Football’s descent into chaos: something now has to give

Second Nottingham Forest fined after criticising VAR Stuart Attwell on social media

What they tell us is that international football is utterly out of control and that the power of the secretive and allegedly independent regulatory commission running things on behalf football can wave its stick around and effectively show that freedom of speech and opinion is not part of football.

Let’s consider these two points.   The cause of the “held hostage” story was an international match.   Of course it was – this is where events like that happen, not before or after league games.   And the Forest affair came about because freedom of speech has never been part of football.

Indeed we could pause for a moment and imagine what things would be like if the FA ran the government or one of the international associations ran the United Nations.   Well, perhaps we shouldn’t consider either because both thoughts are too frightening to contemplate, and most certainly none of us would be around for long to witness the outcome.

For the FA, like Fifa and Uefa, is a self-perpetuating body.  They don’t stand for election in any normal sense of the word, they have no rivals, they just carry on evolving themselves, controlled by no one telling everyone else what to do.

And yet each of them is dependent on the clubs bowing down to their power and position and taking their decisions as final, no matter how bonkers.   Well, all except Manchester City who famously manipulated the appeal via the Court of Arbitration in Sport in 2020 so that the hearing was held so late the court had no choice but to say that the appeal was out of time and Manchester City could walk free.

But now we have the Spanish league president claiming that we have just seen “one of the most important days in football” after Europe’s leagues at last have come together to take on Fifa accusing it of “abusive and anti-competitive” behaviour.

This surely should also give the rest of the Premier League the impetus to take control of the league back from Manchester City, whose view is clearly that they have more money so can afford to go on suing everyone else until the rest either go bust or cave in.

Of course if these issues were all rising to the top of the agenda at different times, it is possible that they could be picked off one by one, but the clubs rising against Uefa and Fifa in Europe, and the Premier League rising up against Manchester City at the same time, gives an additional focus to how football is run.

The enlarged 2026 World Cup, the expanded Club World Cup, the case against Manchesetr City in which both sides claim to have won and have demanded that the other side jolly well should take note and change their ways, and the still on-going115 claims against ManC, all colliding together, shows us that something has to give somewhere.

Now the European Commission is deciding whether to open proceedings against Fifa, and while that is going on it is possible another issue could be thrown into the mix – the accusation that Fifa has ignored all human rights issues when considering Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup bid.

Fifa of course argues that it has to have a monopoly since otherwise international football could not be properly organised, and on that point they might win (although such an argument has never stopped boxing existing as a sport).  But with Fifa that is not the essence of the case – it is the “abuse of dominance” which is something that can violate European competition law.   Within this legal framework, Fifa is obliged to have meaningful discussions with interested parties (players and leagues) but constantly refuses to do so, always placing its own money-making at the top of the list of priorities.

What’s more those taking the action are being clear that they are not just looking for compensation; they are arguing that the decision is wrong at every level because Fifa does not negotiate.  It decides.

As things stand 32 teams will play in a competition in the USA in June and July.   Fifa has been asked to reschedule the tournament taking into account the rest of the football annual timetable.  It has refused, and we are now at the tipping point.