Man of the season

Gianni Infantino rails at ‘fake news’ stories and ‘Fifa-bashing’ Read more

Gianni Infantino – ending year one of Fifa 2.0 by terminating his ethics team and attacking “fake news and alternative facts”: “Fifa bashing has become a sport in some countries. But we’re transparent. We’re a deeply honest organisation.”

• Defining the new 2.0 ethos: restraint at executive level. Infantino said his reduced £1.15m basic plus bonus, car, house, flowers budget and £1,542 a month expenses “reflects more than any word my strong will to end the type of behaviour that has, in the past, led to abuses”.

Also from Fifa in 2016-17:

• Best newcomer: £1m-a-year general secretary Fatma Samoura, in charge of Fifa’s internal austerity, found by auditors to be spending £22k of Fifa’s money on having her home cleaned five times a week. Fifa says Samoura repaid the sum “when she discovered the issue”.

• Best ambassador: Diego Maradona – meeting the press in February as Fifa’s goodwill ambassador – denying he hit a reporter who asked him a question: “I didn’t hit. If I hit you, you wouldn’t have a nose left. One on one, I’d destroy you.”

• And moving on: Nigerian executive Amos Adamu, retraining as a clergyman after picking up his second long-term Fifa ethics ban in March. “You know, I’ve had enough of football politics. My calling is different now, my life has changed. I’m back in the seminary to serve God.”

Plus: best Fifa story arc

Aug 2012: Fifa Fair Play and Social Responsibility executive Kirsten Nematandani hosts a two-day Interpol “Integrity in Sport” workshop, attacking match-fixing as “a cancer that robs the game of its innocence. This is a wonderful chance to learn more of this threat.”

Dec 2016: Nematandani banned for five years for match-fixing.

Elsewhere: best quote

Uli Hoeness – paroled €27.2m tax evasion convict and reinstated Bayern president – on fitting back in to football in January: “I have become more reflective, tolerant and humble. But I think I still have a relatively good reputation in the international football world. It appears not to have suffered.”

Test of the season

Football’s Fit and Proper test, ending another strong season by clearing Evangelos Marinakis to buy Forest. Marinakis, who denies alleged match-fixing and was previously accused of having a refereee’s bakery blown up but faced no action, says he’ll bring stability: “For me, football is a way of life.”

Blackpool fans boycott League Two play-off final against Exeter’s jolly volunteers Read more

• Also giving back this season:

a) Blackpool’s Karl Oyston – banned in 2015 for calling a fan “a massive retard special needs fuctard” – barring protesters unless they sign “acceptable behaviour orders”; b) Francesco Becchetti, taking Orient towards liquidation having spent the year fighting a failed Albanian extradition attempt on disputed fraud charges; c) Coventry, deflecting protests against owners Sisu while backing the League’s “Enjoy the Match” campaign in October: “Here at Coventry City we want our fans to have the best possible experience on a matchday, and leave smiling, no matter the result”; and d) Massimo Cellino: leaving Leeds after seven managers and three bans. His day one message in 2014: “Leeds fans have had enough eating shit and shutting their mouths. I want to make them proud again.”

Meanwhile: best targeting

Aston Villa owner @Dr_TonyXia - talking to Villa fans on Twitter in March: “#We are a team. #Fight through …. I didn’t buy Villa 4 business purpose. I never expected making money from it”; and talking to Bloomberg in Beijing: “If we didn’t buy Villa, we would have entered the industry through other means. Now we have control of Villa, we will leverage this opportunity and use it to further our business in the sports industry.”

And most reassuring

Italy: New Palermo president Paul Baccaglini – TV personality, nude model and founder of a 2009 joke political party based on lemons (slogan “Yes, We Lemon”) - reassuring fans in March over his credibility: “I’m not some ex-con drug dealer.”

