Gerrard caught up in logo spat
ENGLAND captain Steven Gerrard is at the centre of the escalating row between Nike and adidas over the leisure kit being worn by the players in Brazil.
Adidas are taking action over the way Nike have been allowed by the FA to deck the England squad in their gear with little or no FA branding, in addition to the official supply items for on and off the pitch.
This has meant Gerrard and the other adidas ambassadors in the England camp — Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Luke Shaw, Phil Jagielka, Frank Lampard and Ricky Lambert — being photographed with only Nike logos visible, much to adidas’s considerable annoyance.
Adidas have informed the FA and their sponsored players that they will be in breach of contract if they wear any Nike apparel that doesn’t also showcase the Three Lions branding.
The FA, who are revamping their commercial operation, are relaxed about Nike’s ambush tactics but it puts Gerrard in particular in a tricky position when he wants to concentrate on the football.
lDURING
a World Cup in which the BBC have fielded their first ever all-black panel — Thierry Henry, Rio Ferdinand and Clarence Seedorf — at a major championship as part of a welcome diversity push, the FA parted company with Noel Blake, national coach for seven years and one of the few elite black coaches in the game. The split hasn’t gone unnoticed by the FA inclusion board charged with overseeing the campaign to increase the number of black managers and coaches in the game. Minister for Sport Helen Grant said in Sao Paulo yesterday: ‘I do want to see much more done across football.’ SIR Tim Rice, who is far more likely to be seen at Lord’s watching the cricket, saw his first England football away match for 51 years in Manaus. The last time Sir Tim (right) saw England play abroad was in 1963 while he was a student in Paris. He was invited to England’s World Cup opener after bringing his Lion King show to Sao Paulo.
lMICHAEL
GARCIA, the New York attorney leading the inquiry into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, has bizarrely been asking about receipts from the 24 Mulberry handbags doled out as gifts by England’s doomed 2018 bid. If Garcia wants to see the bags, all of which were returned, they are still gathering dust in a Wembley cupboard.