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Don't know if you caught this about Premier League Chairman Dave Richards, I pinched this from The Mail:

(Edited)

Sir Dave Richards has risked poisoning relations with football’s international governing bodies after accusing them of “stealing” football from England.

Shortly afterwards at a gala dinner the 68 year-old did for himself what many at Fifa and Uefa might have liked to do to him: he stumbled into an ornamental pool, soaking his suit.

The Premier League chairman was using a sports-security conference in Qatar as his platform to attack Fifa and Uefa. Among the delegates was the recently elected Fifa vice-president, Prince Ali Bin Hussein of Jordan.

“England gave the world football,” said Richards. “Then, 50 years later, some guy came along and said you’re liars and they actually stole it. It was called Fifa. Fifty years later, another gang came along called Uefa and stole a bit more.”

Moreover the explicit attack on the football authorities was not Richards’s only bungle at the Qatar conference. When Hussein told the conference of the Fifa belief that football in fact originated from China, Richards became shrill.

“It started in Sheffield 150 years ago,” said the Sheffield-born administrator. “We started the game and wrote the rules and took it the world. The Chinese may say they own it but the British own it and we gave it to the rest of the world.”

One eyewitness of Richards’s stumble into the ornamental pool reported how his fellow FA board member, the Bolton Wanderers chairman, Phil Gartside had been called upon to fish out the “bedraggled” executive.

“Gartside helped fish him out and he looked shocked and bedraggled,” said the eyewitness. “He turned tail and left to get changed. He didn’t come back.”

There is no suggestion Richards had taken on drink. He had earlier railed against the unavailability of alcohol when Qatar came to be the 2022 World Cup-organising nation.

“In our country and in Germany, we have a culture,” Richards said. “We call it, 'We would like to go for a pint and that pint is a pint of beer.’ It is our culture as much as your culture is not drinking. There has to be a happy medium.

“If you don’t do something about it, you are starting to bury your head in the sand because it needs addressing. You might be better off saying don’t come. But a World Cup without England, Germany, the Dutch, Danes and Scandinavians? It’s unthinkable.”

THIS BLOKE LIKES A DRINK!!
LMFAO

Should just resign and go into a home

The bbc version is a bit more balanced, with a quote from gartside saying exactly what happened.


"Richards later hurt his leg when he fell into a water feature.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside was with him at the time and was keen to clarify that he did not fall into a pool, as had been reported, and that Richards had not consumed any alcohol.

"I was on the way to dinner with Sir Dave at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha," Gartside told BBC Sport.

"We were walking across to our table in a dark courtyard area. There were three fountain areas nearby, no pool.

"They had switched off the lights. He thought he was stepping on to flat marble, but his foot went down into the water, he fell over and hurt his leg quite badly. Any suggestions he had a drink is nonsense. It's a dry place."

great story....what a clown! I pissed myself reading that last night!

Saw this part of his interview on SSN

“In our country and in Germany, we have a culture,” Richards said. “We call it, 'We would like to go for a pint and that pint is a pint of beer.’ It is our culture as much as your culture is not drinking. There has to be a happy medium.

Staggeringly cringeworthy.

what a berk.

Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Wonderwall wrote:Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Its not dry now in the true sense of the word, plenty of places to get a beer, hotels etc, but its upwards of a tenner a pint, so no idea why anybody would want to drink over there

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Its not dry now in the true sense of the word, plenty of places to get a beer, hotels etc, but its upwards of a tenner a pint, so no idea why anybody would want to drink over there

Stash a bottle in the hotel room.. like Dave Richards.

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Its not dry now in the true sense of the word, plenty of places to get a beer, hotels etc, but its upwards of a tenner a pint, so no idea why anybody would want to drink over there

It's dull as fucking dishwater as a place IMO. It's like a mini Dubai....with the emphasis on mini. A lot can change in the next 8 years but my god it will have to if it's not to be the shittest World Cup ever

ant london wrote:

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Its not dry now in the true sense of the word, plenty of places to get a beer, hotels etc, but its upwards of a tenner a pint, so no idea why anybody would want to drink over there

It's dull as fucking dishwater as a place IMO. It's like a mini Dubai....with the emphasis on mini. A lot can change in the next 8 years but my god it will have to if it's not to be the shittest World Cup ever

It'll have stiff competition for that title with Russia coming up first. What an aboslute joy that will be for the small handful of non Russians who actually go. No doubt England will be based in Siberia.

FIFA are a fucking joke; that's what Richards should have said before he fell in the fountain.

ant london wrote:
It's dull as fucking dishwater as a place IMO. It's like a mini Dubai....with the emphasis on mini. A lot can change in the next 8 years but my god it will have to if it's not to be the shittest World Cup ever

Yeah i go out there to visit a friend every year and its nice enough, but without the expat community it is shit, and there would be fook all to do if you went out there for a few weeks for the footy.

Reality is the qatar bid will probably benefit the region as a whole more. Dont know how the finance works in the emirates, but if the others dont pay contribute to the tournament, plenty will commute in from dubai/abu dhabi etc and they will get the tourism boost that was meant for qatar, as i cant see why anyone would want to stay there more than a couple of days

Ted Hughes wrote:

ant london wrote:

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Its not dry now in the true sense of the word, plenty of places to get a beer, hotels etc, but its upwards of a tenner a pint, so no idea why anybody would want to drink over there

It's dull as fucking dishwater as a place IMO. It's like a mini Dubai....with the emphasis on mini. A lot can change in the next 8 years but my god it will have to if it's not to be the shittest World Cup ever

It'll have stiff competition for that title with Russia coming up first. What an aboslute joy that will be for the small handful of non Russians who actually go. No doubt England will be based in Siberia.

FIFA are a fucking joke; that's what Richards should have said before he fell in the fountain.

not that i really care to counterbalance the negativity around Sir fucking Dave, but isn't that what he in fact said?

back to spring training news for me. ho. hum.

cheers

DoomMerchant wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:

ant london wrote:

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:Saw him stumble and fall into the puddle on the news, wouldnt have made the news if he wasnt such a knob with his comments in the first place. Who cares who invented what, it doesnt matter whatsoever. I am all for qatar being dry, our overpaid english riff raff might actually concentrate on the job in hand.

Its not dry now in the true sense of the word, plenty of places to get a beer, hotels etc, but its upwards of a tenner a pint, so no idea why anybody would want to drink over there

It's dull as fucking dishwater as a place IMO. It's like a mini Dubai....with the emphasis on mini. A lot can change in the next 8 years but my god it will have to if it's not to be the shittest World Cup ever

It'll have stiff competition for that title with Russia coming up first. What an aboslute joy that will be for the small handful of non Russians who actually go. No doubt England will be based in Siberia.

FIFA are a fucking joke; that's what Richards should have said before he fell in the fountain.

not that i really care to counterbalance the negativity around Sir fucking Dave, but isn't that what he in fact said?

back to spring training news for me. ho. hum.

cheers

No, he said they stole football from us. Now he's apologised & said that the problem is he's a Yorkshireman, which is fair enough.

Ted Hughes wrote:
It'll have stiff competition for that title with Russia coming up first. What an aboslute joy that will be for the small handful of non Russians who actually go. No doubt England will be based in Siberia.
.

If your team is playing in Moscow or St Petersburg you'd have a bloody brilliant time in Russia......although you'd need to take out a second mortgage if you fancied staying for more than a few days. It's a pricey old place is Moscow. Fucking awesome though

ant london wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:
It'll have stiff competition for that title with Russia coming up first. What an aboslute joy that will be for the small handful of non Russians who actually go. No doubt England will be based in Siberia.
.

If your team is playing in Moscow or St Petersburg you'd have a bloody brilliant time in Russia......although you'd need to take out a second mortgage if you fancied staying for more than a few days. It's a pricey old place is Moscow. Fucking awesome though

I don't think Utd or Chelsea fans got to see much of it due to the large groups of skinheads waiting to kick the living shit out of them if they ventured out.

At the risk of going out on a limb, does anyone else actually think that Richards does have a point here?
When I first heard the reports, like everyone else I cringed and thought what a tosser. How could any thinking man with his experience and stature in English football make such a crass statement and a political blunder?....IDIOT came to mind.

But take away the media spin and their agenda to take the piss and create another victim out of an easy target. Not a swimming pool but a fountain in a darkened place. Anyone never bumped into something? Unfortunate/bad timing, but we've all done it.

He has a point. Whatever the history of global ball games in any country at any time, there can be no doubt that the global game we currently have is directly descended from the game that was organised, formalised and developed in England. Its laws were defined in England and it was taken out into the World by England. That FIFA should now attempt to rewrite history to suit there own political agenda is abominable and Richards, in his position has every right to defend the English role and refute the FIFA nonsense.

I am all for respecting cultural differences and Qatar has every right to choose its own where alcohol is concerned, but does Richards not have a point when he asks for FIFA and Qatar to respect the football culture of the majority of the rest of the World?

