The week in football – also featuring: United inspiring girls, and how to get sacked

Italian football needs more than a public reading to bring meaningful change | Paolo Bandini Read more

Quote of the week

Lazio director of communications Arturo Diaconale – upset by media “discrediting the club” after fans mocked the Holocaust: “It’s been grotesque… A wave of politically correct McCarthyism.”

• Leading the condemnation of fans’ graffiti and Anne Frank stickers: Italy FA president Carlo Tavecchio – condemning “sick acts that offend a community and our country”. Tavecchio’s previous best work on antisemitism: 2015 – denying prejudice after he was recorded calling a businessman a “lousy Jew … I don’t have anything against the Jews, but they’re best kept under control.” Tavecchio: “I have great relationships with Jewish people.”

Other news: most let down

Guatemalan judge Héctor Trujillo – the first defendant sentenced in the US Fifa trials, two years after being arrested on a cruise ship in Florida. Trujillo, jailed for eight months, told the court: “My plan was never about greed. But I have to admit – my conscience failed me.”

Proudest moment

Manchester United, backing sponsor Chevrolet’s #BeAGoalKeeper initiative aimed at “inspiring young girls to keep ahead of the game and achieve their goals on and off the pitch”: “We’re proud to encourage girls to participate.” (2005: United axe their women’s team to save money: “It’s not part of our core business.”)

Chevrolet FC (@ChevroletFC) That moment when you show the world what it means to be a @Chevrolet GoalKeeper. #BeAGoalKeeper pic.twitter.com/cZiQwsESN7

Most versatile

Ronaldinho, signing to play in next month’s Match for Peace in Mexico to promote “dignity, coexistence and tolerance”. His last big friendly: 7 Oct, playing alongside Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov in a match to mark Vladimir Putin’s birthday. Kadyrov told local media: “Ronaldinho was very grateful to be invited. He spoke enthusiastically about the benevolent atmosphere in Grozny.”

Also giving back

Russia: ex-Rostov coach Igor Gamula, chosen to coach the Africa team at the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi. Gamula – banned for five games in 2014 for linking black players to Ebola and telling the press: “We’ve got enough blacks, we’ve got six of the things and you want me to sign a seventh?” – told local media: “When they paired me with Africa, well, I had to laugh. But all normal people know I’m not a racist.” What he learned from the tournament: “There is one peculiarity among Africans – the total lack of discipline.”

EFL requests ‘full explanation’ from Twitter over Carabao Cup draw farce Read more

Best defence

The EFL on its Carabao Cup draws: First round: “The EFL would like to apologise for third-party technical issues. The draw was not compromised in any way.” Second round: “The draw was in no way compromised.” Fifth round: “The EFL would like to apologise for third party technical issues. The draw was in no way compromised.” Their most upbeat draw so far: the 4.15am third round event in China, which took 53 minutes to complete: “This was the culmination of a really positive and successful few days for the EFL in Asia.”

Viewer of the week

Switzerland: Sion president Christian Constantin, sacking coach Paolo Tramezzani four months into a two-year deal. Constantin, forced to follow his side on TV while serving a 14-month ban for slapping a pundit, said Sion “looked lifeless, grim, unpleasant. We were better off before he got here.”

Best direct action

Italy: Mauro Lanza, petrol station owner and president of Serie D Fulgor Molfetta, sacking coach Giuseppe Lo Polito and hiring himself instead. Local media: “The president conducts training with a microphone. In this city, it caused no surprise.”

• Also making changes:

a) Spain: 18 Oct, Deportivo president Tino Fernández urges more sympathy for coach Pepe Mel. “Let’s just let Pepe work calmly. No good comes from constantly questioning him.” 24 Oct: Sacks him.

b) Italy: 15 Oct, Benevento president Oreste Vigorito calls for fans to respect coach Marco Baroni: “Marco has shown before he knows how to get us out of trouble. So let’s be clear: sacking the coach now would solve nothing.” 24 Oct: Sacks him.

Said & Done: ‘He has difficulty judging boundaries when engaging in banter’ Read more

Model of the week

Brazil: Criciúma director of football Edson Gaúcho, heard on a leaked Whatsapp audio: “If the president wants to sack me, he’ll sack me, whatever. I have a life away from all this. I don’t even like these players, these sacks of shit – they drink to 5am, making out they’re gangster. They’re tramps.” Gaucho, sacked on Friday, said the audio was “a conversation from two months ago. He who lives in the past belongs in a museum.” His broader view: “I’m a model professional.”

Most concerned

Tahiti’s FA: warning against “vigilantism” after a referee fought AS Dragon fans who criticised a colleague. The FA said “blows were exchanged”, with one fan seen “beating the referee’s testicles … We appeal to the intelligence of everyone: the values of football must be respected.”

Plus: best philosophy

Thailand: Satri Angthong keeper Akkaradet Jangporn, 17, relaxed about going viral after he ran off his line to celebrate a shootout win while the ball spun back into his net. “I forgot to look at the ball, it was the heat of the moment. But it’s a life lesson. All the insults from people are my motivation. I just have to prove I’ll get better.”