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iation has enough funds to host England for the
MANCHESTER, England -- Awash with more cash and global appeal than ever before, the English Premier League is still struggling to lure or retain the elite players in world football like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez. Air Max 270 2020 Pas Cher Chine .Here, for the moment, the Galacticos are the managers.The era of the super-coach has arrived in Englands top division. Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Antonio Conte and Juergen Klopp make up possibly the most outstanding group of managers seen in this country at one time.It means some huge reputations are going to take a battering during another highly anticipated Premier League campaign, which begins Saturday with no obvious title favorite and with predictions warped by Leicesters improbable surge to the championship last season.Its a world championship of managers, said Wenger, the 66-year-old Arsenal manager.For drama, it may pay to check out the coaches technical area as much as the field of play. No more so than when Mourinho and Guardiola renew their rivalry as the new managers of Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively.The Manchester clubs have hogged the limelight this offseason because of the coaching arrivals and their heavy spending in the transfer market that reached $400 million on Tuesday with the signings of Paul Pogba (for a world-record $116 million) and John Stones. Most British bookmakers make the teams the two favorites for the title this season.Of course, the bookies can get it wrong. Take last season, for example.Leicester started out as a 5,000-1 shot to win the Premier League and ended up romping home to finish 10 points clear, delivering one of the biggest underdog triumphs in any sport. Chelsea started out as defending champion and favorite, and limped home in 10th place in the worst title defense seen in the Premier League.This time round, City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham (in that order) are expected to be the main contenders in what is probably the most open field in years. Champion Leicester is still only the seventh favorite.A record injection of TV money, split evenly between Englands 20 top-flight teams, is leveling out the Premier League and increasing competition. This is the first season of a new three-year broadcasting deal for domestic and international rights worth a record 8.3 billion pounds ($10.8 billion) -- 71 percent above the previous deal -- and clubs have used that windfall to spend around $1 billion this offseason.The likes of West Ham, Swansea, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace have broken their transfer records over the last two months and the so-called lesser teams have no compulsion to sell their top players, given the cash they are raking in. There are unlikely to be many easy victories gained this season.Guardiola said as much after joining City.To find a team to win four, five, six games in a row is not easy, said Guardiola, a coach for whom losses were rare in trophy-laden spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich since 2008. All the managers that have more experience than me in England talk about that. Maybe that is the challenge.It might be time to redefine the parameters of the word success this season. Wenger has been criticized by some footballing romantics for saying that qualifying for the Champions League is tantamount to winning a trophy, but few will argue this season. Two or three big teams could easily finish outside the top four.Eight teams start the season with new managers -- none more high-profile than Guardiola, who makes his debut in the English game as a player or coach.Making John Stones the worlds second most-expensive defender ever at $62 million took Citys spending to $200 million, building on an already-strong squad that underperformed in the Premier League last season but reached the Champions League semifinals. Like in his previous coaching jobs, Guardiola probably has the strongest team -- but the depth of competition is far greater than hes ever experienced.United will be more dangerous with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, while Mourinho is often a quick starter at clubs. Chelsea, under the master tactician Conte, has added marauding midfielder NGolo Kante for what could be the most inspired signing of the lot this offseason. Arsenal and Tottenham have been quiet but have more strength in depth. Liverpool should improve in its first full season under Klopp and could be more dangerous with no European distractions, just like Chelsea.Few would feel confident predicting Leicesters final position. A first season in the Champions League is a wonderful reward for a club still on a high from last season, but might prevent the team backing up winning the title with a top-four finish. Watch out for pacey striker Ahmed Musa, Leicesters club-record signing, causing defenses problems this season.Elsewhere, David Moyes makes his Premier League return at Sunderland after sobering spells with United and then in Spain with Real Sociedad, Everton could threaten the top teams again with Ronald Koeman as coach and a more ambitious owner (Farhad Moshiri) in the boardroom, and West Ham might be a danger to the top four if the club adapts to life as a tenant at the Olympic Stadium.Promoted clubs Hull, Middlesbrough and Burnley have recent Premier League experience so dont expect them to be overawed, although they will start among the favorites for the drop. Air Max 270 React Bauhaus . