England

Insideworldfootball.biz

Good can sometimes come out of evil, and the debate on racism that the game is going through could well lead to English football going down the road of America and adopting the Rooney rule. This rule, named for Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and chairman of the league’s diversity committee, was introduced in 2003 so that minority coaches, especially African Americans, were at least considered for high-level coaching positions.

It basically states that, for a position of general manager or head coach, a minority candidate must be interviewed. Not necessarily given the job, but part of the selection process. Americans emphasise that this is not a quota system. It is a means of making the system fairer and reflecting the world of American football. The acceptance of the rule has seen several NFL franchises hire African American head coaches, and now eight of the 32 teams have black coaches. This, in a league where 67 per cent of the players are black, is not an unreasonable proportion.

Read more >

Evening Standard

Image courtesy of Evening Standard

John Terry refused a plea from the Professional Footballers’ Association to step down as England captain until after his trial for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.

Standard Sport can reveal that the players’ union approached the Chelsea skipper after his case was adjourned until July 9, eight days after the Euro 2012 Final.

The PFA made it clear to Terry – who denies the charge – that if he gave up the role they would issue a statement saying it was not an admission of guilt and that the defender was innocent until the court had reached a verdict.

Read more >

Evening Standard

Standing tall: thanks to a major overhaul of the Charlton squad last summer, Chris Powell has put his team on course for promotion. Image courtesy of Evening Standard

Chris Powell may measure his words carefully but the Charlton manager is not afraid to make it crystal clear that football has failed to handle the race issue.

We are in his office at the training ground where he has just accepted the manager-of-the-month award for the second time this season with his side top of League One.

I have just asked him whether the Football Association were right, two weeks ago, to strip John Terry of the England captaincy, the decision that triggered Fabio Capello’s sudden departure as manager. The allegation – which Terry denies – surfaced four months ago when he was accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.

Read more >

The Independent on Sunday

Harry Redknapp’s innocence was no surprise to his legal team, who had been saying for months the charges should never have been brought.

But while last week’s not guilty verdict was an obvious relief to Redknapp, the evidence presented at Southwark Crown Court raises questions about how football is run. For despite all the money in the game, it is still more like a cottage industry whose practices most other businesses would find unacceptable.

Read more >

Financial Times – Opinion

Fabio Capello’s departure goes beyond the all too familiar story of an England football manager failing to satisfy the country’s often unrealistic expectations of its national team. At the heart of this affair is the governance of the sport. Mr Capello, by publicly disagreeing with the Football Association’s decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy, was challenging the authority of his employers.

When Mr Capello went on television last Sunday to express his views, he might as well have said: “I govern English football, not the FA”. His air was that of a chief executive who had been surprised by an unforeseen board decision. Mr Capello may have been paid £6m per year, several times the salary Stephen Hester receives to run Royal Bank of Scotland, but he has nothing like Mr Hester’s powers. He was the head of the FA’s most important production unit, not its CEO….Read the full article