Not sure if anyone's noticed but so far (half time Swiss v Turks)
every match has had 1 minute added at half-time and 3 minutes added at the end. Another edict from the would-be UEFA puppeteer Mr Platini?
Great piece in today's Lahn Eehen Staanard by none other than David Mellor - remember him? He took time off from Rowdy-bashing to rail against Platini's views on English clubs 'cheating' by playing whilst neck-deep in debt. The erstwhile Chelski-kitted bedroom dribbler reminded Michel that when he (Platini, not Mellor) turned out for Milan (irony anyone? Frenchman playing in Italy, too many foreign players . . . oh, please yourselves) he played in a stadium that was, along with most other top flight Italian grounds, built with public money. Do we hear Monsieur Egalité warbling on about the unfairness of plundering the public purse? No, nor do we hear about how Real Madrid have lived off the support of the Spanish banks for decades. If they do stump up a squillion Euros for You Know Who you can bet the money won't have come out of club funds.
Hmm . . . judging by the apocalyptic deluge in Basle tonight the Wally with the Brolly may yet find gainful employment at this tournament.
Regulars will well know my paranoia when it comes to Radio 5 and Alan Green in particular. No surprise then for me at least to hear Greenie gleefully tagging Ronaldo a flop for his 'lack-lustre' display today against the Czech Republic. Chris Waddle seemed happy to play parrot to Big Al's pirate until
that man broke free to create Portugal's third and wrap up the points. Waddle couldn't resist a shot of irony.
'You're right Al; he's scored one, made the third but apart from that he's had a poor game.'
Less amusing were the reports of blatant Portuguese diving, a loathesome epidemic and, quite simply, cheating. UEFA announced 'tough measures' to tackle 'simulation' at this tournament; sounds like today's ref missed the briefing.
Last mention of the Show Pony for a while. It seems that Big Phil Scolari, the boy's national coach, suggested a couple of weeks ago that Ronaldo 'should go to Madrid'. This would be the same Big Phil that Even Bigger Roman is in all likelyhood about to employ as coach of Chelski.
No conflict of interest there then
. . . and finally . . .
watching under pressure Turkish manager Fatih Terim bellow instructions at his players tonight I was minded of another international manager known for openly expressing his opinions on the touchline. Looking closer I wonder if they might have been separated at birth? I think we should be told, Tel.