By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – Just when you thought the corruption scandal enveloping FIFA could not get any deeper, Jerome Valcke, Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man, was dramatically relieved of his duties today, hours after he was the subject of allegations over a scheme to sell 2014 World Cup tickets above face value.
By David Owen
September 17 – Manchester United have kicked off the 2014-15 Premier League reporting season with a small pre-tax loss, reflecting the absence of Champions League football during the relevant period. The Old Trafford club suffered a dip in revenue to below £400 million over the 12 months to June 30, while operating expenses edged up to £387.6 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – Eugenio Figueredo (pictured), one of the seven high-profile figures arrested in Zurich at the end of May accused of receiving bribes worth millions of dollars, could soon be on his way to face trial in the United States after Swiss authorities ruled he can be extradited.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
September 17 – Poland’s top tier Ekstraklasa has launched an investigation into racist incidents which targeted refugees at several matches played in September at Polish stadiums, and decided to punish several clubs.
By Mark Baber
September 17 – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Lagos-headquartered Zenith Bank PLC have announced a new partnership for youth football development and capacity building programmes.
September 17 – The vast majority of the €1 billion gambled globally on every English Premier League game constitutes illegal betting, according to one of the world’s leading sports anti-corruption experts.
September 17 – The general secretary of the seven-strong South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), says his members will all tow the party line and vote for Michel Platini in next February’s FIFA presidential election.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The FIFA staffer who penned a 1,400-word document questioning Michel Platini’s credentials for taking over from Sepp Blatter has quit the organisation.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – Manchester United is the only European club with more than €1 billion of fixed assets, according to the latest article by Football Benchmark, the research arm of consultancy and accountancy specialists KPMG Sports. While no comparison is made with non-European clubs, it is pretty safe to assume Man Utd would top a world table.
September 17 – UEFA have refused to confirm or deny reports that they are in discussions to create a third club competition for the first time since the old Cupwinners Cup was disbanded 16 years ago.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The credibility of FIFA’s already controversial Reform Committee has suffered an embarrassing blow with the revelation that one of the two South American members on the 12-member panel, Gorka Villar (pictured right), has been accused of “pressure and extortion” by eight Uruguayan clubs.
“Sacked in the morning, your getting sacked in the morning…” Terrace chant
It is one of football’s accepted truths that no employee in a club is more important than the manager. His influence on the most decisive input into the club’s operations – the results on the pitch – makes him so. It follows then that with so much swinging on how they do, there must be some objective measure for the quality of their performance.
By Mark Baber
September 17 – Wycombe Wanderers’s Sky Bet League Two game against Plymouth this weekend was the unexpected venue for a vigorous debate on players wearing of GPS systems, with the kick-off being held up for seven minutes as Plymouth’s new manager Derek Adams questioned their safety.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – Qatar has started site work on its sixth stadium, the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium which will host the opening match and final of the 2022 World Cup and which will be the centrepiece of the event.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – US data company Gracenote, which earlier this year debuted in the sports data business with the acquisition of Infostrada Sports and SportsDirect, has launched its ‘DVR Extend’ feature for cable and satellite broadcasters in the US that will mean viewers who record games need never miss extra time or a penalty shoot-out.