Polish legend Boniek recruited to Ekstraklasa board
By Paul Nicholson
January 29 – The President of the Polish Football Association, Zbigniew Boniek, has joined the Supervisory board of Poland’s Ekstraklasa, the country’s top league.
CONCACAF inserts first Diversity training into development courses
By Paul Nicholson
January 29 – The first diversity training sessions have been held in St Lucia as part of the CONCACAF grassroots development programme. The confederation plan is to include similar sessions in future grassroots and similar development courses.
Qatar splits 2022 duties as LOC takes shape
January 29 – The local organising committee for the 2022 World Cup has been formally activated following a shake-up of the board of the directors that, until now, had been known as the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee.
Matt Scott: From Russia, with love. A financial history of Chelsea’s 10 Abramovich years
“Is any of the opposition around?” “Not in any condition to be worried about.” Donald ‘Red’ Grant in conversation with James Bond, From Russia With Love
When Roman Abramovich pitched up at Stamford Bridge with his whirlwind takeover in 2003, few people outside Siberia or the oil-and-gas sector of industry and banking had ever heard of him. But in the decade since his unlikely transformation from governor of Chukotka to guv’nor at Chelsea,
No opportunity lost, Platini keeps AARs in view
January 28 – UEFA boss Michel Platini has taken another opportunity to promote his preferred system of additional assistant referees (AARs) to help with contentious calls.
Russia and Georgia to end stand-off if drawn in same 2016 group
January 28 – Russia and Georgia have agreed to end their footballing stand-off and play each other if paired together in next month’s draw for the Euro 2016 qualifying tournament.
From Quakers to safecracker to ‘crowdfunding’; Darlington fight back
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – Darlington FC, one of England’s oldest football clubs, is staging a financial comeback, allbeit on a small scale. The club has introduced a ‘crowdfunding’ initiative to raise an initial £50,000 with further targets of £150,000 as the next steps.
Fans of Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia launch supporters trust
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 28 – Dissatisfied with the management of Levski Sofia fans decided to create a supporters’ trust. The association will be named Blue Bulgaria, and its purpose will be to raise funds that will be invested in the club, but only under certain conditions.
Parreira laments lost opportunity for Brazil of World Cup
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – Brazil’s assistant coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has added his voice to growing concerns over delays in World Cup preparations, saying it’s “a joke” that it took so long to start work on some of the infrastructure projects and blasting the authorities for “total neglect”.
Denial and debate as Anelka race storm rumbles on
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – Former French international striker Nicolas Anelka has pledged to stand his ground and not quit despite being charged by the English Football Association over his allegedly racist ‘quenelle’ gesture that continues to rumble on in both Britain and his homeland.
Fly drive Liverpool add Garuda and Vauxhall sponsorships
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – Just as Arsenal were announcing a record new £150 million kit deal with Puma, Liverpool, one of their rivals for the Premier League title, were announcing airline Garuda Indonesia as their first Official Training Kit Partner.
Gunners switch from Nike to Puma in record £150m deal
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – In a financial deal described as the biggest in the club’s history, English Premier League leaders Arsenal have received a potentially game-changing boost by switching its kit supplier to Puma from Nike as of next season after two decades with the US sportswear giant.
Mihir Bose: Why Brian Clough would no longer feel at home in English football
In rugby much is being made about how England’s head coach Stuart Lancaster has brought back Englishness to the oval ball game. Yet look at the round ball game and you see that foreign culture is not only accepted but cherished. A glimpse of this was provided when there was much surprise that Tim Sherwood, as English as they come, would take over when Andre Villas-Boas, who could not be less English, was sacked. Yes there was surprise that Sherwood had no experience of first team coaching at this level but in many ways the greatest surprise was that he was English.
Osasu Obayiuwana: Politics threatens to knock top off Egypt’s football pyramid
In the tumultuous period that has followed the toppling of two presidents, Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed Morsi, over the past three years, with the country remaining in a state of political flux, the huge damage done to Egyptian football cannot be exaggerated.
Its clubs are yet to recover from the severe hit to their finances, as a result of the abandonment of the 2011/2012 national championship, following the death of 74 fans, after a match in Port Said between Ahly and Masry.
UEFA guru Fergie calls for clubs to show patience and coaches to get qualified
January 27 – Sir Alex Ferguson, appointed last week as UEFA’s new coaching ambassador to “teach the teachers”, has denounced the culture of sacking managers at the first sign of crisis.