 22% to 41% in just the past year. Clearly, college admins are living in the world of their students, but more importantly, they understand how to use these online tools and developing them to fit their particular needs. david strom
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The headlines do considerable damage to the brand that is the Wharton School, as the lay reader presumes that Wharton School is the body that has made and unmade the decision to invite Modi. Related Items
New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult will miss the rest of their tour of England due to a back injury, British media reported on Sunday.The 25-year-old left-armer was ruled out of the third one-day international in Southampton on Sunday and will fly home for further tests. Boult will miss the last two one-dayers in a series New Zealand lead 2-1 plus the T20 game on June 23.Apart from Boult, Black Caps all-rounder Corey Anderson and fast bowler Adam Milne have also left the tour due to injuries. Left-arm seamer Ben Wheeler made his ODI debut on Sunday, taking three wickets to help New Zealand to a three-wicket win.
Gurgaon police on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old Kartik, for his involvement in the gang rape of a 15-year-old Judo player in Mokulwas village under Bilaspur police station.The youth, along with five others, on September 4 allegedly abducted two minor Judo players from the Judo Sport Centre in the village. However, one of the girls was left mid way while the second girl was taken to an isolated place.”The two Judo players were at the sports centre to get tips of the game. The accused allegedly thrashed the coach and leveled charges of sexually exploiting girls against him. The accused had the forcefully took them on a motor bike and raped one of them,” said ACP crime Rajesh Kumar.The other five persons accused of gang-raping the judo player are still on the run.
With the Delhi High Court clearing the decks for the fourth and final Test between India and South Africa here, DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan on Thursday said the state association is ready to put up a good show at the Feroz Shah Kotla come December 3.The final hurdle in the way was cleared this morning after the Delhi High Court asked the city government not to take coercive steps against DDCA till further orders with regard to the entertainment tax dues payable by it.Of the Rs 24.45 crore entertainment tax slapped by the government on the state body, DDCA has been directed to deposit Rs 1 crore in two installments.The court also told the government not to withhold the no objection certificate to the cricket body.”We are thankful to the judiciary for taking a positive step for the cricket lovers of the capital. We will now put all our energies towards hosting a successful game,” a jubilant Chauhan told PTI after the conclusion of the court hearing.”We have already started the work of the match. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank everybody who worked hard to make this happen and we will organise a good game,” the former India cricketer said.This comes a day after the HC had directed the MCD to issue a provisional occupancy certificate to DDCA for hosting the international game. The state association had already ran out of time to get clearances before the November 17 deadline set by BCCI.advertisementThe Indian board though waited for the court orders before finalising the host venue for the final game. Chauhan insists that DDCA will be transparent in its dealings.”The balance sheet for 2013-14 has been sent to the BCCI, which will be audited by their own Chartered Accountant. Everything will be transparent as always,” said Chauhan.DDCA had moved HC Tuesday with a plea seeking a direction to South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) over issuing a provisional occupancy certificate. The court did direct the MCD to provide a POC to the state association but also appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal to oversee the affairs of the international match.Chauhan welcomed Mudgal into the DDCA’s organisational team.”We will certainly use his wisdom and we as a team are looking forward to work under his supervision and guidance.The first organisation committee meeting will probably happen on Friday,” he said.