Wednesday 1 Man Utd beat Bordeaux 2-0. “You’ve got to win your home games,” advises Sir Alex. Mark Bosnich, dropped after his leaden-footed display against Wimbledon the previous Saturday, is said to be “fuming”, the poppet.
Search: 'Slavia Prague'
Stories
Tuesday 1 Joe Kinnear is to step down as Wimbledon manager, apparently because he wants to work at a bigger club. "I believe he will go like hot cakes," says Sam Hammam. He will be replaced by former Norway coach Egil Olsen. Sam again: "His way is the Wimbledon way. He is also the complete master both tactically and technically." Someone's been watching re-runs of Kung Fu.
Wednesday 2 Having missed out on Edwin van der Sar and Fabien Barthez, Man Utd finally sign Mark Bosnich, who seems to have turned into a character from a Barbara Cartland book: "I could have gone abroad and lived like a king, but I followed my heart." Ireland's Euro 2000 match with Yugoslavia is unlikely to go ahead after the Irish government withdraw entry visas for the Yugoslav squad. "The decision was taken by a government. We are not in a position to condone or condemn it," says an FAI spokesman. Dundee Utd supporters group United For Change are backing an attempt by a local businessman to buy out Jim McLean's controlling stake in the club. Steve Parkin resigns as manager of Mansfield.
Simon Evans explains why the Champions League is the place to make money
There was a time when English fans dreamed of foreign investors, mystery millionaire Arab businessmen or an American caught by the soccer bug, pumping millions into their club. Today Walker, Hall, Harding, Gibson et al have removed the need for the foreign fantasy. But over here in Europe’s poorer half, there are few local heroes capable of turning a club’s fortunes around and delivering the dream and it is here that the romantic ideal of the outsider with his pot of cash is thriving – and believe it or not it is Englishmen they are dreaming of.
Although Yugoslavia's players are in other European leagues, the state of the game back home is in crisis. Simon Evans reports
Having spent decades just missing out on glory, the Yugoslavs looked set to finally make a decisive impact in a major tournament. Red Star Belgrade had been crowned champions of Europe and the national team – with stars such as Prosinecki, Savicevic and Stojkovic – was among the favourites for the 1992 European Championships in Sweden.
Ian Plenderleith reports on how the new model Champions League is likely to discriminate further against teams from the smaller football nations
It’s time for the Champions League highlights on German television with guest star, Franz Beckenbauer. It’s approaching midnight before we get to see the game between Steaua Bucharest and Widzew Lodz. “Well,” says Franz, relishing a rare opportunity to win some points from a public fed-up at his attempts to interfere with the game at every level and at every opportunity, “this is really the game we’ve all been waiting for!”