Book reviews

Matthew Barker looks at Silvio Berlusconi's role in the Kaka saga and at what it says about Milan's diminishing status

Silvio Berlusconi broke the news during a televised phone interview that Kaka had decided not to leave Milan. “Ricky said to me, ‘there are more important things in life than just money,’” he gushed. “It’s as if we’ve won another Champions League.” If only, thought watching rossoneri fans. That the Brazilian was staying may have prompted celebrations in the Lombard capital, but the red-and-black half of the city has had little to smile about of late.

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Harry Pearson recalls when his club were at the centre of world star transfer sagas. City fans be warned. It all ended in tears

There have been moments during the last few weeks when I’ve had the unnerving feeling I’ve stepped through a tear in the time-space continuum on the way to the paper shop and ended up in 1997. A young, former Man Utd player, tipped by many to one day succeed Sir Alex Ferguson, in charge of the team; a Brazilian star who’s run off home without permission; simmering resentment among some elements of the foreign contingent and a scattergun transfer policy that leads to international superstars playing alongside provincial journeymen. Stir in a relegation battle, a blundering executive and a group of notoriously long-suffering fans and the whole thing has a weirdly familiar ring.

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Gordon Strachan has always been popular with the English press but all is rather less cordial in Scotland, as Neil Forsyth reports

When Celtic’s talented midfielder Aiden McGeady turned on ­Gordon Strachan after a draw with Hearts in December, it is unlikely that his manager would have seen much immediate benefit in the one-man mutiny. McGeady reportedly reacted to Strachan’s criticism with a tirade that shocked the rest of the team, and shocked one enough for the story to be quickly leaked to the press. 

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Leyton Orient's dismissal of Martin Ling met with most fans' approval yet he left with his popularity intact, says Tom Davies

Supporters who clamour for their manager’s dismissal tend not to get a decent press, portrayed as they are as an impatient and fickle mob, wielding metaphorical pitchforks at the hapless gaffer at the drop of a point. Some of this is fair – sack-the-manager campaigns are often manifestations of the worst kind of phone-in led denunciation frenzies – but much of it isn’t, especially when popular sackings are accompanied not by anger but sadness.

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Some are wild cards, some club stalwarts. Jon Spurling looks at the life of the acting manager

Newcastle and Sunderland rarely admit to having anything in common, yet the clubs’ recent moves to formalise the positions of Joe Kinnear and Ricky Sbragia represents a rare moment of triumph for caretaker managers. The fact that both clubs hankered after bigger names suggests that neither man’s position is secure, but at least they are likely to emerge with their self respect intact, unlike many hapless interim appointments.

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