Carlisle to join the Scottish League (shame it had as much credibility as a UFO sighting). Stephanie Pride
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Stories
Premiership superstars swap cubs for millions but down in the lower divisions the picture is rather different. Tom Findlay reports from the twilight world of pre-season trialists
In the summer months, when football is supposed to take a break, thousands of ‘free agents’ trawl around the smaller playing fields of England desperate to find a club. Loanees, refugees and YTSs trying to fulfil their dream. It’s not a pretty business. Cambridge United, who have spent the last two seasons bobbing round the nether regions of Division 3, played some twenty games through August featuring a small army of trialists. The first game of the shopping season featured 22 players the club had never seen before – none survived.
Graeme Souness made quite an impression in Istanbul. David O'Byrne reports
Draw up any list of controversial managers and the name Graeme Souness is sure to figure. At Rangers he had been presented with carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to achieve the desired success. At Liverpool, his fortunes took a dive. There were people there who had their own ideas about football and weren’t about to be steamrollered. More importantly, money for new players wasn’t in unlimited supply and the competition was harder than in Scotland. With one FA Cup and a lot of bad feeling, Souness departed and dropped out of football circles. It was, he was later to admit, a difficult time. He needed the thrill of a big job to lure him back into the game.