Premier League better off without Luis Suarez

The controversial striker left Liverpool to join Barcelona earlier this summer and the division's chief executive Richard Scudamore is glad to see the back of him

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore feels that the English top flight will be better off withoutLuis Suarez after his move from Liverpool to Barcelona.

The PFA Player of the Season scored 31 goals as the Reds finished second in 2013-14 but caused controversy while at the World Cup by biting Giorgio Chiellini, his third such incident, which led to a ban from all footballing activity until the end of October.

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Suarez had previously bitten opponents while at both Ajax and Liverpool, as well as once being suspended for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, and Scudamore says that he was "an accident waiting to happen".

"I think probably the time had come [for Suarez to go]," he told the press. "He's a great player and I'm not taking anything away from his talents - he was voted by both his own players and the media last year the player of the year and deservedly so.

"He's great to have but an accident waiting to happen and, if you spend your time trying to promote what's good about the Premier League, you're always waiting for the next thing to come along.

"And this one in the summer, although it was with Uruguay, although it didn't directly involve the Premier League, clearly it reflected on Liverpool as one of our great clubs and it reflected on us.

"He's done his time here but I can't say I'm sorry to see him go. I think it was good business on a number of levels from Liverpool to move Suarez on."

Having appealed his four-month Fifa ban, Suarez's fate will be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday

Swiss mission promises help to enhance exports

KARACHI: 

Consul General of Switzerland in Karachi Emil Wyss has promised assistance to Karachi business community to enhance exports to Switzerland.

While talking to the industrialists of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) – one of the leading town associations – he said Korangi Industrial Area is one of the most important areas in town with huge potential. It could contribute immensely in creating links between Swiss and Pakistani businessmen. “There are vast opportunities in Swiss market for Pakistani manufacturers of leather goods, and marble and onyx items. Cooperation between the two countries is attainable, including the outsourcing of pharmaceutical industries to Pakistani firms.”

Talking over the security situation in the city, he said Karachi was a safe place for foreigners, and most of them are not well acquainted with the law and order situation of the city. “We need to paint a true picture of the city instead of just relying on speculations.”

KATI President Syed Farukh Mazhar, in his welcome address, urged the Swiss stakeholders to invest more in Karachi. He said the volume of Pakistan’s exports to Switzerland is very small while the balance of trade also favours Switzerland.

He extended his invitation to Swiss companies to visit Pakistan and observe the security situation themselves, and also avail benefits of cheap raw material and labour. He also informed that a delegation of Pakistani businessmen will visit Switzerland to bring investment and impart knowledge about our industry.

KATI’s Standing Committee of Diplomatic Affairs Chairman Masood Naqi stressed on joint ventures to promote business and liaise with the Chamber of Commerce of Switzerland.

Erdogan prepares for Turkish presidency after historic poll triumph

ISTANBUL: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday prepared to take Turkey to a promised “new era” when he assumes the presidency in just over two weeks, after vanquishing his election rivals in a historic poll victory.

Erdogan vowed to build a “new Turkey” and reconcile a divided country as he took to the balcony of his party headquarters in Ankara to give a triumphant midnight speech before tens of thousands of supporters.

But analysts have warned both he and Turkey may face turbulent times ahead as he prepares to beef up the powers of the president, which in recent years has been a largely ceremonial role.

Erdogan has served as premier since 2003, a period in which he has sought to modernise Turkey and take a more assertive position on the international stage. He could now serve two five year presidential terms, staying in power until 2024.

Sunday’s polls were the first direct presidential elections in Turkish history – previously the head of state was chosen by parliament– and Erdogan has said he will be a “people’s president.”

“The Turkish people wrote history yesterday,” declared the pro-Erdogan daily Sabah, with a picture of Erdogan giving the balcony speech with his hand clasped to his heart.

He will be inaugurated as president on August 28 and attention now will turn to who becomes the next prime minister to take the ruling religion-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) into 2015 legislative elections.

Also closely watched will be the future of outgoing president Abdullah Gul, a co-founder of the AKP with Erdogan, who has taken a distance from the premier and is keeping his future plans tightly under wraps.

