Island Records Celebrates a Milestone

Anyone with LPs , cassettes or CDs could easily have this label in their music collection. If you list the artists who recorded their music on this label, it is nothing less than prodigious. Island is turning fifty, and there will be a blaze of a bash to celebrate the birthday, as we read in the BBC…

By Ian Youngs Music reporter, BBC News

Bob Marley, U2, Roxy Music and Nick Drake are among the artists who have called the Island Records label home over the last 50 years. As the label celebrates its 50th birthday, founder Chris Blackwell reveals how he built one of music’s most celebrated and enduring stables. The bill for a series of anniversary concerts, which start in London next week, gives an idea of the idiosyncratic and often impeccable Island line-up over the last half century. Reggae stars Sly & Robbie will be joined by Grace Jones and recent chart-topper Tinchy Stryder. Yusuf Islam, who signed to the label as Cat Stevens, is supported by Senegalese icon Baaba Maal. There is “Modfather” Paul Weller with ska pioneer Ernest Ranglin, a night headlined by indie floorfillers The Fratellis, and a final show that sees Amy Winehouse supported by Jamaican heroes Toots and the Maytals and one of the label’s brightest new hopes, I Blame Coco. The Island story started in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1959, when 22-year-old jazz fanatic Blackwell fell in love with the music of a pianist called Lance Hayward, who had been performing in his hotel. So Blackwell took him into a recording studio. “I just loved the band,” Blackwell says. “It was purely driven by being a fan. “It wasn’t driven by thinking, ‘This is a great business to go into’. I was teaching waterskiing which was great fun. A great way to meet girls.” But he continued to take local artists into the studio and Island was soon enjoying a string of number one hits in Jamaica. By 1962, Jamaica had gained its independence from the UK and Blackwell decided that his white skin meant he “would be viewed more as part of yesterday than tomorrow”. So he moved to London and set about peddling his repertoire to record shops and stalls, tearing around in his Mini Cooper with stacks of records in the back. “I loved all that. I was happy as could be. I wasn’t hoping that something would happen and I’d get pulled out of it.” Blackwell moved from being a car boot wheeler dealer to a bona fide music mogul in 1964, when he brought 14-year-old Millie Small from Jamaica to London to record a song called My Boy Lollipop. “I knew it was a hit when I left the studio,” Blackwell says. “It just was irresistible. It sold six million, it gave me a launchpad, and suddenly I was in the mainstream record business.” Millie, on the other hand, was unable to take advantage of the launchpad, and swiftly disappeared. “ I tried to pick people who were not going to be a flash in the pan because I was always a bit scarred by Millie ” “I was very proud of myself initially when she had this hit and was doing so well, and then I felt rather differently when it all sort of evaporated. I felt a responsibility.” From that point on, Blackwell looked for artists who were likely to have long careers. “I tried to pick people who were not going to be a flash in the pan because I was always a bit scarred by Millie,” he says. By the early 1970s, Island was one of the hottest labels in the country, home to rock and folk acts like Free, Traffic, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and King Crimson. During his Mini Cooper days, Blackwell had released the first single by one Robert Marley. But he had never met the reggae singer until Marley walked into his London office in 1972, and asked for a record deal. Blackwell was warned off Marley and his band The Wailers, who had gained a reputation for being difficult to work with. But the label boss took a chance. “When I saw them, I was just really impressed with them,” he says. “I just felt that the best thing I could do to work with them, was to show them some trust. “I drew a cheque to them and said ‘Go make me a record’. Everybody said ‘You’re crazy, they’ll never do that, these guys are the worst guys’. But it was a good decision because it formed the basis of our relationship because it was a really great working relationship.” The result was Catch A Fire, their first album for the label and the first step in bringing reggae to the masses. That had been the intention all along, says Blackwell, who tried to “tickle the ear” of rock fans in order to break out of the reggae niche. The album was credited to The Wailers, Blackwell says, because “Bob Marley and the Wailers” did not sound very rock ‘n’ roll. “I wanted to position them like a black rock group,” he says. “I really changed it and put in synthesisers and rock guitar and stuff like that. And I got slagged for it by the purists, but what I was trying to do, was to break an artist and I wasn’t doing it without his OK.” Another landmark day came in June 1980, when Marley played his last London concert at Crystal Palace Bowl. Straight afterwards, Blackwell checked out a new Irish band at a nearby pub. “I don’t remember there being many people in the audience at all,” he recalls. “It seemed like there were about half a dozen to a dozen, but it was a long time ago. “Although the music wasn’t particularly to my personal taste, I just loved the band. I believed in them. They had an aura, they had a passion. I just thought they were going to make it for sure.” That new band was U2, and make it they surely did. “I had no advice for them. Really, all I did for them was to give them a platform, which was Island Records.” They were another group who benefitted from Blackwell’s long-term view. Intriguingly, when asked about the ones that got away, he says he wished he had signed another Irish band. “I wish we’d got the Hothouse Flowers,” he says. “I think they’d have done very well with us. Much better than they did. We were never a singles label. They were a band that could have had a long term career, as U2 did, but I think they were more driven into having hits.” The music industry now, he says, has “crashed” – not in terms of sales, but in the way artists are allowed to develop. Everyone is in too much of a hurry, he believes, which has repercussions for finding a new U2 or Bob Marley. “There are very few artists who I feel are going to be big stars 20 years from now,” he says. “I can’t think of many. There may be, but I can’t think of them. “Because they’re overexposed too early. They don’t get the chance for word of mouth and [developing] a natural organic following, rather than being force fed like a new product.” Blackwell sold Island in 1989, and stepped down as its boss in 1997. Since then, the label’s biggest star has been Amy Winehouse, who Blackwell describes as “an extraordinary artist”. “I’m very proud that she’s on Island records. She does have the talent and ability to really last a long time. The problem is if she can survive this constant spotlight. I really hope she does.” Despite the drawbacks and turmoil in the music industry, Blackwell says it is a great time for artists and entrepreneurs to take control of their own destinies, as he did five decades ago. “I think it’s a very exciting time for music. If I was the age when I started here in 1962, I’d be there in a second. Absolutely in a second. With my virtual Mini Cooper.”

Raking in the Dough, One Dollar at a Time…

Not everyone is complaining about retail numbers. While this current economic situation has left a number of businesses and financial entities in a bit of a struggle, some companies are flourishing.  One such company is Dollar Tree, who did quite well in the last quarter. The story from the Wall Street Journal…

 Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR) reported Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 39% on stronger sales, as the discount chain continued to buck the downturn faced by other retailers and raised its fiscal-year outlook and gave a strong second-quarter forecast.

Shares rose 1.4% premarket to $45 as the latest quarter’s profit also topped estimates.

The seller of everything-for-$1-or-less items now expects fiscal-year earnings of $2.75 to $2.90 a share on revenue of $5.05 billion to $5.15 billion. In February, it forecast earnings of $2.55 to $2.75 a share on revenue of $4.96 billion to $5.09 billion.

For the second quarter, Dollar Tree anticipates earnings of 47 cents to 51 cents a share on revenue of $1.17 billion to $1.2 billion, with same-store sales rising in the low to mid- single digits on a percentage basis. Analysts were looking for earnings of 46 cents a share on sales of $1.18 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company has benefited as consumers keep a close eye on their budgets and trade down to discount stores for bargains – resulting in Dollar Tree’s gaining some high-income customers. In a sign of the changing shopping patterns, market-research firm Nielsen Co. said households making more than $100,000 a year increased their spending at dollar stores by 18% in the second half of 2008. By comparison, growth by low- and mid-income shoppers was 8% and 6%, respectively.

For the period ended May 2, Dollar Tree posted a profit of $60.4 million, or 66 cents a share, up from $43.6 million, or 48 cents a share, a year earlier. Dollar Tree’s February forecast was 49 cents to 54 cents.

Earlier this month, the company reported a 14% sales jump to $1.2 billion, beating the high end of its forecast by $40 million, as same-store sales rose 9.2%. Chief Executive Bob Sasser said then the company’s performance was “very strong from Valentine’s Day through Easter” as more consumers snapped up health and beauty care basics, household cleaning supplies, party goods and food.

Gross margin rose to 34.6% from 33.9% on the sales gains.

Dollar Tree continued to expand, increasing its retail selling square footage 6.5%. It has 3,667 stores.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) analyst Charles Grom noted early this year that Dollar Tree was benefiting from its store locations as well as its inexpensive products. He said stores often co-locate with best-in-class retailers at strip malls, “making for an easy trade-down opportunity by capitalizing on a more resilient consumer base.”

Mustard Gas in Arkansas?

Mustard Gas in 2009? Hard to believe, to be sure. This stuff dates back to World War One! Even more unbelievable is that fact that this gas is stored in nearby Pine Bluff, Arkansas… More from the Global Security Newswire…

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Arkansas Environmental Quality Department has approved a proposal for increasing the rate of disposal of mustard agent stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 27).

The incinerator is now allowed to process the chemical warfare material at 75 percent of its operational maximum, up from 50 percent, according to the Pine Bluff Commercial.

As of Monday, plant had destroyed more than 494 bulk containers filled with 826,745 pounds of mustard agent — more than 13 percent of the arsenal’s original mustard stockpile. The site began eliminating 1-ton barrels of the substance in December.

The facility has destroyed more than 27 percent of its original chemical-weapon stockpile, having already finished off munitions containing the nerve agents VX and sarin (Associated Press/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 20).

All Gave Some, Some Gave All

Before we load the kids in the back of the SUV and head off to the beach, before we fire up the grill, and before we climb into our bass boat, let’s take a moment to remember why Americans celebrate this day.

 Sure, it’s a day off for most of us. Of course it unofficially kicks off the summer in a manner of speaking. What memorial Day is, and will always be, is a tribute to the men and women who have served our nation. More from Metro News about the origins of this holiday…

 There are many stories about the beginning of Memorial Day, which Americans observe today.  The day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service was originally called Decoration Day and was officially proclaimed on May 5th, 1868, by General John Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.  The first ceremony was in 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  At first, the South refused to acknowledge the day, choosing to honor their dead on separate days.  After World War One, the holiday changed to honor Americans who died fighting in any war.  It is now celebrated in every state on the last Monday in May.

Several towns lay claim to being the first to celebrate Memorial Day.  In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson officially declared that Waterloo, New York, was the birthplace of Memorial Day.  In 1915, poet Moina Michael, inspired by the Poem “In Flanders Fields,” started the practice of wearing red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation in war.  Since the 1950s, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division place small American Flags at each of the more than 260-thousand gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.  They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. 

Many Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day.  Years ago, Congress passed the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution that asks all Americans to voluntarily and informally observe a moment of silence on Memorial Day at 3 p.m. local time.

What’s A Street Map?

We have them in our SUVs, we have them in our phones… Lost? No problem, key in your location or your destination and Voila! Found… But what would we do if GPS went away? A good question. The unthinkable just might happen, as we read more from the Channel Wire…

The Channel Wire May 20, 2009 Too Little, Too Late: GPS May Crash By 2010 Thanks in part to a lack of oversight, a government agency Wednesday warned that unless the U.S. Air Force is able to acquire new satellites soon, the Global Positioning Systen may crash by next year, wreaking havoc with the public and military operations. According to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an overhaul of the 20-year-old system has been delayed until November, putting it three years behind schedule. The project is also over budget by $870 million from the original cost estimate of $729 million, for a total of approximately $1.6 billion. “If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits ,” the GAO stated in its report. The problem is blamed in part on the fact that no one single authority is responsible for synchronizing all procurements and fielding related to GPS. In addition, funding has been diverted from ground programs to pay for problems in the space segment of the GPS program, according to the report. The Air Force has also encountered “significant” technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule, and has also struggled with a contractor, which was not named in the report. The GAO said that the time period between the contract award and first launch for GPS IIIA was shorter than most other major space programs it reviewed. “Though the contractor has had previous experience with GPS, it is likely that the knowledge base will need to be revitalized,” the GAO said. “The contractor is also being asked to develop a larger satellite bus to accommodate the future GPS increments and to increase the power of a new military signal by a factor of 10.” The Department of Defense (DOD) develops and operates GPS, and an interdepartmental committee—co-chaired by DOD and the Department of Transportation—manages the US space-based positioning, navigation, and timing infrastructure, which includes GPS. The DOD also provides most of the funding for GPS. The Air Force is responsible for GPS acquisition, according to the report. “The Department of Defense continues to face cost overruns in the billions of dollars, schedule delays adding up to years, and performance shortfalls stemming from programs that began in the 1990s, and after that were poorly structured, managed and overseen,” said the GAO. “What sets GPS apart from those programs is that GPS had already been “done” before.” However, the Air Force is not sitting by idly. It has taken steps to structure the new GPS IIIA program to prevent mistakes made on the IIF program. The agency also plans to invest more than $5.8 billion over the next five years in the GPS satellites and ground control segments. The Air Force is also exercising more government oversight and interaction with the contractor and spending more time at the contractor’s site, according to the report. “Nevertheless, there is still a high risk that the Air Force will not meet its schedule for GPS,” the report said. The GAO did note that the DOD concurred with its recommendations, and stated that it recognized the importance of centralizing authority to oversee the continuing synchronized evolution of the GPS and that it will continue to seek ways to improve civil agency understanding of the DOD requirements process and work to strengthen civil agency participation. Posted by Michele Masterson at 8:30 AM

The Power of The Lobbyist

Photo: TN History For Kids. Org

Lobbying is legal. Lobbyists who are properly registered in Tennessee may conduct business in Nashville within the guidelines of the law. That being said, the amount of money that flows through our capital city is staggering. Take ATT, for instance. Here’s a look from the Chattanooga Times Free Press at how much money ATT spent in the Volunteer State alone.

 By Andy Sher CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS NASHVILLE — Telecommunications giant AT&T spent $523,000 to $623,000 from Oct. 1, 2008, to March 31 as it pushed deregulation of basic telephone service in the Tennessee General Assembly, new lobbying disclosures show. The disclosures, on file with the Tennessee Ethics Commission, include expenditures of $300,000 to $350,000 to fund an army of 20 lobbyists who plied the 99 members of the House of Representatives and the 33-member Senate. Another $200,000 to $250,000 went for lobbying-related expenses, which can include items such as public relations. The company also coughed up $23,000 on a Jan. 14 Nashville reception for lawmakers, other officials and civic leaders celebrating the introduction of its U-verse cable service in select parts of Middle Tennessee. The invitation said the event included “live jazz, open bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres.” The AT&T-pushed bill passed May 8, well after the six-month disclosure period ended March 31, and AT&T’s total expenses likely are higher. The bill did away with most price regulation of AT&T’s telephone service except in rural areas. The company can increase prices as it pleases for basic telephone service and unbundled services such as directory assistance and call waiting. Asked about the lobbying expenses, AT&T Tennessee spokesman Bob Corney said in an e-mail the company “applied reasonable resources to advocate for policies that will help AT&T compete on a more level playing field with our competitors.” He noted the bill, which he said removes many “outdated rules and process that have applied only to AT&T,” wasn’t the only issue the company is interested in this year. Moreover, Mr. Corney said the reception didn’t include just lawmakers. The six-month disclosures filed by special interests spending money to influence the General Assembly were due in to the Ethics Commission by May 15. The Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, which initially opposed the AT&T bill, reported spending $158,623 to $218,622 from Oct. 1 to March 31. Between $150,000 and $200,000 of the total went toward paying five lobbyists, records show. “We’re protecting the interests of the cable industry,” cable association president Stacey Briggs said. “The vast majority of those expenditures are for lobbying.” Comcast, meanwhile, reported spending $50,000 to $100,000 on one lobbyist and between zero and $10,000 on lobbying-related expenses. A cursory glance at the disclosures reveals a number of major legislative battles playing out in terms of dollars spent to hire lobbyists, fund public relations consultants and receptions. Tennessee’s three natural gas distributors — Chattanooga Gas Co. (AGL Resources), Atmos Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas — collectively reported spending $45,000 to $100,000 on 10 lobbyists in an ultimately unsuccessful bill aimed at making it easier for them to raise rates. The companies spent somewhere between nothing and $30,000 on lobbying-related expenses. Chattanooga Gas reported spending $10,000 to $25,000 on four lobbyists. Those opposing the bill included the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association, which had no report on file, according to the Ethics Commission Web site. Meanwhile, commission filings show nursing home interests spent at least $510,000 and as much as $635,000 lobbying on issues including a losing bid to cap damage awards in lawsuits. The Tennessee Health Care Association, an umbrella trade group for nursing homes, reported spending $250,000 to $300,000 to send nine lobbyists to Capitol Hill. National Healthcare Corp. of Murfreesboro spent $250,000 to $300,000 for seven lobbyists, records show. National Healthcare also reported spending between $10,000 to $25,000 on lobbying-related expenses. Trial lawyers who fought the measure, reported spending between $100,000 and $150,000 on five lobbyists. Meanwhile, one of Tennessee’s newest corporations, Volkswagen, which is building a $1 billion plant in Chattanooga, reported spending between $10,000 and $25,000 on its five-person Miller & Martin law firm lobby team.

40 Years Later, 3 Westerns Remain Among the Best Ever Made

Looking back 40 years, 1969 produced a number of unforgettable moments. Music, books, TV and of course motion pictures. Three incredible westerns were released that year, each of them withstanding the test time 40 years on. The Wild Bunch, Once Upon a Time in the West and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

 

Sam Peckinpah directed The Wild Bunch, a no-nonsense, gritty portrayal of aging men in a new world.

 

Once Upon A Time In The West is believed by many to be Sergio Leone’s finest western. Leone’s first film following the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti trilogy, the film featured a leading lady as opposed to a leading man. Claudia Cardinale looked absolutely stunning, and Leone’s sweeping vision of the old west  is unforgettable.

 

What can be said about Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid that hasn’t been said already? Newman and Redford were the stars and George Roy Hill directed the masterpiece,  believed by many to be the first ‘buddy film’.  Butch & The Kid made millions of dollars and launched  Robert Redford into superstardom.

 If you have HD Net, you can watch The Wild Bunch and Once Upon A Time In The West in HD, and folks, they look pretty good… Go check them out.

Putting the Ax to Workers Across the Nation

When you look at Tennessee’s Balance Budget requirement, be thankful. As frugal as state lawmakers are, the immediate problems other states are addressing at the moment are not occurring in the Volunteer State.  State Representative Jimmy Eldridge told me that,  fortunately,  no layoffs of state employees are being discussed at the moment. The same cannot be said for other states, as we see in the following story from the Washington Post.

Despite Stimulus Funds, States to Cut More Jobs Budget Shortfalls Prompt Mass Layoffs

By Alec MacGillis Washington Post Staff Writer

 Tuesday, May 12, 2009

 Eleven weeks after Congress settled on a stimulus package that provided $135 billion to limit layoffs in state governments, many states are finding that the funds are not enough and are moving to lay off thousands of public employees. The state of Washington settled on a budget two weeks ago that will mean 1,000 layoffs at public colleges and several times that many in elementary and high schools. The governor of Massachusetts, who cut 1,000 positions late last year, just announced 250 layoffs, with more likely to come soon. Arizona has already laid off 800 social service workers this year and is facing the likelihood of deeper cuts over the next two. The state no longer investigates all complaints of child or elder abuse. “Don’t be a child or a vulnerable adult in Arizona,” said Tim Schmaltz of the Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition. The layoffs are one early indication of how the stimulus funding could be coming up short against the economic downturn. As the stimulus plan was being drawn up, there was agreement among the White House, congressional Democrats and many economists that a key goal was to keep states from making big layoffs at a time when 700,000 Americans were losing their jobs every month. The House passed a stimulus bill with $87 billion in extra Medicaid funding for states, as well as $79 billion in “stabilization” money to plug gaps in states’ budgets for education and other areas. But in the Senate, the stabilization funding was cut by $40 billion to secure the support of the three Republicans who were needed for a filibuster-proof 60 votes — Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — as well as to gain the support of conservative Democrats such as Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. The senators wanted to reduce the package to less than $800 billion, and several wanted to make room for a $70 billion patch of the alternative minimum tax. Supporters of the final $787 billion bill, which included $25 billion less in state aid than the House plan, said it would help states avoid severe cuts. But tax revenue is coming in even lower than feared. Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association, told a Senate committee last month that states are facing a $200 billion deficit over the next two years. At least a dozen states, including California, Georgia and New Jersey, have ordered furloughs of workers, and increasingly, layoffs loom as the next step. Western Washington University in Bellingham is bracing for 400 layoffs of staff members and adjunct faculty. The college is the largest employer in its county. “There was all the talk at the time about how the stimulus package wasn’t big enough, and that is true here,” said faculty union president Bill Lyne. “It’s barely letting us keep our noses above water.” Jake Thompson, a spokesman for Nelson, defended the stimulus, saying that forestalling state layoffs had not been its main goal. “This is a stimulus bill, not a state bailout bill,” he said. “While the economic recovery bill will undoubtedly help states with their budgets and employment, the primary intent was to stimulate the economy.” Collins was equally blunt: “The fundamental purpose of the stimulus bill is to save and create jobs and help get our economy moving again,” she said. “The bloated House-passed bill stood no chance of passing the Senate.” The White House, meanwhile, has conceded that the final package was smaller than it had expected. Shortly before the bill was signed, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, “We clearly thought that economic activity needed [a larger stimulus], but it was more important to get it done than argue about just that.” Officials in some states say they are grateful for and satisfied with the money. Maine has had to lay off 250 people, but because of the stimulus it will be able to avoid more layoffs, even after discovering a new $570 million shortfall. “Without any recovery funds . . . we would be in a very, very different situation,” said Maine finance commissioner Ryan Low. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said the state would have had to cut 7,000 jobs without the stimulus but ended up eliminating 1,500 mostly open slots. Maryland avoided layoffs with furloughs and by using an unusually large share of its stimulus funds in next year’s budget. In some states, layoffs are occurring partly because legislators are not taking every step to avoid them. Republican lawmakers in Missouri want to use less than a third of the state’s $2.1 billion in flexible stimulus funds to close budget shortfalls. They want to proceed with cutbacks and return $1 billion of the money to residents in the form of tax cuts. Using the money to plug budget gaps, they argue, will leave a deficit once the stimulus money is gone in 2011. Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, noted that some cuts may be justified. “You never want to see an individual be removed, but sometimes lost in the discussions is whether some of these positions should be eliminated,” he said. But in most states facing big layoffs, officials say they made the easy trims long ago. For instance, Florida’s court system has cut 200 employees in the past 18 months. Judges lack staff members to prepare materials for trials at a time when property crimes and foreclosures are up significantly. The state cut so many hearing officers for traffic infractions that drivers started to realize that there was no one to hear cases and contested more tickets. This meant a big drop in revenue — leading the state to rehire some of the officers.

