No sign of Adolf Hitler analogies when Boris Johnson flew the flag for Beijing

  • Boris Johnson has compared this year's World Cup to the 1936 Olympics 
  • Johnson feels Vladimir Putin will use the tournament as a propaganda vehicle
  • The 1936 Olympics in Berlin became just that for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler 

Boris Johnson has compared Russia's World Cup to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, with Vladimir Putin glorying in the event and manipulating it to sanitise his regime as Adolf Hitler did.

Well, as a flag-waving veteran of Beijing 2008, Boris would know.

While sport continues to deliver its biggest festivals to tyrannical governments such as China, Russia and Qatar and while politicians continue to stand idly by when it suits them, the spectre of 1936 will always linger.

Boris Johnson has hit the headlines once again following his controversial World Cup remarks

Boris Johnson has hit the headlines once again following his controversial World Cup remarks

A former general secretary of FIFA, Jerome Valcke - now disgraced, but aren't they all - admitted as much at a symposium five years ago.


'Less democracy is sometimes better for organising a World Cup,' said Valcke. 'When you have a very strong head of state who can decide, as maybe President Vladimir Putin can do in 2018, then that is easier for us as organisers than a country such as Germany, where you have to negotiate at different levels.'

You can pretty much guess the German leader who FIFA would have been able to rub along with - and it isn't Angela Merkel.

Johnson was the first minister to talk of boycotting Russia after Putin's regime brought chemical warfare to the streets of Salisbury, but he wasn't so outspoken 10 years ago when, as London Mayor, he was on handover duty at the Beijing Olympics.

'We have been dazzled, we have been impressed, we have been blown away by these Beijing games,' he told a press conference following a meeting with his mayoral equivalent. He added that while criticisms of China's human rights record could not be overlooked he had not raised the issue at that morning's gathering.

'I don't think you will necessarily achieve what you want in this context by showboating and grandstanding,' he said, sagely. You'd pay good money for a line like that over the West End.

Fast forward 10 years and our foreign secretary could win Mastermind with showboating and grandstanding as his specialist subject.

He knew exactly what he was doing this week, dropping 1936 into the conversation. Immediately, he conjured images of the 2018 World Cup being used by Putin much as Hitler and film-maker Leni Riefenstahl used the Berlin Games.

However, Johnson wasn't as a critical of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the political issues

However, Johnson wasn't as a critical of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the political issues

Riefenstahl's documentary, Triumph of the Will covered the 1934 party congress in Nuremberg - a beautifully directed depiction of a purely evil ideology. In 1938, she made Olympia which, while ground-breaking in technique and featuring extensive footage of Jesse Owens, was still a work commissioned for propaganda purposes by, quite literally, a bunch of Nazis. Riefenstahl was touring America promoting her film when news broke of Kristallnacht, the most significant pogrom against Germany's Jews and she was asked to leave.

Johnson is an intelligent man and knew the power of his allusion - just as he knew what he was ignoring in 2008. The opening ceremony in Beijing was as triumphant a piece of propaganda as anything Riefenstahl conjured. It was spectacular, lavish, magnificently executed, perfect to the last step, exquisitely performed.

It was also achieved with the total subjugation of the participants.

The 900 soldiers unrolling the scroll that was the centrepiece of the ceremony had to wear nappies, because they were forced to stay hidden for seven hours and not even allowed a toilet break. The three-minute umbrella dance required six months of training, for between 14 and 15 hours each day.

The young girls auditioning had to be pretty, above 1.66 metres tall and prepared to strip naked for the judges, who then measured their body proportions. Not only did Britain's political class have nothing to say about that, some even chided the sceptics.

The 1936 Olympics were used as a propaganda vehicle by Adolf Hitler for the Nazi regime

The 1936 Olympics were used as a propaganda vehicle by Adolf Hitler for the Nazi regime

'You can get big headlines back home by slating the oppressive regime,' said Tessa Jowell, then Minister for the Olympics, 'but there is a risk of going too far.'

Not now, it would seem. Now, no analogy is beyond bounds, no standing too grand, no show too boating. So, will England boycott? Probably not, because it costs money. There is a risk if England withdrew in isolation that FIFA would impose sanctions, including suspension and financial penalties.

Exile from FIFA would not just take England out of the 2018 World Cup, but the 2019 Women's World Cup and the Under 17 and Under 20 World Cups, in which England are defending champions, due to take place next year.

