Football is having one of its worst seasons of controversy, with allegations of on and off-field racial remarks and alarming use of hand gestures by the crowd for any opponent daring to, for example, go and take a corner or a throw in. Of course, this kind of thing has happened in the past. It’s nothing new. Yet it is a great shame, especially in the case of alleged racism, that behaviour such as this has returned as great progress has been made in football over the last couple of decades.

Why on Earth does it take place on the terraces, though? My memories of standing on the concrete steps of football grounds as a youngster are filled with humour, pickled onions and people having a good time regardless of the result. Maybe it was worse than that and time has erased any thoughts of abuse, though I suspect this isn’t the case.

But generally, getting under the skin of opponents – both in the terraces and the players lined up against yours – was done through wit. How can I make fun of somebody in good jest? Targeting, for example, Jason Lee’s haircut (who remembers “he’s got a pineapple, on his head”?) instead of aiming a mouth full of expletives in his direction.

Now, though, abuse is commonplace. Apparently, there’s nothing like getting at an opponent by shaking a first or waving a couple of fingers at them.

So it was with great delight that I was given a copy of Who are ya? Football’s best ever chants compiled by Gershon Portnoi. Some 175 pages of wit and good humour, a bible for some of the best-written chants and songs from up and down the country over the years.

A reminder, too, that football does not need to resort to some of the ridiculous comments thrown the way of players these days.

Take this one, for example, about the inadequacy of Djimi Traore sung to the tune of Blame it on the Boogie by The Jackson Five:

Don’t blame it on the Biscan,

Don’t blame it on the Hamann,

Don’t blame it on the Finnan,

Blame it on Traore.

He just can’t, he just can’t, he just can’t control his feet.

Or perhaps this tongue-in-cheek look of Alex Hleb from Arsenal fans:

Alex Hleb, woah-oh,

Alex Hleb, woah-oh,

He came from Belarus,

To sell cheap fags and booze.

Many, many more examples – indeed, from around the world – are featured in the book and display football in a slightly better light.

These current problems are snowballing. Players have a responsibility as well to improve their own on-field behaviour, but it does not give fans the right to say or do what they want. Let’s hope we’re not closing in on another Eric Cantona outburst, but could instead still return towards the glory days of wit on our terraces.

As this book shows, British football fans can be among the best at it.

Follow me – @benjamin_curtis

In a week where the world witnessed one of the greatest-ever club sides make England’s champions look like 11 wax work models hired from Madam Tussauds for a Saturday night out in Wembley, it is somewhat galling to see a 75-year-old take centre stage waxing lyrical about the Fifa family.

Sepp Blatter, in his unique style, has completely overshadowed the achievements of Barcelona and the mesmerising display Pep Guardiola’s men unleashed on Manchester United last Saturday, instead brushing aside any suggestion that there are problems at Fifa and using the Champions League Final as an example of how world football is in good shape.

Far from being a case of sour grapes from the English FA and the media, Blatter and senior figures at Fifa are facing serious allegations that could, if proved to be correct, call into question their capability to run the sport.

Yet with the help of 172 spineless confederations voting against a motion to delay the presidential election, an unopposed Blatter will now take charge for a further four years which, if the previous four are anything to go by (absence of goal-line technology, Qatar 2022 reasoning), could be detrimental to the credibility of football.

Even though he faced no competition yesterday, Blatter couldn’t have done it without victory in the morning vote on whether to delay the presidential election. That only 34 nations voted to delay the election or not take sides is quite incredible.

As the old proverb goes, clever men are often employed by fools. Sadly for football, Fifa seems to be riddled with them.

However, the FA’s case has not been helped by pressing ahead with the 2018 World Cup bid knowing that there were deep-rooted problems in Fifa. Though a lot of effort had been put into organising the bid, all of the talk coming out of the FA’s headquarters would hold greater strength now had we pulled out before.

Is this in hindsight? Of course not. The first look of 2018 and 2022 voting taking place at the same time should have been a sign of things to come. The timing of BBC’s Panorama investigation was widely criticised at the time but now the contents form part of the argument against Fifa. Allegations were made even before the 2018 voting commenced.

Now the FA and English football find themselves in the doghouse, set to be snubbed for the foreseeable future. Instead of licking its wounds, the FA must now challenge Blatter and Fifa through strong campaigning and leadership – something that has been lacking until the last week.

The importance of change should not be understated. Football must be remembered for the jaw-dropping performances from the likes of Barcelona and not the jaw-dropping performances from an unopposed president in charge of a failing organisation.

Well, I’ll be damned. All week I’ve been looking forward to Survival Sunday (copyright Sky Sports, along with Super Sunday, Tussle Tuesday, Smash it Saturday and any other alliterated names that the broadcaster may or may not use to add drama to a day of football) and the battle between five teams looking to stay in the Premier League next season, then an 89-year-old prophet goes and ruins the fun.

