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Fifa dogged by scandal

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Football's governing body has been dogged by allegations and rumours of institutionalised corruption for decades.

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Cape Town - World football’s governing body is no stranger to scandal. The organisation has been dogged by allegations, accusations and rumours of institutionalised corruption.

Accusations of deep-seated corruption at FIFA first received widespread public attention in 2006, when British journalist Andrew Jennings published “Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals”. In it, Jennings detailed an alleged cash-for-contracts scandal, how some administrators were urged to pay back bribes in secret, and vote-rigging in Sepp Blatter’s bid to remain at the helm of the association.

1974 - João Havelange, is appointed president, promising to grow the reach of the sport by securing lucrative sponsorship and broadcasting deals. Later, Havelange would draw the ire of football administrators for th make-up of his executive committee and backing Sepp Blatter as his preferred candidate in the 1998 election.

1998 - Sepp Blatter is elected as successor to Havelange.

1999 - Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that Havelange had accepted bribes in connection with the Netherlands’ failed bid to secure the 1992 Olympic Games. The Guardian reports that at least 20 top football officials accepted “a million dollars in bribes” in order to back Blatter in the 1998 election.

2002 - CAF vice-president Farra Ado claims he had been offered US$100 000 to vote for Blatter. 66 of FIFA’s 207 members nominate Blatter for a second term in office.

October 2010 - Two members of FIFA’s executive committee, Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu, are suspended for reportedly offering to sell their votes in the 2018 and 2022 hosting campaign.

November 2010 - Temarii, Adamu and four others are banned from all football after an investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee finds them guilty of vote-selling. The men are also fined.

December 2010 - Russia is awarded hosting rights for 2018, with the 2022 World Cup being awarded to Qatar. This despite FIFA’s technical committee advising against Qatar as a host, saying the high temperatures would pose a threat to spectators, players and officials.

May 2011 - The United Kingdom orders a parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018 World Cup. The inquiry is told that four more senior FIFA members, including vice-president Jack Warner had solicited bribes in exchange for their votes. Allegations of bribery are levelled against another executive member, Charles “Chuck” Blazer during a Caribbean Football Union meeting. In response, Blazer orders an investigation of Warner and presidential hopeful, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam. Bin Hammam withdraws his candidacy hours before an ethics committee hearing. He is later suspended.

June 2011 - Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International and the English Football Association call for a postponement of FIFA’s presidential elections. FIFA goes ahead with its elective congress and Blatter is elected for a fourth term as FIFA president.

July 2011 - Bin Hammam is banned for life from all football activities. The ban was later overturned (in 2012), but was later handed a second life ban by FIFA due to “conflicts of interest” relating to his role as AFC president.

August 2011 - British newspaper, The Independent, reports that the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I.) is investigating claims of corruption involving several senior FIFA executives.

April 2013 - The Confederation of North Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) publishes its integrity report, fingering Warner as the culprit in massive fraud against CONCACAF and FIFA.

May 2013 - Blazer is suspended for 90 days.

May 2015 - Warner is among several high-ranking FIFA officials arrested days before the association’s 65th congress in Zurich, Switzerland. President Sepp Blatter and General Secretary Jerome Valcke are not among those arrested. Blatter has said the congress will go ahead, and is standing for a fifth consecutive term as president.

lance.witten@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

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‘A sad day for football’

Prince Ali bin al Hussein, a Fifa vice president from Jordan, called the arrests of Fifa members as "a sad day for football."

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The dawn detention of several Fifa leaders and a corruption raid on its headquarters on Wednesday rocked world football's governing body two days before its leader Sepp Blatter seeks a new term.

A Fifa vice-president was among seven people arrested at the luxury Zurich hotel where they were preparing for a congress starting Thursday. All now face deportation to the United States on charges of accepting more than $100 million in bribes.

US authoities said nine football officials are among 14 people facing charges over the longstanding corruption.

Separately, Swiss police seized files and emails at the Fifa headquarters as part of an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

The 2010 vote by Fifa that attributed the events has been surrounded by widespread allegations of fraud. A spokesman said Wednesday though that there was no question of changing the venues.

Fifa spokesman Walter de Gregorio said Blatter is not involved in the investigations and that the presidential vote would be held as planned on Friday.