In the end, Erdogan’s victory was not the processional landslide many predicted but he still managed with a comfortable cushion to avoid the need for a second round against the main opposition challenger Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

Erdogan won 51.74 percent of the vote, Ihsanoglu 38.46 percent and the third candidate, Kurdish challenger Selahattin Demirtas 9.80 percent, according to results based on a near total vote count.

Turnout was 73.68 percent, a figure that would be considered high in many countries but was sharply down on the 89 percent turnout recorded in Turkey’s local elections in March.

Critics complained that the campaign had been strongly slanted in favour of Erdogan, whose advertising dominated television and billboards for days in the run-up to the polls.

“Erdogan has become the first president directly elected by the people, after an unfair election process,” said the strongly secular Cumhuriyet daily.

Thousands of Turks took to the streets of Istanbul hooting the horns of their cars and waving Turkish flags to celebrate the victory of Erdogan while fireworks exploded in the skies above Ankara in celebration.

In his speech from the balcony of AKP headquarters – already a tradition after Erdogan election victories – he sought to promote a message of reconciliation after a sometimes bitter election campaign.

“Today we are closing an era and taking the first step for a new era,” Erdogan said in his victory speech.

Promising a new process of social reconciliation, he added: “We may have different political views, different lifestyles, sects, values, ethnic roots… but we are all sons of this country… each of us are the owner of this state.”

During his first term as president, Erdogan will mark being in power longer than Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern Turkish state in 1923 and is still hailed as the country’s national hero.

Erdogan clearly has his eye on going down in history as a transformative figure like Ataturk, planning eye-poppingly ambitious infrastructure projects including a new canal for ships in Istanbul, a third airport in the city and a high speed rail network for the entire country.

Yet many secular Turks bitterly resent his rule and accuse Erdogan of squandering Ataturk’s legacy with a gradual move to religion and impose one-man rule.

Their anger erupted to the surface in deadly 2013 protests sparked by plans to build a shopping mall on the site of Gezi Park in central Istanbul. There was no reported unrest on election night.

In his victory speech, Erdogan called on opponents who label him a “dictator” to question themselves instead of criticising him.

He has promised to be a strongman president but this will prove tricky within the limits of the current constitution and the AKP has vowed to move to seek a new basic law after the 2015 polls.

Beyond that, Erdogan faces other tough challenges before him.

The economy, whose success is the foundation of his political popularity, has begun to show weakness over the last months.

“Winning the presidency has never been the main challenge for Erdogan. The main challenge… is what happens next,” said Ziya Meral, a researcher on Turkey at the University of Cambridge and Foreign Policy Centre in London

Second British Foreign Office minister quits

LONDON: Britain’s Africa minister Mark Simmonds resigned on Monday, barely a week after another UK Foreign Office minister quit over the government’s policy on Gaza.

Officials insisted that Simmonds’ decision was unrelated to that of Sayeeda Warsi, who quit last Tuesday in protest at the government’s failure to take a tougher line against Israel over its assault on Gaza.

Simmonds had decided “some weeks ago” to leave but agreed to stay to chair a UN meeting on the Democratic Republic of Congo last Thursday, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street office said.

In his resignation letter, Simmonds said he was “exceptionally proud” of the government’s achievements but said he wanted to spend more time with his family, and will be leaving parliament at the general election next year.

“There’s nothing suspicious about this resignation — there’s no difference between myself and the government on policy,” the outgoing minister later told the BBC.

Despite the apparently amicable nature of his departure, it will be seen as a blow for the Foreign Office as it adapts to an overhaul of ministerial staff at a time of numerous international crises.

Philip Hammond replaced William Hague as foreign secretary — the top job — in a reshuffle last month, which also saw Middle East minister Hugh Robertson replaced.

Of the seven ministers now at the Foreign Office, four have been in their post less than a month.

In her resignation letter last week, Warsi praised Hague but said there was “great unease across the Foreign Office, amongst both ministers and senior officials, in the way recent decisions are being made”.

The peer, Britain’s first Muslim cabinet member who also had responsibility for faith and communities, said the government’s policy on Gaza was “morally indefensible”.

