888sport Sponsor World Seniors Snooker #WinningStillMatters

This weekend’s World Seniors Championship, featuring many of snooker’s great names, will be sponsored by 888sport for the first time.

The 888sport World Seniors Championship runs on Saturday January 30 and Sunday January 31 at the Guild Hall in Preston, televised live on Sky Sports.

Mark Williams won the title on his debut in the event last year and will be defending the crown against the likes of Jimmy White, John Parrott, Ken Doherty and Joe Johnson. In all there are 16 players, aged 40 and over, chasing the £18,000 top prize.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are delighted to welcome 888sport on board for what is a wonderful celebration of snooker. 888sport has sponsored a variety of our events in the past so they are fully aware of how popular snooker is on a global scale.

“The World Seniors is a fabulous event which brings together legends of the past three decades. It’s a lot of fun for the players, but once the first ball is struck it is serious business. The Guild Hall is a historic snooker venue and any fans lucky enough to have a ticket are ready for a weekend of marvellous entertainment.”

Itai Pazner, SVP B2C 888.com, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be sponsoring the World Seniors Snooker Championship. With once the world’s best players vying against each other like old times, this promises to be the biggest and most competitive tournament yet. May the best man win!”

Tickets for the tournament are still available and start at just £10, but fans must book fast because they are selling out. For details visit http://www.worldsnooker.com/tickets

The full draw and format is:

January 30th
From 1pm

Peter Ebdon v Nigel Bond

Mark Williams v Anthony Hamilton

Tony Drago v Robert Milkins

Joe Johnson v Darren Morgan

From 7pm

Ken Doherty v Mark Davis

John Parrott v Dominic Dale

Rory McLeod v Fergal O’Brien

Jimmy White v Gary Lees

January 31st
From 1pm

Quarter-finals

From 7pm

Semi-finals

Final

Dolphins Want Shift In League Timings

Dolphins Fc

Dolphins General Manager, Joe Johnson says he will desire a shift in timings of Nigerian League matches to avoid a clash with English League games.

Johnson, just like most other managers in the Nigerian league are battling low turnout of fans at their grounds on league match days and he says a change in the timing may sort it.

“I would have wished it was possible for our timings to be changed because if you notice our gate takings increase slightly when the English league is on recess.

“But as soon as there is a clash with EPL games, we hardly see people at the stadium because they prefer the other one,” Johnson said.

Joe Johnson, GM Dolphins FC

Johnson gave an example of an incident at the Sharks stadium where a viewing center had more fans in it than those at the stadium watching the league match.

“It tells you our perception here. I think we really need to do a lot more and I don’t know what else, throw the gates open or make mouthwatering offers for fans? Yet people are not interested in it,” Johnson said.

Dolphins and Sharks in Port Harcourt most likely have the lowest turnout of spectators in the league, but the management is working on ways to change the trend.

CAF Confederation Cup: Dolphins Depart Lagos For Tunis On Thursday

A twenty six man contingent of players, coaches, back room staff, club secretary and club president, Joe Johnson will depart Lagos on Thursday night for Tunis via Dubai.

The team has been training in Port Harcourt since they drew goaless against Kwara United in the opening game of the league.

The team will leave Port Harcourt to Lagos at 2pm on Thursday and then board an Emirates airline career that will have a brief stopover in Dubai before going to Tunis.

Ifeanyi Egwim fails to make the team after he received a knock on Saturday in the League and hasn’t trained ever since.

Dolphins Fc training

Another absentee through injury is Rufus Ebue who is yet to get a game for Dolphins after he pulled a hamstring just before the Super 4

Ayobami Asekunowo already has two yellow cards to his name and will not play the game in Tunisia through suspension.

Dolphins have never been knocked out at this stage of the CAF Confederation Cup.

In 2007, the team got to the group stage but failed to make the semifinals as they couldn’t beat El Merreikh by 5-0 in Calabar. They managed a 3-0 win.

In 2008, the team lost to Asante Kotoko in the 3rd round,

Dolphins Wish Pillars Speedy Recovery

Kano Pillars

In the aftermath of the attack on Kano Pillars’ players by gunmen on Thursday as they made for a league match against Heartland, Dolphins FC wishes them speedy recovery from the ordeal.

General Manager of Dolphins FC, Joe Johnson has offered his heartfelt prayers to the club as they recover from the attack that left five players injured, at least two with gunshot wounds.

“It’s a sad development, a really sad one but in all we thank God that there were no fatalities.

“Our prayer now is for the players to recover physically and for the team to recover emotionally because they have their lives to live as well as three competitions to play this season,” Johnson said.

“We pray for their families to be strong this period too,” Joe Johnson said.

“We also use this medium to call on security forces on high way patrol to be more vigilant because there are lots of lives travelling on Nigeria’s highways and we must ensure that we always have safe travelling in the country.”

Kano Pillars, the league defending champions were billed to play against Heartland in Owerri but their convoy was attacked by gunmen along the Abaji-Lokoja road, just after Abuja, a confrontation that left five players hospitalized.

Dolphins Appeal To Players To Return

General Manager of Dolphins Football Club, Joe Johnson has sent out an appeal to his players to return to training as the club prepares for Sunday’s game against Abia Warriors.

The players downed tools on Wednesday, October 1 2014 after their signing on fees for the 2012/13 season was not paid.

The players had visited the government house about a month ago and got a promise that all outstanding obligations would be addressed by end of September.

Joe Johnson, GM Dolphins FC

Joe Johnson said on Thursday that the players refused to turn up for training and is appealing to them to return.

“They have a genuine case, but we have done so well this season so I ask them to return because I do not think the sponsor who gave them a date has forgotten his promise,” Johnson said.

