SPORTING AGENDA: Michael Vaughan goes offensive at a charity event

Michael Vaughan was on the rise quickly when he performed at a charity event in Blackpool last Friday.

Despite the ongoing situation with Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations, the former England captain fulfilled his obligation to go on stage to raise money for a local primary school.

Vaughan opened up by telling the crowd, “I don’t want you in 14 years to say I said something I didn’t say,” and immediately addressed what could have been a elephant in the room.

Ripped about his Lancastrian roots, having lived in the county until the age of 10 before crossing the Pennines, Vaughan joked that – given his treatment by Yorkshire over the course of the Rafiq affair – he felt comfortable to be called a Lancastrian.

Earlier this month, Vaughan, 48, appeared at a disciplinary hearing where he “completely and categorically” denied an allegation by Rafiq that he made a racist remark in 2009.

Sky misses top games

Serious questions can be asked on Sky Sports about Premier League game options this season as the broadcaster is not showing what are arguably the two biggest remaining games of the campaign.

Manchester City’s clash with Liverpool this Saturday will be available to watch on BT Sport, as will City’s crunch match against title rivals Arsenal on April 26. To make matters worse, City’s journey to Arsenal was shown on Amazon Prime in February.

Sky could well face the anger of its subscribers who have suffered yet another price hike this year.

Emma to the rescue for reporters

Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes impressed last week after hearing after the club’s Champions League game in Lyon that some members of the traveling press were struggling to get home as strikes had canceled a number of flights.

Hayes checked if there were seats on the club’s private jet that could be used after her side’s impressive 1-0 win. Although there was only one seat available, this meant that one reporter flew back to the UK in relative luxury.

ECA meeting will ruffle some feathers

The European Club Association General Assembly, which begins Monday in Budapest, promises to be a lively event. Relations between the clubs and FIFA, whose President Gianni Infantino will be present, are becoming increasingly strained.

ECA chief and Paris Saint-Germain boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi has led the negotiations and there is hope that the summit will secure concessions from FIFA on issues such as payments to release players for international duty and the promise Clubs will see that the calendar cannot be changed without consent.

Weightlifting will stay in LA

While the decision on whether boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon should remain in the LA28 Olympic program is under the control of the IOC Executive Board, the requirement whether new sports such as flag football (a non-contact version of American football), cricket, baseball , softball and lacrosse is almost entirely in the hands of the LA28 Organizing Committee.

The group is led by Casey Wasserman, who also runs one of the premier sports marketing and athlete management agencies in the world – Wasserman Media.

Given the limited budget and total number of athletes, there is a lot of trading going on behind the scenes ahead of the final vote at the IOC session in Mumbai in October.

Insiders tell Agenda that weightlifting looks safer now, while Wasserman has been known to favor flag football. He is also keen for the IOC to include boxing despite major governance concerns.

Eyeing the lucrative Indian market, the IOC is urging LA to include cricket – which would be difficult for Wasserman as it could come at the expense of baseball and softball.

Ukraine fans 5-4 England fans

Last week, Sportsmail revealed that the match planned between a group of English fans and their Italian counterparts in Naples was the target of an anonymous email threatening the arrival of 60 Ultras should it go ahead. The game has been postponed.

However, there were no such scenes as the same fan group faced a team of Ukrainian supporters ahead of yesterday’s Euro 2024 qualifier. The prayer for Ukraine was said before kick-off, before the country’s national anthem was sung.

The visitors won 5-4 in a lively game in Amersham Town that at times required the experienced hand of former referee Jarnail Singh.

Wigan fires Mal Brannigan amid pay crunch

The crisis at Wigan Athletic – which has seen players furious at not being paid on time for the fifth time going on strike – has spelled the end for Mal Brannigan. Agenda readers may remember the outgoing CEO as the man who asked in one of the earlier cases of late payment if there was anything we could do to keep this out of the newspaper.

A review of the club’s finances is understood to have revealed dramatic overspending under Brannigan’s watch, who was paid around £250,000 a year – two and a half times the same role paid as the Premier League championship team was.

It is understood that Wigan, who were hit with a three-point deduction, will now have to muster around £7million to see them through to the end of the season after finally paying players’ wages on Friday.

Everton Stadium construction begins

While there has been much unrest at Everton this season, work on the club’s impressive new stadium on the River Mersey is moving ahead at a brisk pace. Yesterday the final concrete was poured for Bramley-Moore Dock, which is set to become a landmark.

This completes the physical structure of the stadium. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing work has already begun at the venue, which is set to open in the 2024/25 season with a capacity of nearly 53,000.

Security alert on Elland Road

Dramatic scenes at Leeds United in recent days. On Thursday evening police were informed of a “security threat” to Elland Road and on Friday morning they ordered staff out of the house while checks were carried out and they tried to determine if the threat was credible.

A 20-year-old man was subsequently arrested while staff – including managers – were finally allowed to return to the club’s buildings yesterday morning.

Agenda understands that the social media threat was to trigger a device in the stadium and that this was indeed found to be credible.

The post was spotted by a member of the public who immediately alerted the police. Employees had to leave so quickly that many abandoned their belongings, including house keys, purses and wallets.

On Sunday, Leeds’ own security team continued to carry out checks as a precaution after the police left.