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Back-to-back league titles have propelled the Hampshire side to the highest level in their 21-year history, but it has proved a bigger step than their tightly-knit team anticipated
Simon Tyers watches ITV’s build up the Manchester derby, while Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker returns
This column recently speculated on the appeal to football show producers of David Ginola. He has to be coerced into saying anything of interest but nonetheless has the inbuilt advantages of a French accent and the fact that he’s going grey in a dignified fashion. For these people, Eric Cantona is the lodestone. Write in a couple of aphorisms, allow him to sparkle gently with a sideways look to camera and you’re away. Cantona turned up as the de facto centrepiece of Looking For Manchester, essentially ITV’s preview of a derby for which they had no broadcast rights. It did not promise much for City fans hoping for a fair hearing and, sure enough, all they got was Denis Law’s backheel and a brief clip of the 5-1 derby win in 1989.
After only a handful of Liverpool appearances an error of judgement means the French goalkeeper is starting again. Ben Lyttleton reports
Perhaps the fact that Charles Itandje refused to answer his phone and briefly went into hiding when Liverpool first tried to buy him was a sign that he was destined never to succeed at Anfield. That was back in 2001. On the day of Liverpool’s amazing 5-4 UEFA Cup win over Alavés the goalkeeper was due to meet Gérard Houllier to discuss a move. “I had an appointment but I didn’t go,” Itandje remembered. “I almost pretended to be dead. I had just signed a pre-contract with Lens, where I was set to become number one, and I did not want to turn it down.”
England's premier cup competition is starting to suffer in popularity as ITV and Setanta take the rights
On successive days in December, the sports pages carried several pictures of excited young fans reaching out to touch players. Firstly Japanese children in Ronaldo replica shirts greeted Manchester United when they arrived in Tokyo for the Club World Cup. The following day Blyth Spartans fans celebrated the FA Cup second-round defeat of Bournemouth; it’s unlikely that their green-and-white shirts are available anywhere other than the club shop and a couple of stores in Blyth town centre.