GOOD ON MO FOR SHOWING UP IN PERSON
IT was pleasing to see Mo Salah pick up his Football Writers’ Association
Footballer of the Year Award in person. Despite being at the business end of their hunt for a quadruple, Liverpool ensured the Egyptian was present to collect his gong. A private jet flew Salah to London and he was
then chauffeured to the venue where he chatted with guests and spoke well on stage. The winger’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, also sent a video message, joking that journalists had for once made the right choice and urging his man to head back north as soon as he could. Klopp need not have worried — Salah was taken to a waiting car and ferried to the airport.
SOME of the MCC’s membership have often wondered if the club’s executives view them as a doddery old inconvenience as they seek to modernise and cash in with a host of lucrative new schemes. They were left in little doubt of the above at the recent AGM. During a toilet break of around 10 minutes the microphones at the top table were turned off. Unbeknown to officials, they were switched back on before the break had ended and one of the hierarchy, clearly thinking that they would not be heard, quipped: ‘It’s taking them ages to empty their colostomy bags…’
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are weighing up what they are describing as second pre-season tours during the winter World Cup. Sides with large numbers of players not on duty in Qatar in November and December are planning trips to sunnier climes, although finding opposition is proving tricky. Instead, expect to see many head to training camps. Newcastle, for example, could go to Saudi Arabia.
FOOTBALL agent James Featherstone was last week found not guilty of attacking a punter in a pub toilet. The 42-year-old, whose clients include Chris Smalling, was accused along with Ben Cowgill of assaulting the man at the Stamford Arms, in the Cheshire village of Hale in 2019. Manchester Crown Court heard that a row erupted, with Featherstone alleged to have punched the man from behind while Cowgill grabbed his throat. However, the pair said they were acting in self-defence and a jury took 40 minutes to clear them.
THE days of the Professional Footballers’ Association rep turning up at their local clubs armed with voting forms for the Player of the Year award are numbered. The union has gone digital, with members now asked to submit their votes on an app.
BT Sport are set to make the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid free-to-air. Details are yet to be finalised but insiders say an announcement is due.
SOME Championship clubs, desperate not to lose face when it comes to attendance figures, are taking surprising steps to cover up poor numbers. For a long time sides have included season tickets sold in their figures, regardless of whether the holders turn up or not. Now, with Covid having an impact, some have started including the full allocation given to away clubs, whether their visitors have sold out or not. The bizarre move is part of a worrying trend which has seen clubs in the second tier continue to try to swerve financial reality.
THE hype around cricket becoming a sport at the LA 28 Olympics is reaching ridiculous levels. IOC officials were left red-faced after pictures of president Thomas Bach playing a friendly game of cricket after a recent Oceania congress were used by the Cricket for Olympics campaigners as evidence that Bach and the IOC supported their campaign. The notion that a T20 match between Holland and Russia in the suburbs of Santa Monica would be an attractive alternative to the national sports of baseball or softball seems absurd. A more likely beneficiary of the picture of Bach is India’s campaign to host the 2036 Olympics. By then cricket should be established as an Olympic sport, with a more likely debut at the Brisbane 2032 Games.
AN artist who specialises in portraits of footballers may have seen the iceberg ahead when it comes to West Ham’s chances of keeping midfielder Declan Rice. Canning Town Len, who has crafted thousands of paintings including many for Hammers supporters, was last weekend offering 20 per cent off three new paintings of Rice’s famous knee-slide celebration.
THE Chelsea contingent were notably absent from the Footballer of the Year bash. The Blues always take a table at the glitzy event but government sanctions imposed on the Roman Abramovich-owned club meant officials were unable to buy tickets.
SPARE a thought for Manchester City’s translator. The Spaniard endured a miserable night in Madrid when Pep Guardiola’s side capitulated to exit the Champions League at the semifinal stage — but the pain did not end there. The following day the translator was on a London-bound flight which remained on the runway in the Spanish capital for no fewer than four hours.
Meanwhile, City are not expected to be hit with a financial penalty by UEFA having failed to put any players up for interview following the debacle.
A first breach of UEFA rules carries only a warning, with further offences triggering fines.
MUCH has been made of improvements to security and searches at Wembley Stadium following the carnage that marred the European Championship final. It was interesting, then, to see huge queues for the cubicles in the gents’ toilets at the Tyson Fury v Dillian Whyte fight, while the urinals stood largely empty. There was either an outbreak of food poisoning or hundreds of spectators were looking for somewhere to snort the illegal substances they had smuggled in.