Roman Abramovich’s move to step aside at Chelsea highlights the issue of omnipotent foreign owners in the English gameAs the old romantic saying almost goes: if you love something, let stewardship and care of it go – naturally, while retaining possession of all the relevant deeds and liquid assets. The news that Roman Abramovich is apparently giving up day-to-day control of Chelsea to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation has been interpreted in wildly different ways which, with the benefit of a little reflection, seems to have been the entire point of the exercise.For some it is the ultimate sacrificial act of devotion: Abramovich’s way of insulating the club he adores from the threat of sanction, censure, even seizure....
The presence of 335 Russian athletes has raised eyebrows, but finger-pointing from Britain and the US invites dark chucklesWe will ROC you! Let’s face it, the retro cold war touches dripping away at the back of Tokyo 2020 were always likely to run hot at some point. In the end it took a particularly ticklish men’s backstroke 200m to turn the tap.The presence of 335 Russian Olympic Committee athletes at these Games has seemed to surprise those who had assumed the ban for state-sponsored doping might have restricted Russia’s physical presence in some way. Or indeed that Russia’s athletes would have to compete in Japan as something other than Russia, beyond a few shifts in branding and a change of...
Before the 1986 World Cup my brother and I had nearly 100 stickers of the Hungarian and we wanted him to lose, badlyBefore the internet ruined the World Cup there was wonder in ignorance. You could look forward to discovering great players and teams about whom you knew next to nothing. In 1986 my brother and I hoped the tournament would be all about some Hungarian called Zoltan Peter. Our reason was bad.All we knew about Peterwas his name and his face because he seemed to be in every pack of Panini stickers we bought. Every time we removed that shiny wrapper there he was, seemingly mocking us with his Lego-man hairdo and the haunting expression of someone who knew...
Giggs’s credentials under the microscope, Berahino’s Burundi opportunity and another international debut for RiceSpeaking to the Elis James Feast Of Football podcast last week, Ryan Giggs admitted Slovakia are his Wales side’s main rivals to qualify alongside Croatia from a group in which Hungary and and Azerbaijan are likely to do little more than make up the numbers. Despite having Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey on board, along with an influx of several exciting young prospects, their best performance under Giggs remains a 4-1 demolition of a dire Republic of Ireland side last September that perhaps gave fans unrealistic expectations of similar things to follow. They haven’t and Nations League defeats at home and away against Denmark, along with friendly...
From his Russian tumble to a Spain prison sentence, the erstwhile United manager has had a dim week. At least it’s entertainingAfter so many years of refusing to give the public what they want, it’s great to see José Mourinho finally serving up something highly watchable. On Monday the erstwhile Manchester United manager staged a spectacular pratfall at an ice hockey game in Russia. By Tuesday he was being handed a prison sentence. (Suspended, agonisingly, but still.)Barely a week after Gemma Collins made her ice‑fall in ITV’s Dancing on Ice, the Portuguese supplanted The Only Way is Essex star as the most hilariously viral rink‑based tumble of 2019. Related: José Mourinho accepts prison sentence for tax fraud but will not...