Tottenham Hotspur is in Top of the World

It was a huge win last night against Manchester City in the home stadium of City. The win surely broke the heart of City fans as well as their Italian coach. However, for Tottenham fans, it is a win that has come after many seasons of heart breaking failures. Tottenham won the match by just 1-0 but this only goal from Peter Crouch in the 82^nd minute was enough to ensure 4^th place for them in season. In fact, now, they are in a chance to become 3^rd ahead of Arsenal if luck is with Tottenham.

I don’t think that they will be able to surpass Arsenal in the league table but still, they have achieved something that would make them £50 million richer next season because of qualifying for Champions League. You must know that the Arab owners spent millions of dollars for Manchester City and it did not ensure success. The coach is already worried his future.

January 2010 Transfer Window in EPL and Concern Over Financial Debt

Right now, it is transfer window time for January 2010 in European football. English Premier League is now very popular in South Asia and that is why there is a lot of interest about who will go where. The top 4 clubs are still to become that active in the transfer market. Biplob and I have written 4 separate entries about transfer rumors and news related to the big four clubs:

Arsenal

Chelsea

Liverpool

Manchester United

I think that we have neglected Manchester City as they are now the most active club to buy top players. They have a new owner and new wealth. They just got a new coach a few days ago that made man fans unhappy.

Well, this time, it seems that all the big four clubs are worried about money. Arsenal’s coach Arsene Wenger has been forced to work around a very tight budget because the club has to bear the financial burden of building a new stadium. Liverpool has a different problem and they are not doing well financially. On the other hand, Manchester United has now over $1 billion of loan. So, Sir Alex Ferguson does not know whether he is going to have enough funds in his hand to buy some big players.

Chelsea is in a better condition not because they are financially doing well but because of generous support from their Russian billionaire owner. The same goes for Manchester United who have an owner from UAE. Although they suffered huge loss, they are going to buy some players.

Time and Venue of Liverpool vs Manchester United Match: 25 October 2009

For live score of the match visit this entry:

Liverpool vs Manchester United Live Updates: 25 October 2009
It is a match, I am dying to watch. The outcome is important for both the teams. We have already seen United defeating Arsenal but that was a home match for Man Utd. So, it is perhaps the first big test for them outside of home. On the other hand, in this season, the performance of Liverpool has been anything but consistent. It is a big test for them too. In this entry, I am supposed to give you the time and venue of the match. So, let me not waste anymore of your time and of my word. First is time.

Date: 25 October 2009 (Sunday)

Time: 14:00 BST; 14:00 GMT

Indian Time is 19:30 PM

Now some words about the Venue  Anfield. Anfield is a historical stadium for Liverpool club. It is more than 100 years old and hosted many memorable matches both at club level and international level. It has a seating capacity of some more than 45,000 and tomorrow, I am sure that all the seats will be occupied. The supporters of Liverpool will be in large number since it is their home match. Can they have the last laugh? 

Bharti Airtel in partnership with Manchester United

(This entry was originally uploaded on May 2009.)

Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile operator in India, has had a 5-year content partnership deal signed with English premier league football club Manchester United, which is also the second richest football club in the world. With this deal, Bharti Airtel has now become the first ever Indian investor of Manchester United who are currently world as well as European champion and even English Champion.

Though the amount of the deal has not been disclosed yet, it seems to be a multi-million dollar deal by which Airtel would be able to offer Manchester United related content over mobile phone for its 94 million subscribers across India, Sri Lanka and Seychelles. Well, it seems to be a win-win situation for Bharti Airtel as well as Manchester United.

Popularity of football in India is increasing highly at this moment. In fact, the English premier league is now getting more and more popular among India’s young generation who are highly attracted by seeing some of world’s biggest stars in EPL through live telecast of matches every week in different TV channels. So, Bharti Airtel can now attract India’s young generation more easily by providing them Manchester United related content over phone. In fact, Manchester United is the most popular English club in India with about 12 millions fans. Under this deal, Airtel would organize some competitions for its subscribers and the winners would get the opportunity to attend United’s matches at its home ground Old Trafford as well as in Europe, and there would be an opportunity to be part of Manchester United Soccer School too. All these are pretty much lucrative offers for the football crazy young people in India. So, it is expected that Bharti Airtel might gain a big chunk of market share among India’s young football fans.

Because of global economic downturn, Manchester United has recently found it very difficult to get sponsors. In fact, the club’s long-term sponsor AIG recently expressed their reluctance to extend their contract with Manchester United. So, the deal with Bharti Airtel came as a big relief for the club. Moreover, the club also has some other advantages over the deal. Bharti Airtel has more than 94 million subscribers, and by this deal, this large number of people would now have access to United content over phone. So, this is a good opportunity for Manchester United to increase its fan-base in India, which, by many, is considered to be one of the future destinations of English premier league. Manchester United already has more than 330 million fan base across the world and there is not much room to increase the number in England or in Europe. So, Asia has now become the next target market for European football and from this point of view, Manchester United seems to have signed a very significant deal with Bharti Airtel.

Related article:

The Economic Times