UEFA battles The Zombie European Super League; Sepp Blatter thinks Qatar 2022 was a dumb idea - The Warm-Up

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! You remember A22, the "European sports development company" that may or may not be the remnants of the European Super League? Three breakaway clubs in a single trenchcoat? Well, UEFA aren't fooled. A22 went to UEFA headquarters for a meeting yesterday, and got themselves thoroughly ambushed.

A22 turned up expecting a chat. What they got was a telling-off, over more than two hours, from a wide range of footballing stakeholders. Among other things, A22 claimed they were not representing the three clubs that remain committed to the Super League - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus - a claim that was met with disbelief. According to the Independent, the word "liar" was deployed no fewer than four times, which is the boardroom equivalent of a pool cue to the face.

After it was all done, UEFA issued a statement noting that "the opposition to the self-proclaimed Super League remains overwhelming today as it has been since April 2021". Meanwhile A22 said that "This is an important signal to clubs and fans across Europe that we need discussion and that it is welcome," and "our takeaway from the meeting was that the status quo is satisfactory to UEFA".

And then UEFA released another statement, which read simply, "LOL".

Ok, not quite, but not far off. "UEFA is currently checking the recording to see if they are talking about the same meeting"; "If there is a 'takeaway' from today, it should be that the whole of European football opposes their greedy plan"; "As the Football Supporters’ Association said, the UK has had as many Prime Ministers in the last two months as they have supporters of their plans." And, perhaps most damningly, "they claim not to represent the three remaining clubs. They refuse to define what their alleged new approach is. They claim to want dialogue. But when presented with the chance, they have nothing to say."

This is all, of course, very funny. It is also a little unfair: the Super League was presented as a done deal, without anybody having been consulted, and was widely derided on just that basis. So the absence of a concrete plan for Super League 2.0 - which, just to be clear, A22 definitely, definitely, definitely isn't - is more of a feature than a bug. Claiming not to represent the three hangers-on is a bit weird, though. There are three statements of support on A22's website. Can you guess where they come from?

What it is mostly, however, is shadowboxing. The World Cup will be decided on 18 December; the big moment in European club football will come three days beforehand, when we get the first indication of what may be coming from the courts. Is UEFA operating an inappropriate monopoly, as both commercial operator and regulator? If the courts come back with 'yes, break it up', then things get really interesting. If it's 'no, crack on' then the Super League starts to look even shakier, and A22 may well need to rebrand. Again.

Most of the time, it's the fans that can't wait for the World Cup to start. But right at this moment, as Qatar 2022 gets closer and closer and the noise surrounding the tournament gets louder, you get the feeling that it's football's administrators that really need the sweet distraction of a little, you know, actual football.

The Warm-Up has been doing its best to forget about Sepp Blatter. But it's not easy, what with the fact that he keeps popping up in the news. Why, just yesterday he came out to say that the tournament should never have gone to Qatar at all; that FIFA had agreed it should go to the USA; and that Michel Platini had swung the vote at the request of the French government. Hate that feeling, when somebody else's stitch-up gets in the way of your stitch-up.

Anyway, that was yesterday. Today, Netflix launches FIFA Uncovered, and look who it is! It's Sepp Blatter! And look at his grin as he opens the big envelope that says "Qatar". Such bravery, in the face of a decision he absolutely thought was wrong all along.

We're not on Netflix's mailing list for previews, so we haven't seen it. But the Financial Times reckons it's good: that it "contextualises this year’s World Cup as an example of the broader lack of probity and transparency in football’s governance," asking "how much off-field ugliness the beautiful game can transcend".

Which is a good question. The tournament itself is going to be deeply weird, but perhaps it's time to start thinking about what comes afterwards. The fallout is going to be fascinating. How does FIFA try to draw a line between Qatar, and Russia beforehand, and what comes afterwards? Can the organisation successfully suggest that all that Blatter-helmed unpleasantness is past and gone, without stumbling over the fact that they still went ahead with it all? On 19 December, the biggest reputational clean-up operation in football history will begin.

England's World Cup squad arrives on Thursday. That's tomorrow. And that means today is, from a certain England-centric perspective, the most exciting day of the whole football calendar. It's the last day in which everything is up for grabs.

It's the last day for your wildest shout, your most ambitious prediction, your sizzlingest hot take. Do you believe failing to take James Maddison would be tantamount to treason? Have you had it up to here with whatever Harry Maguire thinks he's up to? Do you think that Kevin Phillips could still do a job coming off the bench late on? This is your moment. Tell your friends, your enemies, your co-workers, your lovers, your family and your lawyer and your priest. Because tomorrow you have to start having opinions about the actual state of things, and that's much less fun.

Of course, this time around, England Squad Eve is tempered a little by the calming, numbing, sensible presence of Gareth Southgate, a fire blanket laid carefully over the flames of speculation. Under Southgate, the idea of an England squad place has been transformed. What was once a reward for a couple of month of decent form has been transformed into a space within in a system that is designed to do a job.

You can disagree with the system, of course; you can think it produces dull football, or it fails to make the most out of this player or that. But you can't really argue with it. It's there, a fact of life. Southgate's first, second and third laws of motion: the lads are the lads are the lads. Have fun out there today, but remember: always dispose of your hot takes in a bucket of cold water.

This is absolutely ridiculous behaviour, a shot lined up from the best part of an entire pitch and then nailed. Or it's an own goal of unrivalled misfortune and beauty. Split the Puskás, give each goalkeeper half.

It's Luiz Felipe Scolari's birthday. Feliz Aniversário, Big Phil! It's also 20 years since his Brazil side turned up in Japan and South Korea and demonstrated that having the best forward line in the World Cup is a really good platform for winning it. Are Vinicius, Neymar and Raphinha as terrifying as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo? Well, no. Just look at all this glorious nonsense.

Stylish column that we are, today we're heading over to GQ, where Musa Okwonga of Stadio is addressing the moral quandary that is the Qatar World Cup. And the Russia World Cup. And, since we're here, the Brazil World Cup as well, for all the carnival sex Pelé.

"The last three World Cups … have in succession managed to perform a sort of asset-stripping of the soul of this competition, tearing away much of its sheen and leaving us with its basic elements: that is to say, a well-run series of games that is available to whoever may be the highest bidder."

He visits a theme that has been dear to the Warm-Up's heart over the last few years: how much more exciting a tournament in Japan would have been. Hologram projections in stadiums around the world! Supporter footfall generating power! And, most importantly, none of the "expedited stadium construction projects that endanger vulnerable workers."

And in conclusion, he decides that the way out of the moral maze is through:

"My enjoyment of anything that I see on the field must make my scrutiny of anything away from the field all the more fierce. I must continue to ask, for example, why David Beckham – such a proud advocate for LGBT rights earlier in his career – has nothing to say publicly about this subject in the context of Qatar now that he is an ambassador for this tournament. I think that I must continue to have difficult conversations, both in my personal and professional life, about why a country that is putting on the most expensive World Cup of all time refuses to provide adequate pay and conditions for the workers who made it possible."

11 days until the World Cup kicks off, and Manchester City play Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. All very peculiar. We've also got some midweek Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and Scottish Premiership to be getting on with. Eyes down for some more soft red cards.