It may have passed the average football fan by when at a meeting of Opec+ countries in Vienna last week it was agreed to cut the global oil supply by two million barrels per day in November.
For the uninitiated, the Opec+ group are 23 oil-producing countries who meet regularly to discuss how much of it is sold to everyone else. By controlling one of the most valuable resources on the planet, they hold great power. And Russia and Saudi Arabia are two key players, so the group’s actions have become more poignant since Vladimir Putin decided to limit Europe’s supplies as punishment for supporting Ukraine since he attacked the country.
Events of geopolitical significance can no longer be dismissed as nothing to do with football following the decision to force Roman Abramovich to sell Chelsea after almost two decades as its owner, for his support of Putin’s war. If the borders between football and politics had weakened significantly over the years, they evaporated when that line was drawn in the sand with the tide fast incoming.
But what now of Saudi Arabian Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman’s strengthening relationship with Putin? Bin Salman ignored pleas from the West to ease the strains placed on the region’s oil supplies by Russia’s war in Ukraine in a move that has been widely interpreted as closening the ties between two leaders with a shared interest in waging war on a neighbouring country.
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Whether or not you really believe the Premier League’s claim that it had been given “legally binding assurances” that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is not controlled by, er, Saudi Arabia, when it signed off the Newcastle takeover could become increasingly irrelevant.
What of the individual ultimately in control of the fund and his relationship with Putin? Bin Salman is the PIF’s chairman, and he is cosying up to the dictator it is no longer acceptable to be associated with. According to an account in the Guardian, Bin Salman has long been fascinated by Putin and admired him, and it’s true that they now share certain traits.
Moreover, the decision to side with Putin at this crucial juncture and drive oil prices up for the dark winter months ahead could be seen as helping fund his war. “It’s clear that Opec+ is aligning with Russia with today’s announcement,” White House spokesperson Karin Jean-Pierre said following the Opec+ meeting.
So how close do those alignments, between the chairman of the fund which owns Newcastle United and the dictator pressing on with his war, have to become before the Premier League is forced to act? Or, indeed, think about doing something. As close as Abramovich was to Putin? Wasn’t a major part of the problem that Abramovich’s billions were helping to fund the assault on Ukraine?
Abramovich was always a Russian oligarch in the thrall of Putin — that didn’t change overnight. What changed was that his close ally launched a war the West cared about. And the Premier League – its executives and member clubs – decided that was enough for them.
We live in fractured times, where the world’s countries are posturing for power. Now that a bar has been set with Abramovich, it will become increasingly uncomfortable to ignore other Premier League owners with close links to world leaders the West opposes.
A wonderful occasion for 1972 Lionesses
Lynda Hale, one of the 1972 Lionesses who received an official England cap for the first time last Friday, 50 years after playing England’s inaugural game against Scotland, sent me a lovely picture of her with her cap and an England shirt with her old number – seven – on the back.
Hale thanked i for sharing her and some of her team-mates’ stories and how they felt forgotten by the Football Association during the summer, which prompted the governing body to commit to honouring them properly.
For Hale and the other “Original Lionesses” I’ve spoken to, it clearly means the world to them to be given this recognition at Wembley during England’s friendly victory against the USA, half a century after they had to fight so hard to be able to play football at all – and were often looked down upon for doing so.
It’s a world away from the current Lionesses who, judging from Friday’s result against the world champions, could be on the verge of an epic achievement going into next year’s World Cup as European champions.
Give Alexander-Arnold a break
While caught up in one of English football’s biggest current debates – to play, or not to play – Trent Alexander-Arnold has looked a jaded figure. Is it any wonder, give the amount of football he’s played, having only just turned 24?
In the full seasons since he made his Liverpool debut in 2016, Alexander-Arnold has played an average of 46 games per season — a staggering 231 games in five years. That’s included long runs in the Champions League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Premier League title pushes, appearances for England in the Nations League, World Cup qualifiers, friendlies.
He clearly needs a rest. Perhaps one enforced by an ankle injury will be a blessing in disguise.
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