₦airaland Forum

Spotify founder Daniel Ek has recruited three Arsenal legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira as he prepares to try and buy the club from under-pressure owner Stan Kroenke, according to reports. While fans were protesting against their American billionaire’s running of the club on Friday, Ek – who is estimated by Forbes to be worth £3.4billion – made a declaration on Twitter that he was interested in taking over the Gunners. ‘As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for Arsenal as long as I can remember,’ the Swedish entrepreneur wrote. ‘If KSE would like to sell Arsenal I’d be happy to throw my hat in the ring.’

Far from merely throwing his hat in the ring, Ek now appears to be ramping up his takeover bid and, according to The Telegraph, has teamed up with three former Invincibles to help him. Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira are all working with Ek on his bid to take control of Arsenal, and the trio could also be handed roles at the club if the move is successful. All three Arsenal legends have expressed desires to return to north London in the past and the Spotify CEO feels their knowledge of the club and fan-base is ‘invaluable’ to his plans.

‘This club belongs to the fans, I love the club and I will support the club until I die, but I do not recognise my club and what happened just now, with them trying to join a league that would have been closed, makes no sense to me,’ the Frenchman told The Telegraph, criticising their decision to sign up to the European Super League. ‘They have been running the club like a company, not a football club, and they showed their hand. Maybe it’s a lack of understanding of the core football values and maybe the money was too big of a temptation. But whatever it was, they got it wrong. Badly wrong.’

https://metro.co.uk/2021/04/26/three-arsenal-legends-join-spotify-founder-daniel-eks-bid-to-buy-club-14472757/

JOE Biden fell on the stairs of Air Force One before flying to Georgia today.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73R11e5kNGk

The president was on his way to Atlanta on Friday to meet with Asian community leaders following the massage parlour shootings earlier this week.

The 78-year-old tripped as he ran up the stairs to board Air Force One.

However, Biden quickly recovered and carried on up the stairs, giving a salute before entering the aircraft.

Late last year Biden was seen wearing his typical navy blue suit with a cast on his right foot outside The Queen theater in Delaware.

He appeared at the venue in Wilmington to formally unveil his six-person economic team, a core group that includes veterans from previous Democratic administrations and historic firsts.

Biden will be forced to wear the protective boot for "several weeks" after x-rays revealed a "hairline fracture" in his foot.

Journalists assigned to Biden first revealed the injury on Sunday.

"On Saturday Nov. 28, President-elect Biden slipped while playing with his dog Major, and twisted his ankle," a pool report said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, he will be examined this afternoon by an orthopedist."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14395179/joe-biden-falls-stairs-air-force-one/

For such a high profile project, the health and safety culture is appalling I just watched a 1 minute video and I've identified almost 10 unsafe practices. Absolutely shocking.

gasparpisciotta:
Rookie manager with big ego and no results.

He should still be an assistant coach

Exactly. All these players want to start coaching at the highest level immediately after retiring. Henry, Lampard, Pirlo.... great players, but no managerial experience to fall back on. They need to spend time learning the trade under an experience manager.

It was only a matter of time

Chelsea have sacked manager Frank Lampard after 18 months in charge, with former Paris St-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel expected to replace him.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/800/cpsprodpb/11FC9/production/_116337637_gettyimages-1294304758.jpg

Lampard, 42, leaves with the club ninth in the Premier League after last week's defeat at Leicester City, having won once in their past five league matches.

His final game was Sunday's 3-1 FA Cup fourth-round win against Luton.

Lampard was appointed on a three-year contract when he replaced Maurizio Sarri at Stamford Bridge in July 2019.

The former Chelsea midfielder guided them to fourth place and the FA Cup final in his first season in charge, and a 3-1 win against Leeds at the start of December put the club top of the Premier League.

However, the Blues have suffered five defeats in their past eight league games, as many as they had in their previous 23.

In a statement, Chelsea said: "This has been a very difficult decision, and not one that the owner and the board have taken lightly.

"We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as head coach of the club. However, recent results and performances have not met the club's expectations, leaving the club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement.

"There can never be a good time to part ways with a club legend such as Frank, but after lengthy deliberation and consideration it was decided a change is needed now to give the club time to improve performances and results this season."

Owner Roman Abramovich said Lampard's status as an "important icon" of the club "remains undiminished" despite his dismissal.

"This was a very difficult decision for the club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him," said Abramovich.

"He is a man of great integrity and has the highest of work ethics. However, under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers."

