The Archive

Thaksin Shinawatra’s arrival at Eastlands has tested some supporters’ loyalties. But, as Ian Plenderleith finds out, a tour of Manchester City, Dundee and Chelsea sites suggests many fans are quick to move on

The fan of changing loyalties ­remains an object of scorn, but in these cash-grabbing times when a club’s dubious new owner can alienate lifelong supporters, it somehow seems appropriate that the official Premier League site hosts a column by someone purporting to be The Fickle Fan. It’s meant to be funny, and the idea’s not a bad one – the columnist follows a team until it loses, and then transfers allegiance to the victor.

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Cameron Carter on an attempt to get the UK watching MLS

There used to be a time when a chap’s name in the programme title meant he was central to the project. Ellery Queen, Dempsey & Makepeace, The Sooty Show – they all featured the eponymous protagonists plum in the middle of the fray. Nowadays we live in more complex times, as illustrated by Macca’s Monday Night (Setanta) and David Beckham’s Soccer USA (Five). The former was in fact presented by Angus Scott, with Steve “Macca” McManaman and Tim Sherwood invited along as pundits to mull over the weekend’s games. Now, if my name were Macca and someone told me I was going to be on a programme called Macca’s Monday Night, I’d turn up in my best jacket and trousers expecting to be introducing the thing from the master chair. While it did appear that Scott’s questions were mainly directed to McManaman and then by trickle-down effect on to Tim Sherwood to add a supplementary point, it didn’t seem that Monday Night was owned by Macca as the title suggests. At best you could say he co-owned Monday Night as a sleeping partner.

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The FA have introduced regulations for agents, reports Neil Rose

The summer 2007 transfer window may have been the most bountiful ever, but for agents it may be the last off-season of plenty. The FA’s new Football Agents Regulations came into force on September 1, but agents should be grateful that they at least had this summer – only the threat of legal action stopped the changes going live in May. It is a sign of the disquiet over agents that the FA have revised their rules – which came into force as recently as January 2006 – so quickly. A review began shortly afterwards and its proposals went through several redrafts in an effort to reach an agreement. But the FA eventually realised that some would object whatever.

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If it all becomes too much, what can Leeds fans do? Rob Freeman looks at how they could really give Ken Bates something to think about

The past four months have probably been the most turbulent in Leeds United’s history: relegation to the third tier for the first time, a very messy administration, a transfer embargo lifted days before the beginning of the season and two sets of points deductions, meaning that at the time of writing they have a 100 per cent record, but are four points adrift at the bottom.

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Ever-fewer home-grown players are breaking through at major clubs as managers look abroad for youngsters as well as first-team players. Gavin Willacy examines what’s going wrong for British kids

As another summer of frantic buying draws to a close, I have yet to hear a single manager say they are steering clear of the shark-infested transfer market and sticking instead with their youth system. For all their Football Icon hype, there is still no sign of a first-team regular emerging from Chelsea’s academy – ten years to the month since John Terry turned pro, the last Chelsea trainee to make it to the top. Arsenal had yet to field a locally farmed player this season before Justin Hoyte appeared in the second leg of their Champions League tie against Sparta Prague, a match that was largely a formality. Liverpool fielded just one Brit in their return match against Toulouse (Peter Crouch). Only the absent Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard in their entire first-team squad are home-grown. Meanwhile, Rafa Benítez has signed 20 teenagers from other clubs in the past two years, many of them foreign.

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