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The head of Spain’s football federation was arrested yesterday in an investigation into suspected corruption by top officials.
Angel Maria Villar, his son Gorka Villar, and several Spanish federation executives were detained by Spanish police on suspicion of embezzlement, fraud and collusion. Mr Villar Snr, a former player for the Spanish national team, has been president of the federation for almost 30 years and is also a vice-president of Fifa and Uefa.
The English Football League is to revisit its fit and proper persons test for club owners. The specific stimulus appears to have been events at Leyton Orient, although protests at other clubs are also mentioned.
In particular, the EFL is looking at what happens to a club after it has been purchased.
Jersey’s appeal against Uefa’s refusal to let them join the organisation will be heard in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne on Wednesday. If they were in Uefa now island champions St. Peter’s would be in the Champions League and runners up Jersey Wanderers would be in the Europa League.
Seventeen clubs play in two senior leagues with women and junior leagues on Sundays. The highlight of the season is the Muratti cup against Guernsey which can attract an attendance of 4,000.
The Premier League has tightened up its Owners and Directors Test. For the first time it will take into account whether prospective owners have committed an offence which would count as such in the UK.
There is concern about the increasing number of Chinese backed takeovers and the lack of transparency surrounding their financial arrangements.
Plymouth Argyle fans have expressed concern about the reappointment of Tony Wrathall as a director of the club. He bought a five per cent stake from owner James Brent.
Wrathall is a lifelong fan, but is seen as part of the old guard of the club and one of those who shared responsibility for it going into administration.
The Association of Millwall Supporters are to run a candidate in the general election in one of the Lewisham constituencies. They have the necessary funds.
It follows a falling out with the local Labour council and mayor after an attempt to acquire land owned by the club through a compulsory purchase order so that a redevelopment, effectively a gentrification project. could go ahead.
Views can differ about the harshness of the punishment on Joey Barton for breaking betting rules for players which effectively sent him into early retirement. However, a bigger issue is the whole relationship between football and the betting industry.
Half of Premier League clubs have gambling firms as shirt sponsors and most of them have gambling partners.
China has cut the number of foreign players allowed to play in each football match from four to three per team, although five will be allowed in the match day squad (one has to be Asian). There will also have to be one Chinese player under 23 on the pitch.
The Football Association is to take no action against Watford mascot Harry the Hornet who executed a mocking dive in front of Crystal Palace’s Wilfrid Zaha. Palace manager Sam Allardyce,already aggrieved that Zaha had been booked for simulation, complained that the mascot was ‘out of order’.
In fact there have been far worse incidents involving mascots. Robbie the Bobby from Bury was sent off three times in 2001, twice for mooning at opposition fans and once for pulling the ears off the rabbit mascot of Peterborough United.
Plans for a restructuring of the Football League into a five league, 100-team competition have been scrapped after talks with the Football Association broke down. The FA was not prepared to move FA Cup games to create more weekend slots for matches.
The plans were unpopular with the non-league system which would have lost its leading clubs. Clubs might have found it difficult to financially sustain league membership.