Just say no to Mr Warner.
By: Martin Samuel (Times).
So now we know what the FA means when it claims to be influential in Fifa circles. Influential as in acquiescent; influential as in mute and unseeing; influential as in prepared to do anything, to sacrifice any principle or last crumb of self-respect in a vain grab for the 2018 World Cup.
There is a good chance that England will end their season with a match in Trinidad & Tobago, at the invitation of Jack Warner, the Fifa vice-president and president of Concacaf. Ostensibly it will mark the centenary of football on the islands; in reality it will be an exercise in glad-handing one of the most powerful figures in the world game - a man who has stated his aversion to a World Cup in England.
There is a suggestion that Warner will have to retract some of his more incendiary comments if England are to make the trip and the FA may even dress this up as a moral victory. It is nothing of the sort. If England follow Warner’s beckoning, crooked finger in the hope of bolstering the 2018 bid, they give credibility to one of the most despicable figures in football.
Warner’s continued presence at the right hand of Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, leaves the organisation without authority while its leader pontificates on moral and ethical issues. In 2006, World Cup tickets allocated to Trinidad & Tobago were sold in packages by a travel company run by Warner’s son, Daryan. Fifa’s executive committee expressed disapproval but claimed that there was no proof that Jack Warner knew what Daryan Warner was doing, or that the son got hold of tickets for a Fifa tournament through his father, the vice-president of Fifa. Profits from this scheme may have run into seven figures.
After the competition, Warner offered Trinidad & Tobago’s World Cup players a bonus of £498 each, claiming that his federation had made a profit in the region of £1.462 million from the tournament, before deducting costs of £1.434 million. Government figures put the World Cup income at nearer £13.862 million. Warner’s reaction was to attempt to ban any dissenting players from the team and, again, Fifa turned a blind eye. This was, apparently, a localised dispute.
There is more. According to John McBeth, the former president of the Scottish FA, Warner asked for a cheque from Trinidad & Tobago’s friendly international against Scotland on May 30, 2004 to be made to him personally, rather than to his federation. McBeth refused.
Sport and ethics are often strange bedfellows, as the presence of the Olympic Games in Beijing demonstrates. It is wrong that sportsmen are required to make value judgments about men such as Robert Mugabe when governments are too cowardly to act. Warner’s case is different. The FA is not being asked to take a political stand by refusing the trip to Trinidad & Tobago. Saying no to Warner is saying no to the abuse of power at the top of the game. Sadly, it is more likely that the FA will submit in the craven hope of garnering the support of a man whose patronage is the very sign that the mission is misguided. If this is what needs to be done to get the World Cup, why would any decent nation want it?
Fabio Capello keen to fix up June Trinidad trip.
By: Henry Winter (Telegraph).
Fabio Capello has given the Football Association's marketing men permission to organise a controversial June 3 friendly with Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain to celebrate the centenary of the local federation. The leading figure in Trinidad and Tobago football, Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, would still be expected to retract disparaging comments about "irritant" England before Soho Square sanctions a trip guaranteed to vex Premier League managers.
If Warner explains why he observed that "England invented the sport but have never made any impact on world football" and "nobody in Europe likes England", and also guarantees that the T and T players are properly paid, then the match will go ahead.
For all their annoyance over Warner's derogatory remarks, and enduring unease over allegations of corruption placed at his door (most recently over ticket sales at the 2006 World Cup), the FA are particularly keen on the fixture because Concacaf's president can deliver three Fifa votes that will assist the English in their bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Under Capello's iron-fist rule, FA mandarins knew the match must fit in with the Italian's vision of how England can best prepare for the 2010 World Cup. Offered a range of overseas friendlies in June, including Australia, Mexico, the United States and T and T, Capello approved the Caribbean option because it suited his desire for a five-day training camp with a game against relatively unthreatening opposition.
FA officials laugh at the suggestion that such a driven coach as Capello would acquiesce to a friendly fixture programme that did not primarily serve his team-building purposes; they are simply delighted that his choice also benefits their 2018 push. Any doubts about Capello being his own man were dispelled when he banished the darling of the FA marketing department, David Beckham, to the international wilderness. Soho Square will sell fewer corporate deals on the presence of David Bentley at No 7, but they respect Capello's game plan.
And he wants some "quality time" with Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and company. A few hours with the players before friendlies against Switzerland on Wednesday and France next month is useful as an ice-breaking exercise, but the real bonding comes in late May, early June. "There is a lot of work to do," said Capello. When Premier and Champions League races are run, Capello will have 10 days to drill the players into what he wants for the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign beginning in September with trips to Andorra and Croatia. Capello informed the FA that he wanted a reasonably testing game at Wembley on May 28, still unconfirmed after Scotland withdrew, followed by a training camp and half-decent challenge outside Europe.
Nothing happens now without fitting in with Capello, as his players will discover today when he puts them through an unprecedented double drill, first at London Colney and then Wembley.
Capello had dinner last night with Gerrard, Rooney and the rest at the Grove, England's hotel near Watford, and will this morning outline his expectations on and off the field (deliver and behave), before explaining that the captain's armband is up for grabs with Gerrard expected to 'bags' it against the Swiss. The Liverpool dynamo will certainly enjoy the backing of the England fans, who yesterday voted him their Player of the Year. "It's a fantastic honour, coming from the fans makes it very special to me," said Gerrard, who polled 22 per cent of the vote despite rarely impressing for England in 2007, even missing a crucial chance against Russia in Moscow. Micah Richards came second.
"There were a number of players who did really well last year: Gareth Barry came back into the team and had some great games, and Micah Richards was really consistent for someone so young particularly playing in defence," added Gerrard.
English obsession over who is captain has surprised Capello, who comes from Italy, where they tend to hand the armband to the man with the most caps. "I plan to name a captain for the Switzerland game on Tuesday, but I don't expect to appoint a permanent captain until we start the qualifying games," said Capello. "I want to work closely with the players before deciding on this."
John Terry, currently injured, is favourite to retain the armband in the long run but three other senior players have privately confided their ambition to captain the side. As well as the honour, players (and their agents) are very aware of the sizeable commercial benefits running into six figures of being England captain. Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves have been tipped as potential long-term captains, along with Terry and Gerrard. Peter Crouch, Gerrard's Liverpool team-mate, voiced the "excitement" of all the players last night. "It's a new manager, a new era," said Crouch. "We all know his track record is fantastic and we're all looking forward to working with him."
For all Crouch's upbeat sentiments, a feeling of uncertainty sweeps through the dressing room, as the inscrutable Capello has been keeping them all on their toes. They all know he is ruthless, a streak he displayed over the weekend by standing down five members of his provisional 30-man squad: Michael Carrick, Curtis Davies, Stewart Downing, Nicky Shorey and Glen Johnson. Emile Heskey and Ledley King pulled out injured, and Jermain Defoe last night replaced Aston Villa's electric striking talent, Gabriel Agbonlahor, who has a hamstring strain. Capello, the Iron Duke, will take it in his stride.
