Book reviews

As Martin Ling begins his second spell as Cambridge United manager in the space of a few weeks,  Matthew Gooding reflects on a bizarre sequence of events at the Abbey stadium.

Although it isn’t unusual to see a manager returning to his former club, it’s rare to hear of one going back to the job he left just a week previously. And when you also consider that Martin Ling’s first spell in charge of Cambridge United only lasted eight days, you begin to get a flavour of what a bizarre summer it has been for fans of the Blue Square Premier club.

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A new Maradona documentary flatters to deceive. Terry Staunton explains his disappointment

As a minister leads his congregation in a revised football-friendly rendition of the Lord’s Prayer before performing a wedding on the pitch of an Argentine stadium, it’s clear we’ve dropped in on no ordinary place of worship. This is the Church Of Maradona, just as surreal as anything in Sarajevo filmmaker Emir Kusturica’s back pages, but it’s tiny moment of light relief in a disappointing movie.

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FC Twente's new creative midfielder wants to be known just for his football. Jonathan Wilson reports on a reluctant trailblazer

“I have packed,” Nashat Akram said with a smile, “my diplomatic passport.” The joke was apt, and was delivered as a friendly way of ending the conversation, but there was also a tiredness in the Iraq midfielder’s voice as he made it. Nashat understands why the question keeps being asked, and recognises the need to provide some sort of answer, but he is clearly also sick of constantly being asked whether he is an ambassador for Iraqi football.

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Adrian Mutu failed a drugs test in 2004 but is still being pursued by Chelsea. Matthew Barker examines the case

Adrian Mutu was in pre-season training with Fiorentina when the news came through. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne had rejected an appeal against a FIFA ruling that the Romanian should pay €17 million (£14.9m) to former employers Chelsea. In a public statement, the player called the punishment “profoundly unjust”, while Viola patron Diego Della Valle talked of arranging a sit-down with Roman Abramovich in order to solve the matter in a more civilised fashion.

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Martin Greig looks at a possible solution to the poor performance of Scottish clubs in international competition

“In this country there are some pretty smart people. But I always ask how the nation which invented the telephone, the television, penicillin and getting drunk till you fall down, possibly think about playing football in the winter?” The words of Arild Stavrum, the Norwegian striker who played for Aberdeen, evoke the spirit of Robert Burns in calling for the ability to see ourselves as others see us. Another season of collective failure by Scottish clubs in Europe has prompted the perennial debate on the merits of summer football. Four of the country’s six representatives, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Falkirk and Hearts, were eliminated from the Europa League in the qualifying rounds.

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