Saint-Armstrong

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/17/adam-johnson-trial-girl-told-friend-footballer-offered-meet-money?CMP=share_btn_tw

Today's proceedings, summarised by Eurosport: http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/i-absolutely-hate-adam-johnson-says-football-star-s-teenage-accuser_sto5178471/story.shtml A teenage girl who had a sexual encounter with footballer Adam Johnson has told a jury she now "absolutely hates" the player, saying: "I've had thousands of people call me a liar, a slag and a little slut for a year." A teenage girl who had a sexual encounter with footballer Adam Johnson has told a jury she now "absolutely hates" the player, saying: "I've had thousands of people call me a liar, a slag and a little slut for a year." The teenager told a court she idolised the 28-year-old when they started messaging each other in December 2014, and that sexual activity took place between the pair in Johnson's Range Rover in January last year. The girl, who is now 16 but was 15 at the time of the incident, has told Johnson's trial she initially did not tell people about the more serious activities in the car because she was trying to protect the player. Speaking over a videolink, she told the jury she no longer wanted to protect Johnson because he had made her out to be a liar. Orlando Pownall QC, defending Johnson, asked the girl whether she "absolutely hated" Johnson now. She said: "Yes, I do, after everything he's put us through. "He told everyone he was innocent and he made people call me a liar. He let people cheer him on in matches and he let people call me all the names under the sun." Johnson, of Castle Eden, Co Durham, has admitted one count of sexual activity with a child relating to kissing the girl in his car on January 30 last year. The former Sunderland star has also admitted grooming the teenager but denies two further charges of sexual activity with a child, described by prosecutors as "more serious", relating to the same encounter. The girl became extremely upset at various points as Mr Pownall cross-examined her for a number of hours on Tuesday. As he concluded his questioning, the teenager sobbed as she shouted at the barrister: "I have 100% told the truth about it. "He knows for a fact he did it to me. He lied about the others for a year and now he has admitted it. "I've had thousands of people call me a liar, a slag and a little slut for a year. "They say I was a silly little girl out to ruin a man's career. Yes, I was a silly little girl but it's not my career being ruined so I shouldn't have been made to think that." Asked earlier if she was still trying to protect Johnson she said: "No, because he did nothing to protect me and he made me out to be a liar." The girl, who was giving evidence for a second day, said Johnson first responded to her friend request on Facebook and started sending her messages when she was 15. The teenager agreed with Johnson's barrister Orlando Pownall QC that she had described some of these messages as " a bit creepy". Asked to clarify, she said: "I thought that when I told him my age he would have backed off. Who just asks for a random fan's number?" Later, the girl told the jury: "Someone texting a 15-year-old girl - they're not completely normal." Speaking through tears for much of her exchange with Mr Pownall, the girl admitted she had been "bigging herself up" with some messages to friends on social media. Referring to one Snapchat message which was subsequently pasted into Facebook, Mr Pownall asked about her saying: "He's picking me up this week and I'm riding him." The teenager said: "I was trying to big myself up as any 15-year-old girl would." She added: "When you idolise someone and that happens to you, you're not thinking at the time." The teenager told the court she took a video when she was in the car with Johnson but it only recorded audio and an image of the dashboard. She said she did this to prove to people that she had met the footballer. The teenager said: "I was trying to brag about it and show off about it. How many teenagers can say that's happened to them?" The girl told the court: "I thought I was big and I thought I was clever. I feel so stupid now for not seeing but I didn't see it at the time." The girl was also questioned about why she tried to contact another Sunderland footballer - Connor Wickham - over social media after the incident with Johnson. She told the jury she did not remember doing this. The case was adjourned until Wednesday.

@PremierLeague: What next...?

Red card for Danny Simpson. Leicester down to 10 men with 35 minutes to go.

Koscielny subbed off. Calum Chambers is on.

So, it's a month since he left... 13/01/16 - Steven Caulker chooses to leave Saints (13th), to join Liverpool (8th). 13/02/16 - Saints yet to concede a goal in the six matches since Caulker's departure and up to 6th. LFC slip into the bottom half, down to 11th.

On a side note, today's win lifts Ronald Koeman onto the 100 point mark as Saints boss. Some going.

A season that looked like it was petering out into a complete nothingness is now all about getting into Europe again. Forget last time, let's qualify again and let's do it properly next season. Well done to Koeman for turning it around and lifting us out of that slump, too. Some doubted if he would.

Saints win, again. Saints keep a clean sheet, again. Six games in a row without conceding. We're now up to 6th in the table, and one point behind Manchester United in 5th. Seven points behind Manchester City in 4th. Shane Long with the only goal this time, which goes down as his 6th league goal of the season. Thought Saints did a job on Swansea today. Looked compact, tidy and got our goal and then defended well. A proper away day performance. Over to you...