A Rumble in Rome?

It should have been Chelsea and United. Thanks to the goal scored by Barcelona, an all England Champions final is not to be… With English fans all too familiar with the welcome wagon sure to be rolled out when they get to Rome this month, the unyielding Manchester United supporters may have their hands full when the ascend upon the Eternal City. Simply put—anything can happen… A preview from the BBC… By Phil Dawkes

Uefa has played down fears of fan violence at this month’s Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona in Rome, a location dubbed “Stab City” by some critics because of the level of knife-related crime in the Italian capital.

“The security risk in Rome for a game involving non-Italian teams is considered low, even for the Italian authorities,” William Gaillard, special advisor to Uefa president Michel Platini told BBC Sport.

There have been calls in Britain to move the 27 May final away from the Stadio Olimpico – and Uefa intimated previously it could be moved – but Gaillard insisted this was now out of the question.

“What people need to understand is that it takes a long time to organise such an event and it is impossible to move a final just a couple of months before it takes place,” he said. “That closes the case; the final will take place in Rome.”

Over the last decade there have been serious knife-related incidents involving supporters from Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Manchester United and Arsenal in Rome.

The stabbing of an Arsenal fan while on route to the stadium for a Champions League match against AS Roma on 12 March this year, led to heightened calls to move the final from the city.

Shortly after this incident, The Times newspaper launched a campaign calling for the final to be switched and invited supporters to email their objections to the choice of venue, promising to forward them to Uefa.

Liberal Democrat sports spokesman Don Foster also wrote to sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe, raising his concerns that fans of English clubs may not be safe if they travel to the Italian capital.

Ian Sterling of the Independent Manchester United Supporters’ Association, who plans to go to the final, is nonplussed by Uefa’s decision to stage the final in Rome.

“Every visiting team has experienced trouble there, it’s not just unique to Manchester United,” he said. “I’ve been to Rome a couple of times before and found it an intimidating experience.

“I’ve always questioned the decision for Uefa to hold the final there. They did say if there was any more trouble they would take the final off Rome but it carries on.”

Uefa, though, is unmoved, arguing a switch would prove logistically impossible and would increase security risks.

“It would create more problems to move the final than to keep it where it is,” said Gaillard. “We would have to start from scratch wherever we would go.

“We are very aware that there have been some incidents involving this kind of aggression.

“The local and national police are very much aware of that and we’ve been liaising with them and pointing out to them that a repeat of such incidents would be unacceptable for the final.

“We don’t have any specific worries but we are of course liaising very closely with the English police authorities.

“Police co-ordination is the key. We’ve been doing that for quite a while now and invested an enormous amount in this. And then there are just simple devices that help control the situation.”

Uefa has invested a lot of time and effort in trying to improve security around major events, providing stadiums and the host city with the facilities to cope with a mass influx of foreign supporters.

