adminGoing into a new season that will bring more exposure than ever, Premier League officials have written to clubs to emphasise the need for good conduct by players and managers after a series of high-profile disciplinary cases in recent years. There will be increased attention on the world’s richest league when it starts this weekend, with a new series of television deals generating around $8.5 billion over the next three seasons.
The closing weeks of last season were marred by Liverpool striker Luis Suarez biting an opponent and being handed a 10-match ban – having previously been banned the previous campaign for racist abuse.
And Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said that at end-of-season debriefing with clubs “a lot of it was about players’ conduct, ethical conduct.”
“We get hugely involved in the ethics of the game,” Scudamore said on Thursday. “In the email I have sent out to clubs preseason there is stuff in there about players’ behaviour, (club) officials’ behaviour.”
Scudamore, though, insists that the conduct of players on the pitch is improving.
“Look at the amount of mass confrontations there were last season,” Scudamore said. “There wasn’t actually a single incident of mass confrontation at a Premier League game last season.”
Although the league has lost one fiery manager in Alex Ferguson, who retired in May after almost 27 years at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho is back at Chelsea. Renowned for his disputes with referees during his first stint in charge of Chelsea between 2004 and 2007, Mourinho claims to be a transformed character. — Sapa-AP.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo