By Andrew Warshaw
January 3 – The build up to the eagerly awaited decision in March whether, finally, to introduce goal-line technology is gathering pace with UEFA President Michel Platini, its fiercest high-profile opponent, again rubbishing the idea.
Like other writers, I spent the first two hours of 2012 engrossed not in a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, but the intricacies of the famous October 15 altercation between footballers Luís Suárez and Patrice Evra.
And a right riveting read the 115 pages of findings drawn up by the Independent Regulatory Commission that imposed an eight-match ban – subject to appeal – on Suárez, the Liverpool striker, turned out to be.
It aroused in me all manner of reactions –
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – Ted Howard (pictured centre) has officially been named the new acting general secretary of CONCACAF, the FIFA Confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean – as revealed exclusively two weeks ago by Insideworldfootball.
By David Gold
January 2 – The troubled Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) could face sanctions from FIFA if they fail to retake control of the game in the country, after a group called the Indonesian Football Saviour Committee (KPSI) claimed to have taken over their duties.
By David Gold
January 1- The English Football Association report following the investigation that Liverpool forward Luis Suarez racially abused Manchester United’s Patrice Evra has accused the Uruguayan of giving “unreliable” evidence.
By David Gold
January 1 – FIFA has suspended the Angolan referee Heldér Martins, the country’s Football Federation (FAF) have confirmed.
By David Gold
January 1 – Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) vice-president Rudolph Thomas has said that football in the country would recover despite what he described as a “tumultuous year”.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 31 – Top-flight English clubs look set to spend cautiously in the upcoming January transfer window according to the football finance experts Deloitte.
Revenge, the old saying goes, is a dish best served cold.
The proverb suggests that a vengeful act is more satisfying as a considered response when it is least expected.
Jack Warner may, over the years, have had a reputation for spontaneous outbursts of rhetoric but the wily old fox appears to have timed his latest tirade to perfection. In other words, just as his old mate Sepp Blatter – no longer on his Christmas card list – is trying to clean up the organisation.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – British MP Damian Collins has renewed his call for a thorough investigation into Sepp Blatter’s own conduct following startling new allegations made by the FIFA President’s former right-hand man and senior vice-president, Jack Warner.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – The escalating dispute between the rebel Swiss club FC Sion and FIFA reached another pivotal milestone today when the Swiss Football Association (SFV) sensationally docked the club 36 points for fielding ineligible players, thereby seemingly avoiding a ban from international competition.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – The English Football Association, often criticised for being ultra-conservative and behind the times, has broken new ground by appointing Heather Rabbatts as its first female Board member.
By David Gold
December 30 – Despite having been dead for almost a month, the Nigerian referee Auwalu Barau has been included on a list of officials for 2012 by FIFA.
Could 2012 be the year when football finally begins to accept that it can longer disregard the wider world?
2011 has been the year of the great “no”. The game tried hard to carry on with the fiction that all of football’s problems can be solved behind the front door of the family mansion irrespective of what the outside world may expect.
It has always been curious that the world’s most popular game is so conservative and resistant to change.
By David Gold
December 29 – England manager Fabio Capello says that FIFA should bring in stricter rules to prevent clubs from “stealing” the best young talents from other countries.