Latest news with #Ayling
Business Mayor
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
25 years on, how did my recommendations to British Airways shape up?
Sign up to Simon Calder's free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder's Travel email In May 2000, I offered some well-intentioned advice to the new BA boss. 'How to turn around an Ayling airline', read the headline in Conde Nast Traveller . The article I wrote 25 years ago this month comprised recommendations to British Airways for life after its chief executive, Bob Ayling, departed. Did BA follow my advice? Ditch Concorde 'Flying a very old, noisy and thirsty plane only half-full of passengers is bad business,' I wrote. 'Environmental concerns over pollution and noise could force Concorde off the Heathrow-New York route anyway.' Tragically, two months later, an Air France supersonic jet crashed shortly after taking off from Paris CDG and the British Airways Concorde fleet was grounded while the investigation took place. In November 2001 BA resumed supersonic flights, but these ended less than two years later. Hive off Gatwick I recommended a 'new, cohesive, low-frills airline' called BA Gatwick. For shorthaul services, that is what British Airways Euroflyer has become. BA's longhaul links from Gatwick, too, squeeze more passengers in than from Heathrow. 'Reduce the fares on the new airline to 80 per cent of the corresponding Heathrow prices, reflecting the lower costs (and appeal) of Gatwick,' I added. That is largely reflected in fares to destinations served by BA from both Heathrow and Gatwick. Keep cool about Sir Richard Branson Virgin Atlantic's founder had scored some great publicity hits during the Ayling era, such as flying a blimp emblazoned 'BA can't get it up' beside the British Airways London Eye – which was on its side due to construction problems. I suggested that BA would be better off cooperating with its rival. Subsequently, the Office of Fair Trading alleged the two carriers had been too cooperative – to the extent of fixing prices. Four former and serving British Airways executives were taken to court. The case collapsed through lack of evidence. Sell off your corporate HQ Waterside, BA's space-age headquarters, was and is big and expensive. But it now also houses IAG, the company that owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia of Spain. It is set to be demolished anyway if Heathrow's third runway ever goes ahead. Admit defeat against the Channel Tunnel At the time, BA was flying 26 times a day between London Heathrow and Paris, and 10 times a day between Gatwick to the French capital. Today there are just a dozen flights, all to/from Heathrow. But my half-baked suggestion that Eurostar might run trains direct from Belgium and France to Heathrow unsurprisingly didn't happen. Charge realistic transatlantic business class fares They were unsustainably high, I asserted. In May 2000, a London-Los Angeles Club World fare was about 20 times more expensive than economy. This month, the cheapest business class return (£11,764) is 29 times pricier than a seat at the back of the same plane (£402). So that went well. I further predicted that 'the restrictive Bermuda II agreement, which keeps Heathrow closed to most US airlines' would be gone by January 2001. In the event it wasn't replaced by an open-skies agreement until 2008, and anyway, British Airways is still charging premium fares for the posh seats. Read More Cyber attack causes further chaos for M&S shoppers So much that I didn't spot… BA becomes 'London Airways' In 2000 British Airways had a vast (and unwieldy) UK domestic network, largely based in Birmingham and Manchester. In a bid to make it profitable, the operation was rebranded as a budget carrier, BA Connect, in 2006, but a year later was handed over to Flybe, which itself went bust in both 2020 and 2023. Sale of Go Within six months, the new chief executive, Rod Eddington, had announced the sale of Go. BA's young no-frills airline had been launched to compete with easyJet, which later swallowed it up. Cabin crew strike For almost two years, British Airways and its cabin crew were engaged in a deep and painful industrial dispute. In 2009, BA decided its crew costs were unsustainably high. Understandably, the Unite union wanted to stick with its hard-won pay deals and benefits. After many strikes and High Court battles, a settlement was reached involving a new 'mixed fleet' operation hired on less favourable terms. Since Covid, everyone is mixed fleet. Africa and Australasia cutbacks The rise of the Gulf carriers, particularly Emirates, hit BA's African, Australian and New Zealand operations hard. African capitals have disappeared from the network. And from a high point of serving Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland and Christchurch with 747 jumbo jets, British Airways has shrunk to one daily 777 to Sydney. BA's largest shareholder in 2025 is Qatar Airways, which owns one-fifth of the carrier. London City expansion When London City airport opened in London's Docklands in 1987, it was regarded by British Airways as a sideshow. By the 21st century, though, the growth of Canary Wharf meant that it became an important element of the BA mix – with, for a time, a 'son of Concorde' business-class only operation to New York (via Shannon in Ireland).
