Khan ruffles blazers over Varsity switch

SHAHID KHAN has risked more anger from the FA council over the dumping of the oldest annual fixture in world football.

The Varsity match between oxford and Cambridge, which has been played since 1873, had found a welcome home at Fulham’s Craven Cottage during the last decade.

But after the game made a financial loss in 2016, it was played at Barnet’s Hive stadium in 2017 and this year. FA councillors connected with Varsity football blame Khan for the move, increasing the anger directed at the Fulham owner after his bid to buy Wembley was revealed last week.

Concerns have also been raised that Khan should not be trusted with the national stadium given his treatment of the Varsity match, another national sporting institution.

A Fulham spokesman said it was ‘total rubbish’ to link their owner with the move to Barnet, saying he was strongly in favour of the match taking place at Craven Cottage.

lAPRIL

18 was the day that Arsene Wenger finally accepted he would be leaving Arsenal at the end of the season, it has emerged. Coincidentally, that was 11 years to the day the club announced former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who brought in Wenger as manager, was departing. Dein quit over ‘irreconcilable differences’ with the rest of the board. The loss of his day-to-day relationship with Dein, a great and trusted friend, is seen as a key reason why Wenger has been far less successful in the second half of his 22-year reign. THE curse of the Football Writers’ Association looks to have struck again with the expected choice of liverpool’s goal machine Mo Salah as their Footballer of the Year.

The FWA dinner on May 10 clashes with the liverpool awards, which Salah (right) will be duty bound to attend. This follows a recent run of no-shows for the FWA. Pele missed the tribute night in his honour last January, luis Suarez was in Uruguay when voted Footballer of the Year in 2014 and Eden Hazard missed his 2015 award for ‘urgent’ dental treatment.

However, if Salah wins this year’s FWA prize, liverpool will try to ensure he attends both events, with a helicopter trip to london one option.

lTHERE

may still be hope for the many cricketers who would prefer a new T20 tournament, rather than ‘The Hundred’ proposed by the ECB. Sanjay Patel, lead executive for the competition, continues to describe himself ‘managing director new T20’ on his LinkedIn page.