Dear WSC
I found Rob Smythe’s comments on Juan Pablo Angel to be a heart-warming defence of life as an assimilating millionaire. I agree that the lazy journalists of which he speaks should “get off their fat arses and make their way up to Villa Park”. Perhaps they could give some of the absent Villa fans a lift while they are at it. For every London-based hack missing out on “the best Villa side for a number of years” there are 1,500 Villa fans out shopping on a Saturday. Oh hang on, Newcastle v Villa is game of the day on tonight’s show. It looks like the team forgot to turn up to this one. Twenty minutes prime time and you blew it. Note to Des – only show extended coverage of Villa when they win. Happy, Mr Smythe?
Chris Wright, via email
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Stories
Belarus missed their two best players as Ukraine pipped them for a World Cup play-off spot. Paul Roberts explains why some saw sinister motives at work
"It was treachery and disgraceful,” said the Belarus coach Eduard Malofeyev. He was referring to the performance of his two key midfielders, Oleksandr Khatskevich and Valentsin Belkevich, after his team’s 2-0 home defeat in the crucial World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on September 2. Khatskevich was substituted at half-time and Belkevich on the hour. The two players then refused to travel to Wales for the final qualifier (“still ashamed of themselves” according to Malofeyev) which a demoralised and weakened Belarus lost 1-0. This allowed Ukraine to snatch the group five play-off place at the death, thanks to a controversial late goal by Andriy Shevchenko in Poland.
The recent wrangle ove coverage of the World Cup is only one symptom of the fear that the TV rights boom is over. Alan Tomlinson looks at the ramifications for FIFA
Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, is the quintessential marketing man, a salesman for sport’s biggest event, the World Cup. You’d think it would be the easiest selling job in the world. Guido Tognoni, FIFA’s top media man for ten years until 1994, once told me: “In FIFA you don’t have to sell the product, it’s a self-seller. FIFA lives from one event, the World Cup, and this event lives from marketing and television receipts.”
Craig Brown's reign was a pretty joyless one, but the blame for Scotland's plight lies elsewhere, says Ken Gall. And bidding for Euro 2008 will make things worse
The strangely high-pitched booing at the end of Scotland’s wretched World Cup tie against Latvia (courtesy of thousands of primary school children fortunate enough to receive free tickets) marked a slightly surreal end to Craig Brown’s term as national manager. Yet the manner of Brown’s departure was symptomatic of much of his eight years in charge. Once again we had the passionless Hampden occasion, the tie against a Baltic state (entire stretches of his reign appear to have taken place against these countries) and the unmerited victory somehow ground out against palpably more gifted opponents.
Sunday 1 Liverpool might enter the Vieira bidding war – “Of course we’d be interested in a player like him,” says M Gérard – though Arsenal continue to insist through collectively gritted teeth that he’s not for sale. Man Utd chief executive Peter Kenyon denies claims that United have been snubbed by several transfer targets. “Listening to all the speculation you'd think we were a club on the precipice. We’ve not had one rejection.” Brazil lose another World Cup tie, 1-0 in Uruguay, which leaves them barely hanging on to South America’s fourth automatic qualifying place.