In an ITV news interview on Monday, Hammond stressed the two resignations were entirely different.

“Mark Simmonds agreed with the prime minister at the time of the reshuffle that he wanted to stand down — he wants to stand down from parliament at the next election,” he said.

“Baroness Warsi’s departure is in a different category altogether.”

Simmonds has been Conservative member of parliament for Boston and Skegness in eastern England since 2001 and was appointed to the Foreign Office in September 2012.

He had responsibility for Africa, Britain’s overseas territories, the Caribbean, as well as climate change and international energy.

His replacement is James Duddridge, a Conservative MP and party whip who previously served on the House of Commons international development committee.

Ibrahimovic: I never said I want to return to Juventus

Stefan Hansson claimed that the striker told him that he was keen on rejoining the Bianconeri before he retires - but the 32-year-old says that the pair have never even met

Paris Saint-Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has dismissed the suggestion that he wants to return toJuventus.

Italian publication Tuttosport recently published an interview with Swedish coach Stefan Hansson, who claimed to have befriended the striker at Malmo and suggested that the 32-year-old wants to rejoin the Serie A champions, whom he played for between 2004 and 2006.

However, Ibrahimovic has now claimed that not only is he uninterested in going back to Juve, he does not even know Hansson.

"A person named Stefan Hansson has been making comments about me," the Sweden international said via his personal app Zlatan Unplugged.

"I would like to clarify that I do not know this person. I have never met him, he has never been my coach and we have never talked on Skype. 

"Normally, I would not even comment on matter like this, but his comments have reached unreasonable proportions, so I felt compelled to react."

Ibrahimovic, who netted twice in PSG's 2-2 Ligue 1 draw against Reims at the weekend, has a contract with the Ligue 1 champions until June 2016.

From Maradona to Medel - what caused Serie A to lose its financial power?

Perennial champions | Big-spending AC Milan led Italy's era of dominance in the 1980s and 90s

ANALYSIS: The world's greatest talent is currently bypassing the Italian peninsula, but where did it all go wrong for a one-time powerhouse in the transfer market?

By Kris Voakes | International Football Correspondent

Once upon a time, the Italian league was the undisputed pinnacle of football. The best players in the world played in Serie A, its clubs repeatedly featured in major European finals and TV sets across the globe would be tuned in every Sunday to watch the peninsula’s best go to battle in front of packed stadiums.

To the younger generation it may seem like a fairy tale as improbable as Goldilocks or Cinderella, but 20 years ago it was a reality. Serie A had no peers. It was simply the best.

Between 1989 and 1998, nine of the 10 Champions League and European Cup finals involved Italian teams, with four winners in that time. Of the seven Uefa Cup finals from 1989 to 1995, six were won by Italian teams, and a total of 14 Serie A representatives featured in the final between 1989 and 1999.

Players as legendary as Diego Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane, Marco van Basten, George Weah and Lothar Matthaus were household names across the world and all made their corn in Italy. They were heady times indeed.

Yet in 2014, Italian football is at a low ebb.

No longer is it home to the world’s greatest talents – most of them are in Spain. It doesn’t have the huge audience share in terms of TV – that goes to England. The fans no longer fill the stadiums – instead they’re in various bars across the country with TV rights to football matches in other leading nations. And it lags behind England, Spain and Germany when it comes to achievements on the continent, with the resulting drop in Champions League places in 2012 looking unlikely to be reversed for some time.

The difference between then and now is stark, and has been further underlined by this summer’s transfer window activity.

Many of the league’s biggest remaining talents have been chased long and hard by foreign clubs, with noises from each camp suggesting Serie A is not where they want to be. Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba and Mario Balotelli have all flirted with other clubs in some way, shape or form, and none of those outfits are on the peninsula.

Simply put, Italy looks like the last place the game’s biggest players want to be right now. And it is not as though the nation’s clubs have the financial muscle to lure top stars to replace their lost talent.

