LONDON -- As you read this representatives of all the leading bodies in English football will be emerging from what was described as "a two-day lock-in" as they attempt to update the Football Association's disciplinary system, which is so out of date it is a wonder the fines are not paid in cattle.
Rarely has the F.A. been so publicly humiliated as in the past week. In fact, if someone had set it a bizarre challenge of getting something so hopelessly wrong it could have done no worse than the Alan Smith affair, which has made England a laughing stock.