“The timing is not great,” de Gregorio told reporters. But he added that “Fifa welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football.”

Blatter has been overwhelming favourite to win a fifth term at the head of the multi-billion dollar body. But the events could swing many votes.

His only challenger, Prince Ali bin al Hussein, a Fifa vice president from Jordan, called the arrests “a sad day for football.”

Prince Ali and European federation chiefs say a change of leadership is now urgently needed to save Fifa's tainted image.

The Fifa spokesman said Blatter was “relaxed” about the future fallout from the investigation.

“He isn't dancing in his office,” de Gregoria told reporters. “He is very, very calm, he sees what happens. He is fully cooperative with everybody.”

Swiss police gave a surprise 6:00am wake up call to Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb, from the Cayman Islands, and other six officials at the luxury Baur au Lac hotel. A US Department of Justice statement said seven people were detained.

US Attorney general Loretta Lynch said the investigations “spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”

Webb is head of the Concacaf North and Central American confederation and a longstanding ally of Blatter. US police also raided the Concacaf headquarters in Miami.

Eduardo Li, a Fifa executive committee member from Costa Rica, and Eugenio Figueredo, president of South American football governing body Conmebol from Uruguay, were also among those detained.

Police in plain clothes took the room keys from the reception and went to the rooms of the six, the New York Times said. The operation was carried out peacefully, it added.

The Swiss justice ministry said those detained were suspected of accepting “bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day.”

A ministry statement said that representatives of sports media and sports marketing companies allegedly paid bribes “in exchange for the media rights and the marketing rights for competitions in the United States and South America.”

The seven could agree to be extradited immediately or challenge the move in court. The US Justice Department said the detained officials could face up to 20 years in jail.

The Swiss raid on Fifa's headquarters formally opened an investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups that FIFA itself asked for in November.

Police are to question 10 members of the executive committee who took part in the 2010 vote while they are in Zurich for the Congress, officials said.

Qatar has strongly denied any wrongdoing linked to its bid. A former Fifa vice president from the Gulf state, Mohammed bin Hammam, was banned for life from Fifa because of corruption.

A former US attorney, Michael Garcia, investigated the World Cup bids. He left Fifa because it refused to fully publish his report.

In May, Blatter denied he was a target of an FBI corruption investigation and that he had no fear of going to the United States.

He said he would probably go in 2016 for a football tournament there and to Canada next month for the Women's World Cup.

The denial came after an ESPN television documentary said the Swiss official was afraid to go to the United States because of the FBI investigation. – AFP

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Blatter not implicated in probe

Fifa president Sepp Blatter and general secretary Jerome Valcke are not implicated in a corruption probe, the organisation's spokesman said.

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Fifa president Sepp Blatter and its general secretary Jerome Valcke are not implicated in a corruption probe underway into the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the organisation's spokesman said.

"The general secretary and the president are not involved in this," spokesman Walter De Gregoria told a hastily-arranged press conference.

He also said that the Fifa Congress to vote for who would be its president for the next four years would go ahead as planned in Zurich on Friday.

The announcements followed the dawn arrests of several top football officials in a Zurich hotel and a Swiss police raid on Fifa headquarters as part of a probe into the votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup which went respectively to Russia and Qatar.

The US Justice Department, meanwhile, unsealed an indictment against nine Fifa officials and five executives, charging them with conspiracy and corruption over a 24-year span.

The Department of Justice said it unsealed the indictment as officials raided the Concacaf soccer organization headquarters in Miami as part of the case.

"It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in the Justice Department statement about the charges.– AFP

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Baxter, Chiefs on collision course

Premier Soccer League champions Kaizer Chiefs and their successful head coach, Stuart Baxter, are heading for a showdown.

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Kaizer Chiefs and their successful head coach, Stuart Baxter, are headed for a showdown this week.

The two parties are set to meet to determine whether the 61-year-old Briton will continue at the helm of the popular Soweto club, who are also the current Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions.

Baxter still has a year to run on his contract, but is reported to have spoken of a few issues that are troubling him. And, because of his achievements at Chiefs, there is a great demand for his services, from teams in Africa and Europe. He is also said to be a target for the SA Football Association (Safa), who want to bring him on board as a technical director, to oversee all facets of the country’s various national teams.

