On the first anniversary of the Bosman judgement, Tim Springett wonders whether English football is fully aware of what effects the case may still have

It is a year since Jean-Marc Bosman obtained judgment at the European Court of Justice to the effect that transfer fees for footballers signing for clubs in other European Union states at the end of their contracts were in contravention of European Union law. At the time there were many who predicted disaster; it was seen as a further seismic shift in the balance of power in favour of the richest clubs, placing the very survival of smaller outfits in jeopardy.

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Bribe scandals are the in thing in European football, not least in Portugal, as Phil Town reports

FC Porto may have cruised comfortably into the last eight of the Champions League, but their apparent health and vigour belies a domestic game lurching from scandal to scandal.

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Mark Wenham looks at the causes of the riot at a Bristol derby match

The events of December 15th may have caused eyebrows to be raised nationally, but for anyone who has regularly attended Bristol football derbies over the last ten years, the whole day had a grindingly predictable feel to it.

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Are players from abroad really good value for money?

Just the other week someone phoned up claiming to be Frankie Dettori (“you know, off the telly”) and offering a dead cert tip for the 3.30 at Wincanton. With not a moment to lose we raced out with the petty cash tin and emptied it into the hands of the nearest bookies on a horse that, wouldn’t you know it, strolled in last. So you can appreciate that we felt for Graeme Souness a few weeks back when it was revealed that the ‘George Weah’ who phoned him up to recommend Aly Dia, a Senegalese player who played for Southampton against Leeds in mid-December, was in fact Dia’s agent, and that the player had been previously hawked around several lower division clubs.

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Friday 1 Brian Laws is sacked as Grimsby manager, the writing having gone up on the wall in large, luminous capitals after his side's last match, a 3-0 home defeat to bottom-placed Oldham earlier in the week. Paul Gascoigne is included in the England squad for the match in Georgia, with Glenn Hoddle using a variety of means to justify his decision including religious faith: "One of the big teachings of Christianity is that of forgiveness – I hope that in not casting him aside I have given him a chance to change," and abject bullshit: "Had I not picked him at this stage then I feel it would have been detrimental to him and his family in the long run."

Saturday 2 Man Utd are getting careless: now they lose their 35-match unbeaten home record in the Premiership, going down 2-1 to Chelsea. "I know the thread of what is wrong and so do the players," says Alex Ferguson. Word is that it's something to do with letting in more goals than you score. Arsenal stay top after a heated, injury-strewn draw at Wimbledon, who didn't impress Arsène Wenger: "Today they deliberately avoided playing football and for our defenders it was a heading session." Forest's slide continues with a 2-0 defeat at Villa, which leaves them firmly anchored in the bottom three with Frank Clark admitting that his days could be numbered: "I need some wins under my belt before the takeover, otherwise someone else will be spending the money." In Scotland, Celtic go top after beating Aberdeen while Rangers can only draw at Raith.

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