Most of the fans cramming the stadium for international friendlies and qualifiers are after a fairly cheap night out. The result matters rather less than it used toThey are among the hardest working men and women in football. Even before Spain arrive at Wembley on Tuesday night to provide the latest obstacle to the tottering baby steps of Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England manager, those whose job it is to continue to fill Wembley began trumpeting their wares for March’s home qualifier against Lithuania.No matter how big the humiliation or how small the pool of English talent, the masses keep trudging up Olympic Way for the friendlies and qualifying ties that keep the FA’s tills ringing and have helped contribute...
The nagging feeling is that Gareth Southgate will become permanent England manager because of the paucity of the list of candidatesOn the face of it, nobody should be surprised the Football Association, on the rebound after the brief, unhappy dalliance with Sam Allardyce, was so attracted to the idea of Gareth Southgate from the outset and always thought of him, personality-wise, as a trouble-free appointment.If Allardyce was a brick through the window of the FA establishment, Southgate was the go-to guy to sweep up the broken glass and put up a nice pair of flowery curtains. He is a neat fit for the parts of the England job that require an ambassadorial presence and, though there are bound to be...
There is a nagging feeling that the contrast between the manufactured controversy and the act of remembrance threatens to undermine the entire point of Armistice DaySo the ridiculous Poppygate saga has come to a conclusion. Of sorts. The English and Scottish football associations have declared they will bravely defy Fifa and their players will wear black armbands with poppies printed on them when they meet on Armistice Day. As they should, if they wish.But has the gulf between the silliness of the debate and the seriousness of the cause ever been quite so wide? Related: David Squires on … football and Remembrance Day Related: Spare us the phoney poppy apoplexy | Marina Hyde Continue reading...
How would the new Fifa president best regain some credibility for football’s ailing governing body? A root and branch reform from top to bottom, or a madcap plan to expand the World Cup to 48 teams …Some movies are so bad they kill more than themselves. Sometimes, they kill a series. As George Clooney wryly (and rightly) observed after Batman & Robin: “I think we might have killed the franchise.” Occasionally, a movie is such a disaster it kills an entire genre. The monstrous excesses of Cleopatra fatally wounded the swords‑and-sandals epic genre, and the flop of The Fall of the Roman Empire a year later finished it off so thoroughly that it didn’t return for decades. Heaven’s Gate is...
A $5,000 legal challenge over exploitation of workers building for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar pales next to the value of private flights accepted by Fifa’s presidentIn the grim scheme of things, it is the modesty of the sum that gets you. With the formal backing of the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation, a Bangladeshi man named Nadim Sharaful Alam is to sue Fifa for its alleged complicity in the mistreatment of those migrant workers in Qatar who are charged with building its World Cup venues and infrastructure. (Suggested tournament slogan: “Believe The Mirage™”.) Related: Fifa faces legal challenge over Qatar migrant workers Related: Athletes on Trump's 'locker room banter': that's not how we talk at work Continue reading...