Manager news: best exits

1) Romania, 12 Sep: CSM Poli Iaşi chairman Florin Prunea defends coach Nicolò Napoli: “Fans are shouting, but it’s way too much to ask me to sack him. I won’t even think about sacking him.” 5 Oct: Thinks about it. 6 Oct: Sacks him.

2) Germany, 29 Nov: Darmstadt president Rüdiger Fritsch on coach Norbert Meier: “Listen, if sacking a coach guaranteed success, every club would do it every four weeks. Studies show 99.1% of the time it achieves nothing. Other clubs around us did it and did it help them? No. It’s not a panacea like people think. Calmness and consistency – that’s the answer.” 6 Dec: Sacks him.

And 3) Petersfield manager John Robson: going home at half-time of their 4-2 loss to Kidlington in March. Chairman Graeme Moir: “He told the players in the dressing room: ‘that’s it’, and then drove off … It’s been a frustrating time for everyone.”

Most measured

Sam Allardyce, reflecting on his £2m bonus pre-season for keeping Sunderland up, a £1m payoff for 67 days of his £6m England contract and a £2m bonus for 21 games of his £2.5m Palace deal: “There comes a time when you have to take stock.”

Best adventure

Dimitri Payet, Feb 2016: “I’m proud to prolong my adventure with West Ham. The love affair continues.” Mar 2017: “I had no desire to play in the lower reaches of the Premier League. You could say that I was pissed off, yes.”

Most defiant

Romania: Botosani coach Leo Grozavu, denying he hit a subbed player in March (“I don’t hit, there’s no way I hit”) - then resigning when footage emerged of him doing it. “I present my resignation. It is a matter of honour that I do so. Good character is what matters.”

Most got at

Argentina U20 coach Gerardo Salorio, 57, suspended in February for climbing fencing to fight fans. “People call me old, a drunk, but I just climbed to find the haters. I’ve said a thousand sorries, but I’m feeling like Jesus to be honest - everyone at me for no reason.”

Most defensive

Chile: Colo-Colo, looking to fix their form in October with reported “basic witchcraft” – planting “eight superstitious bushes” and having staff “smear eight litres of vinegar over the locker room with rags”. Coach Pablo Guede: “It’s not my idea, but it’s normal.”

Most wise

Brazil: Vila Nova defender Marcelo Cordeiro, “unsettled” in October after a clip of him and Goias forward Rossi pretending to have been headbutted by each other went viral. “I couldn’t take the risk of not doing it. That’s life. That’s the game we’re in.”

Gamaspor (@gamaspor) Brezilya Serie B'de Goiás forması giyen Rossi ile Vila Nova oyuncusu Marcelo Cordeiro arasında elektriklenme! Etki-Tepki pic.twitter.com/R3C38UZWCS

Most confused

Twitter’s @TheRealMikeDean, US hip hop producer, facing down haters in January: “i’m not a reff”; “wrong mike dean”; “soccer is wack”; and “I AM NOT A SOCCER REFF U LIMEY F***. DO YOUR RESEARCH.”

Best tattoo

Belgium: Mechelen defender Uros Vitas - “resilient” after his torso tattoo of his wife’s face went viral in February. “It is easy to mock, but Snezane is everything in the world to me. It turned out how it turned out. There are no regrets.”

sporza (@sporza) KVM-speler Uros Vitas laat gezicht van zijn vrouw op zijn lichaam tatoeëren https://t.co/Yu1uVv0YUQ pic.twitter.com/NjY1zyVWZw

Best cameo

Brazil: Stray dog Zulu, chasing Goiás left-back Juninho during a Serie B game in Pelotas in September. Juninho said he panicked because “you can’t tell with dogs”; locals told RBS TV that Zulu is “just soppy. If he sees a ball, he goes chasing.”

Plus: most surprised

Brazil, September: Miss Bumbum 2016 contender Danny Morais – cousin of 2015 finalist Sabrina Boing Boing – wrestling a steward at Grêmio before chasing players across the pitch: “Of course I never expected such media attention from this. I only ever follow my heart.”