New Year, new Fifa?

Day -905. ‪WorldCup2018‬.

2016 is upon us. It'll be the year of change and reform at Fifa, they tell us. And "they" are the candidates to be the next Fifa president- candidates who are all part of the old Fifa. Same old broken record from me, I admit, but I'll believe it when I see it.

At least in 2016 we can say the next World Cup is only 2 years away. Sounds a lot closer. But on January 1st it will still be 904 days. But who's counting......

Happy New Fifa!

Will it or won't it? World Cup in Russia.

Day -906. ‪WorldCup2018‬.

The new year will start with some of the same arguments that dominated 2015: Fifa and should it be disbanded and rebuilt; Blatter, Platini and their level of guilt; the awarding of the World Cups to Russia and Qatar and should they be taken away amongst allegations of corruption in the bidding processes. Even though Russia 2018 is less than 3 years away the question of whether the World Cup may not be held in Russia won't go away.

The website/publication "Russia Behind the Headlines" (rbth.com) asked three football officials, "Will Blatter's departure prove fatal for Russia?"

This is what Boris Ignatiev, former coach of the Russian national team had to say:
"We never let him (Blatter) down. Russia held and continues to hold many tournaments under the aegis of FIFA and we never refused to do so.
“Blatter valued this and defended us when Russia was faced with groundless accusations. Now the situation may change. FIFA may be led by a person who can be controlled, one who may let politics penetrate the organisation. If the new director judges us not on football activities but on foreign policy, Russia may lose the opportunity to hold the World Cup. This cannot be excluded."

Is this Russian paranoia (maybe justified) or just plain ignorance of the situation at Fifa? "Now the situation may change." And now it's going to be bad, Mr. Ignatiev? Fifa, and football all over the world was controlled by Blatter and his team of cohorts who went where the money was. Politics was, and still is, a sad, unwanted part of football. And maybe, just maybe Russia should be judged on foreign policy- it's policy of securing the World Cup by all means. Its' "football activities" have little bearing here. If all the footballing countries in the world kept politics out of their footballing activities the current mess may not exist.

So let's hope that there is a new "director" who does things differently. And then Mr. Ignatiev will see what happens when Fifa is run as an organisation that truly cares about football. Unfortunately the new Fifa President is going to be one of 5 candidates who are all part of the existing system. That's another argument and before that one is resolved there is little chance of much else happening.

Pavel Srnicek

Day -907. WorldCup2018

There was sad news in the football world today. Pavel Srnicek, most well known as Newcastle United's goalkeeper in the nineties, passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest just before Christmas. He was only 47.

Srnicek played 49 times for the Czech Republic but unfortunately never at a World Cup as the Czechs did not qualify for the 1998 World Cup when he was the first choice goalkeeper and he retired from international football when they failed to qualify for the 2002 finals.

He did however play in the inaugural Fifa Confederations Cup in 1997 where they finished third. As runners-up in the 1996 European Championship Finals they took Germany's spot after the Germans declined to take part. Srnicek also played in the 2000 Euros where the Czechs were eliminated in the first round.

However, it was as Newcastle's number 1 that he made a name for himself. He had two spells with Newcastle, 1991-1998 and a short return in 2006-07. He was a vital part of the exciting 1995-96 Newcastle team that was 12 points ahead of Manchester United at one point but a poor end to the season saw them end up second. Nevertheless that team, managed by Kevin Keegan, lit up the Premier League and were many neutrals' favourites to win the title. I remember many nail biting, end to end matches, in true Newcastle kamikaze style, in Mach and April 1996. I watched them surrounded by Newcastle fans in a bar in Malta where the emotional highs and lows of the fans around me was as enthralling as the entertainment on the pitch. Srnicek's agent, Steve Wraith, said Srnicek's last conversation with him was about bringing that team back together (the "entertainers") next year for a charity match to mark the 20th anniversary of that oh-so-close end to the season.
"We will make that happen and celebrate this great man’s life together,” Wraith said.

Srnicek had also just visited Newcastle to promote his autobiography, "Pavel Is A Geordie". I'm sure there will be many more a Geordie who will now be purchasing that book.

Thought of the day.

Day -908. ‪WorldCup2018‬.

If Qatar 2022 is going to be held in the winter let's have Russia 2018 in the winter to counter the lack of a World Cup in the Qatari summer. Now that would be fun.

Sunday memories: Malta-England 1971

Day -909. ‪WorldCUp2018‬.

It's Sunday. That means it's time to ignore the mess at Fifa and the proclamations of TASS about how Great Mother Russia is going to organise the most perfect World Cup ever. Instead here's a little, more personal, feel-good memory. This is brought on by the excitement of Malta being drawn in the same group as England in Russia 2018 qualifying.

In 1971 England played Malta in European Championship qualifying. It was a huge event for Malta. England were not really looking forward to playing on the sandy, rocky surface at the Gzira stadium. The Maltese supporters packed the stadium and any surrounding buildings that overlooked the pitch. England won 1-0 but it was far from easy and it took a late save from Gordon Banks to prevent an embarrassing 1-1 draw. For Malta a 1-0 loss to mighty England felt like a win anyway.

In the return match at Wembley, it was a little more straightforward as England won 5-0. However, the match has one of those interesting trivia facts that you can impress your friends with. For Maltese players in that team, and supporters, it may have been more embarrassing than interesting.

For the whole 90 minutes the ball never crossed the English goal line and Gordon Banks did not make one save. Imagine a football match you have watched recently and try to imagine how ultra defensive (or plain bad) Malta must have been.

Picture of match in Malta below.
 

TASS and Russia 2018

Day -910. ‎WorldCup2018‬.
 
When better place to go for news about the Russia 2018 preparations than TASS, the government owned news agency. It must all be true as it is coming directly from the people who are running the show. It sounds like Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Sports Minister/Head of the organising committee/Fifa Executive Committee member is very generous with his time for TASS. And there is no need for embellishment. After all, what could go wrong and who could oppose all that the Russian government....I mean, the organising committee...are doing to make this event great.

Here are a few headlines from TASS recently:
"FIFA gives Russia 12 on 10-point scale for 2018 World Cup preparation in 2015 — minister." Wow!

"Russian organizers of 2018 FIFA World Cup pledge reliability of security concept." Basically, no terrorists are going to mess this up no matter what it takes.

"Russia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup budget final, to remain unchanged in future — sports minister." Because no World Cup ever goes over budget, and we would never know anyway.

"Sports minister says World Cup in Russia won't be affected by Blatter, Platini suspension." Sepp, who? Michel, who?

"Vitaly Mutko: No one will strip Russia of 2018 World Cup." Nobody messes with us. Those Qataris maybe, but not us.

"Russian sports minister wants 2018 FIFA World Cup to be "kind of a conciliatory factor". This is about how Russia, the land of democracy will contribute to peace in the world by hosting the World Cup.

And after all the serious stuff, something a bit more personal from our friendly Sports Minister
"Russian sports minister aims for better English skills by 2018 World Cup."

Qatar, Russia, Syria.

Day -911. ‪WorldCup2018‬.

Since it has always been my habit to link almost everything back to football imagine my suspicion when I saw this headline:
"Qatar and Russia agree on Syria peace plans".

Russia and Qatar, controversially awarded the hosting of the next 2 World Cups, coming together to act as peacemakers in one of the world's biggest current tragedies. Coincidence? Probably. But the mix of football and politics has for a while now been quite complicated, or simple, really, since there the two are so closely linked.