The contents mulls over the same glaring issues and structural dysfunctions as previous reports with one huge differenceFor the many lovers of football who have long campaigned for reforms to the game’s modern mega-commercialisation, the contents of Tracey Crouch’s “fan-led review” are so familiar it manages to be simultaneously agonising and strangely reassuring. It mulls over the same glaring issues and structural dysfunctions as all the previous earnest reports that have piled up since the Football League’s First Division clubs broke away to form the Premier League 29 years ago, and reaches essentially the same conclusions.But there is a huge difference this time, making it a genuine landmark. The review shows politicians have had enough of being fobbed off, and...
There are still no guarantees of success but the creation of an independent regulator could finally hold clubs to accountIt is a mark of the instability of our times that the game of association football in England may have a chance of changing for the better.That there is still no guarantee should go without saying. The fan-led review of football governance is hardly the first attempt by politicians to correct the course of the national sport. Whether all 47 recommendations complete the long journey into implementation is even more uncertain. But the fact that no one is writing it off on publication day makes for a pleasant change. Continue reading...
Major sporting events need patience and time. Shortening the cycle would confirm that the game really is all about moneyThere has never been so much football. Every day, someone somewhere plays someone else, and you can follow it all over the world on any device – live, on demand, or just the highlights, on YouTube, DAZN or Twitter. There’s more to come; soon the Champions League will host a hundred more games a year. Our collective attention, as research calls it, is declining in the process, but it’s hard to stop the trend.What Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, and his adviser Arsène Wenger now have in mind could finally lead to overconsumption. They want to hold the World Cup every two...
The football authorities have a duty of care to protect the players and Fifa failed with its risk assessment of the gameOne of the many sad things about what unfolded during England’s game in Hungary on Thursday is that it was completely preventable. We knew at Kick It Out there was a high risk of racism and disorder, so Fifa must have known too, but nothing was done to prevent it.So we find ourselves with victims, when there didn’t need to be victims, and we are talking about sanctions when the solution was to put adequate prevention in place. It’s laughable that the stadium ban imposed by Uefa for the discriminatory behaviour of Hungary fans at Euro 2020 did not...
Transfer culture is a basic part of fandom and sustaining concerted opposition to owners is almost impossible Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood upon our side, we who were strong in love. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. But to be on Fulham Road, wreathed in canisters of blue smoke, holding a home-made banner reading FANS NOT CUSTOMERS, was very heaven.Yes: who can forget the famous European Super League protests of April 2021? They were a vibe, weren’t they? Peace and love and Florentino Pérez memes. Prince William ferrying cups of tea and bottled water out to the picket line. Gary Neville, hair wreathed in daisy chains, serenading...