FIFA may consider they have a PRODUCT to sell to the World but football is far more than a PRODUCT and Richards reflected that. Football is part of our National Heritage, it is what we do and that also applies to the majority of footballing nations. What FIFA has is more than a product, they are the keepers of the World game, the keepers of the many and varied cultures that many and varied countries have attached to it. They too have to understand and respect that.

Despite the percieved English arrogance, Richards has told no lies, he has clumsily defended football culture and our role in its formation, formalisation and globalistaion. I'm happy with that. If the media want to create a victim, make him look small in public by hyping it all up without discussing his issues seriously, maybe the media needs to criticised too.

john68 wrote:At the risk of going out on a limb, does anyone else actually think that Richards does have a point here?
When I first heard the reports, like everyone else I cringed and thought what a tosser. How could any thinking man with his experience and stature in English football make such a crass statement and a political blunder?....IDIOT came to mind.

But take away the media spin and their agenda to take the piss and create another victim out of an easy target. Not a swimming pool but a fountain in a darkened place. Anyone never bumped into something? Unfortunate/bad timing, but we've all done it.

He has a point. Whatever the history of global ball games in any country at any time, there can be no doubt that the global game we currently have is directly descended from the game that was organised, formalised and developed in England. Its laws were defined in England and it was taken out into the World by England. That FIFA should now attempt to rewrite history to suit there own political agenda is abominable and Richards, in his position has every right to defend the English role and refute the FIFA nonsense.

I am all for respecting cultural differences and Qatar has every right to choose its own where alcohol is concerned, but does Richards not have a point when he asks for FIFA and Qatar to respect the football culture of the majority of the rest of the World?

FIFA may consider they have a PRODUCT to sell to the World but football is far more than a PRODUCT and Richards reflected that. Football is part of our National Heritage, it is what we do and that also applies to the majority of footballing nations. What FIFA has is more than a product, they are the keepers of the World game, the keepers of the many and varied cultures that many and varied countries have attached to it. They too have to understand and respect that.

Despite the percieved English arrogance, Richards has told no lies, he has clumsily defended football culture and our role in its formation, formalisation and globalistaion. I'm happy with that. If the media want to create a victim, make him look small in public by hyping it all up without discussing his issues seriously, maybe the media needs to criticised too.

He's apologised though.

john68 wrote:At the risk of going out on a limb, does anyone else actually think that Richards does have a point here?
When I first heard the reports, like everyone else I cringed and thought what a tosser. How could any thinking man with his experience and stature in English football make such a crass statement and a political blunder?....IDIOT came to mind.

But take away the media spin and their agenda to take the piss and create another victim out of an easy target. Not a swimming pool but a fountain in a darkened place. Anyone never bumped into something? Unfortunate/bad timing, but we've all done it.

He has a point. Whatever the history of global ball games in any country at any time, there can be no doubt that the global game we currently have is directly descended from the game that was organised, formalised and developed in England. Its laws were defined in England and it was taken out into the World by England. That FIFA should now attempt to rewrite history to suit there own political agenda is abominable and Richards, in his position has every right to defend the English role and refute the FIFA nonsense.

I am all for respecting cultural differences and Qatar has every right to choose its own where alcohol is concerned, but does Richards not have a point when he asks for FIFA and Qatar to respect the football culture of the majority of the rest of the World?

FIFA may consider they have a PRODUCT to sell to the World but football is far more than a PRODUCT and Richards reflected that. Football is part of our National Heritage, it is what we do and that also applies to the majority of footballing nations. What FIFA has is more than a product, they are the keepers of the World game, the keepers of the many and varied cultures that many and varied countries have attached to it. They too have to understand and respect that.

Despite the percieved English arrogance, Richards has told no lies, he has clumsily defended football culture and our role in its formation, formalisation and globalistaion. I'm happy with that. If the media want to create a victim, make him look small in public by hyping it all up without discussing his issues seriously, maybe the media needs to criticised too.

i hate to get all ross.mcfc on yr ass, but..borne in England, on the backs of Scots.

cheers

Just scanned through it as I have to leave to make my way to the game tonight. Why the harsh words against him !! I thought 'fair fooking play'..

To the guy who said 'who cares who invented it'! fookin shocking !! giving football to the world is something we should be very proud of !! Or are we not allowed to be proud of our nation??? I guess thats classed as racism??

The lack of alcohol will make this even worse thaN the last world cup.It''ll be fookin SHITE !!!