For Chiefs, the decision is simple. Either they insist Baxter finishes his contract or they allow the coach to leave if he wants to, especially considering the sterling work he has done for the club.

Baxter certainly has nothing more to prove. He is on record as saying that, when offered the job at Chiefs three years ago, he jumped at the opportunity. He felt that, after the shoddy way he was treated during his tenure as Bafana Bafana coach (2004-2005), he wanted to set the record straight.

He wanted to prove, not only to Safa but to the country as a whole, that a mistake was made when he was fired as national coach. He is of the opinion that he should have been given more time then – and Bafana Bafana, who knows, could well have been on a different level by now.

Baxter’s work with Chiefs has been excellent. In his three seasons in charge of Amakhosi, he won two PSL titles and two Cup trophies. He completely overhauled the style of play at the club, adding the much-needed tactical discipline and defensive organisation that has allowed Chiefs to rise above the rest of the PSL.

His advice, guidance and inspiration have been vital in elevating the players at the club. Tefu Mashamaite has gone from just an ordinary defender, hoping to catch a game, to a superb leader and the PSL’s Player of the Season. Mandla Masango’s raw potential matured under Baxter – and he became a Bafana regular. With goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune injured for most of the season, and also holding out for an improved contract, Baxter had no hesitation in placing his trust in the reserve keepers – Brilliant Khuzwayo and Reyaad Pieterse – and both, when played, never let the side down.

Erick Mathoho, George Lebese, Willard Katsande, Siboniso Gaxa, Tsepo Masilela, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Bernard Parker and Siphiwe Tshabalala… they all seemed to sprout wings under Baxter’s care, allowing Chiefs to regain the glory that had deserted the club before the coach’s arrival.

But, as it is, the ball is probably firmly in Baxter’s court. It’s highly doubtful that Chiefs will play hard ball with a coach that has been good to them, inspired them, and taken the club to a higher level.

So for Baxter, therefore, the question is: What does he still need to prove? What challenge would motivate and inspire him?

The answer probably resides in the past. Read between the lines of Baxter’s interviews and it’s clear the coach is still hurt by his Bafana axing. It’s a job unfinished… It would, therefore, come as no surprise if next up for Baxter is the post as Safa’s technical director. - Cape Times

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Rodgers not alone to blame for signings

Martin Samuel asks - is Brendan Rodgers working with what he wants or what he is given?

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There are 24 signings credited to Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool and it is hard to get a decent starting XI from the lot of them. Some, like Daniel Sturridge, have been dogged by bad luck. Others, like Emre Can, may train on. Most, like Mario Balotelli, have been hopeless.

Yet how many are actually his? Liverpool’s recruitment policy is run by a transfer committee. To what extent is Rodgers taking a very public fall for the mistakes of colleagues?

Dave Fallows heads the department, Michael Edwards is director of performance analysis and Barry Hunter is chief scout; where are they in all this? So much of the traditional manager’s role is farmed out these days, yet the buck still stops at the boss’s door. As six Stoke City goals went in at the weekend, all eyes were fixed on the man in the technical area.

Yet is Rodgers working with what he wants or what he is given? And could it be this knowledge that saves his job this summer?

Simon Mignolet may have arrived in the Rodgers era, but was he actually a Rodgers signing? And what of Luis Alberto, or Iago Aspas? The argument will be that the manager has the final say on recruitment, but what are his options? How are the deals presented? There is a difference between desiring a player or simply acquiescing to the best of a poor bunch. Did Rodgers pursue Balotelli or did he merely come to realise the alternatives were even worse? Any review of his season must take this into account.

There has been great unrest at Newcastle United, too, but no demonstration has called for the resignation of head of recruitment Graham Carr. Yet it is Carr’s players that have underachieved and the control Carr exerted was one of Alan Pardew’s greatest frustrations. West Ham have no manager right now but are in negotiation for several players. Much the same happened at Manchester United last summer.

We think of this as the sophisticated, continental approach because we see it works at a club like Real Madrid. Yet Madrid are in a different league from Liverpool. Madrid can recruit independently because they go out and buy the best players in the world. If the new manager is presented with Paul Pogba, David de Gea or Thomas Muller this summer, he is hardly likely to complain.