Chelsea's past eight Premier League results
Date Score Result
12 December Everton 1-0 Chelsea L
15 December Wolves 2-1 Chelsea L
21 December Chelsea 3-0 West Ham W
26 December Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea L
28 December Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa D
3 January Chelsea 1-3 Man City L
16 January Fulham 0-1 Chelsea W
19 January Leicester 2-0 Chelsea L
Lampard did not sign a single player during his first season as the club were operating under a transfer embargo, but spent more than £200m on seven major signings last summer, including £45m on Leicester's Ben Chilwell and £71m on midfielder Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen.

It is the most Chelsea have spent in one summer, eclipsing the £186m they invested at the start of the 2017-18 season.

Lampard is Chelsea's all-time record scorer, with 211 goals for the club between 2001 and 2014, and is also joint-seventh on the list of England players with the most caps, having made 106 appearances for his country over 15 years from 1999.

During his 13 seasons as a player at Stamford Bridge, he made 648 appearances and won 11 major trophies - including four Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League.

His first managerial posting was at Derby. In his one season in charge, they reached the Championship play-off final, where they lost to Aston Villa.

Lampard became the 10th full-time manager appointed by Abramovich since the billionaire bought the club in 2003.

According to football finance journalist Kieran Maguire, Abramovich had spent £110m on sacking managers before Lampard's dismissal.

Having finished with 66 points last season after 20 wins and 12 defeats, Chelsea have lost six times in their opening 19 league games this season.

Lampard's points-per-game average of 1.67 is the lowest of any permanent Chelsea manager in the Premier League. During the Abramovich era, only Andre Villas-Boas (47.5%) has a worse win rate than Lampard's 52.4%, in all competitions amongst permanent Chelsea bosses.

In contrast, Jose Mourinho's win rate in all competitions during his first spell in charge was 67.03%, while Sarri, Antonio Conte, Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Claudio Ranieri all had win rates over 60%.

Lack of confidence among squad key to sacking

Lampard was sacked because the club could not see him reversing a slide in form and a lack of confidence among the squad.

The former head coach's points-per-game ratio was the worst among Chelsea managers in the Roman Abramovich era, eclipsing that of Andre Villas-Boas, and it led to what was seen as irreparable damage to the season.

After qualifying for the Champions League last season and spending more than £200m on players in the summer, the aim this campaign was to close the gap on leaders, but that has failed to materialise.

Although links will be made between Tuchel's heritage and the poor form of fellow Germans Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, the change was made because of the lack of confidence among the whole squad.

It is hoped that Tuchel can rejuvenate a team that is five points outside of the top four, and an announcement could be made within 24 hours.

The decision to sack Lampard was very difficult for Abramovich, who has never made a statement when changing Chelsea managers previously.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55794158

It's alarming that both the President and Vice President have not made any comments on this SARS issues

#EndSARS is now number 1 trend on US and UK Twitter. The world is watching and listening

The price of US oil has turned negative for the first time in history.

That means oil producers are paying buyers to take the commodity off their hands over fears that storage capacity could run out in May.

Demand for oil has all but dried up as lockdowns across the world have kept people inside.

As a result, oil firms have resorted to renting tankers to store the surplus supply and that has forced the price of US oil into negative territory.

The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for US oil, fell as low as minus $37.63 a barrel.
"This is off-the-charts wacky," said Stewart Glickman, an energy equity analyst at CFRA Research. "The demand shock was so massive that it's overwhelmed anything that people could have expected."

The severe drop on Monday was driven in part by a technicality of the global oil market. Oil is traded on its future price and May futures contracts are due to expire on Tuesday. Traders were keen to offload those holdings to avoid having to take delivery of the oil and incur storage costs.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/10276/production/_111866166_wti.oil_20042020-nc.png

June prices for WTI were also down, but trading at above $20 per barrel. Meanwhile, Brent Crude - the benchmark used by Europe and the rest of the world, which is already trading based on June contracts - was also weaker, down 8.9% at less than $26 a barrel.

Mr Glickman said the historic reversal in pricing was a reminder of the strains facing the oil market and warned that June prices could also fall, if lockdowns remain in place. "I'm really not optimistic about the prospects for oil companies or oil prices," he said.

OGUK, the business lobby for the UK's offshore oil and gas sector, said the negative price of US oil would affect firms operating in the North Sea.

"The dynamics of this US market are different from those directly driving UK produced Brent but we will not escape the impact," said OGUK boss Deirdre Michie.

"Ours is not just a trading market; every penny lost spells more uncertainty over jobs," she said.

The oil industry has been struggling with both tumbling demand and in-fighting among producers about reducing output.

Earlier this month, Opec members and its allies finally agreed a record deal to slash global output by about 10%. The deal was the largest cut in oil production ever to have been agreed.

But many analysts say the cuts were not big enough to make a difference.

"It hasn't taken long for the market to recognise that the Opec+ deal will not, in its present form, be enough to balance oil markets," said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axicorp.