From what I've read, he always claimed innocence - at least to Sunderland AFC, but would assume to all parties - and then in court had a quick chat with his lawyers when asked to plead, and chose to plead guilty to two of the charges. Today, when the court began hearing evidence, notably the texts he had been sending the girl, his partner got up and left the courtroom. I didn't see (on the coverage I was following) that she had returned at any point. If he's lied to the club and lied to others, why wouldn't he lie to her too? The evidence suggests he was already doing that, anyway.

Worth following @JoshHalliday on Twitter. He's covering the case for The Guardian. Makes for pretty grim reading, but he's got all the facts - including his texts to the girl.

Dear Liverpool supporters, It has been a tumultuous week. On behalf of everyone at Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool Football Club, we would like to apologise for the distress caused by our ticket pricing plan for the 2016-17 season. The three of us have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don’t care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club’s expense. Quite the opposite is true. From our first days as owners we have understood that serving as custodians of this incredible institution is a distinct privilege and as such, we have been driven solely by the desire to return LFC to the pinnacle of football. In the world of modern football, growing the club in a sustainable way is essential to realising this objective. To that end, we have never taken a single penny out of the football club. Instead we have injected vast sums of our own money to improve the playing squad and modernise LFC’s infrastructure - exemplified by the £120million advance from FSG to build the new Main Stand. This massive undertaking was made in order to provide more supporters access to Anfield and also to produce additional revenue to help us compete financially with clubs that have greater resources. When it opens in August this year, the stand will accomplish those goals, thereby fulfilling a promise we made upon acquiring LFC in 2010. We were strongly engaged in the process to develop the ticketing plan for 2016-17. We met directly with representatives of LFC’s Supporters’ Committee and along with LFC management, wholeheartedly agreed with major concerns raised, notably: access for local and young supporters; engagement and access to Anfield for local children; access to Premier League matches for those in Liverpool most challenged by affordability. We believe the plan successfully addressed these concerns and are disappointed that these elements have been either lost or, worse, characterised as cynical attempts to mask profiteering in the plan as a whole. Rather, we prefer to look at them as the parts of the ticketing plan we got right. On the other hand, part of the ticketing plan we got wrong. In addition to the other elements of the plan we proposed price increases on a number of tickets. These pricing actions generated growth in general admission ticketing revenue on a like-for-like basis exclusive of revenue from newly-added GA seats. We believed by delivering a vastly improved seat offering in what will be the newest stand in English football, concentrating the price increases on those tickets typically purchased by fans least sensitive to affordability, and for LFC to begin repaying the £120million advance from FSG for the new Main Stand that these increases were supportable even in the context of growth in revenues from the new Premier League TV deal. However, the widespread opposition to this element of the plan has made it clear that we were mistaken. A great many of you have objected strongly to the £77 price level of our most expensive GA seats and expressed a clear expectation that the club should forego any increased revenue from raising prices on GA tickets in the current environment. Message received. After an intense period of consultation with LFC management we have decided to make major revisions to our ticketing structure for 2016-17: - Removal of game categorisation – regardless of the opposition fans will pay the same price for matchday tickets. - The pricing of tickets will be readjusted to result in zero revenue growth from GA ticketing on a like-for-like basis. - Though individual ticket prices may move marginally from this season, we are freezing our 2016-17 GA ticket revenue at the 2015-16 level exclusive of newly-added seats in the new Main Stand. - The price of our highest general admission ticket will be frozen at the 2015-16 level - £59. - The price of our highest season ticket will be frozen at the 2015-16 level - £869. The lowest price reducing a further £25 from the 2015-16 level to £685, as well as all other tiers being frozen or reduced. - £9 GA seats will be offered for each and every Premier League match, an allocation of more than 10,000 tickets across the season. We would hasten to add that the other initiatives announced last week in the 2016-17 plan will remain: - 17-21 young adult concession – 20,000 tickets across the Premier League season available at a 50 per cent reduction for young people. - 1,000 tickets to Premier League matches across the season will be given away free of charge to Liverpool schoolchildren based on merit, as recommended by their teachers. - As a sign of our commitment to this improved ticketing structure, we are further announcing that this plan shall be in effect for both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. - For the next two seasons, LFC will not earn a single additional pound from increasing general admission ticket prices. We believe we have demonstrated a willingness to listen carefully, reconsider our position, and act decisively. The unique and sacred relationship between Liverpool Football Club and its supporters has always been foremost in our minds. It represents the heartbeat of this extraordinary football club. More than any other factor by far, that bond is what drives us to work tirelessly on behalf of the club and its future. We have great conviction in our world-class manager and our young, talented squad and know that in time the on-pitch success we all crave will be realised. We look forward to sharing in that success with you. John W Henry, Tom Werner, Mike Gordon

Liverpool's owners have backed down and frozen prices for next season. Issued a 945-word letter to their supporters this evening on the topic.

[video=youtube;Mjxz8ca-338]

Sold out - as per the club's Twitter account.

@SolentSport: So that's five clean sheets in five for @FraserForster. First #saintsfc keeper to do so since Paul Jones in 2001

Clean sheets are becoming our speciality. Cédric in particular has really stepped up.

Five clean sheets in a row. Now just two points off of the European spots. Over to you...