Liverpool are not in the same market and a coach may feel there were alternatives to Tiago Ilori or Divock Origi, if properly consulted.

It is strange, this absence of trust — as if anyone knows what Rodgers needs, more than Rodgers. Maybe, this summer, he should be left to make his own mistakes. He could hardly do worse.– Daily Mail

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Welbeck to miss FA Cup final

Arsenal and England striker Danny Welbeck will miss the FA Cup final against Aston Villa due to a knee injury.

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Arsenal and England striker Danny Welbeck will miss Saturday's FA Cup final against Aston Villa due to a knee injury, the club's manager Arsene Wenger confirmed.

He had been regarded as doubtful after missing the last five league games of the season.

“I was prepared for that because he didn't practice until last Friday,” Wenger told a news conference.

He added that Welbeck was also expected to miss England's friendly against the Republic of Ireland and European Championship qualifier against Slovenia in the first two weeks of June. – Reuters

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Spurs to make a move for Ings

Tottenham Hotspur want Danny Ings to sign for them next month, with the Burnley striker a free agent from Monday.

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Tottenham Hotspur want Danny Ings to sign for them next month, with the Burnley striker a free agent from Monday.

Liverpool remain the favourites to sign the England Under-21 international but he is the subject of a concerted push from Spurs, who have missed out on their leading targets Jay Rodriguez, who has signed a new deal at Southampton, and Morgan Schneiderlin, on course to join Arsenal.

Ings, 22, would be available for around £5m to £6m training compensation for Burnley, where he has been for four years. His end-of-season form, with goals against Hull City and Aston Villa, have underlined his value and there is the potential to get the deal done early.

Burnley will offer Ings a new contract as a formality in order to qualify for the compensation due under Premier League regulations. The player has already told them that he will not sign and the fee could be set by tribunal if the two clubs cannot agree.

Ings confirmed to Burnley fans in an interview with the club's match-day programme that he would be leaving at the end of the season. He will assess his options and make a final decision in the next two weeks.

Liverpool's manager, Brendan Rodgers, and the club's transfer committee have identified Ings for some time as a target and the backing the manager has received from the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group, mean they will push ahead for that transfer.

Nevertheless, Spurs believe they can compete for Ings. They are also interested in his Burnley team-mate Kieran Trippier, 24, as back-up for Kyle Walker at right-back. – The Independent

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Fifa officials arrested for corruption

Six soccer officials were arrested in Zurich and detained pending extradition to the United States over suspected corruption.

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Zurich - Six soccer officials were arrested in Zurich and detained pending extradition to the United States over suspected corruption at soccer's governing body Fifa, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FCOJ) said in a statement.

The New York Times said they were high-ranking Fifa officials and were in Switzerland for the Fifa Congress where incumbent Sepp Blatter faces a challenge from Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in a presidential election on Friday.

“The US authorities suspect them of having received bribes totalling in the USD millions,” said the statement.

“The arrest warrants were issued further to a request by the US authorities. The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day.

“The bribery suspects - representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms - are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer officials - delegates of Fifa and other functionaries of Fifa sub-organizations - totaling more than $100 million.

“In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America.

“According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks.

The statement said the detainees would be questioned by Zurich police regarded the U.S. request.

“A simplified procedure will apply for wanted persons who agree to their immediate extradition. The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) can immediately approve their extradition to the US and order its execution.

“However, if a wanted person opposes their extradition, the FOJ will invite the US to submit a formal extradition request within the deadline of 40 days specified in the bilateral extradition treaty.” – Reuters

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I’ll ‘come back stronger’ - Bale

Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale has promised to “come back stronger” next season and quashed media speculation he might leave the club.

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Madrid - Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale has promised to “come back stronger” next season and quashed media speculation he might leave the club he joined in 2013 for a world record fee.

The Welsh international had a disappointing second year in Spain as his team failed to win a major trophy, prompting the sacking of coach Carlo Ancelotti on Monday.

Whistled by some fans at Real's Bernabeu stadium, Bale's agent raised eyebrows this month when he complained the 25-year-old's team mates were not passing the ball to him enough and he has also been criticised for what some perceive as selfishness in front of goal.

Reports in England have suggested he might leave, with Manchester United apparently interested in signing the former Tottenham Hotspur man.

