Bill Bridge: Time for Premier League to follow strict lead of no-nonsense Capello

Would that the same could be said about the way the FA's other pigeon – the Premier League – is run.

We know Gordon Brown and his once-upon-a-time chum Lord Triesman have reservations about the way the gravy train that is the world's most lucrative football competition is administered but they, unlike Capello, seem to have no inclination to improve matters, particularly in the way the League's so-called "fit and proper persons" vetting works when it comes to the ownership of clubs.

Portsmouth is just the latest case of the Premier League shouldering arms and letting the money talk. Pompey's fourth owner this season is already talking of selling on, once he has recouped the 17m he loaned to the club before Christmas and, it almost goes without saying, made a bob or two of profit on top.

Who has policed these takeovers? How do we know that the people involved have been passed fit for governance? How, indeed, did Balram Chainrai, a Nepalese, Hong Kong-based British passport carrier, and his business partner Levi Kushnir, come to be involved in football in the first place, given that their expertise lies in making money from petrol stations, convenience stores, asphalt roofing, fitness centres and consumer electricals (TVs and washing machines to you and I)?

As far as we are aware they would not know a left-back from the Left Bank and would as soon sack a striker for being a trouble-causer as sign one.

But we do know that Chainrai is an associate of Arkady Gaydamak, the owner of a football club in Jerusalem, the father of Pompey's former owner Alexandre and a man who has been convicted in absentia in a French court of gun-running in Algeria.

That does not define Chainrai as being a man unsuitable to run a football club but you might think it would set a few bells jangling at Wembley, where the sheriffs of the FA take their coffee these mornings.

Instead it seems not to have raised even an eyebrow and, given such hubris, it is not surprising that Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League and a man for whom bad news is not news, has turned a blind eye to the joke Fratton Park has become, a black comedy made all the bleaker by the return to centre stage of Peter Storrie as the man charged with the day-to-day running of the club. Storrie, you may remember, is facing charges of tax evasion.

Never mind, say the FA; the gravy train is at platform nine-and-three-quarters.

DESPITE over 1billion of our money having been spent on the promotion of sport and physical education by the government in state schools since 2005 it seems the numbers of potential Olympic champions from that sector show no sign of increasing.

The split between state and privately-educated medal winners in Beijing was 63-37 in favour of the former which, at first sight does not seem a bad return. But that perception changes when we take into account the fact that only seven per cent of the school population attend fee-paying schools.

Of the 1,250 potential Olympians for the London Games in receipt of lottery funding (a figure which will be culled to somewhere between 350 and 500 come 2012) some 22 per cent are from the private sector. Are we missing out on potential among our state-school educated children, and if so, why?

Facilities are a major issue. A brief visit to any of the fee-paying schools in this region will reveal centres of sporting excellence beyond the dreams of those of us who grew up playing our games on scraps of spare land.

State schools are still affected by the closure of playing fields and a need by education authorities to spend in areas which might meet government demands in other "key" areas; league tables for example.

Then there is coaching. Specialised instruction is exactly that; it costs money and it takes time, two things in desperately short supply in our state schools.

But there is a fear, too, which needs exploring. According to a leading schools' coaching advisor "Governing bodies are unwilling to work with independent schools to find how they exploit potential and how the state schools can replicate that."

Addressing that ought to be a priority (not quite the top one, agreed) of whichever party wins the coming election.

and another thing...

JUBILATION there was in abundance and, in the end, England deserved victory over Wales in their opening Six Nations' match.

The joy was not simply over the win, good as any triumph over the Welsh always seems (England suffered far too often when our Celtic brothers had players like Gareth, JPR, Dawesy, JJ, Benny and the blessed Barry) but because there were moments when Martin Johnson's charges actually looked as though they were trying to play rugby.

True, there were calamities at the scrum, far too much aimless kicking and the defence needs some serious work if we are to start getting too excited by this bright enough start to the campaign.

But there were many bright spots: Danny Care's ebullience at scrum-half; a thoroughly workmanlike performance by England's back five forwards; moments of quality from Mark Cueto, Mathew Tait and Toby Flood; and Jonny Wilkinson was the Jonny of old.

But before we and they get carried away, there was the small matter of that defence.

Help wanted to trace former players of Hundred-up Bingley

COMPLETING 100 years in any sphere is an event worthy of party and that certainly holds good for Bingley Cricket Club who this year celebrate a century of membership of the Bradford Cricket League.

They were obviously quick to adapt to their new surroundings for just two summers later they were crowned First Division champions. Another great season came in 1969 when first and second XIs won their respective league championships and Cups, becoming the only club in the league's history to achieve that feat.

Bingley CC are now part of Bradford and Bingley Sports Club.

A fire in their Wagon Lane pavilion destroyed many of the club's records and they are trying to locate as many former players as possible ahead of a centenary dinner on September 11.

If you qualify – or know someone who does – please contact Tom Bairstow on 01274 564790.