Covering Frank in paint would have been demeaning! Lampard's agent denies quit plan after loyal star left out of kit campaign

Frank Lampard was conspicuous by his absence from Chelsea’s adidas kit photo-shoot for next season in which all the other marquee players were enveloped in blue paint.



However, the club deny speculation that Lampard, a long-term adidas client, was missing because he is out of contract at the end of the season.



Lampard’s agent Steve Kutner, who says he had no knowledge of the event, points out his player would have been unavailable because of family commitments with his daughters on Tuesdays and Thursdays.



Kutner added: ‘I wouldn’t have allowed Frank to take part in any case. Covering him in paint would have been demeaning.’

Scroll down to watch the team's photo-shoot



Is Blue the colour? Frank Lampard's agent says he would have stopped his client taking part in the kit launch

With their official complaint about Sky to media watchdog Ofcom, BT Sport have demonstrated a combative intent to mount the first meaningful challenge to Rupert Murdoch’s TV football supremacy.



Sky’s refusal to take BT advertising for their new sports channel follows the same strategy they adopted before doomed Setanta launched rival Premier League packages in 2007.



Setanta had numerous conversations with Ofcom over Sky’s spoiling tactics. But they never made a protest strong enough to launch an Ofcom inquiry into ‘undue discrimination’ which BT retail chief John Petter compares to a ‘Rottweiler running away from a new born puppy’.



Sky’s concern over the threat from BT Sport is also understood to be part of the reason for the delay in agreeing a carriage deal with Virgin for their cable customers to access Premier League matches next season.



Sky, who had to pay far more than expected for PL rights because of BT Sport’s entry into the market, need to recoup some of that cost by charging Virgin more for their platform contract. And they will be wary of Virgin bundling BT Sport’s PL games into subscription offerings.



Sky say: ‘It’s entirely reasonable for us to choose not to carry advertising for a directly competing service.’



Meanwhile, the non-League Conference want more talks over BT’s offer for live match coverage. The alternative is staying with low-key Premier Sports.

Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards, whose gaffe-prone tenure will finish after the presentation ceremony to champions-elect Manchester United, is planning to concentrate on his Sheffield-based online wine business following football retirement.



But it is understood problems over supplies have led to the family-run sideline proving expensive rather than lucrative.



Sir Dave also faces the hassle of Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed still pursuing him through the courts. This is over Richards’ involvement in Peter Crouch joining Spurs from Portsmouth in 2009, in preference to Craven Cottage.

Reason to wine: Sir Dave Richards will retire from football and concentrate on his online wine business

Back on side: David Bernstein

Chelsea snubbed FA leader David Bernstein at last year’s FA Cup semi-final by not joining his table at the official Wembley function. They were protesting at the Sunday afternoon kick-off ahead of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.



However, Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck will be sitting alongside Bernstein on Sunday before the Manchester City game. The scheduling suits Chelsea this year after their Europa League trip to Russia on Thursday.



Grounds for conflict?

The Government putting their signature on a hefty £25million towards the excessive £80m guarantee made to the International Rugby Board by England Rugby 2015 is being seen as a potential conflict issue — especially with the fraught negotiations over the use of football grounds for the Rugby World Cup.



The match schedule and venues will be announced before the end of the month. But final certainty over some games will not be possible until the fixture list for the 2015-16 football season is published in June 2015.



ER2015 say they have no intention of calling in Government money.







