Quote of the week
Ellis Short – reflecting on 10 years and a £100m debt write-off at Sunderland: “Overall, my chairmanship has not gone the way I would have wished.”
• Among Short’s big calls as he worked through £0.25bn: last year’s decision to make office staff redundant while the squad were in New York on a training break. The club said the cuts – which also coincided with news of a £850,000 pay-off for disgraced ex-chief executive Margaret Byrne following her mishandling of the Adam Johnson child abuse case – were essential to make Sunderland “grow stronger – both on and off the pitch”.
Elsewhere: best new era
Fifa 2.0’s Gianni Infantino, looking to sell part of the football calendar to unnamed backers for $25bn. Infantino’s message in 2016 on what he’d bring to the presidency: “A new era of trust in Fifa, of transparency, of putting football first ... I just want to help kids to smile with their eyes because they have a ball and they can play with it.”
• Among the feedback on the $25bn plan so far: European Leagues head Lars-Christer Olsson – rating it as “unilateral”, “lacking transparency”, based on “intentional manipulation” and being “a money-making exercise designed to get him re-elected next year… It reminds me of the way the ‘old Fifa’ acted. I thought we had left that behind.”
Meanwhile: most relaxed
Carlos Cordeiro, co-chair of USA/Canada/Mexico 2026, “comfortable” with @realDonaldTrump’s efforts to win votes from “shithole countries”. Cordeiro said the row over Trump’s 27 April tweet threatening to cut support to nations who fail to back the US bid was confected: “I don’t see the tweet as a threat. I think you have got to appreciate how he says things. Mexico and Canada tweeted on the same day: no one talks about their tweets.”
(27 Apr, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, @EPN: “We can have differences but football unites us. Together we support the candidacy of Mexico, Canada and the USA to host the 2026 World Cup”; 27 Apr, @JustinTrudeau: “Canada is fully behind the North American bid for the 2026 Fifa World Cup – and we’re ready to welcome the world.”)
• Cordeiro’s broader Trump clarification: “All he’s saying is he’d like people to support our bid. That’s what I like my head of state to say.”
Innovation of the week
Russia 2018 anti-racism head Alexey Smertin, floating a new idea with six weeks to go. Smertin said Russia’s record of having banned no racists from grounds so far this year needs work. “We should introduce personal responsibility.”
Plus: spare a thought for
Outgoing Brazil FA head Marco Polo Del Nero, left “shocked and indignant” about his Fifa life ban imposed last month – his lawyer calling the ethics process “an affront to basic principles”. Del Nero, indicted in 2015, denies racketeering.
Elsewhere: other news
New last week in modern football:
a) Andrés Iniesta weighing up Chinese club Chongqing Dangdai Lifan’s offer – €81m tax-free, 50% of his image rights plus a guarantee to buy six million bottles of Iniesta wine from his personal vineyard, worth another €36m.
b) Copa América organisers confirming a guest entry for 2019’s elite 12-nation event – Qatar, ranked 101 in the world.
And c) Fans rallying round Mo Salah with an Arabic language hashtag “I support Mo Salah” after Telecom Egypt violated his image rights, putting his Vodafone endorsement at risk. @MoSalah: “God willing, the issue is being resolved.”
Employer of the week
Italy: Ex-Leeds owner Massimo Cellino, enjoying his first season at Brescia:
10 Aug: Hails his new coach Roberto Boscaglia as “a competent person, a serious man. We go forward with Boscaglia.” 11 Oct: Sacks Boscaglia, hires Pasquale Marino; 16 Jan: Sacks Marino, re-hires Boscaglia. 29 Apr: Sacks Boscaglia, hires Ivo Pulga. (Boscaglia’s message in January after being brought back: “Everything feels different this time. It’s clear he really wants me.”)
• Also making changes:
a) Chievo president Luca Campedelli: 22 Mar: “If Rolando Maran didn’t have my confidence, he wouldn’t be here. Coaches who only have 99% of my confidence are not coaches of Chievo. Maran is, and will remain, coach of Chievo.”
29 Apr: Sacks him.
And b) Palermo owner Maurizio Zamparini, rolling back the years:
9 Apr: “How can you media talk about [Bruno] Tedino being at risk? His position is unassailable.” 13 Apr: “All coaches make mistakes, Allegri, Ancelotti make mistakes. Tedino enjoys my confidence.” 24 Apr: “Tedino just asked me to hire a tactical adviser for him so I did. If he asked me to hire his sister, I would. That shows my confidence in Tedino.” 28 Apr: Sacks him, then sacks his tactical adviser too. “This is a coach who disappointed me.”
Thought for the week
Chile: Audax Italiano striker Sebastián Abreu, 41, “sorry” for throwing a table at his own fans. “I’m not going to justify it, but the abuse was personal. The table was aimed at, and hit, no one.” His message to critics: “Next time someone does what I did, don’t judge them so fast. Instead, let us ask: why?”
Setback of the week
Ethiopia: Wolwalo Adigrat University coach Maru Gebretsadik, sacked for mauling a referee in-play. The club said players who joined in while the official used a corner flag as self-defence were “warned about their ethics”. Local media: “This shocked Ethiopians to the core.”
Strategy of the week
Brazil: Nacional full-back Jorge Fucile, telling the press he went through the back of Santos teenager Rodrygo only because “the kid nutmegged me too much. I took him out and then the game got better”. Santos called Fucile’s admission “a stain”; Fucile said the move “was standard – but, to the Santos fans sending me ugly messages, I’m sorry. I respect you. I send you all a hug.”
And most moving
Spain: Numancia, tweeting a tribute to Andrés Iniesta with a photo of him playing against them in 2008 captioned “thank you for being an example to our little ones”, then issuing an apology after followers noted “part of Iniesta” was visible though a gap in his shorts. @cdnumancia: “We apologise to Iniesta. This was never our intention.”