Ron Atkinson may be apologetic his infamous faux pas, but as David Stubbs writes, he isn't exactly convincing

“Whatever happened to forgiveness?” asked Ron Atkinson in plaintive response to a verbal pounding from Darcus Howe on Adrian Chiles’s documentary What Ron Said (BBC1, December 13). Howe was lambasting Atkinson for his infamous off-microphone outburst regarding Marcel Desailly, whom he dubbed “a fucking thick lazy nigger.” Howe suggested that Atkinson should be made to clean Rio Ferdinand’s boots for ten weeks, which Atkinson protested was “out of order”.

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Paul Casella of fanzine The Lion Roars believes that Millwall fans are used to false accusations being made against the club, but a recent article in the Sun took the level of misrepresentation to new levels

As the nearest club to Wapping, a disproportionate amount of senior newspaper journalists visit The Den on a regular basis. It is not rare for the press box to see stars of stage and screen; or at least, stars of Jimmy Hill’s Sunday Supplement. Indeed, judging by the amount of media coverage, Millwall are by far and away the “biggest” club that has 10,000 fans in the country.

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Time to panic? Helen Duff certainly seems to think so as she watches her Bolton side plummet down the table

Throughout Bolton’s miserable New Year’s Day match against West Bromwich Albion, a fan’s banner begged for “bouncebackability”. Con­sidering that we were at home, playing the bottom club in the league and were eight points above the relegation zone, this should have seemed premature in its desperation.

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Sepp Blatter can try all he like, according to Ben Lyttleton, the FIFA World Player of the Year award is still a farce

Ronaldinho’s success in becoming FIFA’s World Player of the Year was sealed the day before the announcement, when FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Thierry Henry deserved to win the award. Blatter was pre-empting claims that he and his cronies work behind the scenes to give the prize to his chosen player. It’s a clever wheeze: Blatter publicly backs Henry and then – shock horror! – that rascal Ronaldinho pips him to the crown. Sepp then spends the rest of the night trying to look surprised.

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Brian Barwick is just getting settled at the FA HQ, so John Morgan has decided to find a little bit more about the man charged with managing English football

After the tabloid mishaps of Mark Palios’s tenure and the glitzy extravagance of Adam Crozier’s reign, the Football Association will hope that the appointment of Brian Barwick as chief executive heralds an era of quiet competence. But when Barwick moves into his office at Soho Square, the last thing he will find is quiet. As the FA come under increasing pressure over the next year, he may find that his main task is to justify the organisation’s very existence.

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