Northern Irish to step up

nORTHeRn iReLAnD may be viewed as the least likely of the four home nations to join in with the expected British bid to host the 2030 World Cup, due to their inferior football facilities compared to england, Scotland and Wales.

But the Stormont government are expected to be very supportive of northern irish involvement in the tournament and are thought to be willing to put in a significant amount of funding.

The doomed england 2018 campaign received no Whitehall money whatsoever, meaning the FA are sure to look especially kindly on those bringing money to the table. The £21m spent on winning just one outside vote came from the FA, sponsors and £2.5m from bidding cities.

At a time when the Brexit borders policy in ireland is proving so contentious, the province would gain some much-needed identity were the World Cup to come to northern ireland.

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is no doubt that the FA have succeeded in Russia with their charmoffensive tactic of encouraging the squad to be more open with the media — helped by the daily darts competition between players and media. But the acid test for this admirable new approach is whether the players continue to buy into it no matter the result against Tunisia in Volgograd tonight.

THe FA are arranging for Fabian Delph to fly home from Russia by private jet when his wife natalie gives birth to their third child. But the ruling body would not say who would be paying the £20,000-plus cost. One presumes it will be Premier League winners Manchester City, who can well afford to do so.

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are no hard and fast rules about the England squad going for a swim in the Baltic Sea close to their Repino base. But there should be, as the water’s edge along that stretch of coast is a strange toxic green colour, making even dipping your toes in uninviting in the extreme.