Sportingintelligence: A perpetually sceptical attempt to make sense of sport's relationship with money. Interested in conmen & numbers. Reassuringly grumpy.
Joined September 2009
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5,702 Photos and videos
McGinn also comes across brilliantly in @kevinbridges86 wonderful recent documentary about football in Brazil. They went to school together in Clydebank. You can watch the doco on iPlayer here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002xb1…
John McGinn’s last five games: beat Liverpool, beat Man City, win the Europa league, beat Bolivia 4-0, score at the World Cup. No one has had this much fun in the last month
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Jun 11
That was the 178th red card in a World Cup, and South Africa's third.
South Africa's Itumeleng Khune in 2010 is one of just three goalkeepers ever to be sent off at a World Cup.
You're welcome.
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Jun 11
Reminder that FIFA president Gianni Infantino was investigated for multiple ethics violations within months of taking office in 2016. The charges went away when he, in effect, closed down the unit investigating him. 1/3
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There is SO much wrong with FIFA & football in general. But as a mate of mine posted on Facebook recently, he was so appalled by the corruption he was not going to watch Qatar 2022. So only watched the opening match. And the next 63 matches.
Love the game. Hate the industry 4/3
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Jun 11
The USA's population of 342m is bigger than the combined populations of the "smallest" 27 nations at the World Cup (323m).
ITV says population of Curaçao is about the same as Chelmsford. In fact Chelmsford has 30,000 more people.
You're welcome.
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Jun 10
The ambition of @valuball to bring accurate football finances to ordinary fans is to be applauded. But player-by-player wages like these are total and utter bollocks. Like so many other sites, such as Capology (aka Crapology), pure guesswork. valuball.co/man-city/Squad-W…
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For any Infantino fan (and also for the hard-of-thinking), the FIFA president can't spend his life espousing growing the game to all cultures & creeds but then cosy up to a US president who refuses a referee of the "wrong" nationality, religion and / or colour from the World Cup
Somali referee Omar Artan being denied entry to the USA for the World Cup. So angry about this I’m only just trying to articulate what I think. It’s a resignation issue for craven @fifamedia president Infantino, who has spent yrs cosying up to war-mongers & human rights abusers
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By 23 May 2016, there was already an internal FIFA memo outlining alleged breaches of regulations and “other non-compliant activities”. Among the accusations against Infantino was he accepted gifts or benefits he shouldn’t have accepted, including undeclared use of a private jet.
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That document and other material about Infantino's unsuitability to be FIFA president are all in this article from December: sportingintelligence832.subs…
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Grifter. And another terrible person who thought nothing of tweeting that a dead footballer was alive, pretending he knew different
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The paywalled follow-up, which is the second half of this piece, got into darker territory
sportingintelligence832.subs…
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Grifter. And another terrible person who thought nothing of tweeting that a dead footballer was alive, pretending he knew different
Breaking news. @Krakenfx is now the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the @FIFAWorldCup 2026™️ in North America and Europe. Done deal, confirmed.
The top stage in football and top name in investing. HERE WE GO!
#ad
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Infantino thinks he’s an international statesman. The reality is he has blood on his hands thanks to his relationships with Putin, Qatar, Trump and MBS. An appalling human and a worse FIFA president than Blatter. But enjoy the World Cup!
Somali referee Omar Artan being denied entry to the USA for the World Cup. So angry about this I’m only just trying to articulate what I think. It’s a resignation issue for craven @fifamedia president Infantino, who has spent yrs cosying up to war-mongers & human rights abusers
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Somali referee Omar Artan being denied entry to the USA for the World Cup. So angry about this I’m only just trying to articulate what I think. It’s a resignation issue for craven @fifamedia president Infantino, who has spent yrs cosying up to war-mongers & human rights abusers
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Brilliant book about a flawed genius by one of the UK’s most underrated sports writers and brilliant journalists of the past three decades, @timrich001.
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Have always loved Cat Stevens’ "Father and Son". But when it moves you equally being used in Ted Lasso and Clarkson's Farm, you know it's genius songwriting.
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This one is only for Ted Lasso fans!
youtube.com/watch?v=Sfu0uOVW…
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