Quote of the week
Karl Oyston: found to have “illegitimately stripped” Blackpool of £26.77m. The ruling came 10 months after he called fans protesting about asset-stripping “a busted flush … I’m sure they’ll get bored in time. You can only go on so long trotting out the same tired rhetoric. They’re naive, child-like … I pity them.”
• Oyston’s other best efforts to change the narrative since 2014: calling a fan “a massive retard … special needs fuctard”; pledging to ban protestors “unless they sign acceptable behaviour orders”; and calling for more respect for his family’s “loyalty and commitment to the club … My father’s a manic Blackpool fan, and he suffers when the club’s not doing well. It really affects him.”
• Owen Oyston’s view in May last year on the family’s image: “People think we’re asset-stripping, taking money out – it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s a pack of lies – it’s the kind of media attacks we’ve had. The media never let the truth interfere with a good story.” His message to fans: “Financially we’ve been a huge success.”
Meanwhile
Yet to work out its line on the case – the EFL: still “reviewing the high court’s decision”. Among the EFL board members in charge of governance during the period when Blackpool were being stripped: Karl Oyston – elected for a third term in 2013, serving to 2015.
• Leading the praise for Oyston’s re-election in 2013 – then-EFL chairman, now FA chairman Greg Clarke: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Karl back to the board. Over the coming years his experience will be invaluable in shaping our organisation.”
Other news: freshest start
Fifa – rewriting their 2026 World Cup bidding process to stop countries being exploited. One clause that survived the edit: “Governments must grant a general tax exemption for Fifa … and [all] Fifa subsidiaries, limited to the period of preparation, delivery and wrap-up, ending on 31 December 2028.”
Probe of the week
Swiss prosecutors, investigating who left a €20k Cartier watch “under Jérôme Valcke’s hotel pillow” in Doha in 2015. Lawyers for PSG and BeIN president Nasser Al-Khelaifi denied he was behind it – telling Le Parisien such gifts are part of Qatar’s standard “protocol service” for visitors. Both deny wrongdoing.
Still smarting
Lazio communications head Arturo Diaconale – identifying why the media “overplayed” coverage of their fans mocking the Holocaust last month. “This team, this club has grown in ways no one imagined – and that has provoked envy.”
• Also feeling resented: Nottingham Forest’s EFL-endorsed owner Evangelos Marinakis, standing down as head of Olympiakos to fight “baseless” Greek match-fixing charges. Marinakis says the charges were motivated by “envy … My innocence will be proven.”
Win of the week
Brazil: Vasco president Eurico Miranda, 73 – re-elected on a traditional values ticket, including: “Football is a man thing. That’s why I’m against gays and women.” Miranda denied “sad claims” he rigged the vote with a “suspect ballot box”: “This was all done with the greatest transparency, including the adding up.”
• His other headline policy, set out in February: “I’m against gay referees. I’ve got nothing against gays, just fags, the flamboyant fags, all full of themselves. They’re going to be biased for the players they fancy.”
Apologies of the week
1) Colombia FA officials, “sincerely sorry” after Adidas used Bayern’s James Rodríguez to model the new Colombia men’s kit, and Miss Universe 2014, Pauline Vega, to model the women’s. “This was an involuntary error. The women of the national team are in our hearts.”
2) Colombia’s Edwin Cardona, responding to condemnation of his “slant eye gesture” at South Korea players. “I meant no disrespect to anyone, country or race. If anyone interpreted it that way, I’m sorry.” Coach José Pékerman: “It was a physical game. Things happen during a game like this.”
Arley Durán Gómez
(@arleydeportes)El gesto de Cardona a los coreanos…. pic.twitter.com/CHdvVjK6e4
Manager news: changing times
2008: Karren Brady on David Moyes’s new Everton deal: “£65,000-a-week seems a lot for a man whose only honours in six years are some Manager of the Month awards … Moyes had Bill Kenwright on toast.” 2017: Hands him a six-month deal with £2m bonus.
• Also making changes:
Argentina, 7 Nov: Arsenal de Sarandi coach Humberto Grondona – son of late Fifa racketeer Julio – announcing his “irrevocable resignation”, then revoking it four hours later. “I regretted it, so I returned. Arsenal’s my home. I just get tired, you know?”
Belgium, 17 Oct: AS Eupen managing director Christoph Henkel, easing pressure on coach Jordi Condom. “It’s up to the players to question themselves, not always to complain about the coach. Condom stays.” 6 Nov: Condom goes.
Bolivia: Top-flight club Jorge Wilstermann sacking coach Roberto Mosquera after he picked five foreign players for a game by mistake, invalidating the result and leading to a points deduction. Mosquera: “It’s harsh. I made 141 changes for the Wilstermann. 140 of them were good.”
Most respectful
Romania: CSM Poli Iasi coach Flavius Stoican – banned for throwing his coat at a referee while his staff put on pre-prepared “We Want Fair Referees” T-shirts. Stoican said match officials were “feckless and timid, tiny puppies, small, small puppies. No personalities at all.”
And best theory
Italy: Serie A Benevento president Oreste Vigorito, reflecting on 12 straight defeats: “This city has historically suffered from witches. That’s where the blame lies.” His message before next Sunday’s game against Sassuolo, where a loss would break Manchester United’s 1930-31 record for defeats at the start of a season: “One thing is certain: we’re staying in Serie A. We will never give up.”