ROLL UP! ROLL UP?
During a week when Wheel of Fortune made history by paying out its highest ever cash prize to a marketing manager from Connecticut, the first of the 4.5 million fans who have applied for Geopolitics World Cup tickets were selected to buy them through the system Fifa has named after the long-running American gameshow. While Christina Derevjanik walked away with $1,035,155, two different holidays and the best wishes of co-hosts Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White, those who got lucky in the Fifa equivalent will have to pay handsomely for the privilege of getting to watch matches despite not having the foggiest idea who will be playing in them until the draw is made. Although a certain, very small number of tickets for some group games will start at $60 (£44), for anyone who doesn’t mind sitting nearer the Kármán line than the halfway line, the key word is “start” because they could go for a lot more given Fifa’s decision to channel their inner Oasis and embrace the wheeze of dynamic pricing. With the cheapest tickets for next year’s final starting at $2,030 and the most expensive starting at $6,000, England fans hoping to see their team lift the trophy in New Jersey will be forced to budget and may have to stick considerably cheaper pre-match firecrackers where the sun don’t shine.
Even your happy-clappy Football Daily accepts that, in an event where demand far outstrips supply, prices are always going to be unaffordable for the average Joe. But now it seems even those of us watching from the comparative comfort of our armchairs on this side of the Atlantic could have a late-night spanner thrown in the works. Due to concerns over the sweltering heat in certain host cities and the reluctance of modern, mollycoddled, namby-pamby footballers to play in conditions where they can hear their own skin crackle in the afternoon sun, it has been revealed some games featuring the cream of Europe could kick off after midnight UK time. “We’re in conversations daily with European broadcasters in terms of what stadiums you can play in at 3pm – the likes of Atlanta, for instance,” tooted Fifa’s Concacaf chief suit Victor Montagliani, who was unable to offer reassurances for European teams given the main influence on any decisions will more likely be based on “advice” from the likes of Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai/Kia, Visa, Qatar Airways, McDonald’s, Aramco, etc and so on.
With 11 cities in USA USA USA due to host 78 games between them, with the other 26 being played in Canada and Mexico, Infantino’s new bestie, Donald Trump, has threatened to remove games from cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, who are apparently “run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing”. Trump has also vowed that Chicago “will be safe for the World Cup”, despite the Windy City not being among those slated to host games. With the draw for what promises to be the bigliest tournament ever due to take place in Washington DC on 5 December, Fifa insisted that the president has no jurisdiction to influence where games are played. “That’s the beauty of our game, it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country,” added Montagliani, with a nervous peek over his shoulder.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The terraces should be places of expression for fans to speak truth to power as well as celebrate their cultures. Ultimately, for the 1% that clubs don’t agree with, they must accept this for the 99% of positives that ultra groups bring. We’ve proven the benefits of an English ultras group and that it can be done. But it has to be done right and based on deep-rooted principles, not just singing sections looking to buy into the image they perceive happens abroad” – the Holmesdale Fanatics’ Mickey Grafton on the benefits of organised support in football as the Crystal Palace ultra group celebrating 20 years of bringing tifos, activism and noise to Selhurst.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Am I among 1,057 who have gone from automatically supporting English teams (even Arsenal) on European nights to rather hoping that anyone will beat one of the moneybags teams, or is it just me?” – Bob Cushion (and no others).
A response to Martin Fisher (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) about fixture congestion: all you have to do is look at a fixture list to see that clubs play more than twice a week. From 13 September to 4 October (three weeks), Arsenal will have played seven games. That is 2.33 games per week” – Thabo Caves.
Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday is eight days. Last time I looked a week was seven days. Also, you can’t have a Saturday being the last of three games in one week and the first of the next set of games the following week, if you start counting it twice will they be worth six points? Will relegation matches become 12-pointers? That’s all Southampton got last season” – Chris Harrison.
How disappointing that ref Adam Herczeg missed a trick by only sending Chris Wilder to the stand after booting the ball smack in the choppers of some poor, hapless Blades fan at half-time (yesterday’s Football Daily). How much more effective would his punishment have been if he’d sent him to the stand and made him sit next to said fan and endure 45 minutes plus stoppage time of the poor gent’s views on where the Blades are going wrong this season? Surely the EFL powers-that-be would consider that suitable redress and the cost and inconvenience of a hearing could have been avoided. Come on referees, let’s start thinking outside the box” – John Collins.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … John Collins. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we have them, are here.
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