Columnists Archives - Page 67 of 78 - Inside World Football

David Owen: Why we should reluctantly applaud the success of Mark van Bommel

“Congrats to Mark van Bommel for being first player to win league titles in four different countries (PSV, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan).”

When I read this on Twitter on Sunday morning, I nearly went straight back to bed.

If there is a player who epitomises the way the Dutch national team has been transformed over the past decade from Europe’s foremost footballing artists to a group of efficient, but soulless functionaries,

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David Gold: French quota row stems from a loss of national identity

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Laurent Blanc may have escaped censure from the French Government and the French Football Federation this week, but French football’s reputation is still hanging by a thread following the row which has erupted following revelations by Mediapart that senior football officials in the country wanted to limit the number of African and north African players in their academies.

The French Football Federation report into the revelations cleared Blanc and the organisation reaffirmed their faith in their national team coach,

Andrew Warshaw: Bin Hammam may claim he wants greater transparency but expect him to keep his head down after latest corruption revelations

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As Sepp Blatter prepared for a press conference at FIFA House in Zurich on Tuesday about new ways of making football a better spectacle, the only line of awkward questioning he was probably contemplating was why the three most high-profile members of FIFA’s newly-established Task Force 2014 had failed to show up for its debut session.

Then someone, presumably his general secretary, told him the bad news. That in London at exactly the same time,

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: QPR’s owner is richer than Abramovich but they won’t be competing against Chelsea in the transfer market

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Queen’s Park Rangers return to the Premiership will make their fans want to know is whether their rich owner will follow in the footsteps of Roman Abramovich. He is after all richer than Abramovich, indeed he is the richest man in Britain with a net worth of £24 billion ($39 billion).

But that’s not how Lakshmi Mittal sees things. QPR will not be a passion for him as Chelsea is for the Russian and,

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David Owen: Could CONCACAF’s support for Blatter be on the wane?

The voice came through crackly but clear on my phone as I trundled between two German cities.

“I backed [Sepp Blatter] in 1998 against [Lennart] Johansson and he won.

“I backed him in 2002 against [Issa] Hayatou and he won.

“At this point in time, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t back him.”

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Sepp Blatter: I am committed to weeding out corruption but our critics must act in a proper manner too

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We live in a world where perception has become the new reality.

Largely depending on our own ability to project what we know to be fact, we are perceived as good (corporate) citizens or an amalgam of “bad men”. The negative perception is a direct result of our inability to get our message across. It is of course also the result of improper conduct by a few who tarnish the image of many.

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David Owen: Blatter’s pledge for World Cup vote reform is clever but will it change anything?

It would have been hard for the candidates in FIFA’s Presidential election to avoid the subject of World Cup vote reform.

And in fairness to Joseph Blatter, his latest proposals came as a direct response to an interviewer’s question.

Nonetheless, several points need to be made about the FIFA President’s “positive solution” for preventing a repetition of the “uncomfortable experience I had here in Zurich on 2 December”.

Columnists

Alan Hubbard: Cameron must stick to his guns as Robertson comes under fire from the football lobby

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David Cameron may bold enough to bomb Colonel Gaddafi but has he got the bottle to take on his own country’s football lobby?

I raise the question because of growing concern that the same back-stabbing cabal which did for Kate Hoey as Labour’s sports minister ten years ago apparently has it in for present Tory incumbent Hugh Robertson.

There is no doubt that the long knives are out for the minister,

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David Owen: Bin Hammam can win FIFA election but will he make any difference?

The race for the FIFA Presidency is turning out to be as dull as those for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were fascinating.

The incumbent, Joseph Blatter, is thus far adopting the wholly predictable strategy of emphasising the value of continuity in an unstable world while detailing the torrents of cash that have rained down on planet football over his 13-year tenure – and critically, he says, will continue to do so.

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Sepp Blatter: There has been a 57 fold increase in football development under my leadership

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When I joined FIFA in 1975 as its development officer, our organisation employed 11 people who operated out of an old Zurich villa and generated a modest income. Football was a pastime for many but by far not the power it has become ever since.

No matter what some critics say, FIFA has substantially contributed to the improvement of lives around the world over the last three decades. Since I joined in the seventies,

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Kroenke deal as much about keeping David Dein away from Arsenal

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Soap operas dressed up as morality tales do not come any better than the American Stan Kroenke’s take-over of Arsenal. The official word from Arsenal made the latest arrival of a foreign owner sound like the welcome a 19th century father might have given a man seeking the hand of his daughter.

This is what Peter Hill-Wood, the long serving chairman of the club, said: “The board of directors and I consider it a key responsbility to protect the ethos and spirit of the club.

Andrew Warshaw: It may be unpopular with their own fans, but Spurs legal move is a clever one

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If at first you don’t succeed…try another tack. That seems to be the strategy of Tottenham Hotspur as they seek to overturn the decision to allow rivals West Ham United to move into the Olympic stadium after next year’s games.

Having lost a considerable amount of pride, as well as a fistful of dollars, in having their case booted firmly into touch by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), Spurs have gone away,

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David Owen: Arsenal takeover might be good news for Russian Olympians

The link might not be immediately apparent.

But this week’s move by US businessman Stan Kroenke to take his stake in Arsenal, the underachieving English Premier League football club, to 63 percent while agreeing a mandatory offer for the rest of the shares could turn out to be good news for Russia’s underachieving Olympic athletes.

Why? Because Arsenal minority shareholder Alisher Usmanov may sooner or later be in line to receive a very large cheque.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: English football faces moment of truth this autumn

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This autumn could see English football face its moment of truth

That moment being when the Government appoints a regulator to run the national game. Remember, this is a Tory-led collation wedded to free enterprise and firmly believing that sports bodies should run their own sports and the Government should be a facilitator not a regulator.

Now, talk of a regulator running the game is not new. Almost exactly a year ago,

Andrew Warshaw: Irish, Scots and Welsh should shut up and just be part of Team GB at London 2012

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If ever there was a lie to the old adage that sport and politics don’t mix, the festering row over a united British football team at next year’s London Olympics must rank as the ultimate example.

Ever since London won the right to stage the Games, the three non-English Home Associations have steadfastly insisted they do not want to know anything about a united team because of a perceived threat to their independence.