A bust-up between the Football Association and the Government is on the cards unless the Home Office takes firm action against hooligans travelling to Euro 2000.
FA chief executive Adam Crozier has made it commendably clear the FA have done all they can, and now look to the Government to take effective action. That action, in the FA's view, is emergency legislation to tighten up existing rules.
If that doesn't happen, indications have been given the FA will not hesitate to point the finger of responsibility straight at Jack Straw if things go wrong.
This may account for a slight change of tune by Straw this week. Last week he said it was far too late for Parliament to act. But now he seems to be thinking again. At this rate he'll end up making Martin O'Neill seem decisive.
The FA still believe emergency legislation could be introduced next week. That may be wildly optimistic, but if the will was there it could be done.
As I indicated here last Friday, a provision to put police intelligence before magistrates, that also gave the accused person the right to speak in his own defence, could result in bind-over orders being made restricting that individual's right to travel to big games overseas.
Actually implementing it in the time available is now impossible, but at least a demonstration of will would have been made, and an easy passage through Parliament is pretty much guaranteed since the Opposition has been advocating such a course for some time.
More effective in the short term, though involving a substantial element of rough justice, is supplying the names of reputed hooligans to the Belgian and Dutch authorities. It's said that's being done, but surely we ought to be told on the record that it has, and what the numbers involved are.
Doing it this way also places a heavy responsibility on Straw and the police to ensure that the rights of other fans are not adversely effected. There's a serious danger of every English visitor being treated as a likely criminal, and that is unacceptable.
Figures released this week show just how hopeless present laws are in containing the problem. It turns out that of the 400 yobs prohibited from attending matches as a consequence of convictions for football-related violence, barely a quarter are banned from going to games abroad.
The rest can go where they please. Daft isn't the word for it.
Chelsea crying out for a Jimmy
The signing of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is a sure sign that Chelsea's ambitions burn as brightly as ever.
There will be those who will say a player who cost Leeds United only £2 million three years ago is hardly a bargain at £14m. Maybe not, but he is a necessary purchase.
Hasselbaink is a goal machine, and Chelsea haven't had one of those since Kerry Dixon was at his finest, or Peter Osgood at his peak.
Hasselbaink netted more than 20 in each of his two seasons at Elland Road and last season in Spain found the net 35 times in 47 starts for Atletico Madrid.
Atletico are a failing team, which makes Hasselbaink's achievement in scoring 24 goals in the league - the country's joint top scorer - in a side bound for relegation, all the more extraordinary, particularly as we now know to our cost just how high the standards in the Spanish First Division currently are.
Hasselbaink's detractors say he's greedy and selfish. As to the former, his one-man strike antics at Leeds can't be condoned, but he was no trouble in Madrid, where his package matched his expectations, and the same is more likely than not to be true at Stamford Bridge.
As for selfishness, what they mean by that is that he goes for goal every time he gets a chance.
Having tired somewhat of watching certain Chelsea players trying to walk the ball in to the net, and seeing far too many promising moves break down in the penalty area through over-elaboration, I'm ready for a bit of selfishness myself, and so, I suspect, will be most of the club's other customers.
And, by the way, if you think Hasselbaink's expensive, look at Gabriel Batistuta. True he's a genuine super-star, but he's also 31, and often unable to train because of long-term injuries. Yet this week, Roma lashed out £22m for him.
But how long has he got? One season? Two? And this is only the start of a close season that will get even crazier, money wise, after the European Championship.
What the Dickens is going on Kev?
I can't decide whether Kevin Keegan models himself on Mr Micawber or Dr Pangloss.
Micawber always believed something would turn up, and Pangloss thought everything was for the best, in the best of all possible worlds, so Keegan, with his relentless optimism, and confident belief that tactics are peppermints, could actually be trying to be both.
That's not to say there weren't positive aspects to England's performance on Wednesday. Steven Gerrard was terrific.
Let's hope he can keep it up. Nicky Barmby and Gareth Barry came on late and almost stole the show, while Alan Shearer looked sharper and fitter in an England shirt than for quite a long time.
But still questions have got to be asked. Why was Shearer playing at all, when we know, for better or worse, he'll be an ever-present over the next fortnight?
Why not give Kevin Phillips a run out to ease his transition from the Premiership in to international action.
And why on earth say Andy Cole isn't fit, if Robbie Fowler is, when manifestly Fowler isn't?
And again, why play Phil Neville for the full 90 minutes, when we all know what he can do, and more importantly what he can't. Given he's only a stop-gap, why not try to plug the hole sooner rather than later with somebody else?
Wednesday was a missed opportunity.
There is still a distressingly unfinished feel about this England team. By now you'd have hoped there'd be a settled system in place, but there isn't. Everything on Wednesday was thrown up in the air to accommodate Steve McManaman.
Hoping for the best, Keegan doubtless thought he'd turn on again this Wednesday what he did last week. But of course he didn't. Surprise, surprise.
A lot of England players proved at Wembley that they have talent. And on the right night that talent can blend to exhilarating effect, at least for a time.
What they don't have is the settled confident feel of a squad that can cope with a long haul.
And that's, sadly, why at some point, probably earlier than most of us hope, Kev and his boys will come unstuck.
MacLaurin must act tough
Nobody seems to care that the Zimbabwe cricket team are touring England, while back home their government is displaying total contempt for the human rights and personal safety of white farmers. Maybe if they had been black it would have been a different story.
Be that as it may, this winter's England tour of Pakistan is a very different matter. I don't see how England can go unless the Pakistan Cricket Board crack down a good deal harder on endemic corruption than banning a player who has retired and another who was not going to be picked anyway.
Ian MacLaurin, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has rightly said this is a make-or-break issue for cricket, so this autumn will be a serious test of his resolve.
It's not only in politics where the best possible slogan is action not words.
How Bosnich can sweep back to top
Whether or not Mark Bosnich leaves Manchester United, I have to ask, why don't footballers like him, who are paid a king's ransom just to kick a ball, not work harder on their technique?
Bosnich's main flaw is that he is hopeless with his feet, and a top goalkeeper these days needs to be an auxiliary sweeper as well.
That was Ed de Goey's problem when he first came to Chelsea, but much effort behind the scenes has largely eradicated it. If he really has blown his chances of ever playing again for one of Europe's top teams, and he probably has, Bosnich has got a lot of years in front of him to regret not putting in a bit more effort on the training ground.
