Source: Daily_Mail
Charles Sale: Retirement? Andrew Flintoff inundated with lucrative offers away from cricket
England talisman Freddie Flintoff, on schedule to recover from acareer-threatening knee injury in time for the Indian Premier League inMarch, is being inundated with offers away from cricket.[LNB]Flintoff, who cycled 80km in a day on a gym bike this week as partof his Dubai-based rehab, is concentrating only on returning toLancashire, Chennai Super Kings and England as a one-day cricketspecialist for as long as his body holds up. But life after cricket isalready looking extremely lucrative for him.[LNB]Come and get me: Flintoff[LNB] More from Charles Sale... Charles Sale: Sir Alex Ferguson's hairdryer after beating Manchester City06/01/10 Charles Sale: Sheffield steeled for court battle04/01/10 Charles Sale: Andrew Cole's tribute to his old enemy Teddy Sheringham18/12/09 Charles Sale: Sam Hammam's deal resolves Cardiff City dispute18/12/09 CHARLES SALE: BBC playing rough on England games at World Cup finals16/12/09 Charles Sale: Multi-millionaire Ross playing ball with 2012 legacy16/12/09 CHARLES SALE: Bookies probing late rush on Ryan Giggs14/12/09 CHARLES SALE: Beeb hit by manager Brian Laws' Sheffield Wednesday axe13/12/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE The most tempting proposal for Harley-Davidson owner Flintoff is aplan for him to ride a motorbike across India for a TV traveldocumentary series that involves Big Earth, the production companybehind the bike trip undertaken by film star Ewan McGregor. Theproject, which would not take place until 2011 at the earliest, isunderstood to be worth more than £500,000 to Flintoff and is beingworked on by the Merlin Elite agency in partnership with Flintoff'smanagement team ISM.[LNB]Other offers on the table include Freddie trying out for a baseballoutfit, coaching the Rwanda cricket team and taking part in a Bollywoodfilm. But his priority is easing back into cricket in a Malaysiatournament before joining Chennai at their IPL training camp.[LNB] [LNB]Owning a Premier League club distracts US owners from their American football franchises, judging by their positions at the end of the NFL regular season. [LNB]Cleveland Browns, owned by Aston Villa's Randy Lerner (right), the Manchester United Glazer family's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St Louis Rams, owned by Arsenal's Stan Kroenke, finished rock bottom in their Conference divisions, with the Rams having the worst win-loss record in the NFL, at 1-15. [LNB]To complete the picture, Liverpool's George Gillett has been forced to sell his Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team to raise cash and Anfield partner Tom Hicks has his Texas Rangers baseball franchise up for sale for the same reason.[LNB] [LNB]The cold snap seems to have muddled the PR thinking at both Manchester clubs. The Glazer family have a London spokesman whose sole role is to talk about their United ownership. Yet he won't even comment or explain why he won't on the reported Glazer attempts to re-finance their £700million debt burden which Old Trafford fans deserve to know everything about as it's their money which is servicing the enormous interest payments.[LNB]Meanwhile, City revealed their latest financial figures at 7.40pm on Tuesday night, which gave commentators no time to interpret the information before daily newspaper deadlines. [LNB]City say they delayed releasing the information because of their change of manager followed by the Christmas holiday and then reacted when news of the figures began to filter out.[LNB] BOA visit the doctorOne of the first wealthy patrons to support the British Olympic Association's efforts to raise around £15million for Team 2012 from the rich list is the Ugandan-born multi-millionaire Dr Chai Patel, who came to the UK as a teenager and has made his fortune from a private health care clinic empire that included Roehampton's Priory, a favoured celebrity rehab destination.[LNB] [LNB]England's tension-packed tour of South Africa has also seen a confrontation in a hotel bar between fast bowler Jimmy Anderson and Sky Sports News cricket reporter Adam Leventhal, who has been known to upset players in the past. The pair had to be separated by England security chief Reg Dickason.[LNB] [LNB]The Football League's fit and proper test, which postponed a decision on QPR owner Flavio Briatore's eligibility until after his successful appeal against his lifelong F1 ban, have another case pending. [LNB]The Financial Services Authority have commenced criminal proceedings against Barnsley owner Patrick Cryne, multi-millionaire supplier of healthcare software, for making misleading statements to the stock market. He will appear along with three other former directors of the iSOFT Group at Westminster Magistrates Court on January 29.[LNB] [LNB]
