1. We say in Soccernomics: "Anyone who spends any time inside football soon discovers that just as oil is part of the oil business, stupidity is part of the football business." https://twitter.com/JNorthcroft/status/1384585705792458759">https://twitter.com/JNorthcro...

2. Related to this: a fellow football writer once told me he& #39;d tried and failed to do business with a legendary English football institution. He said, "I can work with crooks, and I can work with stupid people. But I can& #39;t work with stupid people who think they are crooks."

It& #39;s that uniquely football mixture of stupidity plus greed that we saw in action this week

4. Related: football is an industry where practically everyone in a boardroom is a white man, so the talent pool they are drawing from is not large. There& #39;s also a fast track for ex-players, sons of senior officials, people& #39;s mates etc where intelligence is not a criterion

5. More on the football/stupidity thread: one club president told me that ex-players who get executive jobs don& #39;t understand office work, e.g. even the basic concept of working 8-hour days. My response would be: & #39;So don& #39;t hire ex-players.& #39; But fans and media love it when you do

6. That& #39;s the basic weirdness of the football industry. On the field, it& #39;s pure meritocracy. There are no bad professional footballers. (I hear your jokes, but really, there aren& #39;t.) But off the field: zero quality control, many mediocrities in top jobs (including some coaches)