Vernoncak
17 June 2023 06:41 | Lithuania
Many things have changed in football.
It is a sport that has, in some ways, grown up a little. Equally, some things remain the same and within dressing rooms the pulls and torments of peer pressure endure.'The senior pros still rule,' a source told me this week. best online casino
'They set the tone. The way a squad of players behave when they are not actually on the football field largely depends on what they decide.'The relevance of this observation today is simple and is to do with gambling. Ivan Toney of Brentford is doubtless regretting the fact he ignored clear rules that forbid players from placing bets on football. Toney ignored that edict 232 times and will not play for eight months.
But this is not the type of gambling that concerns many who hold footballers' interests close to their hearts. People such as football welfare officers, agents and families. No, what they worry about is the casual, in-house gambling that continues to take place on team buses, in hotels and training ground canteens, and on aeroplanes. Brentford striker Ivan Toney is doubtless now regretting the fact he placed 232 bets on football England international Toney has now been banned for eight months because of his betting'This is the real issue,' explained one prominent agent.
'We are talking about sums of money that are big relative to what players earn. Organised poker schools, casual bets. It happens everywhere and it's really dangerous for young players, in particular, as they are being pressured by senior pros. 'This means they end up involved in situations they can't afford.
Given all the fuss about the Toney situation, why are clubs turning a blind eye to this? It's much more dangerous.'On the website of the Professional Players' Association, the guidelines are clear: 'You are not allowed to place ANY bet on ANY football, ANYWHERE.' For all the sympathy expressed in many quarters over the last week, Toney cannot claim that he did not know.
All footballers know. But that is about protecting the integrity of the game, to ensure players are not placing bets on the back of inside information. Football's bigger gambling picture is one that places the players at risk, not the sport.The academy system educates our young players on the dangers.
They do their bit. But the reality of a life in football would surprise many who cling to a misguided belief that the world has turned full circle for the better.The language remains choice, particularly when it comes to women, and the pressures to conform and fit in remain as daunting as ever.At the Sporting Chance Clinic, established by former Arsenal captain Tony Adams almost 25 years ago, gambling, rather than alcohol abuse or drug addiction, is now recognised as professional sport's biggest lifestyle problem.Sitting down with Adams three years ago, he told me: 'Gambling in the Premier League is now a bit of an epidemic.
Ideally I would get the advertising out of the game because it does influence people. They spend fortunes on the ads for a reason. It's because it works. It normalises it and that's the issue I have got.' Tony Adams (left) called gambling in football an 'epidemic' and called for no betting adverts England manager Gareth Southgate says 'we have got to look after people' - and he is so rightAdams touches on a point regularly raised and football does appear to have a less than functional relationship with the betting industry.Equally, it is hard to make a clear connection between a Ladbrokes ad on a hoarding at a Premier League stadium and a poker school on a team bus for an away game where the minimum stake is ?10,000. The monitoring of something such as that has to come from within a football club and the desire to do that has to come from within, too.
Do we simply allow boys to be boys and girls to be girls? Or do our football clubs have a duty of care to protect young people from themselves? It is a pertinent question.One player welfare officer, who worked at a Premier League club, told me: 'It used to be alcohol.
Now it's social media and gambling. Casinos, online betting and the card schools at training. 'I had one player who consistently denied he had a gambling problem but when I took his car in for a service there were casino chips scattered across the passenger seat.'Meanwhile, at a big Premier League club one player sends a fixer to the bookmaker to place bets in cash in order to avoid an electronic financial trail.
'When the guy comes back the betting slip is literally longer than his arm,' another source revealed.The casinos and bookies can see the footballers coming. They throw the doors open. Private rooms. Extensive tabs. That is their business.
Our football clubs? Maybe they have a greater responsibility to develop and nurture those they pay so much to.Speaking about Toney's eight months in the wilderness this week, England manager Gareth Southgate said: 'We have got to look after people.' Few people care for or understand footballers better than Southgate but on this issue maybe he is more right than he thinks. Ross County, led by Malky Mackay, are at risk of relegation from the Scottish PremiershipUps and downs are all part of the beautiful game Ross County must be the only football club in Britain where the stadium caters for more people (6,541) than actually live in the town (approx 5,500). But if Malky Mackay's team do not win at Kilmarnock on Sunday, they will be in a relegation play-off from the Scottish Premiership and some folk in the highland town of Dingwall will doubtless blame the manager.This is the way that football works.
