Category Archives: Football governance

How worried should we be about the recent Danish football crisis?

By Editor , 10th September 2018 at 10:09 AM (11v11 blog)

After Denmark were predictably beaten 3-0 in a recent international friendly against Slovakia, it became apparent that the problems facing the international team were much bigger than first feared. For many, the match represented the kind of match which you play on your games console, whereby your friend picks Real Madrid whilst you opt to play as whoever is at the bottom of the football league pyramid at the time. Denmark included an internet star, a student and a number…

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VAR: the new referee in World Cup group matches

By Editor , 06th July 2018 at 8:03 PM (11v11 blog)

With the end of the group phase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it is possible to make an initial summary of the utilisation of the video assistant referee (VAR) in Russia. Although the new technology allows the correction of some errors, it also brought some new controversies. In this article, the most important uses of the VAR during the first two weeks of the competition are highlighted and we suggest how the competition would have progressed without VAR. (more…)

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Why do Toon fans despise Mike Ashley?

By Editor , 19th January 2018 at 4:08 PM (11v11 blog)

When Mike Ashley announced he had put the club up for sale back in October 2017, the Toon Army rejoiced. After a decade at the club, Ashley is arguably the most despised owner in the Premier League. So what is that makes the Sports Direct tycoon so hated? Here are just four of the many reasons why Toon fans can’t stand Ashley… The Kevin Keegan saga Newcastle’s local newspaper rightly says that Kevin Keegan is a Toon legend. After helping…

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Sports betting moguls: are Premier League football club owners in an offside position?

By Editor , 22nd September 2017 at 2:22 PM (11v11 blog)

The world was running on high stakes in 2014. Among the main headlines, such as “Russia Annexes Crimea” and “Ebola Strikes West Africa”, a governmental clampdown on the gambling sector in the UK was sending a ripple of discontent through the ranks of the top eight tiers of the football English league. (more…)

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FIFA video assistant referees and the FIFA Confederations Cup

By Editor , 19th June 2017 at 1:21 PM (11v11 blog)

After trials at U-20 level, elements of FIFA’s Play Fair! Initiative are now making a big splash at senior international level in the FIFA Confederations Cup, in particular with the use of 'Video Assistant Referees' (VARs) which represent just one of the major changes to the game’s rules being debated and tested. The IFAB and FIFA formally launching the new play fair! Initiative last Thursday as part of “a strategy focussing on improving fairness and the image of the game.”…

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The return of the terraces – AKA safe standing section?

By Editor , 13th October 2016 at 1:58 AM (11v11 blog)

Manchester United, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion are the latest clubs to explore the possibility of installing a so-called safe standing area at their grounds begging the question as to whether, 27 years after Hillsborough, the call for a return to terraces in English stadiums is becoming too loud to be ignored. (more…)

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Five divisions of 20 – Football League restructure proposal resurfaces

By Editor , 20th May 2016 at 7:03 PM (11v11 blog)

The Football League has released proposals that could see the domestic professional league system re-organised into five divisions of 20 teams from the start of the 2019-20 season. As if to prove there’s nothing new in the game, the same proposal was put forward back in the sixties and, half a century later, could the 100-club structure suffer the same fate? The 21st century version carries the title of a ‘Whole Game Solution’. It was in 1959 that Football League…

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The FIFA presidential candidates

By Editor , 05th February 2016 at 4:46 AM (11v11 blog)

The five candidates vying for the votes of the 209 national football associations in the contest due to take place on February 26 in Zurich are surely the most impressively named candidates for any election ever: Gianni Infantino, Jerome Champagne, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa and Tokyo Sexwale. On this page we briefly evaluate their campaigns, chances of success and public pledges of support. A candidate needs a two third majority of voters to win in…

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Championship clubs suffering increasing debt threat

By Editor , 28th October 2015 at 9:47 AM (11v11 blog)

Whilst Premier League sides continue to thrive by pulling in huge amounts of revenue each and every season thanks to ticket sales, lucrative television deals and merchandising, things aren’t quite as rosy in the finance departments of many teams in the lower tiers of English football. Accumulated debt in the Championship reached a staggering £1.1 billion last season, nearly double the amount England’s second division currently generates in revenue, so what gives? Despite pulling in £646.4 million in revenue this…

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Clarifying the offside law

By Editor , 04th August 2015 at 4:30 PM (11v11 blog)

I have to admit that I’m very much a traditionalist when it comes to the offside rule. It used to be oh so simple. Well, as simple as the offside law could ever be; you were either offside or you weren’t. Notwithstanding that, in this article I will look at the new clarifications of the offside rule introduced by the International FA Board (IFAB). The off-side rule has become over-complicated by the question as to whether a player was "interfering…

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