Mrs Football bows out

THE personal assistant privy to some of English football’s innermost secrets for close to half a century left Chelsea last week.

Pauline Temple, assistant to senior management at Stamford Bridge for 14 years following three decades at Old Trafford, decided it was time to depart to try other ventures despite already being well past normal retirement age.

Pauline, who started her football life working for Martin Edwards at Manchester United, was brought to Chelsea by former United chief executive Peter Kenyon and stayed under Ron Gourlay and then Bruce Buck. She kept her family home in Manchester after following Kenyon to Chelsea and commuted to London every week.

Alas, despite all the stories she could tell about Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte’s current troubles with the board, the chances of her doing so are very slim.

MINISTER for Sport Tracey Crouch, who is regularly usurped publicity-wise by sports select committee chairman Damian Collins, was a high-profile presence for a change at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. Crouch, lobbying for more NFL games in London on route to a franchise, met all the owners of the teams playing at Wembley and Tottenham next season, plus English football club owners Joel Glazer (Manchester United), Stan Kroenke (Arsenal) and Shahid Khan (Fulham). She also provided first aid to an NFL coach who slipped on the ice and hurt his face.