I’ve never been a big fan of international friendlies. More often than not, irrelevant of who is playing who, they turn out to be as exciting as spending an evening in rearranging your sock drawer.

Which is why getting rid of them – or at least the vast majority of them – and replacing them with a League of Nations seems to be an inspired move by Uefa.

Unfortunately, at this moment in time, the plan for this new league is all a bit sketchy. What we do know is that it will involve all Europe’s national teams being split into divisions and then further into pools. There will be relegation and promotion between the divisions, play-offs and, somehow, automatic qualification for the European Cup for the divisional winners.

As I said, the exact mechanics of the new system are still a bit vague and maybe Uefa would have been better off working it all out clearly before springing their half-baked, if admittedly tasty, plan on the public.

Nevertheless, as a concept I am all for it.

For teams like England, of course, it doesn’t make a huge amount of difference other than the fact that games that would otherwise have been utterly meaningless will now have a competitive edge.

Thanks to the expansion of the European Cup to 24 teams, it is now virtually impossible for a major nation not to qualify for the finals considering nearly half of those taking part in qualifying will go through.

So the big boys won’t see too much of a change other than increased revenue from television rights perhaps.

However, for teams like Malta, the League of Nations could have dramatic consequences – not least the possibility of actually qualifying for a major tournament.

Obviously I am not suggesting this alternative route means we are guaranteed a place in the finals. I’m not that naive.

But it does give us a glimmer of hope and the opportunity to have a crack a qualification on a much more level playing field. If the biggest team in our division is Northern Ireland, who is to say topping our pool is entirely out of the question?

And I also believe it will have a positive effect on crowds for our national team games. There is little incentive to go to watch a friendly match at Ta’ Qali against, say, Lithuania. But watching a competitive League of Nations match against the likes of Andorra when the result can actually make a difference in the greater scheme of things, well, that’s a whole different ball game.

It would have been nice to have been told precisely how this whole thing is going to work, rather than having the idea sprung on us before it has been fully formalised.

But I suppose we should just be glad that after so many false alarms, Michel Platini has finally given birth to an idea which actually seems like it may improve European football.

Which, come to think about it, makes me wonder if I might be missing something…

So far, so good for David

OK, it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.

David Moyes sent out his team on Tuesday night with one objective – make sure Manchester United were still in the tie heading into the second leg.

And, thanks to a hard-fought 1-1 draw, they very much are. In fact, if not for a couple of strange moments it could have been even better for Moyes and United.

Firstly they had what seemed to be a perfectly good goal ruled out for a high boot, and then Danny Welbeck, clean through on goal, was possessed by the ghost of Andy Cole and weakly chipped the ball at the goalkeeper rather than blasting it into the net.

That’s not to deny that Bayern Munich had the better of the match. United finished with a statistic of just 26 per cent possession, the lowest for a home team in the Champions League this season and a fair reflection on how the game panned out.

For teams like Malta, the League of Nations could have dramatic consequences – not least the possibility of actually qualifying for a major tournament

But as can sometimes happen with a Pep Guardiola team, the German champions failed to convert their territorial advantage into clear-cut chances. It was a lot of passing and a lot of possession but no end product.

Of course, Bayern remain overwhelming favourites to make it through to the semi-finals. But for Moyes the key in this tie was to ensure his team were not humiliated.

And at the half-way stage, so far so good.

Meanwhile, I loved the fact that the fly past protest at Old Trafford last weekend was an absolute failure. Not only did the ‘Moyes Out’ banner not provoke a mass protest, the plane itself was booed.

It even spurred the crowd on to start a “There’s only one David Moyes” chant, which is surely something that hasn’t been heard before, possibly not even at Goodison Park.

In fact, considering the 4-1 result the protest banner helped inspire, Moyes might want to think of hiring the plane himself every match day…

Getting it right… eventually

There’s never a dull moment supporting Sheffield United.

During the midweek match with Brentford, the Blades had defender Kieron Freeman sent off and conceded a penalty when the defender put in a last-ditch tackle to avoid a goal.

However, rather than the desperate lunge the ref apparently saw, it was actually a perfect tackle, the ball being won cleanly.

The crowd were in uproar, and the sheer ferocity of their anger, coupled with the equally outraged protests of the players, persuaded referee Eddie Ilderton to consult his assistant.

After a debate lasting several minutes, Ilderton completely reversed his decision, cancelling the red card and summoning Freeman – who was probably already dipping his toe into his early bath – back on the pitch.

Both United’s manager Nigel Clough and Brentford boss Mark Warburton said it was something they had never seen before in football. And none of the gathered press could remember a similar occasion when a player has been sent off only to be brought back on.

Personally I think the referee deserves praise for having the courage to reverse his original decision, although you could argue he should have consulted his linesman before brandishing the red.

But at least Ilderton was big enough to admit his mistake and put it right. I can think of at least one Premier League referee who might want to think about taking a lesson out of his book.

No names mentioned but his initials are Andre Mariner.

Real fans misplacing their disaffections

If you ever had any doubts about the fickle, unpredictable and slightly bewildering nature of football fans, this should lay them to rest.

Real Madrid had been going through a slightly dodgy patch, losing a couple of games in a row and dropping to third place in the league.

So what did a section of their fans do during their next match against Rayo Vallecano? Whistle and boo every time Cristiano Ronaldo was on the ball.

That’s right, they took their frustrations out on Ronaldo, a player who has scored a staggering 28 league goals in 27 appearances this season.

Without the World Player of the Year in their team they would be much further off the pace in the title race. They might even be out of the Copa del Rey and Champions League, so crucial have his performances been.

Yet some of the club’s fans decided to make their best player their part-time scapegoat.

“We need the help of everyone. Whistling Cristiano isn’t comprehensible,” manager Carlo Ancelotti said.

And he’s absolutely right. Those fans should be thanking their lucky stars that a player of his brilliance wears the famous white strip every week.

In this day and age of billionaire owners, there are plenty of other clubs who could afford his transfer fee, huge wages and extravagant hair product bill.

And given the size of his ego, it wouldn’t take much booing to persuade him to move to a club where he is adored 100 per cent of the time by 100 per cent of the fans.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade