Paul Nicholson, Author at Inside World Football - Page 1786 of 1891

Mihir Bose: How Fergie in writing his autobiography has copied from Winston Churchill

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 –

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Blatter opens up to Oxford Union debating society on ‘fantasy’ and ‘fact’

Sepp Blatter 6

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.

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Fergie book gets football’s twitterati tweeting

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.

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Broadcast regs mean Brits will miss “El Clasico” kick off

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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.

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Blatter calls for more World Cup places for Africa and Asia

Sepp Blatter 6

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.

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IFAB tighten goalline tech laws to improve accuracy

goal line technology

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.

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Top French clubs to strike over new 75% supertax rate

Jean-Michel Aulas

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.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Khan-do attitude for American in London

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.

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UEFA open second Russian racism investigation, but CSKA still deny charges

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.

John Yan

John Yan: An Open Interview With Sun Jihai 为什么不用孙继海？

On my own program The Football Talk, which is broadcast every Friday on www.163.com, I had a long interview with Sun Jihai, China’s most successful ever footballer. In this 90 minutes chat, Sun covered issues about his bewilderment of being omitted from the national team, even though at the age of 37, he is still being voted week in week out as the top centre half in the China Super League. Sun also compared the different football cultures in China and Europe,

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Dyke’s FA scores an own goal

As a veteran of several boardroom battles and high-wire conflict with the British Labour party, as he led a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that was extremely critical of the former’s conduct in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, while it was the party of government, one would have thought an English FA chaired by a supposedly media savvy Greg Dyke would be particularly conscious about not embarrassing itself in public.

Resigning in rather dramatic (some would say unfair) circumstances,

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: Crisis, what crisis? Football thrives amid economic turmoil, for now

“With the glamour and opportunity also comes responsibility.” Michel Platini

Those were the words with which UEFA’s president introduced its interim club-licensing benchmarking report. It is a study that makes for fascinating reading and, to a certain extent, Europe’s top clubs have demonstrated they recognise the Platini creed.

Despite the ongoing economic crisis that has seized the global financial system since 2008, club revenues grew almost 7% year on year between 2011 and 2012,

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Ronaldo vs Ibrahimovic is pick of euro play-offs for Brazil

Cristos and maracana

October 21 – Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal against Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden was the pick of the ties when the draw for the European playoffs for next year’s World Cup finals was made today.

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CFU kick off inaugural U-20 finals, with sights set on Cayman 2014

CFUwomensfootball

October 21 – The inaugural finals of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under-20 Tournament kicked off Friday at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium in Jamaica with a 7-2 win for Cuba over Grenada. In the second match of the doubleheader, Trinidad & Tobago took the maximum three points with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Anguilla.

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CONCACAF appoints Mintas to lead regional fight against match-fixing

By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – CONCACAF has moved against the scourge of match-fixing by appointing a new full time executive to lead the fight regionally. Dr. Laila Mintas will take up the new position of Director of Sports Integrity on November 15 with a brief to design and implement processes that will prevent and investigate match-fixing issues in the region.