Tag Archives: EPL

News, Politics, Government

EPL slams Blatter's winter 2022 World Cup plan

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Premier League chiefs have slammed FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s plan to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter.

There has been widespread concern over the health dangers posed by staging the tournament in the Gulf in June and July where temperatures rocket to 50 degrees (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

And Blatter this week confronted the issue by stating he believed the tournament could not take place in the summer, and that position has been backed up by the international players’ union FIFPro.

Blatter insisted he would push to have the World Cup moved despite the effects it could have on domestic leagues when the FIFA Executive Committee meets on October 3 and 4.

“The Executive Committee will certainly follow me,” he was quoted as saying.

“It is clear that you cannot play in this heat in the summer and we have to consider the players.”

But the Premier League have been vocal opponents of the winter idea on the grounds it will cause major disruption to three domestic seasons, the 2021-22 season and the ones either side, as well as impacting on broadcasting contracts.

And Blatter’s latest comments drew a scathing response from the organisation on Thursday.

“The Premier League position remains unchanged. The prospect of a winter World Cup is neither workable nor desirable for European domestic football,” a Premier League spokesman said.

Qatar plans to spend around ??65 billion ($101 billion, 76 billion euros) on infrastructure projects, including building new high-tech stadiums, which the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee said would likely cost $4-5 billion.

But average temperatures in Qatar are markedly cooler in December, with highs of 24C and lows of 15C.

And UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino recently added his weight to calls for the 2022 World Cup to be staged later in the year.

“I fully share the view that you have to play in the best period for football; that is not June or July in Qatar. This is an issue that FIFA has to sort out,” he said.

Qatar, who won their World Cup hosting bid three years ago, has already said it was ready to stage the tournament in summer or winter.

“Various figures from the world of football have raised preferences for hosting in the winter,” the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee said in a statement earlier this year.

“We are ready to host the World Cup in summer or winter. Our planning isn’t affected either way.”

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Man Utd's Moyes still coming to terms with scrutiny

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Manchester United boss David Moyes said on Sunday he still needs to come to terms with the level of scrutiny he faces as manager of one of the world’s biggest football clubs.

The Scot, who has been in the high-profile job for just two weeks after replacing Alex Ferguson, on Saturday lost his first match with his new side 1-0 against the Thai All Stars in Bangkok.

Moyes, 50, said the pressure of managing at Old Trafford did not compare with his decade in charge at English Premier League rivals Everton.

“I have to put this in perspective and it is completely different,” Moyes told reporters at a news conference after touching down in Australia.

“The amount of support we’ve had, the amount of interest we’ve had from you people (media) … constantly we are watched and scrutinised and it’s something I’ll need to come to terms with.”

Moyes was speaking ahead of next weekend’s sold-out pre-season tour match against the Australian A-League All Stars in Sydney.

“The previous manager, Sir Alex, told me what to expect. He told me especially what the tours were going to be like and I think if you have a football club like Manchester United, you have to make sure you go to your supporters worldwide,” Moyes said.

“I’m following probably the finest football manager that’s ever lived,” he said of Ferguson, who won a string of honours including 13 Premier League titles.

“I’m always saying if I can even win a quarter of what he won, I’ll have done very well.

“But the first thing I’ve got to do is settle into the job, get to know everybody and find my way around.”

United stalwart Ryan Giggs, who made his debut for the club in 1991, said it felt strange working under a new manager, but out on the pitch it wasn’t on players’ minds.

“I’ve only had one manager for 20 years, so it’s strange, but you move on,” he said.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. Just like any other pre-season, you’ve got to work hard, knuckle down and prepare yourself as best you can for the first (EPL) game of the season against Swansea (on August 17).

“This is the start of the journey this season and I hope to be lifting a trophy at the end of it.”

Moyes said he expected the A-League All Stars to prove a stiff test, adding that the trip to Asia and Australia was an important part of his squad’s pre-season.

“It’s a big part of our preparations coming here. We’re actually looking forward to a good week’s training,” Moyes said.

“The way the tour works out, this is our longest stay, so we’ll use your fine facilities to try and pick up the training a little bit and get prepared.”

Moyes confirmed star striker Robin van Persie would link up with the squad in Sydney. Wayne Rooney and captain Nemanja Vidic are out injured.

Moyes did not comment on unsettled Rooney’s future, saying the England international would be out of action for two to three weeks with a hamstring injury.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Forecasting Champions League Qualification in the EPL

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By Zach Slaton, Contributor

If this weekend’s action in the EPL was meant to sort out much in the way of the top five table positions the contested matches failed at that task.  The Blues predictable win at home versus Swansea, when paired with Spurs’ struggle for a tie at Wigan and Arsenal’s concession of a tie at home to league champions Manchester United, means that only three points separate the three clubs with a realistic chance of finishing third through fifth and claiming the league’s final spots in European competitions.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

Projected EPL Table With 5 Matches To Go

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By Zach Slaton, Contributor

The matches lost to FA Cup quarterfinal games have now been replayed, and only three matches were lost last weekend to the FA Cup semifinals.  It’s easier to round up and say there are only five match days left.  The results from the last week-and-a-half of EPL action have translated to a further tightening in the race for fourth, and the relegation race continues to heat up heading into the final month of play.  Here is how the latest action impacted the likelihood of each team’s finish position.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/zachslaton/2013/04/19/projected-epl-table-with-5-matches-to-go/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Progress® Apama® CEP Reaches Even Greater Speeds

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Progress® Apama® CEP Reaches Even Greater Speeds

Latest Update Introduces Dynamic, Native Compilation to Deliver Massive Performance Boost

BEDFORD, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Progress Software Corporation (NAS: PRGS) today announced the release of a new version of its leading Progress® Apama® CEP platform. The latest version introduces a new kernel that dynamically compiles application code written in Apama’s scripting language – EPL – to native machine code. The resulting boost in execution speed delivers significant benefits in scalability to much higher event rates and concurrent event queries.

The result of more than ten person years of research and development, the new version of Apama will be available to Apama customers as a no-cost upgrade. Application code, whether written directly in Apama EPL or generated from Event Modeler scenarios, will run unmodified, allowing customers to drop in the new version and gain immediate benefits with no additional work. The new version also retains Apama’s capability to hot-deploy application modules with zero downtime; application code is validated, compiled and deployed in parallel with on-going event processing.

In a series of benchmark tests ranging from calculation of complex analytics to full client application scenarios, validated through a beta program with existing Apama customers and partners, the latest version delivers scaling in sustainable event rates up to 2000% when compared to the current generally-available version of Apama. In one test – an incremental Black-Scholes options pricing benchmark – Apama was able to re-price a basket of options faster than equivalent JAVA and C++ code. Such results are made possible by optimizations that specifically target common EPL patterns to generate very tight machine code.

To learn more about Apama, please visit: http://www.progress.com/en/apama/

Supporting Quotes:

Dr. Richard Bentley, VP Capital Markets, Progress Software: “Having cut its teeth in the world of Algorithmic and High-Frequency trading, Apama has a well-deserved reputation for delivering high-performance, scalable CEP. With the latest release we just raised the bar even higher. Our customers will experience enormous and immediate benefits to their bottom line as a result of the innovation we are announcing today.”

Sang Lee, Managing Partner and Head of our Securities & Investments practice, said: “Apama has always had a reputation as a robust, high-performance CEP engine. With this new release Progress has affirmed its

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/17/progress-apama-cep-reaches-even-greater-speeds/