Andrew Warshaw: Despite the concerns over the preparations, Brazil 2014 looks set to be the greatest footballing party ever held

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The giant makeshift marquees at the swish Marina da Glória where the 2014 qualifying draw took place have been pulled down and all delegates have now left town. Rio is back to normal daily life. But that, of course, still means a national obsession with football.

Bold and brassy, sexy and spontaneous, there is little doubt that in terms of colour and excitement, this country will put on a show in three years’

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Columnists

David Gold: Government should carry through on its threat to change the FA by force if necessary

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England’s defeat to Germany in the 2010 World Cup triggered the inquiry into football governance, so humiliating was the nature of the 4-1 loss, and yesterday the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee which took on the inquiry proposed its solution to the questions thrown up by that humbling experience. It is this context in which their report on football governance should be seen; a means to an ends, that end being the success of English football,

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Archive

Reform or we will do so for you, Committee tells football authorities

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By David Gold at Westminster in London

July 29 – MPs today threatened to legislate in an attempt to force English football to make a number of reforms, including the introduction of a licensing system for professional clubs, if the Football Association (FA) was unable to do so, with MP Damian Collins telling football authorities that “doing nothing is not an option”.

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