By Andrew Warshaw
October 28 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who has been acting as the organisation’s main trouble-shooter for next year’s World Cup in Brazil, says fans should not be put off from attending by the latest outbreak of violence in the country.
October 28 – UEFA president Michel Platini has warned that a planned strike by French clubs over the government’s proposed supertax could backfire.
By Alexander Krassimirov
October 28 – Bulgarian football club Lokomotiv Plovdiv has announced it is on the verge of signing a new partnership agreement with the Gazprom petrol station. The news, announced on the club’s website, was denied by the the Executive Director of NIS Petrol Ivan Kostadinov 24 hours later.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 28 – FIFA are to seek assurances from Russia’s 2018 World Cup organisers that they are taking adequate steps to tackle racism but insist there is no chance of the country being stripped of host status.The issue of racism was once again plunged into the spotlight last week when fans of CSKA Moscow verbally abused Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure during a Champions Cup clash, resulting in UEFA opening disciplinary proceedings with a verdict likely on Wednesday.
Alex Ferguson for all his achievements could hardly be compared to Winston Churchill. To do so would be absurd as football for all its wonder can hardly be compared to issues such as national survival that Churchill had to deal with.
But there is one Churchillian principle Ferguson has been keen to adopt. This is not only to make history but to write history. The Churchillian trick was to present the part he played in history as the most important part of the story –
By Andrew Warshaw
October 26 – Sepp Blatter, in an address to the Oxford Union, has launched a staunch defence of his long and at times controversial FIFA presidency, insisting he was no “ruthless parasite sucking the lifeblood out of football.” On the eve of attending the English Football Association’s gala dinner celebrating its 150th anniversary, Blatter gave an impassioned address to the famed university debating society.
By Tom Parsons
October 25 – The eagerly awaited launch of Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography generated the inevitable twitter backlash to accompany some of the more controversial talking points.
By Tom Parsons
October 25 – Many British television viewers will feel short-changed tomorrow on the day of arguably the biggest footballing match in the Spanish calendar. El Clasico (Barcelona v Real Madrid) takes place on Saturday with kick-off at 5:00pm GMT, however due to British broadcasting regulations the first 15 minutes of the game are not allowed to be shown live on British television.
October 25 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has once again re-opened the prickly debate over World Cup slots by declaring that Africa and Asia deserve more representation and Europe and South America less.
October 25 – Football’s lawmakers have sought to tighten up the accuracy of goalline technology, coincidentally following the latest controversy when Bayer Leverkusen’s Stefen Kiessling was awarded a goal even though his effort had entered through the side netting.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 25 – Professional clubs in France have decided to go on strike for the first time in over 40 years in protest at the government’s proposal to tax business incomes of more than €1 million at a massive 75%. The clubs have unanimously voted in favour of boycotting fixtures scheduled for November 29 and December 2, the first walkout by French players since 1972 and affecting the two top leagues.
There are now six American owners of English Premier League teams. A statistic that would once have been mind boggling.
The latest is Shahid Khan, and to spend time with him at Fulham FC is an education into the mindset of the new breed of owners.
I say new breed, but he is very much an individual. Smart, practical and innovative, the fact he has been ‘ranked’ as one of the world’s 500 richest people should not surprise.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
October 24 – The Russian racism row following Wednesday night’s Champions League clash between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City was elevated a further level today when UEFA President Michel Platini requested an internal investigation into why the UEFA protocol for dealing with racial incidents was not applied. Already UEFA has opened a disciplinary investigation into the actual incident, while the Russian World Cup organisers have also issued a statement promising to eradicate racism.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – After a period of relative calm with so much media focus on the tournament in Qatar four years later, organisers of the 2018 World Cup in Russia have suddenly found themselves back in the spotlight over the festering issue of racism which still shows no sign of being eradicated.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – The outspoken coach of hosts United Arab Emirates refused to blame his players for their first-round exit from the under-17 World Cup following a 2-0 defeat by Slovakia.