OLYMPIC FOES’ WAR OF THE WRITTEN WORD

TWO Olympic stalwarts who have not recently enjoyed the most harmonious of relationships are to launch books within two days of each other. Journalist and Olympic historian, David Miller, will bring out his biography of International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach at the British Olympic Association HQ on July 5. On July 7, former IOC member Sir Craig Reedie, will launch his autobiography at the East India Club. Bach and Reedie fell out over how to deal with the Russian doping crisis in 2016. Many felt Bach was particularly spiteful towards Reedie, so it will be interesting to see how the row is covered in both offerings.

FIFA are well known for their control freakery when it comes to communications around the World Cup. So it was no surprise last week that they pushed the successful US cities selected to host the 2026 version to find highprofile celebrities to be cheerleaders for the FIFA decisions on their social media channels. Several of the cities were taken aback when FIFA turned their nose up at their initial suggestions for celebrity endorsement even though the names were a big deal within the cities.

A NICE moment during the England v Italy Nations League borefest at Molineux when Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli emerged early from the tunnel ahead of the second half and made a beeline for a watching David

Platt (right). Platt played with Mancini at Sampdoria and Vialli at Juventus, and was Mancini’s assistant at Manchester City.