WEEKLY SPORT publishers pledge 100% sport editorial policy, while porno Sunday Sport faces 'the bag'

Press campaigners who publish genuine sporting news via the WEEKLY SPORT project, have seen a marketplace victory as UK retailers seek to 'bin or bag' sleazy soft porn titles called, misleadingly, Sunday SPORT and Midweek SPORT.

 

The WEEKLY SPORT is owned and published by Independent News Limited, who actively sought to establish digital and print titles that truly did as they said on the tin - provide 24/7 coverage of the week's sport.

This proved to be a great success, particularly prior to the run-up, and during, the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The same team had also been involved with THE SON newspaper, a Christian themed red top, and the highly successful men's lifestyle title, SORTED magazine, which sells in volume via WHSmith,

Last week the Co-operative supermarket refused to stock two newspapers and four lads’ magazines.Their decision came after these titles refused the Co-op’s request that they should be sold in opaque 'modesty bags' to safeguard their main customer base.

The WEEKLY SPORT, SORTED and THE SON newspaper teams say they "could see this coming a mile off" and "welcome the decision as a positive step to prevent offence to women and family shoppers, and to protect children."  Ethical and family based publishing has always been key to their editorial and marketing policy.

Co-operative Group chief executive of retail Steve Murrells agrees with these policies, and says: "As a community-based retailer, we have listened to and acted upon the concerns of our customers and members, many of whom said they objected to their children being able to see overt sexual images in our stores."

The deceptively named Midweek and Sunday Sport newspapers, who actually publish blatant soft porn and sex industry advertising, with very little actual sporting news content, initially agreed to adopt sealed 'modesty bags'. However, their publisher has now told the Co-op that they will no longer comply with the request and will continue to mislead the public. As a result wholesale orders of the offending titles have been binned by the supermarket giant.

The Co-op chief executive reasserted his point of view: “We believe individual, sealed modesty bags are the most effective way of addressing these concerns, so we will no longer be stocking the titles that have failed to meet our request. This action will make our stores more attractive to families with young children, by creating a more family-friendly shopping environment.”

Meanwhile, since their title does not require 'modesty bagging', the campaigning team behind the WEEKLY SPORT project have received some surprise additional venture capitalist support to take their ethical, news sport brand to a much wider marketplace. Investor, Jason Courage, who was so impressed by the positive coverage of the Paralympics, and is himself a longterm wheelchair user, believes the appetite for sporting news coverage continues to be a growing and bankable market.

Courage makes the point: "Observing how SORTED magazine has actually gained readers by adhering to a strong moral editorial approach, convinces me that members of the same team can create a winning formula with a national tabloid newspaper such as the WEEKLY SPORT."

Unlike its rivals, copies of SORTED lads' magazine will remain available at all good stores without the need for censorship covers. Likewise, the WEEKLY SPORT will remain committed to a one hundred percent genuine sport editorial policy.

Ultimately, though, both the Co-op's Steve Murrells and 'angel' investor Jason Courage agree upon one thing: "The consumer has the final say - you pays your money and you takes your choice..."

Here are the three ethical media trendsetters you may choose to follow...

@weeklysport @thesonpaper @sortedmagazine

http://www.weeklysport.co.uk http://www.247.weeklysport.co.uk

Man United gaffer David Moyes is member of God squad

MOYES' FAITH IN CHRISTIANITY

DAVID Moyes is revealed as a quietly-spoken Christian with an interest in the pastoral care of his players. 

However, in an autobiography Red Card Roy author, Roy McDonough, who played with Moyes in a struggling Cambridge United side in 1984-85 claims that didn't go down to well with him.

Moyes was one of a trio of active Christians at the club, the others being Alan Comfort and Graham Daniels and dubbed by McDonough as "Cambridge's Holy Trinity." 

He writes: "The three of them sat in the changing room with a little black book, discussing their beliefs, when they should have been getting psyched up for a relegation scrap. 

"I would cut out a lurid tabloid newspaper story and stick it on the noticeboard in front of them saying, 'see that pervert. That's what you will end up like. Vicars messing around with the choir boys.' But they just turned the other cheek."