Footballing power often mirrors the chequebook, and Italy’s fortunes in recent years highlight that. Between 1952 and 1992, the world transfer record was broken 17 times, with 15 of those occurrences seeing a Serie A side pay out the unprecedented sum. Players such as Luis Suarez, Omar Sivori, Paolo Rossi, Maradona, Ruud Gullit, Baggio and Jean-Pierre Papin were snapped up in that period, while Ronaldo, Christian Vieri and Hernan Crespo would later follow suit.

More than anything, that was a reflection of Serie A’s power in the moneymaking business of football as Alex Thorpe, a consultant in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, tells Goal.

“In 1989-90, Serie A was the highest money-generating league, with the Football League in second,” Thorpe explains. “If you fast-forward to today, the Premier League is way out in front with Serie A far behind so it has shifted significantly.

“If we go back to 1996-97, England had €685m worth of revenue with Italy in second with €551m, so the gap wasn’t that big. But if we look now the gap is the best part of €1.3bn.

BIG MONEY | World transfer record from 1952 to 1992

YEAR	PLAYER	FROM	TO	FEE
1952	Hans Jeppson	Atalanta	Napoli	€78,000
1954	Juan Schiaffino	Penarol	Milan	€108,000
1957	Omar Sivori	River Plate	Juventus	€139,500
1961	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	Inter	€228,000
1963	Angelo Sormani	Mantova	Roma	€375,000
1967	Harald Nielsen	Bologna	Inter	€450,000
1968	Pietro Anastasi	Varese	Juventus	€750,000
1973	Johan Cruyff	Ajax	Barcelona	€1.381m
1975	Giuseppe Savoldi	Bologna	Napoli	€1.8m
1976	Paolo Rossi	Vicenza	Juventus	€2.625m
1982	Diego Maradona	Boca Juniors	Barcelona	€4.5m
1984	Diego Maradona	Barcelona	Napoli	€7.5m
1987	Ruud Gullit	PSV	Milan	€9m
1990	Roberto Baggio	Fiorentina	Juventus	€12m
1992	Jean-Pierre Papin	Marseille	Milan	€15m
1992	Gianluca Vialli	Sampdoria	Juventus	€18m
1992	Gianluigi Lentini	Torino	Milan	€19.5m
* Cost in euros estimated from exact figure in lire

“But, in fairness, that is true of the Premier League relative to the rest because the gap between the Premier League and even the second biggest league, the Bundesliga, is still over €900m and next season it will be even bigger.

“So the comparison between Serie A and the Premier League probably isn’t the best one but it’s fair to say that Serie A isn’t the stand-out European league as it was 20 years ago.”

Much of the wealth built up around the Italian league of the 1990s simply couldn’t be sustained. The Cirio group that was a majority shareholder in Lazio defaulted on its loans, while Parma’s backers Parmalat collapsed soon after and Fiorentina went into administration due to huge debts they couldn’t repay. When Napoli were declared bankrupt in 2004, Serie A had lost a lot of its depth to poor management of finances.

In the modern day, the bank balances around the bel paese do not cater for extravagances of the level of a Maradona or a Papin. And while matchday revenues continue to climb in the rest of Europe, only 11 per cent of Italy’s credit in 2012-13 came from gate receipts. This is the catalyst for a vicious circle, says Thorpe.

“If you have a full stadium and it’s commercially attractive to partner with you, then there are more eyeballs in the stadium to see the sponsor on your shirt, and there’s a better quality of facilities for brands to be associated with," Thorpe adds. "You only have to look at what’s happened in the UK to see how a good stadium can attract commercial partners.

“Similarly from a broadcast perspective, if there are more people in the stadium and a better atmosphere it makes a better broadcast product and generally you’ve got better facilities being showcased on television.”

To an extent, clubs have had their hands tied behind their backs, with the much sought-after Legge Stadi – which would allow planning applications for football stadiums to pass through law much more swiftly – having come across countless roadblocks on its way to parliament.

