INTERNATIONAL OVERCAST

This past week International football has taken over over from the domestic game, with plenty of controversy and lots to discuss.


Firstly France's fortunate qualification. Thierry Henry's handed assist provided France with a dramatic injury time winner against the Republic of Ireland. Now the Irish FA have contacted the French counterpart and FIFA about a replay.

As much as I feel sorry for the Irish, I hope the game is not replayed as it will have damaging effects on the sport. Imagine everytime the referee makes a game changing decision, a replay could be possible. FIFA would have hundreds of games to reschedule a year.

Also the fact France won is just what FIFA wanted. Thats why the seeding rule was introduced for these world cup qualifiers.

My next point is the so called "Henry's carrer tainted" comments made from people such as Lee Dixon. The French captain was big enough to admit the ball hit his hand, even if it was after the game. It's unfair for me as Englishman to say the incident is not the same as Maradona's famous hand of God goal. But a comparison between the players will not live long in my mind.

Maradona will always be remembered for the way he cheated England in the world cup. But Henry is a different character, a good guy in football. He didn't run off with his hands in the air celebrating a goal that shouldn't have been. I also feel it was more instinctive rather than purposely cheating.

OLD FIRM NO CONCERN

LAST week the debate reopened about Rangers and Celtic joining the English Premiership. Bolton chairman Phil Gateside drew up plans for a two-tier League including the old firm clubs.

His proposal was made up of six key points. The main four were, increasing the number of teams in the premiership, split the league into two tiers, invite Rangers and Celtic to join lower tier, and use extra TV revenue and the 36 million pound parachute payments to fund the expansion.

These ideas need to get a majority vote from at least 14 of the 20 premiership clubs. Already Stoke chairman Peter Coates has disapproved of the idea of Rangers and Celtic joining the premiership saying, "We have 20 great clubs in the league already and they are all tough games.We have a system which works in a competitive sense."

I understand if they were to join, a restructure of the league would be necessary, as it would be unfair on championship teams. But why fix something which isn't broke? The league is still regarded as the best in the world.

Also why would teams at the lower end of the league want to see their potential parachute payment spent on readjustments to the league?

If they were to join the premiership, I don't think they would break into our top four either. Rangers are a club struggling financially and Celtic failed to qualify for the group stages of the champions league. So how would they compete with the big four to retain there European statuses?

As for the Scottish league, how would it survive without the two top clubs? Imagine La Liga without Barcelona and Real Madrid. It would have massive financial consequences.

The idea will continue to be debated for years to come. But I can't see it happening anytime in the near future.