Source: Daily_Mail
Charles Sale: England show up clubs on poppies
The England football team, despite not playing on Remembrance Sundayweekend, will show up the Premier League's poppygate refuseniks byrecognising Armistice Day next Wednesday before they fly to Qatar forthe friendly against Brazil.[LNB]Lest we forget: Remembrance crosses are planted outside Westminster Abbey [LNB] More from Charles Sale... And then there were two: Bolton join the poppy parade - unlike Manchester United and Liverpool05/11/09 Poppy power! Now only three Premier clubs are refusing to back campaign04/11/09 Charles Sale: Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie is charged (only four years on)04/11/09 Charles Sale: Poppies growing on Premier League clubs03/11/09 CHARLES SALE: A dozen Premier League clubs are proud of poppies02/11/09 CHARLES SALE: Olympic naming at Her Majesty's pleasure02/11/09 Charles Sale: Dennis Wise and sidekick Tony Jimenez on the prowl again30/10/09 Charles Sale: Peter Harrison the football agent at the centre of BBC Panorama bungs documentary set for date with Liverpool civil court 29/10/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE The squad will be in the air during the traditional two-minutesilence for Britain's war dead taken at the 11th hour of the 11th dayof the 11th month. [LNB]So all 23 players with poppies on their team suits will gather earlier that morning in a private area at their GroveHotel base outside Watford, before they board the bus for the airport,for their own two-minute silent tribute to mark the 91st anniversary ofthe end of World War One.[LNB]Barring injuries, a number of Manchester United and Liverpoolplayers, including talisman Wayne Rooney, will be part of that ceremony in stark contrast to the stubborn attitude being shown by the twoPremier League clubs who will not be playing in poppy-embroideredshirts this weekend.[LNB] [LNB]Disgraced Tory peer Jeffrey Archer has been re-admitted into cricket's most famous members club, the MCC, after serving a seven-year suspension following his four-year jail sentence for perjury. Archer was released in July 2003 after spending two years in prison, but his MCC ban lasted until October 2009. He has now been restored to full membership and has given payment details to Lord's for his annual subscription.[LNB]Ironically, another infamous jailbird, British mercenary Simon Mann, granted a pardon in Equatorial Guinea 15 months into a 34-year sentence for attempting to overthrow the government, was never a member of MCC despite his father George being England captain and president of MCC.[LNB] [LNB]There is more unrest inside the Professional Footballers' Association following the absence of in-house lawyer Jo Armstrong, who has been off work with stress for two months.[LNB]Armstrong's illness is understood to relate to the anxiety she felt in the fall-out from her £100,000 costs and damages award from the News of the World for phone-hacking voicemail messages and over whether she should have informed the membership about her successful legal action. [LNB]PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor (right) is reported to have won a £400,000 payment for a similar claim.[LNB]Armstrong said yesterday: 'I'm not well enough to talk about anything.'[LNB]The revelation about Armstrong's difficulties follow shortly after Taylor's deputy chief executive Mick McGuire settled his unfair dismissal case with the PFA before the start of an employment tribunal hearing. [LNB]McGuire had been sacked earlier in the year for bullying details of which have never been explained.[LNB] [LNB]Alison Kervin, former Times rugby writer and author of a fictional book about football WAGs, is a surprise outside candidate to replace Mihir Bose as BBC sports editor and has had her first interview at a secret hotel venue away from Broadcasting House. [LNB]The internal BBC candidates interviewed so far are James Pearce, Adrian Warner and James Munro.[LNB] [LNB]There was bemusement yesterday in the camp of Arsenal's Russian oligarch and shareholder Alisher Usmanov at club chairman Peter Hill-Wood's decision to sell shares to Stan Kroenke. This takes the American tycoon just 71 shares away from the 29.99 percentage threshold, above which he must bid for the whole club.[LNB]Hill-Wood sold 100 of his shares to Kroenke at £8,500 each, while the other 100 shares bought by the owner-in-waiting are also believed to have been sold by Hill-Wood family members.[LNB]The sale comes just a fortnight after chairman Hill-Wood told the Arsenal annual meeting it was important for the Gunners to remain independent of one owner. Certainly Usmanov's people will not be alone in seeing the transaction as wholly inappropriate.[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People:Jeffrey Archer, Simon Mann, Gordon Taylor, Peter Hill-Wood, Wayne RooneyPlaces:Equatorial Guinea, United Kingdom, Brazil, Qatar, Westminster Abbey
