One of the smallest clubs in the Premier League would appear to have one of the competition’s biggest carbon footprints. Back in August, Inside Sport revealed that Bournemouth bosses had seen fit to fly the 100 miles from the South Coast to London for their match at Tottenham Hotspur.
And the gas-guzzling Cherries were at it again last weekend, deciding to return to the capital by air on Friday for Saturday’s match at West Ham United in the shortest of hops that would have taken around 20 minutes.
With trains from Bournemouth to Waterloo taking less than two hours and a car journey from stadium to stadium coming in at two-and-a-half hours on a clear run, the move will again have raised eyebrows.
A reminder that this is a club which has its own seven-page sustainability policy, in which an entire section is dedicated to ‘Sustainable Transport’ where they pledge to ‘develop a domestic travel policy that reduces reliance on air travel, considering sustainability, performance, and logistics’.
Bournemouth opted to fly to London to face West Ham – a journey that takes just 20 minutes – rather than use public transport
While Bournemouth declined to comment, insiders say manager Andoni Iraola is keen to reduce travel time and increase time spent preparing for matches.
The Premier League, which a year ago launched its own Environmental Sustainability Strategy, also declined to comment, although transport decisions are left to its clubs.
In other travel news, a group of hardy Torquay United supporters were left stunned not only by the fact their team had lost 4-2 at lowly Eastbourne Borough, but when they then found they had been booted off their own coach home because the club’s players apparently had deemed it better than the one they had arrived on.
The staggering situation was shared online by the Torquay United Travel Club, amid claims that the squad, currently second in National League South, had moaned when they discovered that the fans had the audacity to enjoy more leg room than they did.
A horrendous look, regardless of the result. Torquay United did not respond to requests for comment.
Sympathy was perhaps understandably in short supply when a Manchester United supporting fan influencer decided it would be a good idea to turn up outside the London Stadium before her team played West Ham holding a sign which read ‘West Ham are s***’ – and ended up with a pint of beer over her head.
And it was a similar situation at Molineux last week when streamers Ronaldo and Marlon, sat in hospitality, decided to remove their gifted Wolves shirts to reveal Arsenal tops and goad a home support which tends to be one of the more animated in the country.
Clips quickly spread online and anger followed. After the game Wolves apologised to supporters who contacted the club, describing the behaviour as unacceptable and made clear it would not happen again. Wolves also stressed the guests hadn’t been invited, but accepted that their requests had been accommodated naively.
As it turned out home fans had the final say when a dramatic equaliser at the death sparked scenes of celebration inside Molineux – with plenty taking obvious delight in reminding the streamers that football content does not always go to script.
In an awkward postscript, the duo streamed their visit to Wembley Stadium two days later. One imagines the dress code was chosen more carefully.
More bad news for Leicester. The hapless Foxes, who find themselves in danger of relegation to the third tier less than a decade after lifting the Premier League title, want James McCarron, from Manchester City, to become their new sporting director.
McCarron is currently head of player development for the City Football Group, which is continuously raided by other clubs for talent.
According to insiders, while City are happy for their staff to develop and take bigger roles elsewhere, they have insisted that McCarron work his notice period, which is expected to run until the end of the season.
Not a great look from IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who responded to being blindsided by three questions on recent developments that she should have been aware of by publicly pinning the blame on her media team.
Instead of revelling in the clear success of her first Winter Games, Coventry reacted poorly to queries on FIFA President and IOC Member, Gianni Infantino, joining Donald Trump‘s peace board; the potential for a Olympic Games in Germany in 2036 – exactly 100 years after the Nazi Olympics and developments on Russian systemic doping issues at Sochi Winter Olympics.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry’s handling of questions from the press left a lot to be desired
On each occasion Coventry said her team had not made her aware of the developments in question and in her frustration remarked that someone needed to be dismissed.
Interestingly, long-term IOC comms chief Mark Adams has been recently linked with a switch to working for his friend Sir Keir Starmer after the Prime Minister’s director of communications Tim Allan stood down.
However, with a generous salary north of £420,000 Adams may not be too keen on switching bosses, despite Coventry’s outburst which, if anything, should have taken place behind closed doors.
