Arsenal's Dein voted G14 pressure group chairman
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Your support makes all the difference.The Arsenal vice-chairman, David Dein, expects an end to the legal disputes between Europe's clubs and governing bodies during his tenure as the new chairman of the G14 pressure group.
The G14, which represents 18 of the world's most powerful clubs, is involved in a battle with the game's world governing body, Fifa, over a number of issues, notably two court cases related to the release of players for internationals for whom compensation was not paid when they wer injured.
A Belgian court case taken against Fifa by Charleroi and the G14 over a player injured on international duty has been referred to the European Court of Justice, while a similar case is pending involving Lyons.
"I can see a negotiated settlement between all sides within the next 12 months," Dein said after being elected G14 chairman in Brussels yesterday. Dein, who took over from Juventus's Roberto Bettega, will hold the position for 12 months.
While seeking to "build bridges with Fifa,"Dein warned that failure to reach an agreement will lead to further court action. The 63-year-old former vice-chairman of the Football Association, confirmed that both he and the Barcelona president, Juan Laporta, have been in direct talks with Fifa and Uefa, the governing body of European football, in a view to reaching a settlement.
The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger has revealed howhis dedication to his job often leaves him feeling "dead" at the end of the day. Wenger, 56, said his preparations for a weekend match start at around 6:30am with a run and he is often awake until the small hours of the following day.
"Football is always on your mind, he said. 'the next team you will play, the next training session, how the players are. It is very difficult to turn off.
"I watch all kind of matches after the game, through the night until three or four o'clock in the morning," Wenger added. "I have all kinds of channels where I can watch the whole of European football. I usually go to bed really when I am dead tired. For every manager, I think, it takes 10 or 12 hours to start to recover from a game. Sometimes you do not sleep at all during the night."
However, Wenger says he has adjusted to his lifestyle. "A big part of the job is to handle stress," he said. "But I am used to living with that kind of stress. I only realised the stress in May when there are no games. It was like, 'Oh, the stress level is quite immense because I have not got it any more'. Over many years I have learned to be on top of my stress level and to have an alert: 'OK, now I am under big stress. Maybe I need to take an hour to have a walk or play with my daughter'."
* The City of Manchester Stadium has been selected to host the 2008 Uefa Cup final. However, Wembley has had its bid to host the Champions' League final in either 2008 or 2009 turned down. Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium and Rome's Stadio Olimpico, respectively, will host those games.
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