United and Barca will each receive a ticket allocation of approximately 19,500 for the game, but greater numbers are likely to travel without tickets.

The Stadio Olimpico is surrounded by a park with multiple points of access that will be managed by security forces as fans are bussed from areas around the city before and after the final.

Within the stadium a new stewarding system will be in operation, to replace the need for a heavy and intimidating police presence within the ground, in line with rulings introduced in 2007.

Since 2008 the stadium has been equipped with electronic turnstiles – similar to those used in many English grounds – which have proved successful in minimising ticket forgery problems.

However, there remains a deep scepticism among fans that their best interests are being served by Europe’s governing body.

“I don’t have any faith in Uefa,” says Sterling. “I don’t think they are there for the fan at all.

“It’s the nature of the game that fans travel without tickets. Uefa encourages it with a lot of competitions, setting up parks where people can watch games.

“There are problems at every major final but I don’t think Uefa think about fans when there are stabbings in Rome and they can’t see why there wouldn’t be any kind of trouble this time.

“If you can’t go to a major capital city of the world and feel safe then there is something wrong.”

Previous violent incidents involving English fans have been sparked by clashes with “ultras” and what has been seen as the heavy-handed reaction of the Italian police.

Optimistically, Dr. Geoff Pearson, Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool and the co-author of ‘Football Hooliganism’, Policing and the War on the ‘English Disease’, believes there is unlikely to be provocation from Roma’s “ultras”.

“I can’t see the hardcore Roma faction getting together, particularly if there’s not two English teams playing,” Pearson told BBC Sport.

“Firstly, the Roma fans aren’t going to be gathering because their team aren’t playing, and secondly, I think even for the ‘ultras’ it would be intimidating for them with so many English fans in the city. So I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

But other experts are more guarded as to the possibility of trouble.

“It’s not impossible that Italian fans could target English fans in the city,” says Dr. John Foot, Italian historian and the author of Calcio: A History of Italian Football. “It’s not impossible that that could happen even if there is not an Italian team involved.”

And Italian journalist Matteo Patrono, who writes for Il Manifesto, provides an even gloomier prognosis.

“With a lot of English fans all around the city, drinking and partying more than one stabbing could happen. Not necessarily close to the stadium but all over the city.

In Italy, the perception of the English fan as a “hooligan” remains, as a result of the Heysel disaster in 1985, and any large gathering involving drinking, chanting and singing – normal staples of the English supporter experience – are viewed as alien and threatening to Italians.

“English fans have been transformed in many ways so that kind of fan and that kind of football violence doesn’t exist on anything like the same scale,” says Foot.

“But the Italian image is really fixed at Heysel and still when Italians see English fans who have had too much to drink what they think of is Heysel.

“I think that informs the policing because the police still have that image, that stereotype in their mind.”

Previous advice from English authorities about the threat involved from travelling to European games in Italy has also not helped the situation.

In 2007, Manchester United posted a warning on their website suggesting that their fans could be attacked were they to travel for the Champions League match with AS Roma, provoking outrage in Italy.

Rome’s then Mayor Walter Veltroni criticised United, arguing the advice could create a “negative climate”. That partially contributed to the extremely heavy-handed police response within the stadium that resulted in the hospitalisation of 11 United fans after violent clashes.

Uefa insists it has worked tirelessly to ensure the Italian police are co-ordinated, efficient and conduct themselves in a responsible fashion – a process enabled through extensive liaison with their English counterparts.

But English fans, particularly United fans in 2007, have uncomfortable memories of the Italian police’s attitude.

“The Italian policing is terrible,” says Sterling. “At every Italian away game United fans have gone unprotected and people have been stabbed, beaten up and there’s no protection from Italian police from Italian fans.

“The city itself is fantastic, a beautiful European capital but I think what actually goes on there in terms of police is a real concern.”

Pearson agrees that the conduct of the Italian police is one of the major issues surrounding the final but if, as Uefa suggests, they are given guidelines on how to act and stick to them it could improve the situation markedly.

“When problems have occurred abroad, quite often that has been because foreign police forces have seen incidents of rowdy football fandom coming from football supporters as being hooligan activity,” says Pearson.

“The final will need to be policed in a method whereby police interact with fans and they act in a friendly manner and if incidents do occur they actually target those people who are involved rather than targeting the entire crowd. “All the evidence suggests that if a minor incident occurs and police action is taken against the crowd as a whole then this typically leads to the incident exacerbating.”

