Saint Sven sells his soul

Why didn't the Football Association put a clause in his contract stopping him doing this, or insisting if he did the money went to it. Isn't it entitled to a full-timer for £50,000 a week? It's said the FA resents his commercial activities so it should be man enough to stop them.

Eriksson's got his mind on other things now. Would you take Kieron Dyer to the World Cup? I wouldn't. Think about it. He's injury prone, always liable to trip over a worm cast and be out for six weeks. It shows a worrying side to Eriksson's character that he is putting such important store by Dyer, who is battling to recover from a knee injury.

Eriksson did it continually through the season when, unable to pick him, he made it clear the Newcastle man was his No 1 choice for the left-midfield slot.

If he's fit, that's great. But if he misses out after being flown to Dubai, how will this affect Eriksson's thinking and psyche? And will this disappointment filter down to the other players.

The World Cup rules are merciless on injuries. The names of the squad have to be in by Tuesday. Then, in the 10 days before the finals, one substitution is allowed. And that's it. And England have enough crocks without Dyer, however talented he may be on the rare occasions he's fit.

Which is why the injury to Steven Gerrard is also a blessing in disguise. Of course a 100 per cent fit Gerrard would have been a huge asset to England. But that was never likely was it with the groin strain that has been troubling him all season on top of everything else.

So, what if he'd broken down in the first 20 minutes of England's first game rather than at the beginning of Liverpool's last one. Eriksson would have been left with six or seven midfielders, half of them still with injury doubts. Not an auspicious start.

The England team need to be fully committed as well as fully fit, which is why I'm glad Steve McManaman is being left on a beach somewhere. He thinks his 37 games for England are the reason he should go. I think they're why he shouldn't. There's no point him talking about his club record. During years of underachievement in an England shirt he makes John Barnes look like Zinedine Zidane. I'd have rather Eriksson picked our dog.

With all the players pretty clapped out after a long season I don't resent them unwinding in a Dubai nightclub until 3am given there didn't seem to be much drink around.

I'm more bothered about two more warm-up games against South Korea and Cameroon next week. Who's going to get crocked in them, asked Bobby Charlton this week, and answer came there none. Do we really need more semi-competitive games? Rest and acclimatisation would surely be the better bet.

Executive director David Davies said: "The allegations against Blatter will not go away. If ever there was a need for a fresh start this is it." What took them so long?

The trouble with FIFA president Blatter has been obvious for ages.

The governing body has tolerated his excesses for years, allowing him to appoint his own executives, and assume total control over the organisation's finances, even down to refusing to tell them what he pays himself.

There has been a total lack of accountability and, in such a climate, corruption and abuses of power are inevitable.

So it's not enough for Blatter to go. The whole of this Augean stable needs to be cleared out.

Thanks. It's really big-hearted of you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those Scottish bigots who always shout for England's opponents, even though you claim this is pro-Veron rather than anti-England. But I'm not so sure, are you?

Will all this loyalty talk stop him getting back late from Nigeria games? I would bet the ranch on it. My guess is Kanu now knows if Arsenal let him go, that's the end of the big time for him. And this blatantly self-serving attempt to cling on to nurse for fear of something worse will convince nobody.

It's the obvious solution to bring together big clubs in Scandinavia and the Benelux countries presently trapped in leagues too small for them, and give them a proper competition.

It's what the clubs need, what the fans would enjoy, and what the television companies would jump at.

All that stands in the way is UEFA. But this bunch, just as much as FIFA, are parasitic on the game rather than vital to it.

And if enough clubs told UEFA to get stuffed, the organisation's resistance would collapse like a house of cards.

Don't know why we have to be so much on the defensive over World Cup hooliganism when the Germans have blithely announced the ringleader of the gang who kicked a French policeman near to death in 1998 is free to go to Japan and Korea next month. In England, there'd be an uproar. In Germany, they're just shrugging their shoulders.