By Paul Nicholson
November 4 – The prospect of a professional Caribbean Football League took a significant step forward at the weekend with FIFA Vice President and CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb announcing that the confederation will be naming a new task force “to examine the feasibility and sustainability of the Caribbean Professional League initiative.”
By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s sports minister who is leading his country’s 2018 World Cup preparations, says Moscow police should never have used water cannons to disperse rioting fans at a recent domestic cup match and admits it did little to enhance Russia’s image overseas.
By Paul Nicholson
November 4 – German football legend and Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness will face trial in Munich in March next year on charges of tax evasion. Hoeness admitted publicly in April that he had millions of euros in a Swiss bank account that he had not declared to the German tax authorities, but that he had now voluntarily declared this account.
November 4 – Former England captain David Beckham is reported to have lined up fellow internationals Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard to play for him once his new Major League Soccer franchise has been completed.
“‘Go West, young man, go West…’ ‘That is medicine easier given than taken.’”
Reported conversation between Horace Greeley and Josiah B Grinnell, 1833
Just as the new frontiers of a developing United States were synonymous with new riches in the early 19th Century, in the early 21st Century European football has developed a fascination with lenders registered in exotic locations thousands of miles to the west.
International breaks have made this a stuttering start to the English Premier League season. With more than a quarter of matches now completed though, the balance of forces is starting to come into clearer focus.
Of the six clubs with genuine, if in some cases remote, title aspirations, Manchester United – with three defeats already and only 50% of matches won – are in the lowest position in the table.
For me,
By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – The dispute over whether Kosovo should be given full international playing rights shows little or no sign of being resolved. FIFA President Sepp Blatter recently hosted the latest in a series of talks with Football Federation of Kosovo President Fadil Vokrri and his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Karadzic.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson claims in a new autobiography that he was lined up to replace Alex Ferguson at Manchester United 11 years ago when Ferguson first announced his intention to retire from the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has tried to play down the mood of dissatisfaction throughout the country, highlighted by the mass street protests that marred last summer’s Confederations Cup. Rebelo remains convinced that the party atmosphere at next year’s World Cup, Brazil’s first as hosts for over half a century, will deflect attention away from social unrest.
Dall’entusiasmo alla “realpolitik”. Ovvero, come i padroni del calcio italiano – in tempi di lotta ad ogni forma di razzismo – hanno scoperto di non poter applicare regole autoprodotte perché i loro stadi risultano ingovernabili. La storia è nota. Sull’onda delle iniziative Uefa, ad agosto la Figc decideva di sanzionare duramente non solo i fenomeni di razzismo, ma anche quelli di “discriminazione territoriale”, definizione esistente nell’ordinamento dalla fine degli anni Ottanta. Non avevano però fatto i conti con gli ultrà,
By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – The image of Russian football, already battered by highly publicised instances of racism, has been shamed again, this time by a damaging outbreak of hooliganism that resulted in 78 Spartak Moscow fans being detained and a cup game temporarily suspended. The incident at second tier club Shinnik Yaroslavl occurred on Wednesday, ironically just after Moscow rivals CSKA had part of their stadium ordered closed by UEFA as punishment for the racist abuse directed towards Manchester City’s Yaya Toure in a recent Champions League tie.
November 1 – UEFA will refuse any request by Celtic to play European fixtures in either England or Ireland next season as a result of their ground being used for the Commonwealth Games.
By Paul Nicholson
November 1 – 64% of people don’t leave home without their smartphone, 45% use their smartphone at events, and 43% would rather stop drinking beer than using their smartphone. These were some of the fact thrown out by Deutsche Telekom’s senior VP for Sports Marketing Henning Stiegenroth, speaking at the International Football Arena in Zurich on Monday.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – French professional clubs look certain to carry out their threatened strike after the country’s President Francois Hollande (pictured) refused to exempt them from his controversial 75% tax on high earners.
So, Ronaldo, the Great Field Marshall, is pissed.
And with him, Ancellotti (Angelotto?) and the whole of Spain, and Portugal, and the Government of Portugal, and – well, I guess GOD and Snow-white, too. Not to mention the Seven Dwarves, Superman, Donald and Daisy Duck and Roadrunner.