Red Devil Gill and Blues chief Kenyon both relish the Champions League spotlight

Clap happy: Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon (left) joins owner Roman Abramovich (right) and the billionaire's girlfriend in applauding the players in Moscow

They have impressed the FA leadership pair of Lord Triesman and Brian Barwick by their influential standing within the European game and how they carry out their duties on the big stage - with the FA keen to tap into the Barclays Premier League dominance in Europe as well.

Both Gill and Kenyon showed a diplomatic attention to detail by each speaking a little Russian at UEFA's gala Champions League Final dinner. Kenyon's was the longer Russian spiel, but Gill's the more accurate.

The pair, who are likely to accept any FA invitations to sit on the 2018 board, used to work together at Manchester United. They are understood just about to tolerate each other rather than being bosom buddies. Gill already has a place on the FA board as one of the Premier League representatives.

FA personnel, who rarely encountered chairman Geoff Thompson at Soho Square, where he kept his head well below the parapet for almost a decade, kept bumping into him in Moscow this week at the UEFA hotel base due to his busy executive committee role.

With Russia and Spain likely to bid for the 2018 World Cup along with England, Thompson still has a pivotal role to play for his own country in somehow persuading his friend, UEFA president Michel Platini, to support the England 2018 campaign .

Clarence Seedorf (right), the only player to win the Champions League with three different clubs, Ajax, Real Madrid and AC Milan, showed his versatility in the broadcasting booth as well last night, with a pundit's role in English for the first half, then switching to Spanish after the interval for ESPN's international audience.

The commercial influence of sponsors Samsung and shirt suppliers adidas meant Chelsea had to wear the new strip they had used only once before - for the final League game draw against Bolton.

The superstitious players had wanted their usual kit rather than gear they had not previously won in.

Meanwhile, journalists who travelled on the Chelsea charter at £3,000 each viewed it as a serious rip-off when they were always in danger of missing the press conference with manager Avram Grant, even if the plane had left on time. As it was they missed Avram's words after a Gatwick fire alert delayed take-off.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is expected to respond to the departure of chairman Chris Mort, who is returning to his London law firm Freshfields, as revealed in Sports Agenda, by upgrading deputy chairman Derek Llambias.

Llambias, a West Ham supporter, only recently left his role as managing director of Fifty London, a capital gambling club, to join the Ashley team at St James' Park - with the move from casino boss to Premier League football club chairman an unusual one to say the least.

It is understood that Mort, who is paid by the hour, always intended to move back to Freshfields when the time was right. Another of Ashley's unorthodox appointments, player recruitment boss Tony Jiminez, a property developer, was like all good Chelsea fans cheering on his team in Moscow.

Wherever Ashley finds his Newcastle operatives, it's not near the Toon.

One of the Muscovites who took advantage of numerous seats available in the Luzhniki Stadium last night was big football fan Andrei Lugovoi, wanted in Britain for questioning about the London murder of former KGB security officer Alexander Litvinenko.