a4e - apparently all the referees are headquarted in Miami so I doubt he could referee a World Cup match anywhere but I saw about the Villa-Paris game.

Is that ballboy George?

OI - not sure if it’s correct, but I read that he was being invited by the Canadians to referee one of the games there, and Uefa have chosen him for the Super Cup match between Paris St-Germain and Aston Villa. As no details were provided about his refusal of entry, it’s hard to get past the idea that it’s purely on racial grounds, but if someone knows better, I’ll obviously hear it (he was “turned away by border officials in Miami despite holding a diplomatic passport and a single-entry US visa”).

Thank you Bert and Meadow for further clarification about Farnham Town. Wasn't the reason Hoody didn't take up his reappointment on the DTB was a conflict of interest? I'd be surprised if George would do anything to potentially interfere with his involvement in AFCW, however small, given it is his life, or why he would be remotely interested in a role at another club unless it was a paid role.

FIFA and the US government are both to blame. I really wish the referees had stood by their colleague and said they were resigning from the tournament when Omar Artan was refused entry.

That IS interesting RK. All too easy to allow criticism to be deflected onto the Americans.

Looks ideal, was on loan at Crawley 2nd half of last season and played 1 game:-)

Transfer RUMOUR [Link]

Interesting article and analysis from BBC's economics editor Faisal Islam[Link] on WC 2026. I've heard the $7bn (ticket revenue) figure before but what I didn't know is that Fifa are renting the 11 US football stadiums at a fixed rent, so all profits go to them

Mexico v SA was a decent game in terms of entertainment. Also saw the last 20 mins or so of SK v CR and it was also decent. So all in all actually a decent start to the world cup in terms of entertainment.

George jones as in the DTb secretary ? Surely if he’s gone to a rival club be cant be secretary of Dons Trust anymore ?

Watched the end of the Korea v Czech game which was decent. Great long throw for Czech's goal albeit terrible marking leaving the scorer with a free header. Why this WC format doesn't work - 72 group games to weed out the worst 16 countries, followed by 32 games to get from 32 to one country.

I've been led to believe that George has gone to Farnham too.

My take. No idea whether Kevin quit due to a lack of budget or because Farnham came calling. Ashlee was essentially paying to play in that she had to pay for her very expensive boots. Neither of them need the money as they're both in very good jobs. They've been sold a dream by Farnham and no doubt we'll be playing them in a couple of seasons.

$6m - Ashlee is 37 and didn't have the impact this last season as previously but could make a mark a couple of divisions down for a while yet. As for Kevin, after 10 years at the club the cash available to attract players has been eroded by the amount other clubs are willing and able to spend, and unless Plymouth do implode and someone else joins them, we'll likely be relegated this coming season, whereas Farnham are on the up and he'll be able to attract players there that will do ok.

A4e - he probably does disagree with them and is hoping he can be more persuasive. Looks a decent bloke.

It seems odd that Kevin Foster left AFCW and then winds up two divisions lower at Farnham Town to manage their women's team playing in front of one man and his dog. Their stadium has improved a bit since we played there 20 odd years ago but it is still very small. Now Ashlee Hincks has pitched up there. I assumed she was going to call it a day or move into coaching / management herself so to end up at a level significantly beneath her ability is even more strange. [Link]

The first was dubious but arguable. The second one should have been a yellow for the Mexican, blocking off the attacker's run.

CW - maybe, but let’s see if they apply that to every similar foul in future WC games - the ref seemed very keen on his whistle….

You could say it was a clear goal scoring opportunity as he would have been clear had he not been fouled

This ref is shit!!

Dan Jarvis is also a military man - so does he disagree with the two who have resigned (also both ex military)…?

Every game will have several red cards if they apply the rule how this ref did - any physical contact where a player falls over is now a red…

Well given VAR I think the USA could well win the World Cup ... or Mexico or Canada

There is a new Def Sec.