McDonough admits he "completely lost the plot with the God Squad" after a 3-3 draw at Wigan in which snapping:  "I was still in a bad temper after the game, sinking a couple of cans on the coach before launching into a fully blown persecution of the Christians.

"In my mind they were part of the problem. They were too nice on the pitch, not nasty enough to win games, so it was like turning up with eight men each week.

"I battered Moyes first demanding to know why a big ginger Jock from Glasgow Celtic could play with absolutely zero aggression, putting all of his energies into bleating on about Jesus instead.

"Alan Comfort had scored that day, so I gave him a wide berth. But there was no respite for Graham Daniels, who had recently become a father but was out of contract at the end of the season.

He writes: 'And you,' I spewed. 'I'm fighting the world for this team and you're doing nothing. Where is God when we are fighting for our lives and getting beaten every week?

"He's not giving us much help is he? You've no chance of getting an new contract here. Who's going to fend for your baby and put food on the plate?

"Daniels just looked up at the roof of the coach, smiled, and said three words: 'He will provide.' I could have baptized him with a can of beer there and then but I didn't want to waste it. After that I never bothered saying anything again and, and the three of them stuck to their beliefs."

Comfort, who later played for Orient and Middlesbrough, became a vicar. He works in Walthamstow and is Leyton Orient's club chaplain. Daniels is General Director of Christians in Sport.


COPYRIGHT (c) NEWS OF THE WORD

DAVID MOYES: WHY IT COULD WELL END IN TEARS - says Frank Worrall

 

Golden handshake from The Boss.

I THINK it may well end in tears: that David Moyes will find the job too big for him and that he will leave with Fergie stepping back into the brink, just as Sir Matt did all those years ago when Wilf McGuinness failed at Man United.

In my not too humble opinion, there were only two men worthy of the Utd job - Guardiola and Mourinho. Inexplicably, Pep was allowed to join Bayern Munich when everyone in the game knows he hankered after Fergie's job. That leaves Mourinho: he should have been chosen over Moyes.

Worrall's warning to Man U.
Some random points as they zip through my head:

1. Moyes is Utd's Roy Hodgson. Just like old Roy, Utd took  him on because he is cheap and he won't upset the applecart. He will keep the majority of the current backroom staff while Jose would have wanted a clean sweep. The Glazers like Moyes because he arrives without having to pay any comp and he costs half what Mou would cost a year.
2. But just as Hodgson is finding the England job a tad too big for him, so Moyes is in for a big shock. I tire of hearing Roy moan about England's lack of players etc - and how he has so tried to convince us we should be grateful to simply qualify for tournaments nowadays. Hodgson is Mr Average: a good boss at West Brom and Fulham, but never big enough for England. Similarly Moyes. Already, I hear people saying he should be given time...that Fergie  took three years to bed in. But ask yourself this: would Mourinho ask to be given time? Or would he expect to hit the  ground running and win at least one trophy, and probably two, in his first season at Old Trafford? That is the difference: a difference of perception and expectation.
3. If you were a big star in South America, would you want to sign for Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho...or David Moyes? Or would you say, 'who' when Moyes was mentioned?
4. Moyes never won anything at Everton and has a total lack of Champions League experience. Not so Mourinho. We are constantly told Moyes did well at Everton - but he didn't win anything. Yet, on even more limited resources, Michael Laudrup won the League Cup in his first season at Swansea City. I'll admit it: I would rather have Laudrup in the Utd hotseat than Moyes,
5. Why was Bobby Charlton instrumental in choosing Moyes? My sources say it was Sir Bobby and Fergie who decided on Moyes. But Bobby has a renowned antipathy towards Mourinho because he is not the politest of chaps. Well, I am sure any Utd fan would rather have a rough and tumble guy - like Fergie, by the way - than someone who is well versed in the noble arts. And Sir Bobby, for all his talents as one of the greatest footballers ever, was one of the lousiest managers ever when he tried his hand at the tiller of the coal face. Just check out his managerial record. He is hardly qualified to judge managerial potential when he had none himself.
6. Moyes' teams at Everton have always been functional. Never entertaining and cavalier as United fans are used to, and indeed demand.
7. Mourinho was still available when Fergie and Charlton plumped for Moyes. It is a dereliction of duty that - as England did with Hodgson - they installed the wrong man in the hotseat.

