.jpg)
The Liverpool take-over has long been one of football’s most curious soap operas but the latest twist with the Chinese Government, albeit through its investment arm China Investment Capital, seeking to buy the club, has something of a touch of Dallas combined with that of the East Enders.
Like the best of these soap operas it spins story lines which then turn out to be just that, nice tales that do not reflect reality.
Okay, we’ve all calmed down a little, we’ve had time to consider and reflect and, if we’re honest, most of us have moved on, putting England’s display in South Africa behind us.
But before we do confine it to the annals of historic footballing let downs, let’s look at the experience from a different perspective; what can we learn from the numerous reasons offered for the failure which could improve our own performance in whatever it is we do for a living?
English football presents a contradiction that could well be the subject of a novel, but not even the greatest of novelists could come up with a solution to its problems.
The last week has provided a vivid illustration of that. It saw a representative of football accompany the Prime Minister David Cameron as he went on his “mission with humility” to India hoping to sell goods and services to the country Britain once ruled.
The South African World Cup has proved supremely ironic. We went to South Africa wondering if the country could host the event. We have come away knowing South African can, but we are now not sure if FIFA can manage a World Cup in the modern era of technology.
Our FIFA doubts have to do with its failure to appreciate that it cannot continue to rely on the naked eye to judge all on field events.
.jpg)
On the face of it, Asian bidders for the 2022 World Cup were hit last week by some very bad news.
This took the form of an announcement by a top official at the Chinese Football Association that his powerhouse of a nation wants to host the 2026 World Cup.
“The CFA,” said Wei Di, its general secretary, “is preparing to ask the General Administration of Sport to bid for the 2026 World Cup”.
Now the vuvuzelas have been put away and South Africa is returning to some semblance of normality, attention will inevitably turn to if and when the African continent will stage the World Cup again.
Whilst the event matched or exceeded expectations both in terms of infrastructure and organisation, the reality is that Africa will almost certainly have to wait at least a generation before it can again embrace the infectious colour and collective enthusiasm that have been hallmarks of the past month.
Football is a remarkably conservative sport when it comes to changing the rules.
Normally, I’m all in favour of a cautious approach to this fundamental matter; it tends to be a sign of a sport in good health.
Superficially, the 2010 World Cup final was contested by two football teams.
But at a deeper level, it was a struggle between and octopus and a parakeet. Or rather, it was an octopus and a Malaysian parakeet against a Singapore parakeet.
So Spain versus the Netherlands it is.
And an obvious question presents itself for students of the race to host the 2018 World Cup: Is this an omen for the vote in December?
.jpg)
Kite flying is not listed among the recreational interests of the former marathon running Sports Minister Richard Caborn. But this is precisely what dear old Dick appears to be doing in touting for the job of FA chairman.
“If people are up for change then I’m up for it and yes, I would stand,” says 66-year-old Caborn, who was among those deposed in the reshuffle of England’s World Cup 2018 bidding team.
Hamish Husband has been a travelling member of Scotland’s Tartan Army for more than 30 years, and in the last fortnight has offered a Scottish viewpoint on the 2010 World Cup finals and England’s efforts in several media outlets, including Channel 4 News and the News of the World.
Now this quintessential Scotland supporter answers a World Cup (and Wimbledon) quiz exclusively for insideworldfootball…
“On the other side of that roundabout, there will be goats by the side of the road.”
Few places better illustrate the vast wealth disparities that still exist in South Africa today than Alexandria.
Defeats are not easy to take, but they can be a springboard for success provided we are prepared to learn from them. The depressing thought is that England’s annihilation by Germany - and despite the disallowed goal, that is what it was – will not lead to the sort of revolution the national team needs.
So the debate in England has been whether Fabio Capello should stay or go. That is the wrong question.
Sepp Blatter’s decision to re-open the file on goalline technology marks a stunning U-turn even by the standards of his undisputed mastery of football politics.
But before fans across the world get too carried away by the FIFA President bowing to global outrage following Frank Lampard’s “goal-that-wasn’t” for England, a little caution would be advisable.
England’s World Cup chances were doomed by their manager’s failure to understand or inspire his players, a state of affairs which meant that the team which took to the field had a subsconscious wish to punish him by failing to do their best.
And that ambivalence was strongest of all in the former captain, John Terry, whom Fabio Capello had stripped of his position and publicly rebuked during the group stages.