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Sunderland midfielder Henderson facing lay-off
Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has confirmed Jordan Henderson is to have a scan on his injured ankle and expects the midfielder to be out for at least a month.

McCall resigns as manager of Bradford City

• Resignation tendered at breakfast meeting
• ‘It’s a results-based business,’ says McCall

Stuart McCall has resigned as manager of Bradford City.

The Yorkshire Post reported that the former Scotland midfielder formally resigned his post at a breakfast meeting with the club’s joint chairman, Julian Rhodes, this morning.

Bradford, who lost 1-0 to Bury at the weekend, are 16th in League Two. McCall was appointed as manager of the club in the summer of 2007, after relegation from League One.

He told the Yorkshire Post: “It is time for somebody else to come in and take up the reins and, hopefully, do well. Saturday’s game would have been a defining line in the season for me. If we had beaten Bury, the dream of making seventh place would have been on.

“I don’t regret coming back here for a second. I would have regretted it more if I hadn’t taken the job. I have loved being manager of this club but it’s a results-based business and they have not been good enough.”

Gay rights groups attack FA delay over anti-homophobia film

FA says internet film will be released after further talks with gay rights groups

The Football Association’s commitment to tackling homophobia in the game was today called into question by gay rights groups after the launch of a much-heralded film designed to confront the issue was cancelled at the last minute.

Amid some unease about the content of the hard-hitting video, produced by advertising agency Ogilvy to a brief agreed by the FA itself, football diversity campaign group Kick It Out and gay rights group OutRage, Thursday’s planned launch of the film at Wembley Stadium has been cancelled.

The campaign had been in development for almost two years and had been billed as an important moment in an embryonic drive to tackle homophobia among players, fans and administrators.

“This last-minute cancellation is a big disappointment. It has thrown the Football Association’s commitment to tackling homophobia into disarray,” said OutRage campaigner Peter Tatchell.

“Contrary to what the FA is now saying, the video and strategy was agreed nearly two years ago. This postponement comes on top of the FA’s dissolution of the broad-based Tackling Homophobia Working Group,” he added.

He said the group had helped implement many constructive initiatives to rid football of homophobia, but members had now been replaced by a “hand-picked, much smaller and less representative” group. “It no longer includes all interested stakeholders,” he said.

Last year, Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said the results of a survey showing that seven in 10 fans had witnessed homophobic abuse proved that football was “institutionally homophobic”.

The video shows a man abusing workmates, tube passengers and a newspaper seller with anti-gay taunts, before doing the same at a football match. Captions make the point that since homophobic behaviour is not acceptable outside football stadiums, it should not be acceptable within them either. The FA planned to release the viral video via YouTube and its website.

According to Tatchell, FA chairman Lord Triesman also planned to send a copy to clubs with a personal plea to show it at half time in stadiums and send out the film to overseas football associations.

The Justin Campaign – named after the only openly gay top-flight footballer, the late Justin Fashanu – said: “The postponement of this long awaited and much needed video has raised grave concerns regarding the FA’s overall approach to tackling homophobia.”

It is believed that while the FA had signed off the script for the film, it only recently saw the final version. It will consult more widely and conduct focus group research before finally releasing it.

As yet, not a single high profile footballer has followed the lead of Welsh rugby union international Gareth Thomas and come out.

“I wouldn’t expect a player to come out by himself but I don’t see any reason why three or four players shouldn’t come out simultaneously. Players fear rejection, but that fear is grossly exaggerated,” said Tatchell. “Most fans are not homophobic and most sponsors would not withdraw their support. But one of the problems is that players often feel they wouldn’t receive wholehearted support from their clubs. That has to change.”

The decision has also sparked a debate within the gay community about whether the shocking video was the right strategy. Tatchell agreed that Ogilvy’s approach was effective but said he would have preferred a more “uplifting, MTV-style” video featuring high-profile players and criticised the FA for not doing more to sign them up.

But John Ameachi, the gay former NBA basketball player, was scathing about the clip’s content and what it said about the attitudes at the top of English football.

“Football can’t shock fans out of being bigots – this process requires a highly strategic, multi-modal approach, not to mention a significant investment,” he wrote on his blog, also criticising the “cheap” £10,000 budget. “Ninety seconds of bad language that will only be seen on the internet is not a solution to the problems faced by football and the concept of trying to create a ‘viral video’ to combat homophobia in football feels crass at best.”

He added: “I have reached out on numerous occasions to help the Premier League, the Football Association and even UEFA make the necessary changes to bring them into the 21st century, but there is simply too much denial in too many quarters to penetrate to the heart of the problem in football.”

Many of those attempting to force the game to face up to the issue liken the debate to that which surrounded racism in football grounds 25 years ago, with some clubs and players refusing to admit there is a problem.

Tatchell said the FA deserved credit for some of the work it has done in educating coaches and referees, and ensuring that homophobic abuse within grounds results in ejection or arrest, but its hesitation over the video meant that it had misjudged a significant moment.

Piara Power, director of Kick It Out, said the FA had “got themselves into a mess”. “If they had gone ahead as planned, I don’t think any of this would have happened and no one would be doubting their sincerity,” he said. “As campaigners with a long record of success of tackling discrimination in football we know our audience well and are confident the film will have the desired impact.”

Power said gay rights groups, including OutRage, Stonewall and the Gay Football Supporters Network, were widely consulted on the film’s content.

“We also know that a film of this kind cannot by itself solve the problem of homophobia in football. We intend to start an active debate that will be followed up by a series of other interventions, from within football and from within the LGBT community.”

An FA spokesman said it was “committed to its stated aims of tackling homophobia in football”. He added: “After consultation with our Tackling Homophobia Working Group we have now produced a viral film which will form part of our overall strategy. We will now enter a final stage of consultation and will shortly be in a position to announce the next stage of the strategy, including the launch of the educational film.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic unconcerned by goalless spell at Barcelona

• Swedish striker says barren stretch is ‘normal’
• Ibrahimovic trumpets value to team-mates of ‘assists’

The Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said that he is not concerned by his recent barren spell in front of goal.

The Swede enjoyed a flying start to his Barça career following a big-money summer move from Internazionale and by Christmas he had scored 11 goals in La Liga.

Since scoring the only goal in a derby win over Espanyol on 12 December, however, he has scored once, in a Copa del Rey defeat by Sevilla at the start of last month.

“I’m not worried, this has happened to me other times. In my first year at Ajax I started very well, then things went bad, then well again … a rollercoaster,” Ibrahimovic told El Periódico de Catalunya.

“It’s normal, because you have to adapt to many things and in very little time. The same thing happened when I arrived at Juventus and at Inter, a season with ups and downs.

“Obviously, being the No9 and a centre-forward in a team like Barcelona, it’s important to score goals, but that’s not everything, at least not for me. If you participate in the play and set up team-mates, I feel just as good.

“An assist is like a goal, because you are making a team-mate happy. And this is as important for me as scoring.

“I’m not worried about this poor run because the goals will end up coming. If you play well, you help the team. If you create chances, you score.”

Reflecting on his first six months with the Catalan club, Ibrahimovic said: “My family and I have adapted well. I’m happy here. We’ve picked up three titles in six months, we are at the top of the table and we haven’t lost in the league.

“The team have won everything and want to continue like that. It’s impressive.

“I only regret what happened to us in the Copa del Rey. I think we deserved to go through because Sevilla are not better than us. But in football these things happen.”

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