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The Premier League has confirmed it will oppose moves by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) to reintroduce standing areas at top-flight matches.

Standing-only areas were removed on the recommendation of the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, but the FSF are calling for the return of terraces in the top two divisions for English football.

However, Premier League chief spokesman Dan Johnson said that the organisation will not be backing to the proposals.

“Our view is that the benefits of all-seater stadia far outweigh the return of standing areas,” Johnson said. “They have led to more women and more children attending the games and no matter how safe standing can be made, seating is always safer. We will not be encouraging the Government to change the law.”

The FA echoed the Premier League’s, with a spokesman telling ESPNsoccernet: “The FA does not support the introduction of safe-standing at football grounds in the top two divisions.

“Since the Taylor Report and the introduction of all-seater stadia crowd management and the supporter experience has improved significantly. In matters of safety and security we consider the advice of the police and the licensing authorities to be paramount and they remain clear on this issue.”

Representatives from the police, government and football authorities met with the FSF on Monday in a bid to kick-start their campaign, with the organisation’s chairman Malcolm Clarke claiming that many fans choose to stand despite having a seat.

“Fans do believe they have lost something in the move to all-seating,” Clarke told The Guardian. “We will be doing further research to respond to the concerns of those who are not yet convinced.”

The ‘Safe Standing’ camapign has been bubbling under the surface for some time, but the Premier League’s planned opposition will come as a blow, just as the FSF was planning to step up its lobbying of the Government for a change in the law.

Sports minister Hugh Robertson admitted the law was unlikely to change because the risk of a major incident would be too high, saying: “The minister’s head would be on a spike on Tower Bridge before he could draft a resignation letter.”

Liverpool’s involvement in the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies would appear to make them likely opponents of the reintroduction of standing areas, but former Reds striker David Fairclough feels that as long as the safety of fans is guranteed, the FSF’s proposals could be implemented.

“In a controlled environment, plenty of countries around Europe have shown it can work,” Fairclough told ESPNsoccernet. “Even in the Premier League, you find that fans who buy tickets for sit-down areas will still stand for the whole of the game.

“I went to West Ham away recently with Liverpool and everyone was standing up; as long as the barriers are secure I think there is scope to reintroduce some standing areas, though it couldn’t work like the Kop used to be, with seas of open terraces.

“More standing room should also see a reduction in ticket prices, which can only be a good thing for the fans.”

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Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Cech has revealed that Arsenal passed up the chance to sign him in 2002, suggesting the Gunners felt he was not good enough for life in the Premier League.

Cech, 28, has become one of the finest keepers in world football during his seven-year spell at Stamford Bridge, but he could have been plying his trade in north rather than west London had things panned out differently.

The Czech Republic international was watched by Arsenal’s scouts while he was at Sparta Prague but they were put off by him not qualifying for a work permit and he ended up heading to French side Rennes.

The work permit may have been a stumbling block, but Cech has suggested Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was informed by his scouting network that the keeper was not good enough.

“Before I went to Rennes I was watched by Arsenal but when I couldn’t get a work permit the situation was missed,” Cech is quoted as saying in The Sun.

“And at the last minute I think the person who was the chief scout at Arsenal didn’t think I was good enough for the English league. So in the end it didn’t happen.”

Chelsea have put themselves back in the title race with a strong run of form and Cech is looking for the Blues to continue the forward momentum.

“We’re more secure at the back and we still have the opportunity to catch Manchester United if they start dropping points,” he said. “We are still dependent on all the others. But we have to win, win, win, keep the pressure on.

“What is essential for a club like Chelsea is to have the stature of a club playing in the Champions League next season.

“We have some big games coming up and there are teams around us who are battling for it as well.”

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Turkey coach Guus Hiddink has said that he will tender his resignation if his side fail to beat Austria and Belgium in their next two Euro 2012 qualifying games.

Hiddink’s side currently lie third in Group A – behind runaway leaders Germany and Austria – and suffered a shock 1-0 defeat in Azerbaijan in their last game. Now, the Dutch boss has alerted Europe’s top club teams – including his former club Chelsea – with the news that he could quit if Turkey do not take six points from their next two.

”I’m trying to make a better Turkish national team,” Hiddink said. ”If I can’t do that, I’ll ask the chairman to sack me. Six points from these two games is vital. If we don’t get that I can offer my resignation to the chairman and then it’s up to him. It will mean that I am not a successful manager.”

