Deliver the news, don’t be the news

Last night saw Liverpool take on Atletico Madrid in the Estadio Vicente Calderon in the UEFA Champions League.

The game nearly didn't happen in Madrid after UEFA dished out a stadium ban on the Spanish club for the racist abuse levelled by their fans at Marseille players.

An outcry has seen the game taking place in the Spanish capital after UEFA relented, recognising how moving the game 300km away would inconvenience the Red hordes who had already made their travel arrangements more than the home support.

And William Gaillard, UEFA's Director of Communications and Public Affairs and the man who all these pronouncements came through, has a lot to answer for.

His statements, the voice of UEFA on this earth, have, in the past week, stumbled between hard line rhetoric regarding racism to meek withdrawal when the full consequences became known.

No-one knows what Gaillard, the garrulous Gaul, will say next. And it does his organisation a discredit.

I don't know about the internal machinations of European football's governing body, but I dare say they would have to be fairly organised and diligent to be able to organise the Champions League, UEFA Cup and European Championships as a bare minimum.

However, to an outsider like myself, UEFA's PR and media activity give the impression that all decisions are cobbled together on the back of a fag packet, with the real loser in this case being the campaign against racism in football.

I have two axioms for M. Gaiilard to consider - Justice must be done and seen to be done; and think first before you speak.

Otherwise Gaillard and the impression of panic management becomes the story, and not the beautiful game itself and the issues that need to be tackled.

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