“This is one of the reasons why we have taken a stake in Newcastle United.”This week a well-place television analyst said that the BSkyB strategy, which has not been cheap – their football club investments are valued at about pounds 80m – is to buy influence on the direction of football’s TV rights in 2001. Brown’s argument has been strengthened by a remarkable admission from NTL, the American cable company that owns six per cent of Newcastle United.”NTL is interested in gaining a seat at the negotiating table when it comes to television rights,” said an NTL spokesman, Bruce Randall, in a letter to a student at Manchester Metropolitan University. “The MMC was very clear about the dangers, and it will be a scandal if these deals are allowed.” At Leeds and Manchester City, BSkyB are denying their approach is to influence the Premier League’s TV negotiations, but the MMC dismissed similar undertakings in the United deal. The 10 per cent rule is aimed at ensuring that clubs remain independent rivals, but the purchase of 9.9 per cent stakes by such powerful companies stretch the effectiveness of the football authorities’ rule books.Adam Brown, a member of the Football Task Force and a Manchester United supporter, has written to the football authorities about the multi-ownership rules being apparently breached, and to the Office of Fair Trading and Department of Trade and Industry, calling for a halt to the ownership of stakes in football clubs by media companies.”The broadcasters are seeking to get by the back door what they failed to achieve through the front door in April,” he says. The MMC also ruled the deal would be bad for football’s independence, and could further widen the wealth gap between large and small clubs.The second, and new, threat, is the question of “multi-ownership” of clubs. First, there are the competition issues – the influence broadcasters may be buying in the direction of football’s TV deals, which are due to be renegotiated for the start of the 2001-2 season.In the case of Manchester United, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission ruled that a BSkyB takeover was against the public interest because it would skew broadcasting in favour of BSkyB, and give them influence over the sale of the Premier League’s collective deal and any individual deals the clubs might strike.

It is an embarrassment to the Premier League if their own rules were not followed to the letter.Supporters argue that the media deals, which give the broadcasters the right to act as “sole agents” for the sale of clubs’ TV rights, are potentially dangerous for football in two broad ways. A Premier League spokesman this week refused to discuss the question of whether prior written consent was in fact given for the deal, but said: “The Board is currently considering the issue in relation to Leeds and Manchester United and will come to a decision shortly.”This is a puzzling stance if consent has already been given prior to the deal. Manchester United, he said, have asked the Premier League to allow the 11.1 per cent stake to remain. There is no question that BSkyB still holds 11.1 per cent, but a BSkyB spokesman said yesterday that the company does intend to reduce its stake in United but it is “an issue of timing”. It appears that no such consent was given.
A spokesman for Leeds said that it was “assumed” at the time of the deal that BSkyB’s stake in Manchester United would be reduced to below 10 per cent and therefore that no Premier League consent would be required. It has emerged that the Leeds deal is an apparent breach of the Premier League rules, which require “prior written consent” to be given if the holder of over 10 per cent of a club is to hold any shares in another.

Supporters are planning to demand answers from the Manchester United board about the recent deals struck by BSkyB, taking 9.9 per cent stakes in Leeds United and Manchester City, with the right to appoint a director on to the board of both clubs, while still owning 11.1 per cent of Manchester United. MANCHESTER UNITED supporters hoping to use today’s Annual General Meeting as an excuse to celebrate their victory in the battle against the proposed pounds 625m takeover by BSkyB, have found themselves instead in the teeth of a further campaign against what they say is the broadcasters’ alternative strategy: “creeping colonisation” of the game. With the recently arrived Chris Silverwood as cover, the Kent bowler will be further assessed immediately after the first Test, by which time a decision whether to keep him or not will be made.ENGLAND (v Combined Northerns/ Gauteng XI, Centurion, today): M A Atherton, M R Butcher, N Hussain (capt), M P Vaughan, A J Stewart (wkt), C J Adams, A Flintoff, G M Hamilton, A J Tudor, A R Caddick, D Gough.. To date, all the top eight bar Alec Stewart have now made runs, while among the specialist bowlers only Dean Headley knows what it feels like not to have a wicket to his name.Headley, who had a trundle in the nets yesterday, is still not fully recovered from the back strain he sustained in the opening match 17 days ago and will again miss out. “Over here they like to attack the spinner and I want to see how he copes with that,” Fletcher said.Given the tour got off to a humiliating start after England lost the curtain-raiser to a scratch Invitation XI, and despite the modest calibre of the opposition since then, there is still the sense that England are making decent headway. “This way the step-up to Test level won’t be as big.” A plain speaking man, Fletcher was also keen to see how the off-breaks of Michael Vaughan – without Tufnell, England’s sole spinner – fare against better batsmen. Still, a seam attack comprising of Elworthy, Terbrugge and the distinctly slippery Greg Smith will offer a healthy challenge to England’s batsmen.”We need stronger opposition to measure ourselves against,” claimed Fletcher yesterday.

I’d like to see him really run in during this match and show everyone what he is capable of.”Daryll Cullinan, arguably South Africa’s most talented batsmen, is playing and there is the chance that some psychological points scored over the next few days could easily stay in the mind over the coming weeks.The Northerns/Gauteng side boasts four other Test players alongside Cullinan, though Adam Bacher, David Terbrugge, Steve Elworthy and captain Clive Eksteen have never been regulars. “I believe Alex has the potential to become a batting all- rounder,” said the England coach, Duncan Fletcher “He’s an exciting player who gets awkward bounce. If it proves otherwise, all you need is to add Alan Mullally, resting this game, and you have the probable side for the series opener.Impressions at this stage will be vital, and with the pitch at Centurion Park (about 20 miles north of Johannesburg) rumoured to be fast and bouncy, Tudor should have the edge providing he feels confident enough to release the handbrake. Judging their respective contributions, particularly if conditions should favour one discipline over the other, will not be a simple task.