The leading exporters - Opec and allies such as Russia - have already agreed to cut production by a record amount.

In the United States and elsewhere, oil-producing businesses have made commercial decisions to cut output. But still the world has more crude oil than it can use.

And it's not just about whether we can use it. It's also about whether we can store it until the lockdowns are eased enough to generate some additional demand for oil products.

Capacity is filling fast on land and at sea. As that process continues it's likely to bear down further on prices.

It will take a recovery in demand to really turn the market round and that will depend on how the health crisis unfolds.

There will be further supply cuts as private sector producers respond to the low prices, but it's hard to see that being on a sufficient scale to have a fundamental impact on the market.

For US drivers, the decline in oil prices - which have fallen by about two-thirds since the start of the year - has had an impact at the pumps, albeit not as dramatic as Monday's decline might suggest.

"The silver lining is, if you for various reason actually need to be on the roads, you're filling up for far less than you would have been even four months ago," Mr Glickman said. "The problem for most of us is even if you could fill up, where are you going to go?"

US President Donald Trump has said the government will buy oil for the country's national reserve. But concern continues to mount that storage facilities in the US will run out of capacity, with stockpiles at Cushing, the main delivery point in the US for oil, rising almost 50% since the start of March, according to ANZ Bank.

Mr Innes said: "It's a dump at all cost as no one, and I mean no one, wants delivery of oil with Cushing storage facilities filling by the minute."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52350082

Health minister and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with coronavirus.

Ms Dorries, the first MP to test positive, said she had taken all the advised precautions after finding out and has been self-isolating at home.

This comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.

The latest person to die was a man in his early 80s who had underlying health conditions.

Meanwhile, Manchester City's Premier League match against Arsenal on Wednesday has been postponed as "a precautionary measure" because of the outbreak.

A number of Arsenal players are in self-isolation after coming into contact with Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who tested positive for the virus.

The government will unveil its first Budget later, amid growing fears about the impact the outbreak will have on the UK economy.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged the NHS will get "whatever resources it needs" during the crisis, while he is also expected to unveil measures to boost the self-employed and small businesses who are left out of pocket.

Meanwhile, NHS England said it was scaling up its capacity for testing people for the infection, with the number of cases set to rise.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/410/cpsprodpb/11955/production/_106112027_p07430ms.jpg


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51827356

Manchester City have been banned from European competition for the next two seasons after being found to have committed "serious breaches" of Uefa's club licensing and financial fair play regulations.

The reigning Premier League champions have also been fined 30m euros (£25m).

They added in a statement: "The club has always anticipated the ultimate need to seek out an independent body and process to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence in support of its position.

"In December 2018, the Uefa chief investigator publicly previewed the outcome and sanction he intended to be delivered to Manchester City, before any investigation had even begun.

"The subsequent flawed and consistently leaked Uefa process he oversaw has meant that there was little doubt in the result that he would deliver. The club has formally complained to the Uefa disciplinary body, a complaint which was validated by a CAS ruling.

"Simply put, this is a case initiated by Uefa, prosecuted by Uefa and judged by Uefa. With this prejudicial process now over, the club will pursue an impartial judgment as quickly as possible and will therefore, in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity."

Mynd44 Lalasticlala

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51510284

lovat:
Lai Mohammed finally made sense.


DSTV monopoly on football is about to be curtailed.


I like this

Football lovers in Nigeria will be happy with this development. But it seems like a complicated one and FG hasn't provided much details about the modalities. DSTV will not pay premium fees for rights only to be compelled to share with NTA. They would rather not show any content once their current licence expires. But again the Nigerian market too big and they wouldn't want to lose out. The next few years will be very interesting

The good thing is that without exclusivity rights, other broadcasters can also apply for rights to English FA, UEFA etc as long as they can afford it.

Mynd44:
DSTV isn't compelled to share. They are compelled to resell such rights at commercially viable costs.

Meaning is AIT Wants to buy the rights to also show UEFA games, DSTV must sell to them

I like this

The statement from FG said they are mandated to "share". They key point is that they are compelled or mandated to, whether they are sharing for a fee or reselling, DSTV has thrived over the years because they have exclusive rights for the sporting contents. Most people only pay the premium DSTV subscription just for sports. This new development will severely impact their business model and they will have to think hard and restrategise before renewing their current licence.

Hi Mukina

Please send me the league and H2H codes.
Aubaameyang dingdong last season

Thanks

Popmaster2019:
They just don't want to forget this man

US has already submitted request for his extradition

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6v63jMyl4

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

The Met Police said he was arrested for failing to surrender to the court.

Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations to international conventions.

But WikiLeaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".

Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK.

"I would like to thank Ecuador for its cooperation & metpoliceuk for its professionalism. No one is above the law."

