| Brooking gives up on coaching dream • Brooking told he was in danger of losing his legacy• FA will now concentrate on training coachesSir Trevor Brooking, the Football Association's director of football development, has finally given up on his ambition to control all aspects of coaching, even in professional clubs' academies.At a two-day conference this week, hosted by the FA and involving both leagues, the managers' and players' unions and several clubs' academy heads, there was at last broad agreement on how to proceed with youth development. The FA will now concentrate on training coaches, developing grassroots players and offering support for international players. One insider said: "Alex Horne [Brooking's boss as FA general secretary] has pulled Trevor round by telling him he was in danger of losing his legacy."Beyond Wembley, most stakeholders in the game agree that the recent years of impasse in the FA's football development have been down to Brooking's unworkable desire to control all aspects of youth development, even in club academies. Indeed, even the FA's former chairman, Lord Triesman, told a parliamentary committee investigating England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 two years ago: "We haven't done as well as we could have [in player development] and we've got to shoulder our part of the responsibility."Despite Brooking's seven years in the post, the FA has a lamentable record in producing coaches, with only one Uefa-qualified coach for every 812 registered players. The world and European champions, Spain, have one for every 17. With everyone on the same page now, perhaps that can change.Labour's lost the loveEd Miliband's gag in his first major Labour conference speech as party leader, about how he will "never forget the day" he "stole his [brother's] football", may presage more than it seemed to: Labour's great Alastair Campbell-led love affair with football is over. Of the four male candidates in the Labour leadership election, Ed Miliband was decidedly the least enthusiastic about the game.There was no greater fan than Andy Burnham: the former culture secretary and one-time Football Task Force administrator. His love for the sport may even have harmed his hopes of winning leadership. He stated in a Labour Uncut interview that he would prefer to have played in the FA Cup final for Everton than to be Labour's next prime minister. Oops.Then there was David Miliband, when foreign secretary, almost provoked a diplomatic incident after posting his complaints about foreign players and officials on his department's official website following a Champions League defeat for Arsenal.Even Ed Balls was a football enthusiast and, like Burnham and Miliband Sr, was a player for the Labour Demon Eyes football team from its earliest days. But the Milibands' closest friends recognise the new Labour leader has nothing more than a "passing interest" in football. With David Cameron in No10 – he claims to be an Aston Villa fan due simply to having watched his first match there – football has fewer friends in high places than before.End Levy, says ToppingThe racing industry has a funding crisis and William Hill's chief executive, Ralph Topping, can see why. "The Levy is beyond its economic life and [the government must] agree to replace it with a commercial alternative," he says. Of course, the then British Horseracing Board once tried to do this, seeing charging for its database rights as a potential substitute for the Levy and secured the government's agreement. Sure, the amount it was seeking, at double bookmakers' then Levy contribution, was probably too high. But rather than negotiate, betting instead shot it down with a legal challenge that went all the way to the European Courts of Justice in 2005. And which bookie was the plaintiff? Why, William Hill.Spurs fans kept waitingThousands of Tottenham Hotspur fans had to miss out on the effervescent first 20 minutes of the first tie in the Champions League proper ever to be staged at White Hart Lane last night. "I got there at 7.20pm and just got in 8.07pm – along with about 5,000 others," one of them wrote to Digger, every word soaked in despondency at the injustice of it all. Spurs say a fire alarm went off, automatically locking the inward-bound turnstiles of the Paxton Road Stand.The FAPremier LeagueFootball LeagueFootball politicsMatt Scottguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Schalke 04 2 Benfica 0: match report Jefferson Farfan and Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar score two late goals to secure victory for German side. telegraph.co.uk |
MCG not settled for Cup bid The centre piece of Australia's World Cup bid is the availability of the MCG, and the AFL's agreement to hand over the ground comes with a catch. foxsports.com.au |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 West Ham United | Premier League match report The received, or rather perceived, wisdom about events at Molineux this season is such that it would have been no surprise if Wolves had worn hobnails and West Ham suits of armour. In reality, not even Danny Murphy could have disapproved of any of the tackles, and the only booking came in the third minute of added time, for a verbal offence.It is pertinent to note that Karl Henry, whose aggressive challenges have caused such a furore, was a notable absentee, starting a three-match suspension, but the evidence here certainly supported Mick McCarthy's insistence that he does not "pump up" his players. If anything, they seemed short on assertiveness in the second half, allowing the Hammers to wrest the initiative away from them.With both teams anchored in the bottom two places in the Premier League, it was probably to be expected that they should give the ball away with monotonous regularity. West Ham's reputation for constructive football goes before them, so it was a sad shame to see them scuffling to regain possession carelessly conceded. Their decline can be measured by their failure to win away in the league for 22 games – since this fixture on the opening day last season.In fairness, they threatened to end that barren sequence with a strong fightback in the second half that culminated in Frédéric Piquionne shooting past Marcus Hahnemann, only to be penalised for a dubious handball. Avram Grant claimed the Frenchman had controlled the ball with his chest, but to the naked eye it looked more like the upper arm.Wolves arrived on the back of four successive league defeats, they were without their captain, Henry, and lost his deputy, Jody Craddock, after only five minutes, with a back injury. For all that, they were much the better team throughout the first half, and should have had more than one goal to show for it.Quicker, sharper and more purposeful in their use of possession, they were ahead after 10 minutes when a left-wing cross from Stephen Ward was punched weakly by Robert Green to Matt Jarvis, who volleyed straight back from 12 yards.Green atoned with top-notch saves to deny David Jones and Richard Stearman, to keep West Ham in it, and set the stage for their revival. In the second half it was all West Ham, with Scott Parker controlling the midfield and pushing them on to the front foot. Without Henry, Wolves had nobody to win the ball and turn the tide again.West Ham were level after 53 minutes, when Kevin Foley nudged over Victor Obinna, and Mark Noble drove the penalty into the roof of the net. Piquionne then shivered the crossbar with a mighty drive, Obinna went close and Piquionne thought he had won it three minutes into added time, and was sufficiently incensed when his "goal" was disallowed to protest too vehemently to the referee, for which he was booked.To no great surprise, both managers thought Mark Clattenburg had got the key decisions wrong. West Ham's was a "soft" penalty, according to McCarthy; Piquionne's had been a legitimate goal, Grant insisted, adding: "We deserved to win today."Both decisions were borderline, and for those with no axe to grind, Clattenburg had a good game; more than could be said for most of the players.For Wolves, it gets no easier. They are away to Chelsea next Saturday, then play Manchester United in the Carling Cup before resuming the scrap for league points against Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal. Shrugging at the prospect, McCarthy said: "It could be worse – it could be Scunthorpe, Doncaster and Barnsley."Premier LeagueWolverhampton WanderersWest Ham UnitedJoe Lovejoyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Everton v Liverpool: Anfield club fired up after running Texans out of town Liverpool looking forward to the future after takeover trauma, starting on Sunday at Goodison Park. telegraph.co.uk |