However, Bale took to Twitter on Tuesday to say he would be vying for titles again with the world's richest club by income in 2014-15.

“Not the end of the season we had hoped for, we always want to win trophies,” Bale wrote.

“Will be working hard in the off season and looking forward to coming back next season stronger with @realmadrid.”

Bale's woes have marked a startling turnaround for a player who scored in the finals of the Champions League and the King's Cup last term.

He has scored 17 goals in 48 outings in all competitions this season, compared with 22 in 44 appearances in 2013-14.

Bale has also produced slightly fewer assists, setting up 11 goals for team mates after 12 the previous year.

The statistics are similar but according to a survey of 725 Real members conducted by market research firm SigmaDos for Marca sports daily, Bale rated five out of 10 for the season.

That compared unfavourably with Portuguese team mate Cristiano Ronaldo who scored 7.8 after netting a La Liga-best 48 goals and 61 in all competitions.– Reuters

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Napoli, Benitez to hold press conference

Napoli coach Rafael Benitez will hold a news conference amid speculation that the Spaniard is set to take over at Real Madrid, the Italian club announced.

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Milan - Napoli coach Rafael Benitez will hold a news conference on Thursday amid speculation that the Spaniard is set to take over at Real Madrid, the Italian club announced.

Napoli said the news conference would be held jointly with club president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Spanish media have made former Liverpool, Inter Milan and Chelsea coach Benitez the favourite to replace Carlo Ancelotti, who was fired by Real Madrid.

Benitez, whose contract runs to the end of the season, has had mixed fortunes during his two seasons with Napoli.

They won the Coppa Italia last term and finished third in Serie A but have failed to build on that.

They started this campaign by losing a Champions League qualifier to Athletic Bilbao and missed out on the lucrative group stage. They were beaten in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and Europa League and are fourth in Serie A.

Napoli must beat third-placed Lazio in their final Serie A game on Sunday to earn a place in next season's Champions League playoff round. – Reuters

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Fifa officials to be arrested

Authorities in Switzerland launched an operation to arrest several high-ranking Fifa officials on corruption charges, reports say.

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Authorities in Zurich, Switzerland launched an operation to arrest several high-ranking Fifa officials on corruption charges and extradite them to the United States, the New York Times reported.

The Times, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, said the U.S. federal charges include racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud and span two decades of misconduct in soccer's world governing body. More than 10 officials were expected to be indicted, the newspaper reported.

The officials are in Zurich for the Fifa Congress where incumbent Sepp Blatter faces a challenge from Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in a presidential election on Friday.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. – Reuters

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Four out of five fans don't want Blatter

Four out of five football fans believe Sepp Blatter should not be standing for a fifth term as Fifa president, a new survey shows.

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Zurich - Four out of five football fans believe Sepp Blatter should not be standing for a fifth term as Fifa president, according to a survey conducted by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.

Transparency said 35 000 supporters in 30 countries were polled in the survey conducted with Football Addicts, a Swedish developer behind the Forza Football app.

Blatter is the runaway favourite to win Friday's election where Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan is his only challenger. The 209-member associations of world soccer's ruling body Fifa hold one vote each.

Two other candidates, former Portugal forward Luis Figo and Dutch FA president Michael van Praag, withdrew last week. The poll was conducted when all four were still in the race.

“The poll was to assess how the effects of corruption and poor governance at Fifa is perceived by fans who will have no say in the vote,” said Transparency.

In answer to the question 'Following Fifa World Cup corruption scandals, should Sepp Blatter be standing again for President of Fifa?”, 83 percent voted no, it added.

Opposition to Blatter was strongest in Chile where 99 percent of those questioned said he should not be elected, and Portugal, with 97 percent against.

In his native Switzerland 84 percent replied that he should not stand.

Qatar, hosts of the 2022 World Cup, was the least hostile among the countries surveyed, with 60 percent saying he should not stand.

In reply to another question, 69 percent said they had no confidence in Fifa, 17 said yes and 14 percent did not know.

Transparency said Figo was the preferred candidate with 59.1 percent of the votes. He was followed by Van Praag (8.7), Prince Ali (5.3) and Blatter (2.2) while 24.6 percent would not vote for any of those candidates.

“The corruption and scandals associated with Fifa have so damaged its reputation that fans have no confidence in the organisation,” said Transparency spokeswomen Deborah Unger.

“That is sending a strong message to the small elite controlling Fifa that it must clean up its act. It is the fans who pay for and support football and make Fifa one of the most powerful organisations on the planet. They deserve better.”

Reuters

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Liverpool’s 25-year wait

There is a special significance in the history of Liverpool that concerns itself with winning their elusive 19th league championship title.

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There is a special significance for 2016 in the history of Liverpool Football Club, or rather a special significance in the history of Liverpool that concerns itself with winning their elusive 19th league championship title.

If and when the club pass a 26th anniversary without another league title, as looks likely barring a miraculous turnaround next season, then they will have gone longer than Manchester United did in their 26-year wait to win a league championship between 1967 and 1993. That 26-year wait for United felt epic, including, as it did, relegation, near misses, expensive transfer flops and a lurking suspicion that, as the pressure built in the 1980s, something was just fundamentally wrong with the club.

Yet this was football at a different time when, even under the yoke of Liverpool's domestic dominance, there was always the possibility of change, which came eventually with Alex Ferguson. At Liverpool, that potential in United was always acknowledged by Peter Robinson, erstwhile secretary and chief executive at the club who, as Graeme Souness wrote in his autobiography, held the “fear that Manchester United might get it right one day and if that happened they could take off in a big way and leave everyone else behind”.

For the Liverpool of 2015 who have just hit 25 years without a title, having just United in front of them would be an extraordinary blessing. That group has swelled to include Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur and now the question is not when the next league championship at Anfield will come, but whether winning league titles is realistically the sort of thing this club can still expect to do - at least in this era of football.

You might say they are the same fundamental questions now facing Liverpool, at one of their lowest ebbs, as face the Labour Party at a crossroads in its history. At what level can they compete? And what can they realistically hope to achieve? The 6-1 defeat at Stoke City for Brendan Rodgers had an awkward parallel with Ed Miliband's election night, in as much as every time one suspected that rock bottom had been reached, it turned out to be some leagues deeper than previously thought.

As a club, Liverpool have, over the past 25 years, often failed to read the future of football: hardly improving or expanding Anfield while others have built new stadiums; being slow to exploit their commercial potential; selling out originally to the wrong kind of owner. Now elite European football is changing again, with the Uefa decision to relax financial fair play, and as natural supporters of those regulations the club's owners Fenway Sports Group find themselves at odds with the mood of the times.

It comes at a moment when they have unequivocally supported their young manager to the tune of £240m over three years, and yet have finished second just once - and been unable to hold on to the player, Luis Suarez, chiefly responsible for having got them to that finish last season. FSG and John W Henry have a clear idea of what they want Liverpool to be: a self-sustaining entity in football's mad world and a club that, as the old saying goes, exists to win trophies. But what happens when Uefa's president, Michel Platini, relaxes FFP and the floodgates open again?

The mad world shows no sign of relenting. In fact, it might just be that the madness is elite European football's natural state of existence: the fossil fuel billionaires in the Premier League and at Paris Saint-Germain; Real Madrid and Barcelona pillaging their league's television deal; Bayern Munich's one-party state. Gary Neville warned Liverpool of succumbing to their own provincialism at the weekend but in many respects they overcame incredible odds to dominate Europe in the glory years of the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1980, when Liverpool were two European Cups into their run of four in seven years, the author James McClure spent a year embedded with Merseyside police. He described the inner-city area of Liverpool as “one of the most wretched in Western Europe, just as it was more than a century ago” in his book Spike Island about the challenges facing the city's police force. Liverpool's infant mortality rate in 1977 was at the average level of 1930, “its general living standards were judged to be those of the 1940s” and the city had Europe's worst teenage unemployment problem.

All that and Liverpool produced arguably the greatest club team that Britain has ever known. For those of us of Neville's generation, the temptation was to see Liverpool in the 1980s as an inviolable part of English football's establishment. Yet they were very much outsiders, a provincial club defying the economic and political conditions of the time. As John Aldridge observed of the north-south divide in the Anfield Rap in 1988, “they've got the jobs but we've got the side”. Sustaining that success in a new global market for players, against the lure of London with its economic pre-eminence and the wealth of United and latterly Manchester City was always going to be a conjuring act.

There has been a long tail from the league titles of the past, as Liverpool have enjoyed the power to attract great players and managers on the back of their history, and there have been spikes along the way such as 2001 under Gérard Houllier and then 10 years ago in Istanbul with Rafa Benitez - an achievement that becomes more remarkable as the years go by. But the question facing Liverpool as they reach the 26-year mark is whether they can still afford to judge themselves by those standards.

There will be the purists who will never step back from the expectation that the club exist to win trophies. If there is a buyer willing to take Liverpool off FSG's hands and pump them full of the money that Platini will permit in the post-FFP era then that existence could once again be viable. Otherwise Raheem Sterling's attitude towards Liverpool as a stepping stone club is a foretaste of what is to come - he was born after the second of United's Premier League titles, never mind Liverpool's last championship in 1990.

In the next few years the connection between the new generation of footballers and the last league title for Liverpool in 1990 will be even more distant than the one the children who grew up in the 1980s felt to the era of George Best and Bobby Charlton.

As for the 19th league title, failure in that regard only matters if Liverpool still consider themselves to be a club seriously in contention to win it.

What does a manager have to do to keep his job these days?

Sheffield United will have their reasons for sacking Nigel Clough after finishes of seventh and fifth in League One - after he had inherited a team in the relegation zone in his first season - and two cup semi-finals, but they must be extremely good reasons. Clough had his opposition among some of the club's fans but, even so, it was not a bad body of work for 19 months in a job. How much, these days, is enough to keep your job? – The Independent

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Rodgers dilemma for Liverpool owners

The last day 6-1 humiliation against Stoke just about summed up Liverpool’s season. But, where does that leave Brendan Rodgers?

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First we will start with a tale about a man named Juan Nieves. He was the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and played his part in helping them win baseball’s World Series.

He was commended for his work, the numbers his players produced during that successful campaign were outstanding and his stock was high. None of that mattered this spring, though, when results and performances were poor. He was sacked earlier this month after the bad start to the season.

That is what tends to happen when Fenway Sports Group (FSG), owners of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC, spot underperformance, which is why it will be intriguing to see how they deal with Brendan Rodgers. For many Liverpudlians, after all, a tipping point has been reached.

The reaction is not kneejerk. Supporters began the season with high hopes but, gradually, the feelgood factor which stemmed from last year’s thrilling title charge has been whittled away to a point where indignation is now the overriding emotion. Losing 6-1 at Stoke on Sunday was a disgrace.

During the past 12 months, Liverpool have made a succession of wrong calls. The consequences of their actions have ensured they have lost the trust of fans and put the club’s reputation on the block. Mike Gordon, who supervises FSG’s football investment, must now start evaluating.

The message from Boston is that Rodgers retains the owners’ support but there is no doubt he will have to face a series of difficult questions from Gordon, who will want an explanation for a campaign which included 18 defeats.

Rodgers, it must be stressed, is not culpable for all that has gone wrong. Others in the hierarchy have underperformed. But if Rodgers had the chance to go back to this time last year, when the ink on his new deal was drying, he would surely do things differently. For a start, would he have given his thumbs up to the signing of Mario Balotelli? Rodgers didn’t want the Italian’s arrival to create a circus but that’s precisely what it did. Balotelli was not central to one positive remark from Rodgers from mid-September onwards and the deal was a waste of £16million.

He would surely, also, reassess how he approached the Champions League game with Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. That was the game, when the draw was made last August, which Liverpudlians seized on as a sign they were back in the big time.

Instead, making wholesale changes gave the impression the trip to Madrid was regarded as big a hindrance as a Capital One Cup trip to Scunthorpe. It made no sense at the time to rest Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling to face Madrid. Looking back, it still doesn’t.

A radical change of system and a few good results around New Year stemmed the tide but in the last couple of months, when things have really mattered, Liverpool have floundered horribly.

The last two months of the campaign should be when a coach comes into his own and squeezes out the last critical results. Yet from March 22, when Liverpool were beaten at Anfield by Manchester United, it is as if they have waved the white towel.

Bullied and bounced out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa and eight points from nine games meant the dream of Champions League qualification became the reality of a Europa League qualifier on July 30. They should be ashamed they never put United, who limped into fourth spot, under any pressure.

Why did Emre Can, who was horribly out of position at right back against Villa, finish the campaign in the same position being tormented at Stoke? Why did they sign three strikers last summer but start none at the Britannia?

It should not have come to this but Liverpool have blown a glorious chance to build for the future.

If Rodgers is at the end of the road, could a manager with the charisma of Jurgen Klopp improve a group perceived to be underachieving? Would the urbane Carlo Ancelotti weave his magic and get Liverpool into contention for the prizes they covet once more?

More pertinently, the big dilemma for many will be who carries the can for the last 12 months? FSG’s history suggests someone will.

In April 2012, when Andy Carroll’s £35m signing wasn’t working, Damien Comolli, the then director of football, was sacked. A month later, Kenny Dalglish paid the price for Premier League results plummeting, even though he had won the League Cup.

This campaign has had eerie similarities — expensive signings, good cup form, a dreadful conclusion — so now all eyes are on Boston.

‘What drives us is winning,’ chairman Tom Werner explained when FSG’s takeover was completed in October 2010. ‘We expect to be very competitive.’

When they are not, action gets taken. Juan Nieves and the Boston Red Sox are proof of that.

Could one of these do better than Rodgers?

Jurgen Klopp

If Liverpool want the German, they’ll have to move fast. Klopp earned an army of admirers at Borussia Dortmund for his attacking style and achieving success on a budget while selling his best players. Says he’s taking a sabbatical but could be tempted by Anfield.

Carlo Ancelotti

The Italian is a triple Champions League winner with AC Milan and Real Madrid, and the 2010 Premier League title at Chelsea shows he can work his magic here. Sacked by Real Madrid and intends to have back surgery. Says he’ll take a year out.

Michael Laudrup

The former Swansea boss’s contract at Qatari side Lekhwiya expires in June, making him a cheap and viable option, and he is keen to return to the Premier League.

Encourages an attractive playing style.

Steve McClaren

One from left-field, but the former England boss has Premier League experience and showed at Middlesbrough and Derby he is keen to promote English talent. Got the most out of Liverpool’s rising star Jordon Ibe in a loan spell at Derby before Christmas. Sacked by the Rams. – Daily Mail

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Real players thank sacked Ancelotti

Some of Real Madrid's key players have rallied around coach Carlo Ancelotti after the Italian was sacked for a season without major trophies.

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Madrid - Some of Real Madrid's key players have rallied around coach Carlo Ancelotti after the Italian was made the scapegoat for a season without major trophies and sacked.

Top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo had already signalled his support for Ancelotti on Saturday, the Portugal forward saying he hoped to work with him again next season.

President Florentino Perez decided, however, that “a new impetus” was needed and fired Ancelotti two years into a three-year contract.

The decision, taken just a year after Ancelotti guided Real to their historic 10th European Cup triumph, prompted several important figures in the dressing room to show their appreciation for the coach on Twitter.

“Thanks for everything boss,” Real's Brazil left back Marcelo wrote. “You are really great.”

Germany midfielder Toni Kroos added: “Thank you boss. It was a pleasure to work with you. I wish you all the best for the future.”

Colombian international James Rodriguez also thanked Ancelotti, saying he had “learned a great deal in a short time” from the 55-year-old.

Perez, who has worked his way through nine coaches in two six-year stints at the helm of the world's richest club by income, said he did not mind the players advertising their affection for Ancelotti.

Going so obviously against the wishes of a majority of the squad may, however, make the job of whoever succeeds Ancelotti that much harder.

While Real's two captains, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, have yet to comment in public following Ancelotti's dismissal, the decision of some players to make their feelings known on social media is unusual at a club that obsessively controls the flow of information.

Perez said the club would reveal the identity of Real's new coach next week, with local media reporting Napoli's Spanish coach Rafa Benitez is the front runner.

“The players have shown their affection for Ancelotti, the same affection myself and the supporters have for him,” Perez told reporters.

“Not only does that not upset me but I think it is a natural response to have when someone is leaving Madrid after spending a period of time here,” added the construction magnate. “It is gesture of fondness and affection from the players.”

Ancelotti has said he plans to take a year out and will also have surgery in Vancouver, Canada to correct a neck condition that was causing tingling in his hands. – Reuters

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