The Archive

The role of chief executive of the Football Association is a notoriously difficult one. So much so the FA have decided to open up applications to the general public

Anyone browsing the job sections in the broadsheet press of late may have noticed an advertisement for the post of chief executive of the Football Association. The current holder of the post, Brian Barwick, leaves officially at the end of the year, although he has had plenty of time to improve his putting technique since the summer, when he was relieved of most of his responsibilities by FA chairman Lord Triesman.

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The national team have already failed in World Cup qualification and the China Super Leage, only four years old, has been dropped from TV. Gary Bowerman reports on a sport in chaos

The Chinese are deeply ashamed by football. Since China’s first, and only, appearance at a World Cup finals, in South Korea and Japan in 2002 – where they lost all three group matches without scoring a goal – the domestic game’s reputation has plummeted. The national team have slumped to 98th place in the FIFA rankings, while the top domestic division, the China Super League (CSL), has been plagued with ­damaging scandals.

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England stars miss a friendly in Berlin as "reserves" beat Germany 2-1 with the club versus country argument raging on

The Brazilian FA were clearly not expecting huge public interest in their friendly with Portugal on November 19, given that it was held in a 20,000‑capacity stadium in Gama, a suburb of the national capital, Brasilia. But despite the low-key nature of the fixture, several of Brazil’s star players flew in from Europe for the match, as did Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal’s captain for the night in their 6‑2 defeat. By contrast, England’s squad to face Germany in Berlin was significantly weakened by withdrawals.

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Argentina have a new coach with a glorious playing past but, as Chris Bradley writes, many fans are uncertain about his future

It has been a roller-coaster few weeks for the Argentine national team. It began on October 15 when they fell to ignominious defeat against a superior Chile side, for whom it was a first ever victory over Argentina in a World Cup qualifier. Between that low and their 1-0 friendly win over Scotland on November 19, they have lived something of a soap opera.

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With Aston Villa having an outside chance of breaking into the top four and the billionaire owners at Man City the four Premier League giants might be starting to panic

It’s rare that more than one of the Big Four has a bad weekend. That all should fail to score on the same day, November 24 – with Fulham and Newcastle’s draws at Liverpool and Chelsea, respectively, treated like cup shocks – was a statistical fluke. Nonetheless the fact that the cartel have looked unexpectedly vulnerable at times this season ought to be a cause for celebration, given that their domestic dominance is sapping the life out of the league. Aston Villa’s goalless home draw with Man Utd – greeted by a curious, cricket-derived headline in the Express, Villa’s Bunnies Find Some Bite – might not seem like a sign of changing times given that it simply ended a run of 14 defeats against the same opponents. But it followed on from a comfortable win at Arsenal the previous week and a widespread sense that, finally, here was a club well placed to break into the elite, at the expense of a team being widely derided as “bottlers”.

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