New York Times
03-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The most annoying foul in football
It takes a lot to make Bukayo Saka angry, but a sense of injustice tipped the England international over the edge during Arsenal's Champions League semi-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain. The PSG left-back Nuno Mendes was in possession, facing his goal, deep inside his half and up against the touchline, when he fell to the ground in stages as Saka closed him down from behind. Saka emerged with the ball — a ball that he kicked away in fury at the sound of referee Slavko Vincic's whistle after he was penalised for a foul. Cue a yellow card for Saka and the sight of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta doing his latest Basil Fawlty impression on the touchline. Was this the right call against Bukayo Saka? 👀#UCLonPrime — Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 29, 2025 To be clear, this isn't an Arsenal or a Mendes story. Instead, it is a story about one of the most frustrating fouls in football. At this point in proceedings, it would be nice to welcome Luke Ayling to the stage to ask him to break down the art of how to buy a free kick with an opponent behind you, taking in everything from deliberately applying the brakes late, like a car driver trying to engineer a collision and a compensation claim, right through to the theatrical tumble over the ball at the end of it all, complete with raised arms and a look of dismay. Ayling was so good at winning free kicks in that way that the Leeds supporters gave his go-to move a name: 'The Ayling Flop'. A beauuuuty of an Ayling flop, right in front of Hassenhuttl. Southampton manager goes mad and gets a big grin. #lufc — Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) April 2, 2022 The images below show that moment against Southampton in all its glory. Essentially, we are talking about an act of relatively low-grade s***housery. In Ayling's case, it was remarkably successful, too. After making his debut for Leeds in 2016, Ayling won more fouls than any other defender who played in the top two tiers of English football during that period of time (thanks to Opta's Jonny Cooper for that stat). Advertisement Playing to the gallery, Ayling even posted a clip on social media of his young daughter performing the move in his back garden, accompanied by the words, 'I think she's mastered it.' Others have, too. A quick straw poll among my colleagues at The Athletic reveals that Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa, Nottingham Forest's Ryan Yates, Brighton & Hove Albion's Joel Veltman, Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes, and Chelsea's Marc Cucurella all deserve an honorary mention for being clever at winning fouls in a similar fashion. Konsa, in the eyes of many, was fortunate on Saturday when referee Anthony Taylor awarded a free kick in his favour following a duel with Jean-Philippe Mateta during Villa's FA Cup semi-final defeat against Crystal Palace. Mateta ran through and scored, but the goal was disallowed. Jason Pearce, Konsa's captain at Charlton Athletic, quickly picked up on just how streetwise his young defensive partner was when he first broke through. 'He was composed in possession and used his body well for his age,' Pearce told The Athletic last year. 'He was very clever, buying a lot of free kicks.' You can probably think of a player at your club who fits that description, too, judging by the fact that the names keep coming in: Grant Hanley, the Scotland international and former Norwich City defender, and Southampton's Ryan Manning the latest. Speaking as a regular observer of Swansea City, I can confirm that Harry Darling is following in Ayling's flop-steps. There's no suggestion that Mendes, who was outstanding on Tuesday, is a serial offender. It is more that the incident with Saka highlighted a general trend of free kicks almost routinely being given in that scenario. It's a get out of jail free card for a defender who is in possession and feeling an opponent breathing down their neck. Concede a throw-in? Try to turn away from trouble? Go back to the goalkeeper? Or take a tumble? Advertisement 'You can understand the frustration from the Arsenal fans because Mendes is just trying to protect the ball and Saka has got every right to try and get to it, which he did, and I didn't think it was a foul,' said the former England international Alan Shearer in his role as co-commentator for the broadcaster Amazon Prime. 'Mendes doesn't know he's that side and then he (Saka) has this little touch of him, and that is not enough for him to go down.' 'That's a great tackle,' chipped in Mark Clattenburg, the former FIFA referee. So why does the foul get given so often? Quite simply, it's much easier for a referee and/or an assistant referee (as was the case with the Mendes-Saka incident) to award, or signal for, a free kick and deal with the short-lived anger that follows, rather than waving play on and risk all hell breaking loose if a goal is scored. 