Dear WSC
Whilst sleeping my way through the recent Varteks v Villa game, the aftermath of a rather nasty tackle by George Boateng reminded me fondly of the late Brian Moore. On seeing the verdict of the referee, Barry Davies announced with a resigned air that “the card is red” when, correct me please if I am wrong, it was quite obviously yellow. Either dear Barry is colour blind or he’s taking it upon himself to replicate the obvious inaccuracies that Brian was regularly capable of. Trouble is, I used to laugh at the old planetarium head, but just found myself shouting “That’s crap Barry, it’s yellow” at the screen in a really irritated manner. I suppose it livened up the worst game this millennium though.
Dave Wallace, via email
The traditional giants from Madrid and Barcelona are under increasing pressure from the commonsense approach of Galicia's Deportivo and Celta, says Sid Lowe
When Real Madrid beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford in March 2000, Spain’s best-selling newspaper, the sports daily Marca, threw its arms in the air and declared the players Eleven Di Stéfanos. There were no such plaudits when Deportivo La Coruña repeated the feat this year. Marca’s front page led on Steve McManaman’s goal against Anderlecht two nights previously, while the country’s second best seller, AS, broke the shock “news” that it would be virtually impossible to get tickets for the Madrid v Barelona derby. The Barcelona papers El Mundo Deportivo and Sport are every bit as myopic.
Two writes debate whether clubs are treated unfairly by national associations
Yes ~
In light of the current battle between the major European clubs and the French and Australian federations over players being released for November’s friendly in Melbourne, the uneasy agreement that has existed for a century between countries and clubs may be close to severing. Arsène Wenger and FFF president Claude Simonet seem set to be the chief protagonists in this dispute.
With growing doubts over football's dependence on TV, we asked five people from diverse areas of the game where they thought the relationship was going
Michael Dunford – chief executive, Everton
"I think the general assumption – rightly or wrongly – is that it would be unrealistic for anyone inside football to put hand on heart and say they believe that the prices paid for television rights will continue to keep rising. The general belief is that, in terms of price, we have now peaked – and once you have peaked there is only way to go.
The recent wrangle ove coverage of the World Cup is only one symptom of the fear that the TV rights boom is over. Alan Tomlinson looks at the ramifications for FIFA
Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, is the quintessential marketing man, a salesman for sport’s biggest event, the World Cup. You’d think it would be the easiest selling job in the world. Guido Tognoni, FIFA’s top media man for ten years until 1994, once told me: “In FIFA you don’t have to sell the product, it’s a self-seller. FIFA lives from one event, the World Cup, and this event lives from marketing and television receipts.”