The Archive

What defines a career, money or medals?

If Rio Ferdinand succeeds in getting his Manchester United salary increased to £120,000 a week, he will receive in a month what someone on the average wage would take 19 years to earn. In recent newspaper reports on his contract negotiations, Rio was depicted wearing a Che Guevara baseball cap, so he may have plans to redistribute his bloated income in a manner befitting someone who identifies with a Marxist revolutionary. But it is none the less fair to assume that he will receive advice to the contrary and that his wages will continue to be spent on fast cars, holidays in exclusive resorts and helping Jody Morris to release fire extinguishers in hotel corridors.

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Ben Lyttleton tells us how Iran forgot their troubles for one glorious night

The celebrations throughout Iran after they beat Bahrain 1-0 last month to become the second team to qualify for the World Cup, one hour after Japan, passed off peacefully in spite of the country’s security forces abandoning their duties and joining fans in the streets.

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Some people are grateful that football pauses briefly in the summer, but not Cameron Carter. Join him on his quest to find meaning to his life on balmy days

Even those among us who are not numerologists can confidently state that years ending in odd numbers are inauspicious. This is because their summers are deserts of non-football. It is barely a month since Liverpool brought last season to a shocking close and already the days, especially the weekends, are feeling pitilessly long. There are three alternatives for the football fan between late May and August in 2005: skirmish like a seagull with a bin liner for any scraps of football-related activity; find another sport to take football’s place temporarily; or – and this is the big one – try to find another form of human activity that can fill up the time.

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Euro 2005 ended early with disappointment for the hosts, but this opening win highlighted – rather noisily – the growing enthusiasm for the women’s game, writes Helen Duff

One-second pause. Two-second pause. HONK! One-second pause. Two-second pause. Three-second pause. HONK! HONK! One-second pause. HONNNNNK! (Repeat, unrelentingly, for two hours.)

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The Dinamo Moscow striker was so eager to come to England after early success for Russia that his career has all but ground to a halt, writes Dan Brennan

From England’s north-west to its south coast, the considerable frame and increasingly weary visage of Dmitri Bulykin were familiar sights at training grounds in January. In fact, one in five top-flight clubs have had the pleasure of his company – a decent record if ground-hopping is your game, but not if you’re a Premiership wannabe with a dislike of hotel rooms.

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