Latest news with #PaulBarber
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
What can Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton spend this summer?
Bournemouth have the lowest matchday revenue in the Premier League, with a 11,379 capacity at the Vitality they have recruited shrewdly and the big-money sales of Dominic Solanke and Dean Huijsen during 2024-25 means they could easily part with £100m to bring in new are among the best run businesses in the league and their approach of "spotting players that other clubs have not considered, such as Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, is likely to pay further dividends as they are attracting attention from clubs with big budgets", said football finance expert Kieran Maguire."The Bees have no PSR concerns and could spend up to £200m, but are unlikely to break the bank for the sake of it as this is not the way that owner Matthew Benham conducts affairs at the club."Meanwhile, another club on the south coast, Brighton, are also in rude health heading into the next transfer Seagulls have earned £200m in profit over the previous two seasons and could repeat last summer's heavy spend of more than £200m if chief executive Paul Barber has already indicated they will more likely return to their tried and tested model of bringing in relatively unheard of players from unfamiliar biggest challenge is more likely to be keeping hold of the likes of Joao Pedro, Carlos Baleba and Kaoru Mitoma, who are all attracting admiring glances from clubs with bigger more about the early transfer window and what each Premier League club can spend this summer
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Jobseeker sanctions: 'Forcing people to volunteer is a contradiction in terms'
The Salvation Army do not support mandatory work experience for beneficiaries. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly The government is better off using its resources to help people find work, rather than punishing those who can not, says the Salvation Army. Two new 'non-financial' sanctions come into force on Monday for beneficiaries who do not meet their obligations. Some people may have half their weekly benefit put on to a payment card for four weeks, that can only be spent on essential items at approved shops. They may also have to find volunteer work for at least five hours each week, again for four weeks. Social Development Minister Louise Upston said the sanctions would encourage people off welfare and into work. "These very fair and reasonable sanctions will allow clients to continue receiving their full benefit, instead of the 50 per cent reduction they would have experienced with a financial sanction," she said. But Salvation Army principal social policy analyst Paul Barber said it was not the most helpful approach. "We would really like to see Work and Income resources applied to increasing the amount of training and employment pathways, working with employers who are willing to take people on and really creating a constructive space for people to find employment," he said. "That's a stronger way to reduce the number of people on the Jobseeker benefit." Barber said the Salvation Army did not support mandatory work experience for beneficiaries. He expected organisations like his would have more people knocking on their door seeking volunteer opportunities as part of the new rules, but they were not resourced to respond. "We welcome opportunities to provide some work experience, but this needs to be done in a way that respects the experience of the person, and forcing people to volunteer is pretty much a contradiction in terms," he said. Barber was concerned community organisations would have to turn away vulnerable people who don't need any more rejection in their lives. With unemployment and Jobseeker numbers projected to rise, it was not the time to add more punishments for beneficiaries, he said. Ringfencing a portion of someone's benefit for specific spending risked them falling deeper into financial hardship, said Pakuranga and Howick Budgeting Service manager Megan Dangen. It could mean people struggle with other important costs like rent and loans, she said. "We find with a lot of our clients, that rent is a major contributor to their weekly financial situation," she said. "It could cause a lot of stress in the household if they just can't make ends meet... we also have a lot of clients, I would say 90 percent of our clients, that are in huge amounts of debt." Official statistics from the Ministry of Social Development showed the average beneficiary spent more than 53 percent of their income on housing costs. Many people were not financially literate and would struggle to manage the restriction on their benefit, said Dangen. Upston said 98 percent of beneficiaries were complying with their obligations, so they would not be subject to the sanctions. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Brighton & Hove Albion exhibit finds new permanent home in city
An exhibition of Brighton & Hove Albion's history is set to be housed permanently at a museum in the city.A permanent gallery for the football club will be created in Brighton Museum and will open at the start of the 2026/27 season to coincide with the team's 125th gallery will also house a collection previously held at the club's museum in the American Express Stadium, which has now chairman Tony Bloom said the gallery would be "a defining part of telling the club's story and preserving our heritage and history to a wider audience". He added: "This long-term presence in the city reflects how important the club and its fans are to each other and the culture of the city as a whole."The gallery follows praise for a standalone exhibit, celebrating Brighton's first season in Europe, which opened in October exhibit featured club memorabilia from the club's 2023/24 season, where they reached the Europa League knockout Barber, Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive, said: "Brighton & Hove Albion is as much part of the city's lifeblood and history as the Royal Pavilion and our Royal past. "It is absolutely right that the club's incredible story is told in Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. "We are honoured and excited to be working with the club on this project and look forward to the gallery opening in 2026."
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Should female footballers play on different pitches?