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Air Max 270 React Script Swoosh . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. http:///...t-script-swoosh.html . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Englands tour of India is unlikely to be disrupted by the hurdles the BCCI faces in signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the ECB. Officials from both boards confirmed there has been no change to their preparations ahead of the series, which starts in Rajkot on November 9.The state associations hosting the five Tests - Saurashtra, Punjab, Andhra, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu - also said they did not foresee any difficulty as long as the England teams hotel costs, airfare and the daily allowance are taken care of. A representative from one state association even said they would be happy to foot the hotel bill should it come to that.Alastair Cooks squad had landed in Mumbai on Wednesday, but doubts emerged over whether the series would take place after email exchanges between the BCCI and the Lodha Committee revealed that an MoU had not been signed yet.According to an order passed by the Supreme Court of India on October 21, all contracts that the BCCI enters into have to be cleared by the Lodha Committee, which was appointed by the court to suggest changes to the way the board functions. Matters directly related to cricket though are beyond the Committees remit, which was why they had asked the BCCI for more information before giving their approval for the MoUs signing. On Thursday evening, BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke sent a copy of the blank MoU to the Lodha Committee without mentioning any specifics.To work around the problem, Shirke wrote to Phil Neale, Englands operations manager, on Thursday asking the ECB to pay for its own expenses until further updates. We are already in India, there is no change to any plans and we are looking forward to the series against India, an ECB spokesperson said.A top BCCI official said the board already had contracts in place with the hotels that England would be staying at and, as such, lodging expenses shouldnt prove a problem. The main issue is their daily allowance has to be cleared. Ultimately it is a large amount, the official said. The daily allowance is in the range of GBP 50-75. The England contingent strength is about 30 including the players and support staff. The BCCI will need to calculate the daily allowance for roughly 50 days for the Test series, and that amount will need to be ratified by the committee before the Indian board disburses the amount to ECB.The BCCI official also said the MoU could be signed once the series starts. In letter and spirit, we caant sign it right now because it is part of the list we sent to the Lodha Committee, the official said. Air Max 270 2021. . Unless and until they revert we cant sign something that we have referred to them. (But) ultimately we hope it will get signed.In the interim order delivered on October 21, the Supreme Court asked the BCCI to stop distributing funds to its state associations until they instituted the reforms the Lodha Committee had suggested in January.But the state associations that will host the five Tests said they have no trouble taking on routine costs in the course of the matches and can provide security and in-ground hospitality for the England team if the BCCI finds a way to take on the tourists hotel charges and daily allowances.Niranjan Shah, secretary of Saurashtra Cricket Association, said he saw no threat to Rajkots first-ever Test in under a weeks time. All the preparations, he said, were going on as scheduled, and even added that if SCA has to pay for lodging, it will.Punjab Cricket Association, that will host the third Test, in Mohali, is also going ahead with its preparations. Will PCA do the match? Yes, PCA will, the secretary MP Pandove said. Will PCA pay for the expenses? Yes, PCA will pay for the expenses it is required to pay for. To get the teams here, to pay for their hotels, to pay their daily allowance, that is BCCIs job. All ground hospitality, all local transport, traffic control, all staging costs, that is our responsibility. That has been the understanding for years now.Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which will host the final Test of series in Chennai, will finalise its plan at an executive meeting on November 7. We will meet only those expenses that the states have to pay, a TNCA official said. Payments concerning daily allowances, airfare, hotel bills have to be met by the BCCI. We will take care of ground expenses and team security.Mumbai Cricket Association, hosting the fourth Test of the series, has said it is ready to host the match, following its managing committee meeting on Friday. Andhra Cricket Association secretary G Ganga Raju, who is also one of the five BCCI vice-presidents, has said the association has enough funds to host England for the second Test, in Visakhapatnam.With additional reporting from Sidharth Monga and George Dobell ' ' '
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