Arsenal are right to ban Elneny and Pepe from Red List games – World Cup bid at risk?

Is it me or is the honour of England hosting a major tournament not as prestigious as it used to be?

Not helped by some of our ‘fans’ embarrassing their country during the summer, England plan to submit a bid to host the World Cup in 2030.

That may be affected if the Premiership and EFL don’t back down on their refusal to release players for the next international break.

That’s a nice way of saying Concaf and AFCON might be about to blackmail the FA.

Clubs in England are refusing to authorise their players travelling to any nation that is on the UK’s red list due to the government’s refusal to not make them exempt from the 10-day quarantine rule on their return. This includes Arsenal’s Elneny and Pepe.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: ‘Premier League clubs have always supported their players’ desires to represent their countries – this is a matter of pride for all concerned.

‘However, clubs have reluctantly but rightly come to the conclusion that it would be entirely unreasonable to release players under these new circumstances.

‘Quarantine requirements mean that players’ welfare and fitness will be significantly impacted. We understand the challenges that exist in the international match calendar and remain open to workable solutions.’

As things stand approx. 68 players will miss crucial qualifiers in Africa and South America which has got federations angry.

The implication is (without anyone saying this) that if the likes of Arsenal don’t reconsider or Boris Johnson steps in, then England lose key votes outside of Europe to even get to the final stages of voting.

That makes a mockery of FIFA bid to clean up the sport from corruption (hence why they want political involvement).

For the last two weeks all we have heard is how fans have been missed in stadiums, how the atmosphere we generate changes things

Football will tick a pr box by thanking health care workers for their battle against COVID.

Yet as soon as federations have to compromise, they show their true colours.

An Egypt don’t want a Salah missing fixture because that impacts on results, which impacts on qualification, which impacts on money.

If people can miss the funeral of loved ones, if people can deal with losing their jobs, if families have to accept not seeing each other … Then football can deal with this inconvenience.

The prem are not innocent by the way.

They are not safeguarding their players by banning them from travelling.

They simply don’t want their employees quarantining for 10 days, missing crucial prem dates. Again money.

During Covid, football has alienated many fans by their greed.

So, if the only way England can host a World Cup is by players not respecting a rule that is safeguarding human life …….then you can keep your World Cup thanks.

Be kind in the comments

Dan