Friday 14 November 2014

FIFA report into corruption is exposed as corrupt!

FIFA is a joke.

The report about alleged corruption in the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has been exposed as not being wholly representative of the investigations! So, basically the report of the investigation of corruption is corrupt!

And to add farce into the bargain, FIFA didn't miss the chance to have a pop at England saying that England's bid for the 2018 World Cup flouted bidding rules.

FIFA hates England.

So FIFA will reject, deny and go contrary to anything that England does. The chance of England hosting a World Cup in the next 50 years is zero.

But let's ignore the allegations of corruption for a moment. The fact is that the choice of Qatar as the host for the 2022 World Cup is just plain wrong. The tournament cannot be played in the month of July, as it normally id, causing fixture disruption around the world. And Qatar has never qualified for any World Cup final tournament - ever.

As for Russia - it doesn't have a great record on human rights, and the conflict with Ukraine continues to simmer. CSKA Moscow has just been punished for its fans' racist abuse - again. Why does FIFA reward countries like this?

Go figure.

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Warnock wonders whether his players are "too honest"

The BBC reports (www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29891479) Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock as saying that his side is "too honest" and therefore not getting the decisions in their favour.

"I think we're too nice at the moment. We are too honest," he said.

It's certainly easy to sympathise that his team didn't get a penalty in the first few seconds of last night's 3-1 defeat by Sunderland. It was a clear penalty, but referee Phil Dowd ignored it. Whether that's because Fraizer Campbell didn't roll over a few times, I'm doubtful. It's more likely that Dowd didn't give it because it was too early in the game and he wasn't quite on the ball. Easier to give that decision after 30 minutes!

Whatever the reason, it is a shame that Warnock feels his players need to be less honest than they are the moment, but evidence is all around us. Players who are not entirely honest regularly reap the benefit of their actions.

It is a tough sport for referees to get their decisions right all the time, and none of us should blame them for getting decisions wrong from time to time.

We should blame all managers who have gone before Warnock and encouraged their players to be less honest - or as we should say, to cheat.