As I say, it could well end in tears, with Fergie stepping back in temporarily as Utd try desperately to avoid another repeat of the Busby/McGuiness/O'Farrell farce that dogged the club in the 70s. There's a saying that doing the same thing time after time and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity - have United indulged in insanity with their appointment of another O'Farrell so many years after the original blunder? 

 

MOURINHO 'CHELSEA BOSS' AND FALCAO 'SIGNED FOR HIM BY ROMAN' - says Frank Worrall

I HAVE been saying it for months - Jose Mourinho will be the next Chelsea boss - as many other Fleet Street hacks have put down money on Pellegrini or some other loser.

Now  I can confirm that it is '95 per cent certain' that Jose will indeed be back at the Bridge in June.

Not only that - Falcao will also sign for Chelsea in June...and my spies tell me that he is coming in at Jose's request as his 'new Drogba'.

I predict that next year's Premier League will be a straight fight between Man United and Chelsea now that Jose is back. He needs a new left-back, a new centre-back and a midfield enforcer to join Falcao. He could also do with a class winger - Moses is not good enough.

Of the current squad these players are good enough to win the Champions League - Cech, Ivanovic, Oscar, Mata, Hazard, Ramires, Luiz and Falcao. Mikel is too laborious and slow and I am assuming Ivanovic will play right-back rather than centre-half. Ramires plus one will be the defensive twosome in midfield, the three creators are excellent: Oscar, Mata and Hazard and Falcao is indeed the business up front alone. I also think Lukaku is better than Torres and Ba as Falcao's stand-in.

I hear Jose may bring Di Maria from Madrid as his No 1 winger and that he would dearly love to also take Ronaldo with him.

Under Jose's guidance I believe Chelsea could well win the Champs Lge trophy next season to end all this nonsense about a 'new cycle' emerging because Bayern beat Barca.

Barca will be back and I am more than a little bemused by all the talk of how brilliant Bayern are now and how Barca's tika-taka isn't really that wonderful.

For the last 5 years the papers have been telling us Barca are the best thing since sliced bread and that English football - with its power play - is on its death bed.

Now Bayern beat Barca in a distinctly English way - with power and speed - and they are the new gods!

Truth is Bayern are more English than some English teams and only Dortmund of the current Champs Lge semi finalists have been truly inventive - and their style is based more on Barca's creativeness and genius than your traditional power play.

Let's not forget that the feted Bayern were almost eliminated in the last 8....by Arsenal!

No, next season the challengers for the Champs Lge will be Chelsea, Barca, Real, Man United and Bayern. But the Germans could well go out before the semis as they are caught between two stools - wanting to continue their power play (English) but with a manager who wants them to be more inventive and creative (a la Barca). Pep Guardiola has an almost impossible job if Bayern win this year's Champions Lge - upon reflection in a year's time he may well have wished he had gone to Chelsea rather than letting Jose back in.

BAYERN SIGN LEWANDOWSKI - says Frank Worrall

 

HAVE just heard from my friends in Germany that Bayern have also signed Robert  Lewandowski, the Dortmund No 9.

That is a double blow for volatile Dortmund boss Klopp just hours before the start of their most important game for a decade.

Surely Bayern aren't trying to nobble their German rivals' chances of success against Real Madrid? Not.

 

 

Germany Calling : Bayern buy up Lewandowski.

KLOPP RECONSIDERS CHELSEA / MAN CITY MOVE - says Frank Worrall

I HEAR that Jurgen Klopp - the German answer to Mourinho - is suddenly more amenable to talking over a move to Chelsea.

He turned down a request for talks earlier this year as he believed he could take Borussia Dortmund as far as he would Chelsea.

But he has apparently changed his mind after Dortmund agreed to sell their best player - Gotze - to biggest German rivals Bayern Munich.

It makes him feel that others will follow and that he will never catch Bayern if his own club become a selling club.

