Gareth Southgate should be associated with the FA for as long as possible

Depressing though the racial abuse aimed at England players in Bulgaria was, some positive aspects emerged from that sorry night in Sofia on Monday.

The first, being entirely flippant, is that it stopped the James Maddison casino visit non-story dead in its tracks. Casinos are legal and so is visiting one and sitting quietly having a game of poker. It was entirely unfair of the media to lambast the midfield maestro.

Far more importantly, the revulsion that was so widely expressed towards the vile Bulgarian imbeciles, sends a loud and clear message to racists everywhere, including in Britain, that their bigotry will not be tolerated in any form and in any situation.

English football has not been entirely unblemished in terms of incidents of racial abuse towards players but hopefully now there will be no further problems, and supporters might actually self-police any situations that arise.

There was an example of this at Wembley a couple of years ago. Palace were playing Spurs and we went behind to a goal by Heung-Min Son, who minutes later went to receive a throw-in close to where we were standing.

There were three young idiots next to us and one shouted “Open your eyes” to the South Korean, a remark so pathetically moronic you actually had to work out for a moment that it was racist and not a reference to some weird joke you’d missed.

Three of us were straight on to the fool, leaving him in no doubt that sort of comment was not remotely acceptable, and he and his soft mates went quiet for the rest of the game.

As for what happens on the continent, that will depend largely on how zealously Uefa and the national authorities are prepared to clamp down on racism, but it is hoped Monday’s disgraceful scenes will go on to represent both a nadir and a turning point.

It is also hoped Gareth Southgate’s association with the England team continues for many years, decades indeed. He did not have abundant scope to become even more admirable but he achieved that on Monday with his impressive leadership in such difficult circumstances.

In football terms it was a doddle. I can’t remember a mid-tier European team performing so pathetically at home as Bulgaria did.

But with his players being subjected to such disturbing abuse from the stands, and with the option to take his team off the pitch having become so publicised in the run-up to the fixture, Southgate faced a lot of challenges.

He had said he would adhere to the Uefa three-step protocol, but in reality he must have wondered why it should require three incidents of racial abuse before drastic action was taken.

In the end, while there were plenty who felt the England players should have walked off, it is hard to argue with how Southgate and the team reacted.

It was clear to all that the abuse was sickeningly real, but the players kept their cool and routed their opponents.

Southgate, for all that he is a hugely popular England coach, is of course as vulnerable as any manager to the sack should results go against him.

But if the team underperforms to the extent it is felt a change of gaffer is necessary there should be a job for life for Southgate at the FA, because his strength, diplomacy and decency are qualities the English game can ill-afford to jettison.

Multiple misery left me counting the cost

Hard-luck betting stories, like descriptions of dreams, rounds of golf and journeys to work, are things generally best kept to yourself because they are far less interesting to others than to you. But this one is brutal.

I have a thing for Ralph Beckett, or more specifically his runners. It’s been going on for years. I once discovered he had a consistently impressive level stakes profit/loss figure and started following his horses blind.

Beckett attracts a particular type of owner, the sort who have enough money not to need to top up their bank account with a punt on their pride and joy, so the theory is the stable’s runners generally go off at relatively big prices.

Every Saturday, without fail, I call up a list of his runners and place a juicy multiple. Fairly often they return nothing, sometimes they pay their way quite nicely, and on one summer’s day a couple of years ago he was sending out winners all over the place and I nailed a glorious payout that crept into five-figures.

So last Saturday I was about to carry out the usual process but then the dog started whining to go for a walk so I postponed the task.

And then I had to go and collect something from the dry cleaner, and then, when I finally had the chance to focus on placing bets, I realised I’d had a bad week and was going to spend all day watching the racing so I decided to back his horses individually instead because, as I am always aware, that’s what proper shrewd punters do.

Anyway, the great man had six runners. Five won, at 4-1, 9-2, 7-1, 7-1 and 11-1, and he had a loser in the race won by the 4-1 shot.

And never have I been so horrified to back five winners in singles, because the multiple, based on the usual Saturday staking plan, came to quite a lot of money. I actually tormented myself by working out exactly how much.

But, hey, who needs £102,017?

Rugby union remains a trying spectacle

The Rugby World Cup has reminded me just what a difficult sport it is to enjoy watching compared to football.

I say this not to be gratuitously negative, but merely to counteract the many positive comparisons rugby gets to football these days. You know the ones. Why can’t footballers respect the refs like they do in rugby? You wouldn’t see a rugby player rolling around like that, etc.

Those two comments are actually true but it doesn’t make rugby a better sport overall. It is still an ugly spectacle compared to the flowing beauty of football, and the sport still refuses to take a simple step towards making it easier on the eye by doing away with scrums.

These ludicrous shoving matches are the equivalent of horses being loaded into the stalls. Both are extremely dull to sit through, albeit there is a key difference in that when the loading process has been completed an unpredictable contest takes place.

When the scrum has finally been set and they are pushing and grunting away the result is almost always that the team who put the ball in emerges with possession. Just have a tap penalty and save us all the bother, eh lads?

Another thing rugby could do to make it more appealing is rename the try, a stupid, dull term that is no longer even accurate.

When the sport was first invented teams scored points by booting the ball through the posts after they had planted it over the opposition line. What is now worth five points previously earned a team nothing, apart from a try at the conversion, hence the name.

Tries should be referred to as touchdowns, a far more glamorous name and a more accurate description than the NFL version, which doesn’t actually involve touching the ball down.

Rugby union has, it must be said, taken steps to make it better for spectators but the 15-a-side version is inferior to sevens, rugby league and, most of all, football.

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