Mr Assange, 47, had refused to leave the embassy, claiming if he did he would be extradited to the United States for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks.

Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government's withdrawal of asylum.

Mr Assange would remain in custody at a central London police station, before appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court "as soon as is possible", the statement added.

UK foreign minister Sir Alan Duncan said the arrest followed "extensive dialogue between our two countries".

It comes a day after Wikileaks said it had uncovered an extensive spying operation against its co-founder at the Ecuadorean embassy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47891737

Arsenal have signed Barcelona midfielder Denis Suarez on loan until the end of the season.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/800/cpsprodpb/828B/production/_105391433_gettyimages-1084859282.jpg

The La Liga champions have extended the 25-year-old's contract until June 2021, although the Gunners have a purchase option in the summer.

Spaniard Suarez has played 71 times for Barcelona since joining in 2013 but has only featured eight times this season.

He previously played under Gunners manager Unai Emery at Sevilla, when he was at the club on loan.

Suarez spent two seasons at Manchester City as a teenager but only made two first-team appearances before being sold to Barcelona as a 19-year-old.

The Gunners remain in negotiations to sign a wide player - Inter Milan's Croatia international Ivan Perisic is among the options being pursued, with Belgium winger Yannick Carrasco of Chinese club Dalian Yifang also linked.

Despite a number of injuries, Arsenal are not likely to bolster their defence.

Captain Laurent Koscielny could be in contention to return in time for Sunday's trip to Manchester City, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos - who like Koscielny was forced off during the FA Cup defeat by Manchester United on Friday - is not expected to be out for long.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47049873

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has postponed its governorship primary in Lagos indefinitely.

The chairman of the electoral committee for the primary, Clement Ebri, announced the decision on Tuesday at a press conference in Lagos.

He said, “Because of the political tension in the state, we decided to be very careful, very methodical, and very meticulous in doing it (the primary).

“Peace is more important to us than victory. We want the kind of victory that will be celebrated by both parties. We want victories that will be credible; victory that will be in line with the guidelines, the extant rules and laws of this country.”

According to Ebri, stakeholders involved in the primary were not comfortable with the arrangements made.

He said, “After meeting with stakeholders (on Monday), it became obvious that they were not very comfortable with ballot papers. They said they needed time to educate people, sensitise them.

“Based on the submissions made yesterday, some change was effected and we were advised to go and do the open ballot in a manner that would still produce objective results.”

The committee said it would contact the national leadership of the party for further directives about when the exercise would be held.

https://www.channelstv.com/2018/10/02/apc-postpones-lagos-governorship-primary/

x

Coca Cola has confirmed it is interested in exploring the possibilities of using a cannabis compound in some of its drinks.

Company spokesman Kent Landers said no decision had been made to enter that specific market but admitted it was "closely watching" how the sector was evolving.


"Along with many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world. The space is evolving quickly," he said.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, does not produce the high normally associated with marijuana.

It is believed by many to have anti-inflammation and pain-relieving properties, and numerous CBD-infused products have emerged recently.

Coca Cola's statement follows reports that it had been discussing a tie-up with the Canadian marijuana company Aurora Cannabis to produce a health drink.

Interest in the sector from one of the world's most famous brands is another indication of growing corporate acceptance of cannabis products and how Canada is likely to play a central role in future developments.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/13A0B/production/_103459308_gettyimages-874041882.jpg

https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article13022680.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/1_Bottles-of-Coca-Cola-are-seen-at-a-grocery-store-in-Los-Angeles.jpg

https://news.sky.com/story/coca-cola-contemplates-healthy-cannabis-drink-11501075

EzegeNG:
"He was one wild cat, he used to have a bottle of whiskey in which was marinating a pound of pot… in the whiskey. We turned out to be real good friends, he got it, he said ‘no you’re not doing that’ [stealing African music].

Weed marinated in whiskey Fela no well I swear

https://gif-finder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Wee-Bey-Whoa-What.gif

Please is there any logistics company that does same day delivery from Abuja to Lagos

Please does anyone know any courier that offers same-day delivery service in Nigeria.

I need to send some documents from Abuja to Lagos urgently.

I honestly don't know what this guy actually does. Anyone?

Mukina please send me the code for the main league and the FA cup.

My team last season was Westeros United

One of the main disadvantages of diesel cars is the generation of the NOx gases, which have serious health and environmental effect

When you see people either protesting or celebrating and they are wearing a uniform, just know that money has changed hands


https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/72745267/tell-me-why-im-not-surprised.jpg

Fayose: God please bind APC and Fayemi.

Fayemi: God please bind PDP and Fayose

God:
https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/36461270/both-of-you-shut-the-Bleep-up.jpg