Football's new money needs to be managed sensibly to keep the game sustainable, says Matthew Garrahan
When Alan Sugar spoke of the “prune juice effect” in his address to the Oxford Union in 1997 he was not talking about how his stomach felt after seeing Darren Anderton limp off the field for the umpteenth time. Sugar used the term – cogently and correctly – to describe the inability of professional football clubs to manage the huge amounts of money coming into the game.
Oxford United have shirked their responsibilty on reprimanding a player convicted of a racial offence, reports James Beard
A promising young footballer was recently convicted of a racial offence. The case involves a footballer at a Second Division club and, although it touches on issues which have been at the centre of public debate, has received scant media attention. It deserves more.
Refs, whines and videotape
Was that really the first week of the Premiership season, or was it an “ironic” imitation? All the familiar elements that we have come to take for granted from the shoutiest league in the world were present: refereeing controversy, managers up in arms, foreign players as victims and/or villains, and everything monitored in excruciating slow-motion by Sky.
Tuesday 1 George Weah signs for Man City, saying: “I think this club deserves to get into Europe and that is the aim.” Steve Coppell leaves Crystal Palace to be replaced by another former manager Alan Smith.
Wednesday 2 Intertoto defeats for Bradford, beaten 3-0 at home by St Petersburg, and Villa, who lose 2-1 to Celta Vigo. The Swiss referee, who dismisses two Villa players and one from the visitors, ends the match two minutes early and has to restart. “He was an embarrassment to UEFA,” snarls John Gregory. David Hodgson resigns as Darlington manager after chairman George Reynolds asks the players to take a pay cut.
The very English nature of our expectations creates the illusion of chronic failure
There is a peculiar tendency in Britain (maybe just in England) which insists that nothing but the best is good enough. The government wants the NHS to be “the best in the world”. Our millennium celebrations were supposed to be “the envy of the world”.