Best new brand
Fifa 2.0 – restoring “the image of Fifa and the respect of Fifa” with a focus on ethics and human rights. Week one’s highlight: confirmation that 2017’s congress will be held in Bahrain. Gianni Infantino: “It’s not just words, it’s actions.”
Meanwhile
Last week’s Fifa 1.0 news:
a) Former Thai FA head and Fifa executive Worawi Makudi given a five-year ban for forgery, but eyeing an appeal. Makudi said last year he always stays upbeat, despite multiple fraud and bribe claims allegations: “I’m guilty of nothing.”
And b) extradited former Brazil FA head José Maria Marin, 84 - looking to rent out his £6m São Paulo mansion to fund the cost of living under house arrest in his Trump Tower condo. Marin, who put up £12m bail last year, denies wrongdoing.
• Among Marin’s former Trump Tower neighbours: his former Fifa colleague Chuck Blazer, who rented his apartment for £11,700-a-month, and Blazer’s cats, who paid £3,900-a-month for theirs.
Plus: soundest vision
New Uefa head Aleksander Ceferin: a) looking to end football’s greed culture by bringing “winds of change”; and b) looking to move the Champions League final to New York. “We should think about other markets too.”
Elsewhere: big week for
The Sun - campaigning against “peddling migrant lies”, a year after retracting their “Six days to terror” story about a reporter smuggling himself 2,000 miles through Europe without a passport: “Contrary to what we published, he used his passport.”
Result of the week
£19.6m: Man City’s pre-tax profit. £20.5m: Man City’s post-tax profit, via a £894k deferred credit for historical losses.
Bravest stand
Tory MPs Andrew Bingham and Jason McCartney – using last week’s select committee appearance by FA chairman Greg Clarke to attack the “avaricious” football industry for starving grassroots. Bingham: “My overriding concern is that this is the people’s game and it seems that is being taken away … it’s sickening for grassroots.” McCartney: “I have local clubs that are struggling to get enough money to pay for nets.” (6.7% – government cuts to council funding to 2020, on top of 30% cuts since 2010.)
Best intentions
Italy: Sampdoria owner Massimo Ferrero – apologising to fans for saying no one had heard of the club “until I bought it”: “It was not my intention to offend the fans, the truest soul of Sampdoria.” • His previous best clarifications: 2014, after calling Inter’s Indonesian owner Erick Thohir “that Filipino”: “It was not my intention to disrespect Mr Thohir or the people of the Philippines, with whom I have a wonderful rapport.” 2015, after saying Catania’s match-fixing president “must die, don’t just throw away the key, he must die”: “It was never my intention to suggest he should die. It was allegorical.”
Manager news
Germany, 5 Oct: Wolfsburg director Klaus Allofs says there’s “no decision to make” on manager Dieter Hecking: “Of course I can understand why the question comes up, of course I can understand why there’s public pressure – but I won’t be swayed.” 16 Oct: Sways. 17 Oct: Sacks him.
Most committed
Trinidad midfielder Kevin Molino – clarifying his world view after being fined twice for breaking pre-match curfews - once to go clubbing, once to go on a boat cruise: “Playing the beautiful game is all that matters to me. I’m 100% committed.”
Most put upon
Germany: Hamburg keeper René Adler, facing the cameras after a 3-0 home defeat left them bottom: “We slaughtered ourselves. What can I say? Once again here I am, standing here. I don’t want to be the arsehole who ends up having to explain it every week. I don’t want to do it. It pisses me off. ”
Surprise news
Ronaldinho – hired as a global ambassador for Barcelona last week to expand the brand – missing his first Barça event and posting a photo of himself on a beach instead. Reports say officials “expressed surprise”.
Strongest stance
Paraguay: Model Vane Trinidad, unhappy with press links to players: “Footballers have only the most rudimentary personalities: foul-mouthed, ill-educated, base. I find them repellent. They chat at me and say ‘come and see me train’ or ‘I’m in the first team’, then wait for me to say ‘wow’. If they were a Nasa engineer then maybe I say ‘wow’. But a soccer player? Are they serious?”
Plus: most synchronised
Brazil: Vila Nova defender Marcelo Cordeiro, “unsettled” after a clip of him and Goias forward Rossi pretending to have been headbutted by each other went viral. “Simulation isn’t cool, I know that, but I couldn’t take the risk of not doing it. That’s just life. That’s the game we’re in.”
