Sports Agenda: England pray for fixture fall-out

Last updated at 11:10 19 October 2007

The acrimony that was evident between senior football officials from Russia and Israel at the qualifying Group E draw meetings offers hope of a competitive match between the two countries in Tel Aviv on November 17, with England's Euro 2008 fate on the line.

Conspiracy theories abound that the close links between Russian and Israeli football, both of which are bankrolled by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, make a victory for Russia a foregone conclusion despite Israel's excellent home record. Cynics suggest UEFA scrutineers should monitor the match even more closely than the shenanigans between McLaren and Ferrari are being viewed in Formula One.

However, the in-fighting between representatives of the two countries at the draw was so intense that their inability to agree when their two games should take place put the whole Group E qualifying schedule in jeopardy.

Only after former FA executive director David Davies arranged a second meeting and banged heads together was a settlement arrived at which prevented every fixture date being decided by ballot. England must hope the fallout will give Israel a big enough incentive to put in a maximum effort against the Russians.

The appointment of the FA's new independent chairman will give Soho Square another voice when they decide on tactics for finding the next manager. But already influential members of the FA international committee, who oversee the England team, are split over whether the new chairman should have an immediate say on McClaren's successor.

Spurs duo get an unexpected lift from Chelsea

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich may have upset armchair England fans who saw him jumping up and down with delight in the Luzhniki Stadium as Russia scored their two goals. But he delighted Southern-based players in the England squad, like Paul Robinson, Jermain Defoe and Sol Campbell, whom he invited on to his private jet along with his Chelsea quartet for the trip home on Wednesday night.

'No more Fred Karno'

Everything regarding England might be on hold until after the Croatia match next month, but it is certain that the flawed selection policy from which coach Steve McClaren emerged will be completely revamped.

The tortuous process that included Brian Barwick's ill-fated trip to Lisbon to see Felipe Scolari was described by a leading FA powerbroker yesterday as a 'total shambles'. He added: 'Hopefully, we have learned our lessons from that Fred Karno experience. We couldn't have organised the selection procedure any worse, however hard we had tried. It was very poor and reflected well on nobody involved.'

Missing Euro 2008 would be a major setback for the FA, Wembley and their sponsors. Particularly hard hit would be England kit suppliers Umbro, who issued a recent warning over their UK profits. Umbro's new England away shirt will be launched in February but not having them in the European Championship would surely dent sales severely.