Columnists Archives - Page 62 of 78 - Inside World Football

David Owen: Why football may play a part in the Scottish independence debate

On February 29 at the bijou Bonifika Stadium in Koper, Scotland take on Slovenia in one of those rather pointless friendly internationals.

The match takes place with Scottish independence high on the UK news agenda and a referendum expected in 2014.

You might think the fortunes of the Tartan Army have little if anything to do with the complexities of Scotland’s constitutional arrangements with the rest of the United Kingdom.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Despite the turmoil, the racism debate might spark some good progress in English football

Good can sometimes come out of evil, and the debate on racism that the game is going through could well lead to English football going down the road of America and adopting the Rooney rule. This rule, named for Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and chairman of the league’s diversity committee, was introduced in 2003 so that minority coaches, especially African Americans, were at least considered for high-level coaching positions.

It basically states that,

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Rangers entering administration shows how crazy football is

Administrators being called into Glasgow Rangers is more than yet another football club living way beyond its means. This is one of those seminal moments when you feel the world has changed and may not be the same again. It illustrates the perils of football commercialism and how dangerous it can be.

No, it is not quite football’s equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall; to suggest that would be going a touch too far.

David Owen: Why English football may need Alan Turing even more than Harry Redknapp

Here we go again.

England needs a new football manager, setting off a new cycle of speculation, unrealistically burgeoning expectations and disillusionment, as surely as, well 55,000 Twitter-users follow the Anfield cat.

Actually, the speculation bit looks like being much diminished this time, since everyone thinks they know the new man’s identity: step forward Harry Redknapp, cheekie-chappie manager of Tottenham Hotspur, surprise package of the 2011-12 English Premier League season.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: The John Terry affair may be easy to remedy but the scourge of racism is leaving scars on the name of the FA

Whatever the final outcome of the John Terry case, and Terry must be regarded as innocent until his trial is concluded, it has already had a tremendous impact on the English game.

It has made us look at the role played by the captain in English football, and the relationship between the Football Association and the England manager. But the most long lasting impact of the case could be on how black footballers feel about racism in the game.

Andrew Warshaw

Andrew Warshaw: The FA had no choice but to take away Terry’s captaincy

Under British law, you are innocent until proved guilty. So why, many neutral observers are asking, was John Terry stripped of the England captaincy when his trial doesn’t take place until July?

It’s a fair question and one which will continue to be debated in pubs and at football grounds across the country in the months ahead.

The answer is – there is no easy answer. In fact, the Football Association board was put in an unenviable position.

Columnists

David Gold: There are so many compelling reasons for the watching the London 2012 football tournaments

Football at the Olympics is greeted with a shrug here in Europe. Sales of tickets for this summer’s Games in London demonstrate that point illustratively. A total of 1.5 million tickets for the football went back on sale at the end of November, months after the mad dash for seats in the original ballot. With 8.8 million tickets overall for the Olympics, this represents a significant share given that it is one of only 26 sports.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Refereeing gaffes are making a mockery of football

Michel Platini’s Financial Fair Play may finally deal with the financial doping the UEFA President feels is ruining the game. But there is an equally serious crisis confronting the game which Platini and other football administrators refuse to address.

This is the failure by football’s bosses to deal with the events on the pitch where almost every game is blighted by incidents the referees do not spot. These then become the subject of calls for disciplinary inquiries by frustrated managers,

Andrew Warshaw

Andrew Warshaw: Never before has Swiss football dominated so many column inches

The stereotypical view of Switzerland is a country of chocolates, cuckoo clocks, mountainous beauty, cheese, private bank accounts, watches and rigid efficiency.

Having lived there many years ago, I discovered several other things, both good and bad. Flexibility was never one of the authorities’ great strengths but on the plus side I was struck by the contrast of quiet serenity allied, perhaps surprisingly to some, to a thriving cosmopolitan culture, depending of course which city you are in.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: English football will do itself no good by continuing to rubbish the Europa League

The amount of muck poured on this competition reminds me of the words Kelvin MacKenzie said to John Major after he had taken Britain out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). As MacKenzie recounted to the Leveson inquiry on the press, as the hapless Prime Minister rang to ask the then Sun editor how he would treat the news, he replied, “Prime Minister, I have a bucket of shit by my desk and I am about to pour it on you.”

Columnists

David Gold: African Nations Cup is Gabon’s chance to prove it can organise a big competition

When Brazil came to town in November for a friendly at the newly constructed stadium in Libreville, Gabon, the African Nations Cup organisers were hoping it would serve as a useful preparatory exercise ahead of the start of the tournament in January.

It was just as well.

A tropical downpour prior to kick off left the pitch virtually unplayable, whilst the game was delayed by 20 minutes due to a power failure.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Liverpool’s American owners need to step in and take control of the Suárez affair before it’s too late

Liverpool should be very careful that the club does not allow its handling of the Luis Suárez affair to get out of control. It is one thing playing the victim card as it has been on this issue. But situations like these acquire a momentum that makes what seems like a carefully planned journey to get sympathy turn into a train crash. Liverpool is perilously close to that and the events in the match against Oldham on Friday are a further warning of the consequences of the present Liverpool behaviour.

David Owen: FA report on Suarez shines light on lengths players go to gain competitive advantage

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 –

Andrew Warshaw

Andrew Warshaw: Blatter needs to publicly respond to Warner’s allegations

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.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Blatter’s turn towards Europe shows him at his best as he attempts FIFA clean up

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.