'But isn't that what VAR is for?' I hear you say — and that is a point that Clattenburg made at the time. Ultimately, the player in possession knows — and top officials will talk about this kind of thing privately — that it's a low-risk foul to give in that area of the pitch. In short, if you're not sure as a referee, err on the side of caution and award the free kick to the defensive side. That doesn't make it right, but it gives an insight into the thought process. Occasionally, and it is only occasionally, a referee will go rogue. That was the case in the Liverpool-Nottingham Forest game at Anfield in September, when Yates was being chased down by Luis Diaz. Interestingly, Yates had been awarded a foul little more than a minute earlier following a bizarre tangle with Alexis Mac Allister that saw him go to ground twice. Believe it or not, the ball was still 'in play' in the picture below. But a foul was given seconds later, after Yates got to his feet and tumbled again. Perhaps all of that was in the referee's mind when Yates appealed, in vain, for a free kick as he tried to shepherd the ball out of play during Liverpool's next attack. Diaz broke clear and ended up hitting the post. Unfortunately for Arsenal and Saka, the outcome in the PSG game was much more predictable.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Middlesbrough injury blow & timescale confirmed as defensive crisis deepens
GEORGE Edmundson looks set to miss at least the next three Middlesbrough games, with the defender facing a "a number of weeks" on the sidelines with an ankle injury. But Michael Carrick says Middlesbrough are still investigating Rav van den Berg's knee injury and it remains unclear at this stage when the Dutchman will be ready to return. To add to Middlesbrough's defensive worries, Luke Ayling was forced off in the second half of Saturday's win over Derby with an ankle injury that looked similar to the one Edmundson suffered at Stoke in midweek. Ayling will now be closely assessed in the coming days. But if next week's trip to Swansea comes to soon for both van den Berg and Ayling, Carrick will be comfortable playing Neto Borges at centre-back. The Brazilian was moved inside against Derby after Ayling was withdrawn and played well. Still, the news on Edmundson is a major blow for Boro and Dael Fry is their only fit and available natural centre-back. 'George is going to have a few weeks out," said Carrick. "We're waiting to see where Rav is out, still needing to do a bit of investigating on that one. "George is a number of weeks though. We're hoping around three weeks more than anything else, but we'll see how he is. "We have a group of games before the international break, so we'll see if we can get him back before that." RECOMMENDED READING Michael Carrick gets half-time Middlesbrough wish but injury crisis deepens The in-form Middlesbrough player who is more important than ever Boro have three games, against Swansea, QPR and Luton, in the next fortnight before the international break. They return to action on March 29 at home to Oxford. Ayling replaced Edmundson in the side against Derby and was playing well before his injury setback. Carrick said: 'We'll have to see on Luke. He's jarred his ankle, similar to George's in midweek actually. Just an innocuous kind of movement, landing funny. I'm not sure right now how he is and we'll have to deal with that." Carrick praised Borges for how the in-form full-back quickly adjusted to his switch. He said: 'Neto did well when he moved across. He's got the experience and got that in his character where he's happy to take on a challenge. He's not fazed by it. "He played alongside Dael today who I thought was particularly good, so I thought we dealt with it well in the end. "It's not easy when you have to shuffle things around and I thought Luke had been doing ever so well before we had to shuffle things around. That's the ups and downs of the season, really. You've just got to deal with it as best you can and make the best of it.' Boro moved to within two points of the top six thanks to their hard-fought victory over Derby, with Finn Azaz hitting the winner 10 minutes from time. Carrick said: "It's a good feeling when you do it like that. It's probably the type of game we haven't capitalised on enough during the season. "I'm delighted we found a way. I thought we played well in the first half and created some good chances and played some good football. The second half was a bit sticky but we kept going and it was a big goal for us. "I thought we deserved to win the game but you still have to find a way. I'm particularly pleased with the boys coming off the bench and making an impact and finishing the game off. "We need to use that, to finish the game strong is something we've talked about and we definitely did that today." Derby set out to frustrate Boro and looked set to leave with a point. Marcus Forss went close in the first half and Azaz hit the post. But in the second half, Boro lost their way and looked to be out of ideas until Azaz fired home after Conway's shot was charged down. Carrick said: "Credit to Derby, they made it difficult and closed a lot of the spaces off, but we still found opportunities in the first half. "There was an element of being patient but not wanting to go slow and wait for something to happen. "We had to trust we'd get there if we kept doing the right things. We probably didn't play as well in the second half but that's the way it is sometimes and we found a way. "In some ways it's a better feeling to win 1-0."