A number of high-profile injuries have occurred in women's football in recent years - but could the type of pitches they play on be a contributing factor?That is a question Brighton chief executive officer Paul Barber asked last week and he welcomed research into his theory. The Seagulls hope to build a new purpose-built stadium for the women's team by 2027-28 and are exploring all scientific research to make facilities the includes finding out whether pitch surfaces designed for male athletes are adequate for females. If not, what is the best solution? What pitches do they currently play on? Most top-tier football pitches are now hybrid, which means they are essentially a synthetic mat through which real grass can grow. These pitches feel like natural grass but can be regrown each year. They are also hard-wearing, which means they can be drained and recovered to play football on. However, most of these pitches - which are used predominantly in the men's Premier League - are made up of 95% sand and 4-5% polyethylene fibres to help reduce waterlogging. Women's Super League teams use a variety of grounds across the season but all pitches meet the minimum elite standards required by the league licence. Brighton's Broadfield Stadium is one of the only natural grass surfaces in the WSL, with most clubs playing on a hybrid pitch. Arsenal, Aston Villa and Leicester City use their male counterparts' stadiums as their main home pitch, as well as occasionally playing at secondary Ham were the only WSL club not to play a match at their men's team stadium last season. The Bescot Stadium - home of League Two Walsall FC - is used for Villa's matches in the Women's League Cup and FA Cup and was recently Palace, who earned promotion from the Women's Championship, play the majority of their matches on the VBS Community Stadium and the pitch was replaced with a new hybrid surface this season. And Leicester City's second pitch - Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium - is an artificial grass pitch and is only used when there are scheduling clashes. Is there a correlation with injury risk? While little research has been carried out regarding pitches for female athletes specifically, plenty of data has been gathered in football generally. Everything from traction, the hardness of the surface, how high the ball bounces, how far the ball rolls and shock absorption have been looked into. Neil Rodger, the principal consultant at STRI Group - a company working in the development of sports surfaces - admitted more research was needed to see if there was any link to increased injury risk in female footballers and certain pitches."It's never been broken down into men's football and women's football. We've always just designed football pitches," he told BBC Sport."When you think about injuries in the men's or women's game, there are so many factors that contribute - the training load, sleep, physiology, hormones..."The pitch is a factor, it's in the mix. Historically, in the women's and men's game, there have been unsafe pitches. In the modern game, that's not really the case. "Particularly in the Premier League, the pitch quality is exceptional and the grounds teams are very good. There's more research needed to see if there is any link."Rodger said it was unknown if there was "a very subtle difference between what is optimal for the men's game and what is for the women's game", but the volume of matches played in shared stadiums was no doubt a contributing factor in reducing the quality of surfaces."Arsenal Women play a lot of matches at the Emirates and the grounds team will prepare the pitch to the exact same high standard as they would for the men," he added. "But whether it's men's or women's, the more games you play on a pitch, the more wear and tear it takes and the more the quality of the pitch is going to be impacted. "More usage means more maintenance needed. That is a factor." What do those in the game think? Having coached in the Women's Super League and on the international stage, West Ham boss Rehanne Skinner has experienced a number of pitch she believed it was not the type of surface, but how you manage the quality of the pitches which was the most important factor to consider. "It's got to be about investment into the quality of the pitch or how you manage stadiums independently to reduce the volume of games on them," added Skinner. "We groundshare in a lot of instances and that means the pitches take a lot - TV masks some of it. When you're actually standing on them, they look very different. "I think the bottom line is, it is down to the volume of games on the pitch. That definitely needs to be something that's addressed."Former Chelsea and England defender Claire Rafferty suffered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in her career - and believed the pitch was a contributing the 36-year-old admitted it was not something she thought about while playing, Rafferty said the idea that the pitches male players currently play on may not be optimal for women was an "interesting concept". "The only limitation is we're trying to improve the standard of the game in general, so do we increase barriers to entry if we have women-only pitches?" Rafferty told BBC Sport. "When we're looking at grassroots, are we limiting access? Yes, there needs to be research, but there is that argument too."My ideal pitch would be a grass pitch. If we get into the details of the grass length, that can have an impact as well. "If the grass is too long, then you're at risk of the boots getting stuck and non-contact injuries. But if it's too short and dry then you don't have that balance there." Should more research be carried out? Former Scotland and Arsenal defender Jen Beattie said there were "so many different factors" that could contribute to injury, but playing surfaces should not be the primary major names, Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and Leah Williamson, suffered ACL injuries while playing for the Gunners, and Chelsea striker Sam Kerr is not expected back until April 2025 after being sidelined since January 2024."It's hard to pinpoint one thing and I think separating men and women and playing on different pitches just makes the games go even further apart rather than looking at other things that I think are more important," Beattie told BBC Radio 5 Live."If we're talking about ACLs, that comes from more conditioning and physicality. There needs to be more research into women's health because we are just different."That's a proven fact. The priority needs to be looking at that rather than playing on different pitches. I've no idea how logistically that would work."A number of clubs now track players' menstrual cycles following recent studies linking periods to ACL injuries. There has also been research carried out by organisations such as the European Club Association (ECA) on how varying footwear can contribute to injury risk."I think there needs to be more research specifically for women," said ex-England striker Ellen White, who suffered an ACL injury during her career."Women are built slightly differently with childbearing hips, or you are on your period, so your ligaments are slightly looser."But I feel there needs to be more research into exactly why certain movements happen or more strength and conditioning to help with the muscles in and around the knee."I was unlucky, I went for a couple of challenges and my knee just gave out. I don't think there was an overarching reason why. It was just luck of the draw." 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BBC News
29-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Brighton & Hove Albion fan zone to open ahead of FA Cup clash
A fan zone at Brighton & Hove Albion's stadium will open ahead of their FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The fan zone, called the Terrace, has a normal capacity of 1,000 but can cater for 3,000 people in the warmer months, the club Seagulls, who play their home matches at the Amex Stadium, said that the fan zone will be the "biggest in the Premier League" and on matchdays, it will show live sport and have four Sussex-based kitchens catering food and drink for deputy chairman and chief executive, Paul Barber, said: "I know our fans are looking forward to the opening of The Terrace and are extremely excited to see these plans come to life. "The Terrace will provide a fantastic place for fans to meet, watch live sport, and enjoy an excellent range of food and drink, working with top local suppliers to deliver a high-quality offering."On the opening day, it will be open from 11:00 GMT to 23:00 and show the first FA Cup quarter-final of the weekend at 12:15, between Fulham and Cystal will be performances by live bands, a DJ set and special guest Terrace will also provide a screening of Albion's away premier League matches at Crystal Palace and FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest kicks off at at the Amex Stadium at 17:15 and is live on BBC One, with live commentary on BBC Radio Sussex.