Johnson adds that he has held series of meetings with the players and is believing that something good will happen but cannot tell when.

“My worry is that we are at a critical stage of the league and we have a tough game against Enyimba in the Federation Cup final.

“I am believing that something will happen, just that I cannot tell how soon.”

Dolphins FC

Joe Johnson adds that while appealing to the players to return to training, he is doing same to the sponsors of the club too.

“I have appealed to the sports commissioner, Fred Igwe who has reassured me that very soon something will come,” Johnson enthused.

“He says he is in touch with the authorities which I believe to be government house so we are hopeful.”

Players of Dolphins have not received signing on fees for the 2012/13 season and their enhanced salaries for the current season as they are still being paid the old rates.

Dolphins Up To Date On Players Remunerations-Joe Johnson

General Manager of Dolphins Football Club, Joe Johnson says the club is now free of debts owed to its players.

Johnson, while addressing the press in Port Harcourt said it was not something to shout about but since it was a big media issue when the League Management Company listed Dolphins amongst clubs that owed players, it became important to use the same source to say the club is now clean.

Joe Johnson, GM Dolphins FC

According to Johnson, the club is now up to date with payments.

“We have paid everything we owe the players, at least up till the last match we played in the League on the road to Sunshine Stars.

“All outstanding match bonuses have been paid to date and of course, we do not owe salaries,” Joe Johnson said.

On the issue of signing on fees being owed for last season, Johnson said the club has done all within its powers which is the salaries and match bonuses but anything regarding signing on fees belongs to the Rivers State government.

“We hope to get a listening ear from the governor as promised by the sports commissioner and we believe that it will be sorted out before the end of the season,” Johnson said.

Dolphins’ defender, Victor Ezuruike, confirmed that the club is no longer indebted to the players but added that they await the Rivers State government to fulfil their part of the bargain.

“Yes, the monies were paid just before the game against Sharks last weekend. We also talked about the enhanced salaries and last season’s signing on fees and an agreement was reached.

“We just hope that we can get it as the money is very important to us,” Ezuruike said.

Dolphins cannot play Kano Pillars – Johnson

Dolphins FC’s General Manager, Joe

Stanley Eguma, Dolphins Coach

says they will not be able to replay their game against Kano Pillars on Saturday, June 14, 2014 as directed by the League Management Company.

Dolphins had arrived in Kano on Friday afternoon on the eve of the game last week only to hear it had been postponed indefinitely due to the death of the Emir of Kano.

“Since we were told that the game was postponed indefinitely, we let our players go on break since the LMC had previously said there would be no league games during the World Cup.

“A lot of them did not return to Port Harcourt with us as some alighted in Kano, others in Kano and some in Enugu, depending on where they live. By the time we got to the camp in Port Harcourt some had departed too because they were told by us that there would be a two week break for them during the World Cup.

“We received a message from the LMC that the game will be replayed this Saturday but how that is possible when there are no ready funds to prosecute a game we had already spent money on and there are no players too.

“We think that the best possible time we can replay that game will be when the League resumes and we do not even mind if it is played as our first game in the first round,” Joe Johnson said.

Head coach of Dolphins, Stanley Eguma adds that he has no players in camp to prosecute the game as they had sent them away knowing that there would be no league games during the World Cup break.

Dolphins congratulate Sharks

We the management of Dolphins FC are congratulating our neighbours, Sharks for the latest accolade that has come to them.

Their coach, Gbenga Ogunbote and player, Christian Pyagbara just received the April Manager and player of the Month awards, organized by the League Bloggers Awards and we say a big Congratulations to them.

Our General Manager, Joe Johnson has personally sent congratulatory messages to Sharks urging them to “Maintain the tempo” and to “sustain it enough to finish in an appreciable position at the end of the season”.

We also say thank you to the organisers of the League Bloggers Awards for bringing out something beautiful in the Nigerian League and showcasing it to the world.

We congratulate not just Sharks for their feat last month, but also the LBA for what they are doing and their ability to sustain it for these number of years.

Our contracts are performance based – Joe Johnson GM Dolphins FC

“The contracts Dolphins signed with its players are performance based.

“It is not the everyday contracts clubs sign with players but we have dine our own differently, lacing it with lots of incentives.”

These are the words of Dolphins’ General Manager, Joe Johnson as he explains why the players are happy and will give their best for the club.

“At the end of the negotiation exercise every player was happy and we are sure we have more happy than unhappy at the team, in fact I say 95% of the players are happy with what they got,” Johnson said.

In line with League Management Company, LMC requirements, the club did better than the One hundred and fifty thousand naira minimum wage, ensuring the least player in the got more than that.

Johnson added that the least player in the club earns one hundred and seventy thousand naira as salary per month which is much more than last season when the lowest paid player in the club went home with seventy thousand naira monthly.

Dolphins FC New General Manager Joe Johnson meets the players

Newly appointed General Manager of Dolphins, Joe Johnson took time out to meet the players and rest of the crew on Monday morning during training.

Johnson watched the session and afterwards spoke with the players on what he expects of them this season and also what he plans to do to better their lot.

Dolphins General Manager, Joe Johnson

“I think we will grow together,” Johnson told the players.

“I am just the manager but I cannot do it on my own. You are the products and what we will do to execute the war.

“I will say the basic thing that can make the club succeed is discipline and I believe that we all must have that level of discipline to help us succeed,” Johnson told the players.

The new General Manager took time to visit the club’s camp at the Elekahia Estate, a walking distance from the Liberation Stadium, home ground of the team for a facilities tour of the property.

Johnson assured that he would do his best to ensure that the camp of the club is renovated to standards that befit a Nigeria Premier League club