Even where there is no blame, there is always blame. Clubs who go down have always done something wrong even though on occasion they haven't. And this is the thing about relegation. It has to happen to somebody. If it didn't we would become America and nobody wants that.So at places like Leicester in the Premier League, answers are being sought.
Did they sign the right players? Should they have sacked Brendan Rodgers sooner? Should they have sacked him at all? Was Dean Smith the right man to try to save them? Tick yes if they stay up and tick no if they go down. There is even a theory among some Leicester fans that the new training ground is too comfortable.
That's a new one. Are the balls too round too? The goals too small? The leather on the seats of the team bus too smooth?What about the fact that wheels just turn, Leicester are a medium-sized football club and those of that nature inevitably get sucked into a scrap at the wrong end from time to time.Sure, Leicester won the league in 2016 but that was a miracle.
They won the FA Cup in 2021 but Wigan did that in 2013 and were relegated the same month. There are only a handful of teams in the top division immune to relegation and Leicester are not one of them.Rather than wring our hands over what may become of them this weekend, we should be thankful for what it was they gave us.
As, for a while, it was quite wonderful. Leicester could be demoted too - but ups and downs are all natural parts of the beautiful game A recent chat in the Tottenham executive suites found the great and good discussing the best they had ever played against. Ossie Ardiles came up against a few for club and country but the little Argentinean was unequivocal.'Bryan Robson,' Ardiles said.
They say we don't appreciate our own quite enough and maybe they are right. Ossie Ardiles said Bryan Robson is the best he's ever played against; we should rate him higher I got to know Chris Sutton a little during the World Cup in Qatar.
He is quicker with a quip or a retort than he ever was over 10 yards. But sometimes even the sharpest brains can fade to blank.Last Sunday's 606 phone-in on Radio 5 Live was going smoothly until Sutton and Robbie Savage ended their chat with Brian, a publican and Brighton fan.'If Robbie and I drop in later is there a Sunday lunch available?' enquired Sutton.'Well we have strippers on a Sunday…' replied Brian. For a moment the radio silence was quite golden. Chris Sutton (above) was reduced to sudden silence on Radio 5 Live and it was quite golden
Jameslof
17 June 2023 06:41 | Ethiopia
Dean Smith does not strike you as the gambling type but his decision to drop Leicester's two top scorers for their most important game of the season was the move of a Las Vegas high roller.With the Foxes' Premier League status on the line, ‘Casino Deano' made the biggest call of his seven games in charge.Out went James Maddison - 10 goals and nine assists - and Harvey Barnes - 12 goals and a single assist - as Smith dispensed with finesse and went for the dogged approach.
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Five at the back, men behind the ball, scrap your lives. Leicester did just that in the first half and while they offered little in attack, at least they showed some of the battling qualities so badly missing recently.
Both Maddison and Barnes were on by the hour mark with the score still level.After the defeats by Fulham and Liverpool, fans chanted ‘You're not fit to wear the shirt' and sang sarcastically about travelling to Ipswich and Hull in the Championship next season. Dean Smith made a bold decision to drop two of Leicester's star players at Newcastle on Monday James Maddison (left) and Havey Barnes (right) were both dropped to the bench for Monday's trip to NewcastleHigh in the gods at St James' Park, Leicester supporters at least saw some pride from the players during the opening phase of the game - even though they needed some luck along the way, with Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron hitting the post and Alexander Isak putting an easy chance wide.If Leicester - Premier League champions only seven years ago - are relegated, Smith will ask himself why he did not take this approach in the Fulham and Liverpool games.
But really, Smith should be nowhere near top of the list when blame is being handed out.What about this squad of players, good enough to win the FA Cup two years ago? What about director of football Jon Rudkin, who took his eye off the ball so much that seven players are out of contract this summer? What about owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who stuck with Brendan Rodgers for so long even when it was clear his reign had run its course?If Leicester get out of jail from here, it will be through luck rather than judgement.
Yet with time almost run out, the players finally seem alive to the predicament. If anything gives Foxes fans cause for hope, it should be that.
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