Harold Camping believes that the world will begin to end tomorrow and will be destroyed completely five months later, over-shadowing (assuming we still have sun, Old Trafford and Jamie Redknapp’s wardrobe) Survival Sunday. It is the second ‘Rapture’ (as it is known in the doomsday-prophesier business) Mr Camping has predicted after the universe was spared from his guessing back in the mid-1990s; assuming the world pulls through, Wigan, Blackpool, Birmingham, Wolves and Blackburn will be looking for a sparing of their own a day later.

Having done a little survial predicting myself, thanks to the BBC predictor, my bottom six will finish as follows:

Wolves look good to beat Blackburn at Molineux to secure their top-flight status, while Steve Kean should scrape through. Wigan meanwhile have a difficult game at Stoke, who could still be hurting from two defeats against Manchester City in under a week. The possible absences of Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant may blunt Stoke’s creativity, though Tony Pulis is confident of both playing a part. While Stoke limp towards the end, Wigan will be in a confident mood after their win over bottom club West Ham last week.

Tottenham should have enough to beat Birmingham and fend off Liverpool for fifth. While Blackpool’s chances of getting anything from a second-string Manchester United side must, surely, be highly unlikely.

Maybe my predictions will be wide of the mark. But one thing is for certain: they’ll be a darn sight closer than Harold Camping’s.

Referees and their officials are so often vilified for making the wrong decision, regardless of whether they could see the incident, that it is often difficult not to feel slightly sorry for them. Take yesterday’s early offside in the Carling Cup final: Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer is played through, flagged offside and television replays show he was actually the opposite. Bowyer running one way at full tilt and an Arsenal defender walking the other way creates a difficult decision – sometimes it is given correctly, other times not. A team can only hope that these things even out and, though often it does not, especially when facing bigger teams, Birmingham snatched a late win and the wrong decision is confined to history.

Add in just shy of 90,000 people creating an atmosphere at the home of English football, while a further several million watch from their television sets and the pressure can get to anyone. Cup final day and plenty at stake.

Compare that to Mark Clattenburg’s surroundings on Saturday. The DW Stadium with a scattering of 18,000 people and an incident that was clearer than a split-second call. That Clattenburg decided to give a free-kick the way of Wigan when Wayne Rooney’s elbow landed on the cheek of James McCarthy shows he saw the incident. That Rooney was not even booked for raising his arm has to call into question the quality of Clattenburg as a referee.

But still, surely after two days of giving it some thought, tens of replays shown across a series of different shows, including in the offices at the FA, Rooney will face up to his actions. Not one bit.

Aside from the injustice that Rooney gets away with violent conduct, the words of Sir Alex Ferguson and assistant Mike Phelan were equally remarkable. Phelan spoke of a “witch-hunt” against Rooney, while Sir Alex said the press “will raise a campaign to get him hung or electrocuted”.

Combined, the words of Sir Alex Ferguson and the inaction of the FA set a tone that needs to be eradicated. Footballers must act as role models and anyone stepping out of line must be brought to justice.

Rooney has evaded discipline. Now will the FA have the strength to stand up to Ferguson? Most likely he will get away scot-free.

Follow me on Twitter – @benjamin_curtis

It wouldn’t be outlandish to say that the magic of the FA Cup has long since fizzled out. It has – and Sir Alex Ferguson’s suggestions yesterday only confirm that change is needed to the nation’s leading cup competition. As it stands, the romance is about as strong as a man presenting his wife with a tatty pair of oven gloves and a VHS copy of Ryan Giggs Secrets and Skills (circa 1994) before whisking her away to the local chippy for cod and mushy peas. The romance of the FA Cup is stale and needs revitalising.

Where to start? Sir Alex believes that a winter break should precede a weekend of cup football and so it should. Not only does this give players a break – and therefore reduces the risk of injury – but also gives fans a chance to recuperate financially and re-energise  their love for the game. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that.

With this in mind, how can a winter break improve the FA Cup? Top teams are more likely to use their best players instead of using a cup weekend for resting them. For fans, all attention will be on cup football instead of viewing it as a detour from the Premier League.

I believe it should go further still and result in two or three straight weeks of cup football. Though logistics may be a stumbling block,  a month of FA Cup football (Rounds 3 to 5, with a week to allow for postponements) would focus all eyes on the cup and take away the stigma it has as a distraction from league football. At the very least, rounds should be brought closer together to create a storyline instead of leaving people struggling to remember what went on in previous games.

Other measures that need to come in include moving semi-finals away from Wembley (regardless of financial repurcussions for the FA)  and ensuring every team is playing in the same round over a weekend. That two games are still going through replays in the last two days, regardless of fixture list pile-ups, is simply ridiculous and ruins the event.