The 2009 final is important for Italy as way of showing it is capable of organising prestigious sporting showpieces.

The country recently missed out on hosting the 2012 European Championship partly due to its hooligan problem, with Poland and Ukraine chosen as joint hosts, a decision that came as a major shock to the Italians, prompting much soul-searching over its football infrastructure’s failings.

So a successful and trouble-free Champions League final would go a long way towards convincing Uefa and Fifa that the Italian authorities are making strides towards improving the image of their organisational and policing standards.

Domestic Italian political issues also come into play with the current mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, facing criticism over the level of violence in the city and he is under pressure to show he is making progress in his campaign to clean up Italy’s capital.

It can only be hoped, as Alemanno promised at the ceremony in April to mark the handover of the Champions League trophy from defending champions Manchester United to the final’s host city, that Rome will “show the best it has to offer”.

Trash Talking at Old Trafford

After beating Arsenal like a red-headed  step-child at a Sunday school picnic, United’s people are already talking trash… The scoop from ESPN…

For all their grandiose ideas, Wayne Rooney has left Manchester City in no doubt who the current number ones are.

After helping Manchester United to secure a place in the Champions League final last night, Rooney’s attentions now switch to Sunday’s eagerly-anticipated derby encounter with Mark Hughes’ men at Old Trafford.

No-one in the United camp needs any reminding that City chose the commemoration of 50 years since the Munich air tragedy to end their 34-year wait for a win at the Theatre of Dreams.

Since then, the Blue camp has received a massive injection of funds from their new Abu Dhabi-based owners, which effectively makes them top of the Rich List.

Lofty ambitions have been replaced by more realistic ambitions, with Rooney pointing to United’s current status as world champions as evidence the old order still remains.

“It is down to them what they do with their money,” said the England striker.

“But we know we are the best team in the world are at the minute. It is there for them to see.

“Sunday is just one game of football and you cannot read too much into it.

“But it still hurts that they did the double over us last season, so we will be looking to do the same to them, having won at Eastlands.”

Rooney scored the only goal that day, part of an overall contribution to United’s season which is cementing his position amongst the most influential players in world football.

Maybe it is because the 23-year-old has been operating in Cristiano Ronaldo’s slipstream the development almost seems to have been unnoticed.

Not by Fabio Capello of course, who was at the Emirates Stadium to witness Rooney’s performance, along with David Beckham, who left no doubt that, at heart, he remains a United fan.

“I am enjoying my football,” he admitted.

“It is that time of the season when you want to be at your best and I think I am.”

Yet, as ever, Rooney appears more relaxed talking about others.

That red card spat with Ronaldo during the 2006 World Cup has given way to mutual admiration between the pair, who both benefit from each other’s brilliance.

It was Ronaldo who hogged the headlines last night, drilling home a spectacular 40-yard free-kick before starting and finishing a flowing three-man move to slide home his 25th goal of the season. Not bad for someone supposedly a shadow of the player who earned the Ballon D’Or last year.

“Cristiano is an unbelievable player,” said Rooney.

“For the second goal the ground he made up to get into the box after he laid off the initial pass was amazing. He was so quick.

“He has been playing like he did last season for a while now.

“Despite what everyone says he has still scored 25 goals which is a great tally.”

The only setback for United last night was the red card handed out to Darren Fletcher which means the Scot will sit and watch in the Olympic Stadium, just as Roy Keane and Paul Scholes did at the Nou Camp in 1999.

Recompense, if there is such a thing, will come in the next fortnight as Fletcher helps inch United towards the championship.

With another encounter against what is now a shellshocked Arsenal who have nothing else to play for, sandwiched in between trips to Wigan and Hull, if United win on Sunday it is difficult to see them dropping enough points to give Liverpool even the remotest chance of preventing their old rivals joining them on 18 championship wins.

In addition, the Red Devils have the added incentive of getting the whole thing wrapped up quickly enough to ensure the last-day trip across the Pennines is meaningless, allowing Ferguson to rest his star men for Rome four days later.

“You would like to think we can finish off the league as quickly as possible,” he said.

“We are in a great position and if we can win the next two matches I think we will be all right.

“Of course, if we won it early it would give us a break before the Champions League final.

“But I have to say, if we have to win the league on the last day of the season I would take that now.”