LEICESTER CITY OVERKILL.

So Leicester City have won the English football's Premier League - WELL DONE !

However, this is a story which belongs on the sports' pages and perhaps, at the end of a national news broadcast. It does not belong at the head of the national and international news and does not deserve the wall-to-wall coverage afforded to it by the media, especially the BBC. As a news story, it simply isn't that important, in fact, as a news story, it isn't important at all.

Many years ago, the late Bill Shankly, a very successful manager of Liverpool FC, said something along the lines of :

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that".

He was, of course, utterly wrong but, as a football fanatic who'd never really worked in any other sphere for his whole life, football was that important. For the vast majority of the human race, football is just a game over which some if us get excited from time to time but about which we do not obsess. The ludicrously excessive media coverage of Leicester City's triumph merely goes to show how shockingly distorted the values and priorities of our media have become.

McILROY'S MASTERS' MISERY.

Poor old Rory McIlroy simply doesn't understand how to play the Augusta course.

While Danny Willett played good, honest, sensible golf, McIlroy kept blasting away to little effect. That he still finished as high up the leaderboard as he did is testament to his undoubted ability as a golfer, but he will never win The Masters until he learns how to play this particular course.

I lost track of the number of bogeys that he racked up but it was considerable. He also managed a good number of birdies and eagles, but they're of little value when you drop shots as frequently as he did. Augsuta is a  course that's much more about control than anything else and the man who plays 4 rounds, and 72 holes, all in par, will rarely be far from the winning post; the man who does this but picks up half-a-dozen shots on the way, may well be the winner, and this is what McIlroy has to learn.

Without doubt, Jordan Spieth is the best golfer in the world at the moment and, but for a catastrophic spell culminating in an unbelievable quadruple bogey at the 12th hole, he would certainly have won the tournament. The difference between Spieth and McIlroy was that Spieth kept giving himself good putting opportunities even after he'd gone awry from the tee, McIlroy did not. McIlroy kept going all out and, on this course, you can't do that and win 

McIlroy will win more majors and may well win The Masters one day, but he needs to have a few lessons from those who've already been there. I suggest that he sits down with Nick Faldo and gets a few tips from him.

ADAM JOHNSON CAPS IDIOCY.

After much media attention, ex-footballer Adam Johnson has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for his offences against a 15 year old girl. I have no idea as to the rights and wrongs of the case nor as to the appropriateness of the sentence, but I do know that the latest reaction of the footballing authorities has been about as pointless and moronic as one might have expected.

Apparently, Johnson has been 'stripped' of his 12 England international 'caps'. Really ? How does that work ? He played for England on 12 occasions, the 'caps' being a tangible acknowledgment of the facts. That he played for England remains a fact; stripping him of the 'caps' is simply the 'politically correct' reaction of a bunch of pathetically stupid people who run English football. It is an utterly meaningless action unless, of course, they also intend amending all of the related team lists and other records in an attempt to pretend that Johnson never did play for his country, which lunacy I wouldn't put passed them.

Johnson has been found guilty of criminal offences and received his sentence; his footballing career is over. That is it. Nothing can change the facts that he was a successful player for both club and country and playing silly buggers with talk about 'caps' shows just how ridiculous our society has become.

MOURINHO & van GAAL - BIRDS OF A FEATHER.

A couple of weeks ago, the self-appointed 'Special One' was sacked by Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, a man whose opinion of himself knows no bounds, proved pathetically unable to cope with a few defeats and re-energise a team which had been hugely successful only a few short months ago. While his team of overpaid prima donnas failed to live up to their earlier standards, Mourinho thrashed around, blaming everyone except himself - the team doctor, the referees, the media and the players. Nowhere was there the slightest indication that Mourinho, himself, may have shouldered at least some of the responsibility for his team's decline.

In the end, it was all more that Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, could take and he wielded the axe. In truth, no one should have been particularly surprised at Mourinho's failure as his managerial career has not been quite the success he has made it out to be. In 15 years, he's had 7 jobs, his longest spell in charge at any one club being little more than 3 years. Since leaving Porto in 2004, he has relied on the effective patronage of wealthy clubs - Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid - and it may well be argued that his successes have been due as much to the willingness of such clubs to bring in expensive 'superstars' as to any innate ability of Mourinho as a manger. Quite clearly, he has now shown that he is incapable of managing in a more testing environment and was quite unable to galvanise his Chelsea players.

Astonishingly, Mourinho's blatant short-comings may well be ignored by the management of another major club, Manchester United. Eighteen months ago, the 'Red Devils' appointed another arrogant and highly opinionated foreigner as their new manager. Louis van Gaal arrived at Old Trafford lauded as a great manager and just the man to restore United's fortunes. Eighteen months on, van Gaal is also on the point of exiting from his job, another expensive mistake. Whatever tactical ability he may possess, van Gaal has, just like Mourinho, proved incapable of motivating his players and now seems to have lost their confidence altogether; like Mourinho, van Gaal has entered into 'spats' with the media though he's been less willing to criticise his players than was the 'Special One'.

