By Andrew Warshaw
December 31 – Top-flight English clubs look set to spend cautiously in the upcoming January transfer window according to the football finance experts Deloitte.
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.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – British MP Damian Collins has renewed his call for a thorough investigation into Sepp Blatter’s own conduct following startling new allegations made by the FIFA President’s former right-hand man and senior vice-president, Jack Warner.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – The escalating dispute between the rebel Swiss club FC Sion and FIFA reached another pivotal milestone today when the Swiss Football Association (SFV) sensationally docked the club 36 points for fielding ineligible players, thereby seemingly avoiding a ban from international competition.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – The English Football Association, often criticised for being ultra-conservative and behind the times, has broken new ground by appointing Heather Rabbatts as its first female Board member.
By David Gold
December 30 – Despite having been dead for almost a month, the Nigerian referee Auwalu Barau has been included on a list of officials for 2012 by FIFA.
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.
By David Gold
December 29 – England manager Fabio Capello says that FIFA should bring in stricter rules to prevent clubs from “stealing” the best young talents from other countries.
By David Gold
December 29 – Viktoria Plzeň’s Davida Bystroně tested positive for banned drugs after a Champions League game last month, the Czech champions have revealed.
By David Gold
December 29 – FC Sion are continuing their ongoing battle with FIFA after world football’s governing body threatened to expel the Swiss Football Association and all its teams from international competition unless the club are punished for breaching a transfer ban.
By David Gold
December29 – Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Borys Kolesnikov (pictured), has said that the cultural events and programme which will be held during the European Championships next summer will likely be revealed in March.
By David Gold
December 29 – UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino (pictured) has refused to rule out the possibility that Turkish clubs could be banned from European competition if found guilty of involvement in the match fixing scandal that has rocked the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 29 – Jack Warner (pictured left), the former FIFA vice-president who walked away from football rather than face a potentially damning probe into his role in the infamous cash-for-votes scandal, stepped up his attempts at revenge today by claiming he was awarded FIFA World Cup television rights for as little as $1 (£0.65/€0.77) in return for helping Sepp Blatter gain the Presidency of world football’s ruling body.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 28 – UEFA President Michel Platini has made a veiled attack on his critics in a mixed New Year message to European football’s various stakeholders.
By David Gold
December 28 – Three Serie A games were targeted by a betting ring which sought to manipulate the results of football matches according to former Piacenza defender Carlo Gervasoni (pictured).