NOT LIKE YOU TO GET YOUR FACTS MUDDLED UP, NIGEL ...

NIGEL HUDDLESTON, the sports minister, had a little pop back on Twitter after his appearance in the column last week. ‘Some rather sloppy/made-up assumptions,’ he said, which was peculiar as the piece was based on what he said, quoted everywhere, about the Premier League needing to cough up another billion for the football pyramid — or the Government regulator would take it from them. Huddleston was spectacularly uninformed, or simply uncaring, over how this would be achieved. It’s not a Government big on detail. Anyway, we disagree. That happens. But here is what I found interesting. The piece to which Huddleston objected was written, he said, by ‘@MSamuelDT’ in his ‘@DailyMailUK’ column. For a start, I’m not on Twitter, never have been, never will be, so he’s wrong about that. But, if I was, why would I be using an account that appears to have been dormant for six years, and tweeted just once?

And why would a Daily Mail journalist have DT in his account? It would be DM, surely. Look. I’m not saying Huddleston is sloppy or made it up, but he certainly doesn’t seem too bright, which is why I wouldn’t want football to be regulated by an appointee of this Government. They’re not good enough, they’re not smart enough, and they’re playing with the sport because they think it wins votes. This is also why they rushed out the announcement about a Government regulator before telling Parliament, earning a dressing down from the Speaker. So Boris Johnson could have his little kickabout photo op at Bury last week. Meanwhile, in the absence of an answer from Tracey Crouch, if the sports minister would like to tell me whether the Prime Minister would pass the integrity test for football club ownership, if he is found to have lied to or misled Parliament, he knows where I am. Clue: not on Twitter.