Hiddink was an enormously popular figure at Chelsea during his six months in charge, as he led the Blues to the FA Cup in 2009. With Carlo Ancelotti’s job up for review in the summer, many would suggest Hiddink is a shoo-in to take over from the Italian, should both men find themselves without a job in the next few months.

Hiddink is close to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, after the Blues chief played a big part in luring him to the Russian national job in 2006, and another option is that he could be offered a directorial role with Frank Arnesen’s exit to Hamburg already confirmed this summer.

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter says his next term will be his last if he is re-elected as head of world football’s governing body in June.

Blatter is running for his fourth term but is facing the challenge of Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam in the election to be held in Zurich, Switzerland.

Speaking at UEFA’s Congress in Paris on Tuesday the 75-year-old Swiss said that if he wins he will definitely stand down in 2015.

Blatter said: “You know very well that I am a candidate for the next four years as FIFA president but these will be the last four years for which I stand as a candidate.

“Together we have the task of bringing together the adventure we have started. We want to ensure a better future for our youth.”

Blatter’s announcement appears to be a direct appeal to the 53 European countries to support him and then he will make way for UEFA president Michel Platini in 2015.

Bin Hammam revealed on Monday he would be interested in cutting a deal with Platini to oust Blatter – but the Qatari would certainly want eight years in office.

Blatter told the Congress that FIFA would now have “zero tolerance” for corruption – two FIFA executive committee members were banned last year after asking for money in return for votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights.

He said: “We can see cases of corruption that really hurt the whole football family and for this reason at the FIFA Congress we will show we will have zero tolerance.

“We will have zero tolerance on the pitch, more education, more respect towards the referees. There will be zero tolerance beyond the pitch – we have the instruments for that, the disciplinary committee, the ethics committee, and it’s time to act. We will do whatever is necessary.”

Blatter also praised Platini’s plan of having two extra assistant referees behind each goalline, which is now being trialled in European club competition and international football.

He added: “I’m happy to commend UEFA for its revolutionary view of refereeing and having five or even six officials on or near the pitch, not just three or four – this is a compliment.”

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Michel Platini was re-elected as UEFA president on Tuesday and pledged to tackle the “scourges” of violence in stadiums and match-fixing during his new four-year term.

The former France captain stood unopposed at the UEFA Congress after his policy of opening up UEFA competitions to more mid-ranking teams and introducing financial rules to curb clubs’ reckless spending proved popular with the 53 European nations.

Platini, who will remain office until 2015, said there had been “incidents in far too many grounds around Europe” and praised the Scottish FA’s stand against sectarianism during Old Firm clashes between Celtic and Rangers.

Platini told the UEFA Congress in Paris: “As George Peat and Stewart Regan (president and chief executive of the SFA) so rightly put it in a recent statement on behalf of the Scottish association: there is no place in football for those who transform passion into violence and pride into sectarianism.

“Every country should establish a whole battery of legal measures enabling them to ban hooligans from stadiums. Every country should appoint a prosecutor in charge of illegal betting and corruption in sport.

“I have started meeting the heads of state and government of countries particularly affected by this problem. It is important that their countries realise the seriousness of the situation and that they find a way to help us, you and their national associations.”

Platini also reiterated his belief in UEFA’s financial fair play rules protecting club football. The rules mean clubs in European competition will only be able to spend on transfers and wages what they earn in revenues.

He added: “This project should enable us to prevent some of our most time-honoured clubs from going under because of risky management by an irresponsible few.

“In 1984 Jacques Georges (ex-UEFA president) used a phrase that I have been drumming home constantly for months and thought I had coined myself: ‘We all know what it means if we spend more than we earn, and in football it would mean the end of the game.’

“So… perhaps history does sort of repeat itself after all.

“On the topic of club finances, allow me to remind you of just one figure: together, Europe’s professional clubs accumulated net losses of €1.2 billion in 2009 alone.

“So yes, there is a huge amount of money in football, but more importantly there is a moral problem in the way this money is sometimes generated and used.

“Financial fair play is a crucial project that will enable us to clean up certain practices within our game.

“It will be implemented in full in the course of my next term and we will apply the rules with the courage and resolution for which UEFA should be known.”

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