Grimsby’s owner on the sensible efforts to self-regulate – and why the outcome could benefit National League clubsIn the coming weeks, the government white paper that outlines the path to an independent regulatory body is due to be released. With that in mind, the Premier League and the EFL have resumed negotiations on a range of topics, including but not limited to financial distribution, fixture congestion, and the potential to align the number of teams promoted and relegated from all divisions. It appears there is an effort to self-regulate before the new authority is established. It is logical and sensible for the leagues to discuss collective issues and come to agreements, rather than have their hands weakened by individual rule-making.Regarding...
Fifa president has utterly failed to grasp how football allows communities to celebrate their local heroesThere are times when you wonder whether Gianni Infantino has ever interacted with an actual human being, somebody who might tell him how ridiculous he sounds or do something about his white trainers. Maybe this is how he has always been, gabbling away in the language of the football wonk, involuntarily spewing out inane statistics and ludicrous proposals.Even by the standards of the kneejerk populism of modern political figures – Build a wall! Tax cuts! Universal … err… maths! – Infantino’s suggestion that every country should name a stadium after Pelé was absurd even if Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau have fallen into line. Perhaps he...
Argentina deserved to win the World Cup and it was lovely to see Morocco do well but the world’s governing body must learn from the lessonsSo this is it. Qatar 2022 has been and gone and there is a lot to reflect on. In terms of the football it was a great tournament with a great final. Argentina were deserved winners for the way they dominated a large part of the final against France. One could see they were up for it from the start, with their body language, their tackles, their transitions and the way they used the crowd to create energy.And so Lionel Messi got to crown his career with the one trophy he did not have, the...
There has not been a single conviction and yet nothing changes with metaphorical bedsheets dutifully shielding the suspectsTwo days out from the World Cup final, Qatar finishes hosting its tournament having very recently been declared “a frontrunner in labour rights”. “Today,” the declaration in question continued, “the World Cup in Qatar is proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve a historic transformation of a country.”It feels only mildly unfortunate that the member of the European parliament who uttered these words three weeks ago is currently detained by Belgian police, after the discovery of almost €1m in banknotes in her marital home and a hotel room used by her father. After all, this has been a successful World Cup. Qatar has...
Alongside the various animal attempts to people-please before the quarter-final against France are an increasingly deranged series of stunts from the tabloidsEngland face France in the World Cup quarter-final on Saturday and the dwindling band of psychic animals has spoken. In the early stages of any World Cup, of course, you cannot move for obliging creatures predicting match results. However, as the tournament progresses, several of this global menagerie will have a shocker, effectively knocking them out of further opportunities to have their random movements anthropomorphised by pushy human keepers/people who reckon there might be two hundred quid in it from a tabloid. As we near the business end of Qatar 2022, though, a psychic alpaca from Chipping Norton is...