Now, with van Gaal's job hanging by a thread and Mourinho 'available', the talk is that the Portuguese is in the frame to take over from the Dutchman at Old Trafford. Why would any one wish to replace one failed 'man manager' with another ? In common with most modern football managers, at least in the upper echelons of the game, both Mourinho and van Gaal have moved jobs frequently, ensuring that they never became associated with persistent failure and always left successful clubs before the inevitable decline set in. Neither has been called upon to manage a club with problems for any length of time.

Neither of these arrogant men has really demonstrated any great managerial ability, other than Mourinho's success, years ago, at Porto, and van Gaal's at Ajax, in the 1990s; since these episodes, both men have lived on their reputations and the wealth of super-rich clubs. Real managers are those who build teams without vast resources and extract the maximum, and more, from 'ordinary' players. Claudio Ranieri at Leicester, Quique Sanchez Flores at Watford; Tony Pulis wherever he goes, Mark Hughes - these are fine managers. Give me any one of them ahead of any number of Mourinhos and van Gaals.

FIFA WORLD CUP TURMOIL.

So Sepp Blatter has gone, or has he ?

Following the revelations of scandal at FIFA, it's President, Sepp Blatter, finally announced that he'd step down from his post as soon as a new President could be elected. However, he will remain in office until that time and will continue to oversee FIFA's activities and, no doubt, continue to obstruct investigations.

While this has to be good news of a sort, Blatter also made clear that organising a special conference to elect a new boss will take some time, many months in fact. It's perfectly possible that Blatter will still be in office as we approach Easter next year and, if he is, who is to say that he won't find some new way to hang on to power ? There are stories which suggest that he is now being investigated by the FBI and others, but nothing concrete has yet been revealed.

Information given to the investigating authorities has certainly indicated that FIFA has been corrupt for many years and, almost certainly, throughout Blatter's reign. It seems probable that the award of the 2010 tournament to South Africa was tainted and there remain strong suspicions that the 2018 award to Russia and 2022 award to Qatar are also debatable. One FIFA official has now said that either or both of these future tournaments could be cancelled and re-awarded if wrong-doing is proven.

But Blatter is still there, pulling the strings. By the time he is finally shown the door, he may well have been able to delay actions sufficiently at least to prevent any change in the 2018 tournament; as for 2022 in Qatar, that one may well be dead in the water, though only time will tell. Waiting in the wings is the English FA, champing at the bit and desperate to bring the tournament to the UK. Where will it all end ?

BLATTER STILL AT THE HELM

So the representatives of football associations from Africa, Asia and various other parts of the 'third world' have decided to re-elect the totally discredited Sepp Blatter as President of FIFA. Most of the civilised world voted against him but were outnumbered by those who have benefited most from Blatter's largesse over the years.

That so many nations felt it was acceptable to simply ignore the corruption which Blatter has so signally failed to deal with over the last 17 years is terrifying. That Blatter, rather than accept his organisation's shortcomings, has accused the United States authorities and UEFA of being the real 'bad boys', is shocking. According to him, the FBI and UEFA are simply carrying out their own hate campaigns and vendettas against him and FIFA, for reasons of their own.

Blatter is a disgrace. FIFA is utterly corrupt. The only way for the civilised world to react to Blatter's re-election is to withdraw from FIFA and its events and set out on a new path. Sadly, this seems unlikely as there are too many vested interests and too many people who might stand to lose lucrative roles if FIFA collapses. However, the major sponsors on whom FIFA relies may provide the ultimate catalyst that brings about change, as their commercial interests come under threat.

We can only watch, wait and hope.

R.I.P. FIFA

At long last someone has actually done something about the appalling corruption in FIFA, the ruling body for worldwide football.

That the 'someone' has been the authorities in the United States might seem a bit strange, but apparently it's all about bribes which involved amounts in US dollars, making the corruption actionable under US law. The arrests of 7 senior FIFA officials and indictment of 14 in total demonstrates just how widespread the corruption has been, certainly in recent years and probably for decades. Investigations into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 world cup competitions are also continuing, suggesting the possibility that either or both of these tournaments may be moved from their current hosts, Qatar and Russia.

Somehow, Sepp Blatter, the long time President of FIFA, has avoided, so far at least, being either arrested or indicted. However, that he has been in charge of this rotten organisation for 17 years suggests that he either knew about the corrupt practices of his colleagues but did nothing, or that, if he didn't know, he is incompetent. Either way he must now resign rather than insist on carrying on in his attempt to win a fifth term as President in an election to be held on Friday 29th May. Numerous voices are being raised against him and sponsors are voicing their concerns, and FIFA, itself, is now tottering on the brink of the abyss.

The awarding of the 2018 world cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar must be reviewed, though by whom is another matter, and it is time for UEFA to stop shilly-shallying. Whatever Blatter does, FIFA is, surely, now a dead duck. It is so discredited that its position at the head of world football must end.