Source: Daily_Mail
Charles Sale: Barmy England put shirt on Kasabian
Umbro's wacky marketing wheeze to launch their red England World Cupshirt involved Tom Meighan, lead singer of Kasabian, wearing it for theencore of the group's concert in the Olympia Theatre, Paris, on Mondaynight.[LNB]The idea was to use a non-footballing English team playing abroadand it was deemed so brilliant that Umbro kept it top secret in advanceof Meighan's appearance to maximise the impact.[LNB]Barmy or what? Especially as Umbro admit the stunt took place infront of 2,500 'unsuspecting' French fans who couldn't care less aboutthe England football team.[LNB]Getting shirty: Meighan makes the impromptu unveiling[LNB]England's cricketers have yet to agree central contracts for theyear starting last October in what is now the longest stand-off inannual negotiations with the ECB since the deals were introduced. Thereare numerous sticking points for the players and no expectation of asettlement any time soon.[LNB]One big grouse is over the familyprovision terms, including creche facilities for all five days of eachTest. Team England want the ECB to foot the total bill for keepingchildren occupied rather than the current 50-50 arrangement.[LNB] Fabio talks a good gameEngland coach Fabio Capello now feels confident enough about hisEnglish to cope with the most pressurised Press conference of his timein charge without an interpreter. [LNB]In the absence of the pony-tailed Danny Tartaglia at the Euro 2012qualifying draw in Warsaw, Capello dealt with the international mediafrenzy surrounding the fall-out of John Terry losing the captaincy.[LNB] More from Charles Sale... Charles Sale: FA chasing £30m England sponsor08/02/10 Charles Sale: Wembley's tough line on box bandits07/02/10 CHARLES SALE: Protesters hunt down TV historian in bid to stop 2012 Olympics equestrian at Greenwich Park 05/02/10 Charles Sale: Shamed England skipper Terry is expected to keep his kit on04/02/10 Charles Sale: Fabio Capello's untimely night on Pall Mall03/02/10 Charles Sale: China set to exploit BOA's Surrey state during London 2012 Olympics02/02/10 CHARLES SALE: John Terry lawyer now in Wayne Bridge's team 01/02/10 CHARLES SALE: Gary Lineker kicks BBC golf duties in to touch29/01/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE The Italian closely relied on West Ham matchday steward Tartagliaduring his long, uphill struggle to improve his English, which used todeteriorate markedly after trips home to Italy.[LNB]But even after four weeks away from Wembley recovering from kneesurgery, Capello's English was sufficiently good that he did not needto be close-marked by Tartaglia, whose accreditation was an issue forthe FA in Poland.[LNB]The FA are still undecided whether Tartaglia, who was once expectedto be the first on the plane for South Africa, will go to the World Cupas part of the England party.[LNB] The Liverpool ownership issue remains so fraught that headhunters Odgers' search for a chief executive has been put in cold storage until there is more stability at the top of the club. City financier Christian Purslow, who has been running the club since the departure of Rick Parry last summer, still has the title of temporary managing director. [LNB] Deposed England captain John Terry, who has been making plenty of wrong decisions off the pitch, has at least made a wise move with his autobiography. [LNB]Terry, who was paid a £1million advance by Harper Collins for a two-book deal the first being a diary of Chelsea's first back-to-back titles has twice delayed the publication of his life story.[LNB]It was due to come out in 2008 but Terry didn't want his book to suffer the same fate as those published on the back of England's poor 2006 World Cup showing in Germany. And he isn't risking a similar scenario after South Africa, so it will be 2011 or 2012 before Terry tells all and Harper Collins are prepared to wait. [LNB] Former barrister Graham Davies, the TV presentation coach with close links to the Tories who has been arrested and bailed over an alleged sex attack on a prospective cleaner of his west London flat, has another claim to notoriety. [LNB]He was guest speaker at last year's Football Writers' Footballer of the Year dinner, when his speech corpsed.[LNB] The zero tolerance shown by the IOC to athletes guilty of misdemeanours is quickly forgotten when it comes to transgressions by their own membership. [LNB]For example, the IOC have endorsed their toothless ethics committee recommendation that South Korea's former chairman of Samsung, Kun-Hee Lee, who was found guilty of massive tax fraud, should stay on as a full member. His only punishment is a ban from serving on commissions for five years.[LNB] [LNB]
