Of England and substitution...

The City kit manager and former Latics star writes every week for Chron Sport
IT staggers me that somewhere like Qatar can host a World Cup, but England cannot.

If you asked FIFA President Sepp Blatter “do you know any Qatar players”, he would say “Eric Clapton”.

I am sure their facilities will be fantastic in 2022 due to the wealth over there, and it is a good thing to send the tournament to different parts of the world, but the temperatures will be ridiculously high.

There was probably more to the outcome than meets the eye. I think there is too much speculation for it to have been totally above board.

Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham could not have done any more: they were brilliant. But Russia will host the 2018 competition and we have to accept it.

While I suspect some skulduggery occurred, I also think the timing of the Panorama investigation into alleged behind-the-scenes corruption did not help.

Only 22 delegates vote on the destination of the World Cup. Maybe there needs to be a rethink about the system.


A LOT has been made of Carlos Tevez’s reaction to being substituted by boss Roberto Mancini in the 89th minute of Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Bolton at Eastlands.
But it was a storm in a teacup. Both men have said there is no problem: it was a case of two passionate individuals desperate to win.

Ninety-nine times out of 100 a player will not be happy about being replaced — I would be more concerned if a player was pleased to be taken off.

It was a good win against a side who have been doing well this season. Owen Coyle’s Bolton like to play football, and striker Kevin Davies is always a handful, although he was well marshalled by the outstanding Vincent Kompany.

Aleksander Kolarov was sent off for a second yellow card and will miss the game at West Ham on Saturday, as will Carlos, who picked up his fifth caution of the campaign.