Suspension from FIFA could also exclude England from UEFA qualification from the 2020 European Championship, the final stages of which are to be held at Wembley, plus the World Cup in 2022.

Where this would leave English clubs in European competition is also unknown. It could be that English suspension is limited to the national team, but UEFA club tournaments are also, strictly, under FIFA's remit.

There would be hundreds of millions at stake were England forced out of the Champions League.

That is after FIFA starts hitting the FA for liability costs regarding loss of revenue from commercial agreements.

An automatic fine of £190,000 would be nowhere near the half of it. Participation revenue alone amounts to £6.8m - and once FIFA have been paid out, the FA would need to address penalty clauses in their own sponsorship deals with Vauxhall, Nike and other commercial partners.

Tensions are high between Vladimir Putin's Russia and Britain after a spy was poisoned 

Tensions are high between Vladimir Putin's Russia and Britain after a spy was poisoned 

Their only, faint, hope of avoiding a catastrophe would be if they could persuade FIFA that a boycott was not a boycott at all, but a safety measure following advice from the Foreign Office.

If the FA were told that players and officials might be endangered, or that supporters were not safe, they could argue they had no option but to withdraw.

The decision would, in those circumstances, not be political, but human. If fans faced harm following the team, better for the team not to travel. The problem is, the government might still want their boycott headlines.

A grand, government-led gesture of defiance would play a lot better than an England team frightened to leave its own shores, under orders from civil servants. Can't see Johnson fronting up beneath that banner for the cameras.

Meanwhile, on September 30, 10 teams - seven based in Britain - will contest the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, watched by Putin from his personal box, this being his pet project. No mention of that from any politicians yet and no talk of boycotts.

Maybe Johnson believes on this one, as in China, nothing will be achieved by showboating and grandstanding; not unless more showboating and grandstanding is precisely his aim.

 

Jack blow is timely warning

It is terribly unfortunate that Jack Wilshere failed to make the plane to Amsterdam on Thursday, but also timely. 

Like seeing Daniel Sturridge leave the field after three minutes for West Brom against Chelsea, or that occasion when Gareth Southgate travelled south specifically to watch Andy Carroll for West Ham, only for him to pull out of the game with a groin injury on the day, it is a reminder. 

Tournaments are tough and intense and if a player is injury-prone he has to be a game-changer to be risked. 

Sadly, as talented as Wilshere is, he has not played enough football to be considered that for England. Southgate cannot build his midfield around a potential no-show.

Jack Wilshere, pictured in training on Thursday, has not travelled with England to Holland
Wilshere works out with Jamie Vardy at St George's Park

Jack Wilshere, pictured in training on Thursday, did not travel with England to Holland

 

Sanchez has to prove he is United class 

Alexis Sanchez was a big fish in a small pool at Arsenal. They are an elite club, yes, but Sanchez was far and away their best player. Meaning, when things did not go well, he could act the victim.

Hands on hips, or thrown in the air in frustration - the universal sign language for being surrounded by incompetents. It is harder to swing that at Manchester United. Now, Sanchez's team-mates are players who would walk into Arsenal's team: Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Nemanja Matic, even Marouane Fellaini.

It may be a team in transition, as Jose Mourinho claims, but it is not one in which Sanchez can bemoan his misfortune or the shortcomings of others. He needs to prove himself a Manchester United player. 

Alexis Sanchez has been underwhelming since joining Manchester United from Arsenal

Alexis Sanchez has been underwhelming since joining Manchester United from Arsenal

Sanchez admits he has come up short so far, but offers mitigation. 'The change of clubs was something that was very abrupt,' he says. Except it wasn't. 

There was speculation about Sanchez leaving Arsenal for several years. He will have been aware of that and played like a man who was on his way for much of this season. 

It is unthinkable that he was not kept abreast of developments by his agent, Fernando Felicevich, or that interested clubs did not sound out his representative over fees and personal terms. Presuming that information was passed on, a January transfer cannot have been a surprise. 

Equally, once the ball was rolling, the move did not happen overnight. 

In November, it was known Manchester City would bid for Sanchez, amid interest from Manchester United, and the Old Trafford deal was not completed until January 22. 

He had a lot of time to get his head around his transfer - even if he initially imagined he would be playing for Pep Guardiola, in blue. So he has a lot of ground to cover. He can't just stand, disgusted and persuade the world how great he could be, if only his team-mates were better.

