Columnists Archives - Page 39 of 78 - Inside World Football

Matt Scott: From Russia, with love. A financial history of Chelsea’s 10 Abramovich years

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“Is any of the opposition around?” “Not in any condition to be worried about.” Donald ‘Red’ Grant in conversation with James Bond, From Russia With Love

When Roman Abramovich pitched up at Stamford Bridge with his whirlwind takeover in 2003, few people outside Siberia or the oil-and-gas sector of industry and banking had ever heard of him. But in the decade since his unlikely transformation from governor of Chukotka to guv’nor at Chelsea,

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Why Brian Clough would no longer feel at home in English football

In rugby much is being made about how England’s head coach Stuart Lancaster has brought back Englishness to the oval ball game. Yet look at the round ball game and you see that foreign culture is not only accepted but cherished. A glimpse of this was provided when there was much surprise that Tim Sherwood, as English as they come, would take over when Andre Villas-Boas, who could not be less English, was sacked. Yes there was surprise that Sherwood had no experience of first team coaching at this level but in many ways the greatest surprise was that he was English.

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Politics threatens to knock top off Egypt’s football pyramid

In the tumultuous period that has followed the toppling of two presidents, Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed Morsi, over the past three years, with the country remaining in a state of political flux, the huge damage done to Egyptian football cannot be exaggerated.

Its clubs are yet to recover from the severe hit to their finances, as a result of the abandonment of the 2011/2012 national championship, following the death of 74 fans, after a match in Port Said between Ahly and Masry.

John Yan

John Yan: No Saints or sin as Wang joins CFA elite 王健林：”顾问”怎问南安普顿？

Just in the middle of the noise of Wang Jianlin’s potential purchase of Southampton FC, another piece of news related to The richest man in China and CFA (China Football Association) came out.

On January 21, 2014, the National Congress of CFA was finally held in a small town outside of Beijing. A new generation of leaders of CFA was elected by raised hands, and Wang Jianlin was appointed as the Adviser of CFA.

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: Who would pay for Champagne’s new FIFA republic?

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” Plato, The Republic

Since the earliest days of democracy, political apathy has carried a price. In the UK, bizarre though it still seems, the price of a low voter turnout and diminished engagement with the political process was a £1,645 claim for a “floating duck island” by a member of the British parliament and knight of the realm.

Archive

David Owen: Champagne reveal beggars the question: Will Sepp run?

FIFA Presidential elections are different. So it was probably par for the course that the first candidate out of the traps – and this more than 16 months before any vote – should at once cast doubt on his candidacy by refusing to make clear whether he would stay in the race if the incumbent President decides to run. Indeed, he admitted he did not think he could beat Joseph Blatter, who will mark 16 years in the post at this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil,

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Right time for Barca to build a new camp

When you’re in possession of Europe’s largest football stadium, one of the world’s most iconic sporting venues, planning to expand is not the most obvious move.

But Barcelona have looked to the future and know if the club stands still, their years at the top of world football are under threat.

And so a grand project to modernise the Nou Camp will be put to its members. In April a referendum will decide if the Barcelona will have a ‘New Camp’

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Up for Champagne, anyone?

It’s one thing to throw pre-fight verbal salvos or shadow box in the dressing room.

But walking through the political gauntlet and stepping into the ring, especially when you don’t know the opponents you’re competing against, is certainly a huge leap of faith.

That’s what Jerome Champagne, the 55-year-old Frenchman and FIFA’s former deputy secretary-general and director of international affairs, took when he announced his decision, in London on Monday, to seek the most powerful position in football and,

Andrew Warshaw: Stalking horse or a real contender for the crown?

Decent man, strong principles and some seriously sensible ideas for modernising the game. But can Jerome Champagne really become the Comeback King at FIFA?

The more one analyses Champagne’s somewhat poorly structured launch announcement on Monday that he is to stand for president of world football’s governing body next year, the more one has to question not only whether he chose the right place to unveil his manifesto but also his motives and whether there is a hidden agenda.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Can we please stop this Southampton hysteria?

The astonishing coverage of the Southampton story since Nicola Cortese left may suggest the football world on the south coast is about to collapse. I cannot recall another occasion when the departure of a managing director of a club has resulted in such media exposure. However much of it has been so hysterical and over the top that it is clear that the world of football has not changed, only the public perception of it.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Heat is not just on Qatar but on prejudice as well

It’s a worrying scenario isn’t it.

A searing sun, temperatures over 40 degrees, players and spectators wilting, the action bordering on farce as it becomes survival of the fittest, not the most talented.

It’s not going to happen with the World Cup in Qatar 2022 though is it? Just ask Jerome Valcke.

No, I refer of course to the Australian Open tennis. You see Melbourne can get quite hot at this time of year.

Massimo Cecchini

Massimo Cecchini: Seedorf, the non-political voice of Berlusconi

Ormai sembra più di un’impressione: scegliendo Clarence Seedorf come nuovo allenatore, il Milan non ha individuato soltanto un avventuroso profilo professionale, ma anche un fedele portavoce di quella filosofia aziendale che fa capo al presidente Silvio Berlusconi, ovvero uno degli uomini più ricchi e più controversi d’Italia.

Non è un mistero, infatti, che il campione olandese originario del Suriname, anche quando era semplicemente un calciatore rossonero, si fosse distinto per la adesione alle posizioni anche extra-sportive del suo datore di lavoro.

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: Bolton and the salutary tale of how to turn gold into lead

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“I am the lord of the philosopher’s stone,” Mammon, The Alchemist, Ben Johnson

Four hundred years after those fictitious words were first uttered on a London stage, alchemy, the fabled process of turning base metals into gold, is of course just as much hocus-pocus as it was then. Even so, it does not seem to have stopped football clubs trying to turn leaden-footed footballers into the latest golden generation.

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Do CAF awards dishonour more than they honour?

Having taken a firm position, over a month ago, against the selection of Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure as the BBC African Footballer of the Year, it would be no shock to regular readers of this column that I am in complete disagreement with his receipt of the official title in Lagos, Nigeria, last Thursday.

The argument put forward in my December 5 piece, “What is an African performance worth?” hasn’t changed a jot.

Archive

David Owen: Is it time to designate permanent homes for the World Cup and Olympics?

I was not altogether surprised on Friday to open my copy of The Guardian newspaper and find that the latest twists in the Qatar World Cup saga had combined with the approach of Sochi 2014 to provoke columnist Simon Jenkins into an elegant tirade.

These mega-events, Jenkins argued, “are about the crudest form of politics, that of national prestige.

“The athletico-military-industrial complex seems to have a mesmeric appeal to world leaders,