MATCHDAY REVENUES (2012-13)
€127.3m	Manchester United
€119m	Real Madrid
€117.6m	Barcelona
€108.3m	Arsenal
€87.1m	Bayern Munich
€82.5m	Chelsea
€59.6m	Borussia Dortmund
€53.2m	Paris Saint-Germain
€52.1m	Liverpool
€46.9m	Tottenham Hotspur
€46.2m	Manchester City
€43.2m	Hamburg
€42.5m	Schalke
€38m	Juventus
8Source: Deloitte Football Money League 2014

As things stand, only Juventus and Sassuolo of the 20 Serie A clubs own their own stadium, while Udinese have begun work on theirs and Roma are looking to develop a new arena by 2016. Outside of those clubs there has been very little success in getting any kind of plans off the ground.

There are areas in which the Lega Serie A could have helped itself though. The decision to add a 12:30 lunchtime kick-off to the calendar each week was aimed at the generation of increased audience share in the Asian evening TV slots. Yet big-hitting names such as Inter, Juventus and Milan are rarely asked to play so early, meaning the concept is largely meaningless as an exercise with lower-billed teams unable to attract large broadcast interest.

Italy has not fared well as a country in recent times either, with the nation’s economy being hit hard since the recession of 2008. This has meant a general drop in gates as purse-strings are tightened, plus an unwillingness from would-be benefactors to invest in something so frivolous as football.

Add in Uefa’s Financial Fair Play laws, and gone are the days of Silvio Berlusconi financing Milan’s rise from also-rans to seven-time European champions in lieu of balanced books on the football side itself. No longer can an Angelo or Massimo Moratti decide to throw his wealth at the Inter cause. And the Agnelli family cannot unthinkingly spend Fiat’s fortune on Juventus.

Football needs more than just money these days. It requires patience and care too.

The result is that where once Serie A was welcoming Maradona in front of 60,000 fans, it is now attracting more modest targets such as Gary Medel instead. Inter’s new midfielder represents one of the Italian summer’s biggest signings at €13 million, while wage bills have dropped markedly in the last half-decade, meaning big names of the level of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Samuel Eto’o, Wesley Sneijder et al are no longer viable additions.

But Thorpe says there are reasons to believe this could soon change.

“There are some green shoots, definitely. There seems to be a realisation now and a momentum about improving stadiums. Juventus’ new stadium has trebled their matchday revenue and clubs have been drawn towards Juve on that.

“There is also the foreign investment coming in, with Inter and Roma recently coming under foreign ownership. And if you look at what Roma are talking about with their stadium complex plans, that – if it comes to fruition – will be a significant milestone, I think. Similarly, you’ve got the Milan clubs making noises about a stadium development and you’ve got Udinese having started renovations.

“I would say that doom and gloom was the right way to look at it two years ago, but now I’d say that there are elements falling into place for some positive change happening pretty soon.”

Clearly, there is hope for the future. The sooner more clubs follow the trend of building for brighter things, the better. It is high time Italian football started attracting football’s Maradonas again.

Drogba doubtful for Chelsea opener limping out of Ferencvaros friendly

The returning Blues striker, back at Stamford Bridge for a second spell, landed awkwardly after challenging for a header during the pre-season game in Budapest on Sunday

Didier Drogba lasted just half an hour of Chelsea's pre-season friendly clash against Ferencvaros before being forced to withdraw through injury.

The Ivorian frontman, returning for a second spell at Stamford Bridge, landed awkwardly after contesting a header and was unable to run off what appeared to be a twisted ankle.

Drogba attempted to shake off the injury but, after coming back on following treatment from the club's medical staff, was forced to withdraw and now hopes that he might recover in time to take on the newly promoted team.

"I twisted my ankle and I couldn't continue," he told the club's official website.

"In the next few days we are going to do some treatment and I hope everything will be better."


Drogba Blues | The Cote d'Ivoire star was visibly in pain after his fall
Drogba was replaced by Oscar and hobbled straight down the tunnel to receive further treatment and his possible absence would be a huge blow for Jose Mourinho, with only Fernando Torres available as cover to Diego Costa.

The Ivorian started alongside Torres in the friendly in Budapest as the Blues continue their pre-season preparations. The 36-year-old hit one shot on target, which was comfortably saved, before limping out.

Chelsea face Real Sociedad in a final friendly ahead of the new season on Tuesday before taking on Burnley on August 18