I had been told that Mourinho was odds on to return to the Bridge - but this may now blow the whole thing apart.


Don't be surprised if the odds on Klopp ending up at Chelsea - or even Man City - drop dramatically over the next couple of days.

 

 

Is Jurgen Klopp about to make a hop..?

 

VAN PERSIE HAS GONE GREY AT MAN UTD!! - says Frank Worrall

 

What a difference Robin Van Persie has made to Man United. His goals have helped secure a 20th title and he has been inspirational.

But what a difference Man United has made to Van P! I have never seen a footballer age so much in one season. The Dutchman has gone grey overnight!

Fergie will have to tell him to stop worrying - his first Prem title medal is in the bag and other medals will follow over the next couple of years.

And maybe it's time for a bit of the old Grecian 2000, Robin, old chap!

 

BAYERN WILL BEAT BARCA

The Champions League semi finals brings together three of the best four teams in Europe.

And the fourth - Dortmund - are probably the fifth best so it is quite a tasty prospect.

I believe that Barca are ageing in central midfield and that they are no longer the best team in Europe. Both Real and Bayern are better on their day as Barca look increasingly like a one-man team (Messi)

I take Bayern to beat them over two legs and to set up a tremendous final against Madrid at Wembley.

 

ANDY CARROLL 'HEADING HOME TO NEWCASTLE'

 

I HEAR that Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is ready to bring prodigal son Andy Carroll back to St James' Park.

He is likely to return this summer after his loan spell at West Ham expires.

The deal will involved one Newcastle player heading to Liverpool along with a fee of around £7million.

That means the one Toon player will be valued at £10million - so you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out it is likely to be a top star at the club.

More than likely a midfielder who is French and whose surname is Ben Arfa.

 

STOKE 'LOOK TO BENITEZ'

LAST week I said that Rafa Benitez was eyeing up the opportunity of taking over at Aston Villa in the summer.

Well, things have moved on since then.

Apparently Villa are going to stick with Paul Lambert even if they go down. They like the way he is working with the club's promising youngsters and want to give him time to turn things around.

That has prompted a new slant on Benitez's hopes of employment after his interim role comes to a conclusion at Chelsea next month.

It seems Tony Pullis may be leaving Stoke - and that Benitez is one of the leading candidates to take his place.

That suits Stoke and the Spaniard. He gets a job where he can go home every night (his family are based near Liverpool) and they get a manager who can bring a different style of football to the Britannia - but still keep them in the Prem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MANCINI 'OUT OF CITY THIS SUMMER' - says Frank Worrall



Roberto Mancini : On the move?

I HEAR disturbing noises coming out of the Etihad for Man City fans today.

Even before tonight's Manchester derby, it appears City have decided to dispense with Roberto Mancini this summer.

It seems the club's new Spanish No 1 and No 2 (both former Barca head boys) do not want to continue with the Italian.

They would have liked Guardiola to take over but now that he has gone to Bayern, they are seemingly keen on Manuel Pellegrini, the Malaga boss.

I think it is a mad move - Mancini has brought the club their first title and FA Cup for years and may even win the latter again this term.

But the Barca boys obviously disagree if the noises coming from the Etihad prove to be correct.

BENITEZ IS EYEING VILLA JOB - says Frank Worrall

Rafa Benitez : About to jump ship?

MY SPIES tell me that Rafa Benitez would like the Aston Villa job if Lambert is dismissed.

His confidence borders on arrogance sometimes but he is a competent manager, whatever people might say. His assessment of the squad he inherited at Chelsea certainly supports that view.

Having said that, I would not want him in charge of the club I support. And I believe Villa would be better served sticking with Lambert.

DI CANIO WILL KEEP SUNDERLAND UP

I DON'T particularly like Paolo Di Canio - and I certainly don't like his politics.

But I believe he will prove to be a good manager at Sunderland.

He is young, organised and enthusiastic - and determined to be a winner. He also has an exceptional take on tactics.

I reckon he will keep Sunderland up this season and do well next season - if the board keep faith with him.

Paolo di Canio : He wants to focus on the football not politics.

Written by Frank Worrall (c) copyright, 2013  - www.frankworrall.com