With United's red shirt comes significant expectations. Having acted like he was too big for Arsenal, it would be an irony if Manchester United proved too big for Sanchez.

Sanchez needs to start turning in the performances that are expected of him as United player

Sanchez needs to start turning in the performances that are expected of him as United player

 

Bentley view on 'Postman Pat' Fabio shows weakness at heart of English Game

David Bentley has been recalling his days as an England international, under Fabio Capello. He said the players did not like it when the manager banned tomato ketchup, spoke of smuggling a McDonald's takeaway in with Jimmy Bullard when under curfew and laughed about referring to Capello as 'Postman Pat' to his face.

Capello's limited English meant he wasn't in on the joke and would carry on talking, while players sniggered behind his back.

'If you are tense and overthink it, you play rigid,' Bentley concludes. 'And that's England's problem.' 

No. England's problem is that, given the chance to work with a coach who has won the Champions League, five Serie A titles and two La Liga titles, who was European Coach of the Year in 1994, Serie A Coach of the Year in 2005, who has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for both Italy and AC Milan, instead of receiving information and learning, England's chuckle-headed idiots preferred to gripe about fast food and sugar-laden condiments and make stupid in-jokes.

Meaning they got their clock cleaned at the 2010 World Cup, not because they were too rigid, but because they couldn't master the basics of tactical organisation that are second nature to teams like Germany. Yes, Capello did look a bit like Postman Pat; but England too often look like a team with all the football nous of his black and white cat. And that's a lot more embarrassing.

David Bentley has spoken out about his time in the England team under ex-boss Fabio Capello

David Bentley has spoken out about his time in the England team under ex-boss Fabio Capello

 

Strange that everyone seems so disappointed with Kevin Pietersen's farewell to cricket. Having been portrayed as a supreme egotist throughout his career, he modestly retired with a single tweet - 'Boots up, feet up' - after making seven for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League in Sharjah. 

It wasn't just his supporters who were left wanting more. Even his critics appeared to miss the opportunity for a lap of honour, a last hurrah and a chance to say goodbye to one of the sport's greatest players.

Yet had Pietersen gone out like John Terry did at Chelsea - a staged withdrawal from the Stamford Bridge pitch in the 26th minute, milking every last moment, not a dry eye in the house - he would have been slaughtered, as Terry was. There really is no pleasing some people.

 

Make Hammers feel at home or lose legacy of London 2012

Drip by drip, the truth is emerging about the London Stadium, the incompetence, the cost and the reality of Britain's Olympic legacy. The London Assembly budget monitoring committee heard this week that mistakes were made around the installation of the retractable seats.

'There is no suggestion we were negligent, but clearly we did get it wrong,' said David Edmonds, former chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation. The cost of this not at all negligent mistake? Roughly £8million annually, when the seats need to be taken out for athletics and put back for the new football season.

Neale Coleman, the LLDC's former vice-chairman, said that in retrospect the model used in Manchester after the Commonwealth Games - when the stadium was passed to Manchester City and converted for football purposes - would have been better.

The incompetence, the cost and the reality of the London Stadium legacy is ever-emerging

The incompetence, the cost and the reality of the London Stadium legacy is ever-emerging

Thank the brains trust of Tessa Jowell, Ken Livingstone and Lord Coe for that - they were the ones who insisted on an Olympic legacy and would not entertain the idea of a solely football-driven takeover. Yet football is the only sport that could consistently fill the stadium and make it viable - and even that future is threatened with stadium operator E20 making the place so inhospitable for West Ham and its fans.

And now to the final point. Edmonds admitted that the reason West Ham got such a good financial deal on the stadium was that they were the only game in town by the time it came to negotiations. Tottenham's proposal had been rejected; Leyton Orient's interest was a myth. It was West Ham, or nothing. West Ham, or empty.

The whole process has been an utter shambles and unless E20 start to make the place feel more like home for its anchor tenants, what tiny legacy remains could be lost. The politics needs to stop and the constructive solutions need to start. This is a national scandal and the size and scale of it is only just emerging.

 

On recent tours, it has been discovered that England's cricketers can't play against spin bowling, can't play against fast bowling and now, apparently, can't play against swing bowling either. Unless the ECB finds a country that bowls underarm, there aren't really many places to go.