Columnists Archives - Page 71 of 78 - Inside World Football

David Owen: Why Blatter may yet be the real winner in FIFA’s vote for cash scandal

Another weekend approaches. All eyes in this turbulent 2018-22 World Cup bidding war will soon be turning again towards the Sunday Times.

After Wednesday’s dramatic media conference, complete with an appearance by the FIFA President himself, it seems to me this could now go one of three ways.

Scenario Number One: the well-resourced London newspaper unleashes its second volley; more FIFA Executive Committee members are embarrassed/forced to try and defend themselves;

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David Owen: End this rule-change voting system which unfairly favours Brits

I can still see the look of bemusement on the Brazilian journalist’s face.

It was in London a few years ago – in one of those expensive hotels along Park Lane.

Joseph Blatter, the FIFA President, had just explained the process by which the laws of football can be changed.

“So you mean to say,” the Brazilian journalist asked, still struggling evidently to grasp the enormity of what had been imparted,

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David Owen: FIFA bracing itself for more bad news

The Sunday Times exposé has exploded like a cannonball off the port bow of the good ship FIFA.

The allegations already spread across three broadsheet pages are damaging enough - although not everyone will have been surprised that the headline “World Cup votes for sale” should have appeared at some point in the campaign.

But there was the suggestion in yesterday evening’s FIFA statement that more unwelcome disclosures might be in store.

Columnists

Rio Ferdinand: England’s passion for football “will be felt all over the globe”

It is an important week for English football.

England faced another crucial game at Wembley, and we are approaching the final stages of the race to see who will host the 2018 World Cup.

The players feel together with the fans, pulling in one direction – we are England United. Read more …

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Fans treated as if they don’t count by dysfunctional football family

Liverpool fans gathering outside the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand would have been better advised to move a short distance westwards to Parliament Square to get our law-makers to address an essential problem in football: that we now have an extraordinarily unlevel playing field when it comes to the national game.

The fact is that the football industry is like a dysfunctional family and this has come about through muddle headed law-making.

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David Owen: Kosovo dream of emulating Montenegro and playing at Wembley

At Wembley tonight, England’s footballers take on Montenegro in a Euro 2012 qualifier.

Improbably enough, it is the visitors who head the group with three wins out of three - pretty remarkable given that the country declared independence just four years ago and, at some 5,000 square miles, is a touch smaller than Northern Ireland and a touch bigger than Death Valley National Park.

As star player Mirko Vucinic and his team-mates pursue their dream tonight at one of world sport’s most famous venues,

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David Owen: Does campaigning matter? The Holland and Belgium vote will tell us

When I go to Stamford Bridge, I always try to walk via neighbouring Brompton cemetery.

The overgrown graves and weathered tombstones put things nicely into perspective.

Perhaps this helps to explain why - in the middle of the Leaders in Football debate on the race for the 2018 World Cup - I found myself thinking that none of it actually counted for very much.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Fans must stop falling in love with rich men

The rich, as Hemingway said, are different to the rest of us – they have more money.

But what is now emerging is that the rich in football are expected to behave differently to rich people in any other sport.

This is a very recent, modern, phenomenon which is making football even more distinct from all other sporting activities. It is also creating a huge problem for the game.

Andrew Warshaw

Andrew Warshaw: Russian charm offensive hides ‘fight for life’ to secure World Cup

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Leningrad,” said the air stewardess as we approached St Petersburg airport. I kid you not.

Whether a deliberate piece of mischief, an innocent mistake or an embarrassing gaffe, she had conveniently overlooked the course of recent history. And a pretty significant period at that.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Scotland should stop acting like victims

Manchester United’s match with Rangers in the Champions League was more than a mere group match where the Scottish manager of the English team, Sir Alex Ferguson, was playing the side that had scorned him in his youth in Glasgow.

It was all our footballing pasts rolled together and it illustrated why Scottish football is at such a low ebb and may go even lower before it recovers, if it ever does.

It is also a salutary lesson on how the balance of power between Scottish and English clubs has changed.

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David Owen: Excess baggage – who gave the best gift to FIFA’s globe-trotting inspectors?

If you see a man wearing a glazed expression, a hard hat, a pair of UGG boots and an England shirt signed by Fabio Capello, don’t call the police.

It’s probably just a FIFA World Cup bid inspector.

Harold Mayne-Nicholls and his doughty band on Thursday completed their hectic perambulation around the nine bids and 11 countries still hoping to stage either the 2018 or the 2022 World Cup.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Frenchie Gerard Houllier has unfinished business in the Premier League

Gerard Houllier’s return to the Premier League was, perhaps, one of the most predictable of events of the season. What is more, he will bring to Aston Villa the conviction that his departure from Liverpool in 2004, after six years in charge, left him with unfinished business in England.

Houllier has a mission to accomplish and he sees the Midlands club as his last great chance to leave his mark on the English game.

Andrew Warshaw

Andrew Warshaw: Little known ECA ready to bare teeth

The European Club Association may not be a household name among football fans but Europe’s largest grouping of clubs is beginning to show its teeth.

Unlike its predecessor, the elitist G14, the ECA has no fewer than 197 members across the entire spectrum of the professional game, all speaking with one voice.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Fabio Capello needs to put a smile back on England’s faces if he is to survive Euro 2012

The start of the Euro 2012 campaign also means the re-igniting of the endless inquests on Fabio Capello, the England manager.

Despite his start to the campaign suggesting a similarly easy passage for England to the finals in Poland and Ukraine as with the 2010 World Cup, the eventual disaster in South Africa makes such inquests inevitable.

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David Owen: The mystery of the empty hospitality seats at South Africa 2010

Since returning from South Africa, I have been wondering whether anyone was going to take a bath as a result of empty hospitality seats at the World Cup.

Actually, I’m still wondering, but at least now I have more information to go on following a conversation with Peter Csanadi, Head of Marketing at Match Hospitality AG.