Retired judge Lord Dyson’s report into the Millwall CPO scheme was commissioned by Lewisham council and while its findings are therefore hardly a shock to campaigners, the fight for the future of The Den is back on the agendaA report commissioned by Lewisham council has cleared Lewisham council of “any impropriety” in relation to the abandoned Millwall CPO scheme. The report, which was compiled by the retired judge Lord Dyson and defined and framed by Lewisham councillors earlier this year, clears Lewisham councillors of misconduct and concludes they acted with “propriety, due diligence and in accordance with the applicable codes of practice” in relation to the New Bermondsey scheme. Related: Battle for The Den: why is the Millwall inquiry happening...
It is tempting to call Fifa’s corruption debacle a gift that just keeps on giving. Except it feels like something else by now, a gift that has, frankly, given too muchAre you feeling it yet? The Fifa corruption fatigue? It has, after all, been seven years in the making, from the oddly homespun excesses of the whistleblower Chuck Blazer, football’s own mobility scooter Liberace; to the cold, gangsterish disdain of the Grondona-Teixeira-Leoz axis, the kind of Fifa men who would carve out your liver with an ivory-inlaid oyster knife if it meant getting a step closer to a secret six-figure TV rights access sweetener.This week the US justice department court case sparked into life in New York. Its first few...
The preening Portuguese beat the more humble Lionel Messi to yet another Fifa award last week but does he ever notice that football is a team game?Last Monday the Best Fifa Football Awards were held in London – leading one to ask when can one expect the Worst Fifa Football Awards, featuring YouTube videos of missed sitters and theatrical simulation. All the legends were there: Diego Maradona, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one), Phillip Schofield. It was the “biggest night on planet football”, as the Sky presenter said, full of “excitement, glamour and gossip”, making it sound as though it were an overblown gathering of prima donnas on the red, sorry green, carpet. Which, on reflection, is an unerringly precise summary of the...
Society moves forward when brave individuals question the status quo – and now the FA has its own chance to be courageous by undergoing radical reformAs a mixed-heritage young Englishman, one of the best days of my life and proudest moments of my career was representing my country at under‑21 level, being a part of an occasion where we played in the first match at the newly built Wembley stadium.Stepping out on to the hallowed turf, wearing that white shirt and hearing the national anthem in front of my family, both black and white, still gives me goose bumps and fills me with pride at not only representing the country I am proud to be a citizen of but also...
Martin Glenn should be among the casualties after select committee inquiry shines light on shameful failings in handling discrimination allegationsGreg Clarke got his handshake from Eni Aluko in the end. After a devastating four‑hour parliamentary hearing that fully illuminated the Football Association’s shambolic handling of her allegations of discrimination, it was a confused gesture of goodwill. “I want to meet with you properly,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to try anything, it’ll all be above board.”That the chairman of the FA felt he had to give such assurances to a wronged party, particularly one who played for England 102 times over a glittering 11-year international career, shows what a miserable mess this saga has become. That meeting may...