Sunday’s incident involving Raúl Jiménez and David Luiz was a reminder that other sports have far more sophisticated protocols in placeFor too long football has played tiki-taka with the issue of concussion, rather than tackling it head on. It has been passed around from committee to committee, governing body to governing body, without the authorities facing up to its pernicious threat. Perhaps the recent deaths of Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles will sharpen the focus. What happened at the Emirates on Sunday night certainly should. It was jolting enough to witness Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez receiving oxygen and leaving on a stretcher with a fractured skull following a clash of heads with David Luiz. It was almost as worrying when the...
Staging Euro 2020 games in a politically problematic country embroiled in conflict is untenable, and Uefa needs to actOn Tuesday night the Azerbaijan men’s national football team drew 0-0 with Luxembourg. Three days before that the Azerbaijan men’s national football team drew 0-0 with Montenegro. Three days before that the Azerbaijan men’s national football team drew 0-0 with Slovenia. Four weeks before that the Azerbaijan men’s national football team drew 0-0 with Cyprus.0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0. In the course of this run Azerbaijan have pared their game down from six shots on target to just the one last time out. The natural end point of this graph, the real moment of fulfilment, would see Azerbaijan complete their next 0-0 with...
The FA, Premier League and PFA all have senior appointments pending and this time should take diversity seriouslyGreg Clarke is gone but football’s deep-rooted issues remain. The leadership of football – across all the authorities – is not fit for purpose.Following the former Football Association chairman’s confused performance at the select committee this week – that offended women, the black, Asian and LGBT+ communities – the focus has rightly returned to the significant challenge of how we identify credible and relevant leaders to drive the sport forward. Related: Chief executive admits FA has 'more to do' on equality and diversity Continue reading...
FA chairman posed as the good English football man standing up to billionaires but that was not Project Big Picture’s realityWhen the Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, manoeuvred into the space left by Richard Scudamore’s departure from the Premier League and started Project Big Picture, he told his small group of invited participants they needed the “moral authority” to secure changes to the game. Sadly the plans Clarke developed – and the misleading accounts he has given after they were leaked and exposed to the light – have stripped any moral authority he and the FA had to reshape football in these critical times. Clarke was trying, when he initiated the talks in January, to restore the FA as football’s...
If the insatiable elite want to follow the IPL’s example, then let them if it helps counter football’s growing predictabilityConsider the start of this season. What do you see? Do the chaotic results – Manchester City letting in five, Manchester United letting in six, Liverpool letting in seven, Everton and Aston Villa top of the table, Chelsea making 3-3 their default result – engender a thrill of excitement at the unpredictability of it all? Or did you see the two Manchester clubs in the bottom half of the table after last weekend, and Tottenham and Chelsea seventh and eighth, and worry that this might damage revenue streams for teams favoured by the global audience? Related: Revealed: Greg Clarke's real role...