The Archive

Simon Tyers on Tim Lovejoy and other presenters switching jobs

After years of being downplayed as a near‑unnecessary calendar filler, the Carling Cup is finally being seen as a competitive target for the big clubs once again, with members of the modern Big Four lifting the trophy in four of the last six seasons. Sky Sports are keen to act as cheerleaders for this unlikely rejuvenation, to give the impression of holding a greater nap hand of live football coverage. So they’ve given a Carling Cup presentation job to Tim Lovejoy.

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The SFA are looking at restructuring non-League football. Neil Forsyth reports

As seven non-League clubs take to the field in the Scottish Cup second round on December 9, they will signify more than the ever-lessening gap between the cream of Scottish non-League and the nether regions of the professional ranks. Their appearance and the now annual forays of such outfits to this stage and beyond seem to have finally forced football here to confront its increasingly unjustifiable closed-shop status.

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The demands for video replays to help referees grow ever more hysterical (especially when Blackburn or Bolton play). But Barney Ronay has seen more than enough already

In the last month calls for the use of video refereeing technology have become, if not deafening, then at least annoyingly insistent. After Blackburn’s 1-1 draw with Spurs in the Premiership, Mark Hughes demanded the introduction of technology “sooner rather than later”, presumably envisaging a dead-eyed über-ref hunched over his vast bank of screens somewhere in the bowels of Ewood Park. “When huge decisions at the top level have an impact on teams then something has to be done,” Hughes harrumphed, which will no doubt come as a great comfort to whichever top-level teams involved in huge decisions the Blackburn manager has in mind.

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Theo Walcott has made a unique backward step – making his England Under-21 debut after playing for the senior side. But, asks Csaba Abrahall, what’s the point of the junior team?

Thirty years ago this month, an England team featuring Ray Wilkins, Glenn Hoddle and, um, Steve Sims took on Wales at Molineux in their country’s first Under-21 international. A European Under-23 tournament had taken place in various formats since 1967, but UEFA felt the gap between Under-18 and Under-23 football was too large and opted to fill it by lowering the age limit leading up to the 1978 European Championship.

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Matt Barker reports on why Italy's youngsters are so good

Italy’s Under-21s – the Azzurrini – have dominated the junior-level European Championship since winning their first title in 1992. Under Cesare Maldini’s ten-year stewardship, a succession of sides won three titles on the trot (in total the Italians have triumphed in five of the last seven tournaments), blooding an impressive turnover of players, from Demetrio Albertini and Francesco Toldo, to Fabio Cannavaro and Francesco Totti.

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