Said & Done

Man of the week New from Fifa icon Jack Warner last week: a) Threatens a rival senator in Trinidad with legal action for allegedly withholding £210,000 of public funds since last year. "He has ignored demands to pay it three times. So the next step is court." b) Reacts to a second court ruling against him demanding his FA stop withholding funds owed to Trinidad's 2006 World Cup squad by demanding a third hearing . Jack's office: "We will appeal this ... the learned judge misdirected himself." Jack: "These players hold us to ransom – just because of their greed." Meanwhile Vitaly Mutko – Fifa executive and Russia's 2018 bid leader: Last week: Mutko says English press are "obsessed" with making Russian football look racist and corrupt. This week: Criminal investigation launched in Russia into alleged fraud at Mutko's sports ministry. Among the targets: Mutko's expenses claim for 97 breakfasts eaten during a 20-day trip to Vancouver. Mutko: "Believe me, there won't be a single prosecution from this. My ministry is transparent." Good of the game Highlights from the FA's 2009 financial report, released last week (and based on "a thorough and diligent budgetary review to make the necessary savings to our cost base whilst leaving the frontline of distributions to football untouched"): £41m : Amount distributed for football development below the professional level – with "certain payments" to the Football Foundation grassroots charity "deferred for 12 months" due to the economic slowdown. £42.6m : The FA's wage bill – up from £37.6m in 2008. (Not included in the figures: a £1.289m payoff for former chief executive Brian Barwick.) Fifa news New last week from Fifa: an order to Brazil 2014's organisers to redesign stadium seating layouts to allow for larger advertising boards. Emidio Ferreira, head of the Beira-Rio stadium project, said Fifa's late intervention was "totally disagreeable". "We'll have to alter the whole project again. It's absurd." New broom Boardroom news: David Sullivan says West Ham's old owners ran up debt on massive player contracts: "No one can blame the players for accepting the overgenerous contracts they were offered." (Also this month: Sullivan hands Scott Parker a four-year, £14.5m deal. Parker says he signed because of the fans: "The fans mean a lot to me. If you ask any player, the most important thing is being appreciated by the fans.") Meanwhile Not being sacked this week: Avram Grant. "This will be reported as a vote of confidence," says David Gold, "but I assure you it is a proper one. Avram's job is safe." ( April : David Gold: "Gianfranco [Zola] has been through hell and back. But he knows he is part of West Ham. We couldn't ask for any more. I'll be asking him what he needs from us for next season." May : Sacks him.) Principled stand Real Mallorca say shirt sponsor Bet-at-home "crossed the line" with press ad campaigns using "explicit sex and drug themes", including one depicting pitch markings being snorted. Jaume Cladera said: "We will deal with this firmly. We are a sports institution: we want nothing to do with vice." Will the club cancel the £500k deal? "Well we won't do anything hasty." Slave news Milan defender Massimo Oddo on why Serie A players could strike over a new contract structure aimed at stopping players running down their contracts to secure lucrative free transfers. "We are tired of being treated like objects." (Oddo's contract: £1.25m a year). Sven update January : Athole Still on client Sven's reputation. "For so long the media have tried to portray Sven as only in it for the money but nothing could be further from the truth. He's a football man." September : Sven agrees to coach Al Hilal, say reports in Saudi Arabia. Salary for one season: £1.2m. Too clever Staying vigilant: Sam Allardyce says Arsène Wenger is "very clever": "In saying people are trying to injure players he's trying, through the media, to influence referees." 2009 : Sam previews Blackburn's game against Everton: "Most of the time Tim Cahill plays the man before the ball. It's whether the referee sees it. Sometimes they don't when a player is that clever." Sharks in hotels Dana Gebhardt, wife of former Bundesliga player Marco Gebhardt, says girls who chase footballers have infested football. "It's monstrous. They circle like sharks in hotels: they just want a footballer as a trophy. Very little is right in their heads." And finally Spain's Iker Casillas says press links with Argentinian glamour model Luly Pop are "totally false ... I've never even met her." In May Luly said she was "cross" with media privacy invasion – "they trouble my morals" – but told a chatshow why footballers find her alluring. "They just love my assets! Seriously, I'm fabulous."