Additionally:

• Replays should be kept – vital financial benefit for smaller clubs.
• Seedings should not be introduced as every team should be equal in the draw.
• Draws could be made before the action begins, providing greater excitement (already done in part: today’s draw has been made before Leyton Orient v Arsenal)
• Highlights on earlier in the evening

The ideas above are just that – ideas. Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments should lead to more debate on the topic, as keeping the status quo will mean more half-empty stadia, third-rate team selections and viewing figures continuing to fall. We owe it to the history of the FA Cup that will provide it with a future.

If there was any lingering doubt that money is ruining top level football, events of the last couple of weeks must now have extinguished them.

Liverpool’s trips to the High Court, injunctions from Texas, Wayne Rooney toying with one of the greatest managers of all time and biggest clubs in the world and then news of Portsmouth’s financial woes.  Add in older problems such as Yaya Toure’s £220,000 per week pay packet, plans to send the Premier League abroad for a 39th game every season, billion pound television contracts from Sky, escalating ticket prices and an £80 million plus transfer fee for Cristiano Ronaldo and surely the evidence is slapped in the face of every football fan. The plot has long been lost.

Yet here we are, still believing the grass is green and that the show will continue to go on. All the while Premier League teams play every week, filling the pockets of the players, managers, club directors, agents, league officials and television companies a problem does not exist. Turn a blind eye.

The reality is that unless something is done now to stop this escalation of money, football is going to face ruin. There’s little doubt the country will always have a love for football, but for how much longer will people keep paying big money for it? This week’s spending review will leave people with shallower pockets – so why will they continue to pay for football?

Firstly, let’s look at attendances. West Ham’s Upton Park ground has a capacity of 35,000 yet when champions Chelsea pitched up last month, only 33,000 came to watch. Similarly, Wigan’s DW stadium can hold 25,000 people yet when champions Chelsea arrived in August, only 15,000 paid to watch the game. Or perhaps Blackburn? A stadium with a capacity of 31,000 people, former title winners and a regular Premier League team. A game against Arsenal, one of the most entertaining footballing sides in the world, and 25,000 attend.

Clearly gate receipts aren’t as crucial as they once were and television money provides the back bone of a club’s financial state. Though Sky continues to thrive, it isn’t out of the realms of possibility that they start to lose customers. Pubs – an important revenue stream for the company – are continuing to go out of business as more people stay at home. Rising costs of Sky subscriptions could see people switching off. And a six-year licence fee freeze could see the BBC ponder whether another Premier League highlights contract is worth the extortionate sums of money.

And then the clubs themselves. Talk of Liverpool going into administration, questions over Manchester United’s long-term financial state, the demise of Leeds, the possibility of Portsmouth’s liquidation, the disappearance of Chester City. On the opposite end of the scale, the money being pumped into Manchester City and Chelsea and even Crawley Town allegedly offering Robert Pires a £3,000-a-week contract to play in the Conference.

Football’s gone absolutely balmy. People question the idiocy of  City bankers but don’t bat an eyelid at what’s going on in the nation’s favourite sport. All the while there is somebody willing to buy out a club, the money-fuelled gamble will continue.

Worse still, when the people of this country are asked to tighten their belts football continues to spend. While  490,000 public sector workers look set to lose their jobs, Wayne Rooney pockets a new £190,000/week contract and while football lives in a bubble, the people that pay for it to exist struggle to pay for the bare essentials. Football has been lucky until now, but that financial relationship is going to be under intense strain over the coming years.

Ah, another tournament involving England and another fortnight of hope-dashing performances, disciplinary problems, injuries, tactical quandaries and questions about whether the “Golden Generation” (GG) are actually golden. Or whether they’re actually tin with a cheap gold spray that wears off after 180 minutes of exposure to high altitude. Perhaps the nation should have sealed them in envelopes, sent them to Dale Winton and cashed them in, as their worth has dropped on a par with BP’s share prices in the last week-and-a-half.

“This is our year – 44 years of hurt will fizzle out as our boys arrive back victorious,” people keep saying. Some of the more ludicrous followers say that England drew their first game back in 1966, and indeed drew their first two games in 1990, and were still successful so it’s in the stars and we’re certain to reach the semi-finals this year. The Sun even enlisted the memory of Winston Churchill last Friday to inspire the team to victory. But the GG have failed to perform again – despite the pre-tournament rhetoric of how they’ve failed to live up to expectations in the past, but that now their time has come. Perhaps straw clutching should become our national sport.

England haven’t got the the quality in their first eleven, or in reserve, to challenge the top four teams in this competition. Nor have they got the mental strength. The Premier League is one of the best in the world because of the foreign talent, not because of Messrs Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Terry and A. Cole, and therefore a decent domestic league doesn’t translate to a decent national squad. Yes, the qualifying campaign was good, but against footballing minnows Andorra, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine and Croatia were disposed of, as they should have been, and we’re through to the World Cup. I’d have hoped for a good qualifying campaign out of that – it shouldn’t mean we’re semi-final certainties when the real thing arrives. But the nation, with the help of the English media, builds us up as potential winners and anything short of this is deemed a failure. Cue people calling for Fabio Capello to be replaced in the middle of the World Cup and general anger towards the players and management.

Maybe the nation should lower its expectations of the national team succeeding, instead of clinging onto false hope of it being “1966 all over again”. If we beat Slovenia and progress, then awesome. If we go further, then even better. But this team isn’t a Golden Generation and nor is it one of the best in the world. It is players like Messi, Villa, Torres, Alonso, Tevez, Forlan, Van Persie, Podolski that are worth their weight in gold.

This afternoon’s 3-1 defeat of Arsenal  by Manchester United had shades of their Champions League semi-final victory of May. A surprisingly comfortable victory, lethal counter-attacking football and a winger orchestrating the goals. In May it was Ronaldo, today it was  Nani. A quite superb all round performance as Sir Alex Ferguson got it spot on tactically – should Wayne Rooney have another man up front with him? Should Ryan Giggs have started in place of Scholes? Ferguson rightly called no and when things weren’t quite working, moving Paul Scholes further up produced United’s devastating spell of dominance in the first-half, one that set up an important victory.

Final of the Carling Cup, and now one point behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League – as the old saying goes: never write off Manchester United.

Chelsea and their manager Carlo Ancelotti have backed under-fire defender John Terry and reinforced his position as the club’s captain, despite allegations this weekend of an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, once girlfriend of England and former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge. Ancelotti is quoted as saying: “The players will never lose their trust in him.” Well, why won’t they? The whole episode centres around trust – trust between Terry and his wife Toni, Terry and his then best friend Bridge and Terry and his club, his supporters and the footballing world. Any trust emanating from John Terry is now gone. But trust Chelsea to back their biggest financial asset and one of their highest-paid stars – only a player revolt could turn the club’s scandalous decision around now.

Fabio Capello shouldn’t take any risks on the other hand. Playing for England is a great honour and by captaining your country you have to set the highest standards both on and off the field. Millions idolise the game’s biggest stars and anything of this kind must be punished – in this case by removing the England captaincy. A leader on the field inspires his team to play with passion and desire and play with a team – problems now caused with Wayne Bridge undermines his ability to do this. A leader off the field is an ambassador for the game and for his country – this weekend’s news has a worldwide effect and could prove detrimental to England’s World Cup build-up. Change has to come fast – Terry’s selfishness shouldn’t leave a scar on the rest of the team and only a quick reaction from Capello can limit the damage. The captaincy of England is held in the highest regard – it is far more important than one player.

Alan Shearer’s short-term appointment as Newcastle manager brings with it a number of questions. Firstly, will he be good enough? After all, he has no experience as a coach and is taking on a difficult task, but track record is not important. We won’t find out how good a manager he is until he takes on a permanent managerial post and with only eight games to go this season, the lift he will give the Toon’s beleaguered squad will be enough to keep them up. The squad are good enough, the support is good enough and although he will play Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa in those eight games, there are enough winnable games to avoid relegation. In this sense, the odds are stacked in his favour – as Paul Hayward wrote in today’s Guardian, Middlesborough and West Brown are likely to fall to the Championship and there are plenty of clubs above who are faltering. Hull, for example, have only won one Premiership game since Phil Brown’s half-time centre circle rollicking on Boxing Day. Stoke, despite an impressive home record, are still to win away and look to be struggling to beat the drop. Shearer’s heroic status will surely bring a renewed optimism and results to match.

Secondly, how instrumental was he in Dennis Wise’s departure? Very, you would think. Timing is everything and it is not difficult to make a link between Wise’s departure yesterday and Shearer’s arrival today. Shearer has been critical in the past about Wise’s role as executive director and may well have made it a condition for his return to Newcastle. Iain Dowie has been brought in as his assistant, an experienced coach who will do the leg work in training leaving Shearer to do the analysis, just not on the sofa this time.

Finally, will he stay any longer than those eight games? It looks unlikely if this afternoon’s press conference is anything to go by. Shearer was adamant he will leave after this season and with Joe Kinnear still in the picture, do not expect Shearer to be the manager there after. There’s little doubt that there will be a clamour for Shearer to stay, but he looks content for now to return to the BBC next season. But then again, Guus Hiddink appears to be softening towards a longer contract at Chelsea…