FOOTBALL Association chief Greg Dyke may need reminding of the old saying about not being able to pick your relatives, but you can still pick your friends.

His support for Michel Platini as new FIFA boss – still in place despite the on-going charges against the Frenchman – must be getting weaker by the minute.

The latest revelation over the two million Swiss francs Sepp Blatter paid Platini in 2011, for his work as a ‘football adviser’ nine years earlier, came as the result of an oral agreement between the two.

In the interest of fairness, perhaps Platini may well be an innocent party in all these FIFA shenanigans, but even if he is should we really be voting for a man who can’t even sign a contract and can wait for nine years to be paid? He must be loaded if he can wait so long for more than a million quid.

It is highly doubtful whether all this talk of corruption, ethics committees (who in FIFA can possibly sit on that?), criminal charges across the globe and lengthy bans on some of the game’s big shots is the topic of much discussion in the pubs and clubs.

After all, the game appears to be running rather smoothly without their interference. Your own club’s still having its problems; the manager has to go; you badly need a new striker/goalkeeper.

So why all the fuss?

Maybe it is because we at least still have some sense of fair play and if that is the case, then Dyke and the FA have to ditch Platini before we are asked to swallow any more fairy tales from Zurich.

IN a weekend TV documentary giving an insight to the management style of Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Old Trafford boss insisted that the club were right to name David Moyes as his successor.

But it was hardly a ringing endorsement for his friend and fellow Scot.

The appointment came only after investigations had revealed that other targets – names like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Jurgen Klopp Pep Guardiola and even Luis van Gaal – were all unavailable. Little wonder then that the ex-Everton man was not around long enough to get his feet under the table.

WHEN the wise old heads of rugby union – press, ex-players, yesterday’s men – stick the knives in, they make sure they go in right up to the hilt.

England coach Stuart Lancaster must feel as though he has been through his own Julius Caesar moment following the latest bout of criticism, that includes something about a riot drill training session that happened three months ago and comes on the heels of a bizarre tale about taking horses for a walk.

Add those to his team selections (especially Sam Burgess) and his style of play, and the Cumbrian-born Yorkshire-based ex-teacher is on a hiding to nothing.

But Lancaster, who is contracted until 2020, is not without allies. Forward Tom Wood has told the RFU to ignore the moans of disgruntled players and urged Lancaster to “come out fighting.”

An even stronger reason for England’s dismal World Cup failure comes from full-back Mike Brown, when he asked: “If you’re honest, what one of our players would be in a World XV? And which of our players would be in a British Lions XV? Not many.”

A 60-3 win over Uruguay will do nothing to make life easier over the next few weeks, but one plus point from the early exit is that at least we in England can stop pretending we know what is going on in those scrums and let the rest of the world get on with it.

THE latest football manager in the firing line for the sack is Aston Villa’s Tim Sherwood, who has been in charge for eight months – three of them the non-playing close-season – took them to the FA Cup Final and fought off relegation.

But things are not going too well at Villa Park right now, so his job’s on the line. And guess who’s being tipped to take over – Brendon Rodgers.

Football exists in a world of its own, which is why save-the-day Sam Allardyce has now turned up at Sunderland.

PETER WILSON