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Slavia Prague were brought to their knees by financial chaos and mysterious ownership. Sam Beckwith reports that the Czech club’s future could be just as murky

The 2007-08 season seemed like a new dawn for Slavia Prague. Having finally qualified for the Champions League’s group phase at the sixth attempt, the Czech Republic’s oldest club went on to win their first league title since 1996. The following season, the popular Prague side moved in to their newly reconstructed Eden stadium and won the title again. Talk of the Sesivani (literally “sewn-togethers”) replacing rivals Sparta as Czech football’s dominant force seemed justified. Then it all went wrong.

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Dermot Corrigan looks at how foreigners bearing gifts are being viewed with increasing suspicion by struggling clubs in La Liga

The fantastically wealthy foreign club owner was until recently unknown in Spain, where clubs have generally either been member-owned, dominated by local businessmen or, most commonly, a mixture of both. Then, last June, Qatar’s Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani bought Málaga, promised to sign at least five new players immediately, announced plans for a new 65,000-seat stadium and predicted Champions League glory within a few seasons.

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As financial uncertainty looms at Manchester United, Ashley Shaw explores how Wayne Rooney’s interference may have forced the hand of the Glazer family.

So the cat is finally out of the bag. Whatever the repercussions of the Wayne Rooney saga, we now know that concerns over the club’s ownership extend into the dressing room. On the face it, United’s American owners have given in to player power at the risk of losing their most sale­able asset for a song in the summer.

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In an era of phone-hacking, are footballers treated unfairly by the tabloids?

If all the allegations about extra-marital affairs among the current England squad were to be printed, the tabloids would have enough material for a daily supplement each. No matter how many times players are caught up in such stories, there are always more on the way. The saga of Wayne Rooney’s three-month affair in the summer of 2009 was plastered across the press for several days at the start of September, while injunctions are currently preventing the publication of stories about three other players

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Sean Marihooks explains how large amounts of money has only thwarted the development of league football in the Gulf

Dubai is famous as a hideaway for Premier League footballers and for running up the odd multibillion dollar debt. The UAE’s football league has barely registered internationally, however, until this summer when the top club Al Ahli signed Fabio Cannavaro and then appointed David O’Leary as coach. But the fanfare off the pitch may not be
followed by anything special on it. 

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