Said & Done

The week in football: Sharing the wealth; mobster news; Osasuna stay calm; plus the linesman who unleashed

•  

The week in football: Jérôme Valcke, Karl Oyston, Jonathan Barnett and Julio Grondona. Photographs: Reuters, PA, Action Images

Vision of the week

Fifa's Jérôme Valcke – promising "maximised socio-economic benefits" for Brazil in 2014. "A Fifa World Cup is never the final destination in a country's journey, but an accelerator, and a window of opportunity." (2012: South Africa's government report back on their World Cup journey – total costs of £2bn offset by "unquantifiable ... intangible" gains; and Fifa report back on theirs: £394m profit, tax-free.)

Theme of the week

Redistribution: Premier League clubs committing £18m over three years to "making a positive social difference" via their Community Facility Fund, and £630m over three months to new signings.
• Last week's other money highlights: a) Hinckley United facing liquidation over a £130,000 debt; b) 

Kettering fans raising £20,000 to avoid being wound up; c) Darlaston Town fans raising £5,000 after their club collapsed; d) Football League clubs spending £21.5m on agents.
• Assessing the news on agents: "I'm horrified by the level of money that goes out of football, never to be seen again. That £21m could and should have made a massive difference. If clubs were that keen to spend that money, they should have invested it in their own community" - Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston, who reacted to Blackpool making a "big cash surplus" in their relegation season in 2010-11 by paying his father Owen's firm £11m - "sensible planning" to avoid "a huge tax bill".

Spare a thought for

Last week's hardest grafters: agent Jonathan Barnett, negotiating a £300k-a-week deal for Gareth Bale: "It was an intense, stressful and tiring process." Bale's verdict: "It was very stressful to say the least … It was a hard time, stressful and I had to focus."

Best fresh start

Rangers: set to name four new directors in their bid to secure credible stability - including shareholder Sandy Easdale, jailed for VAT fraud in 1997. Last month Easdale told Scottish press to move on. "I've not been involved in crime for 16 years, since I was jailed. If I was involved in all the things I'm rumoured to be involved in, I'd be on some sort of Interpol list."

Media management

Last week's best rebuttals to tough stories: 1) Argentinian FA president and Fifa's finance head Julio Grondona, responding after Diego Maradona called him "a mobster": "Everyone can speak as they wish." 2) Conmebol spokesman Nestor Benítez, on Romário calling the South American body "the biggest disgrace, even more corrupt than Fifa": "It's an opinion. Football welcomes opinions."

Best PR operation

March: Barclays' PR team plays down news of a £40m shares bonus for nine executives, insisting their "pay restraint" ethos remains intact. Sept: Barclays hails the £40m it has spent since 2004 on community sport as proof of their key commitment: "driving social change".

Quote of the week

Croatia: Dinamo Zagreb owner Zdravko Mamic, clarifying comments from March in which he called Croatia's sports minister, an ethnic Serb, an "insult to the Croatian brain - when he looks at you, blood squirts from his eyes". Mamic: "Serbs know I meant nothing by this. Some of my friends are Serbs."

Cracking down

Italian discipline news: 1) €4,000: Juventus's fine in March after fans racially abused Mario Balotelli, singing: "There are no black Italians." 2) €4,000: Sassuolo's fine last week after a fan threw a shoe on to the pitch, "causing a brief interruption".

Manager news: stay calm

Spain, 27 August: Osasuna president Miguel Archanco, assessing the pressure on coach José Luis Mendilibar: "I've read that apparently the board has doubts about him. Let's clarify that - we don't. There are no doubts, and the season has barely begun. Be calm, be quiet." 3 Sept: Sacks him.
• One to watch: Italy - Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, asked if he'll sack Gennaro Gattuso if they lose to Padova. "The game will not be decisive for Gattuso. It is simply a game we cannot get wrong."

Owner of the week

Bulgaria: Shumen president Georgi Georgiev, pulling his club out of the Bulgarian Cup after they were drawn against top-flight Chernomorets Burgas: "It's too hard. We refuse to participate – I don't want to cause my boys mental trauma."

Respect campaign

Zambian press reporting on how assistant referee Winter Katowa reacted to mid-match feedback from Mongu Academy's Lineford Njemba: "Unexpectedly, Katowa dropped his flag and unleashed a blow which could have impressed a boxing scout." Both were fined.

Plus: awards news

Uruguay, March: Model Vitto Saravia says her time in football has been a "source of great pride". "I've had three footballer boyfriends, but I've never taken advantage. I didn't get any of them to give me a car or a house." Sept: Awarded Uruguay's "Woman of the Year", for services to modelling.