Olympic football is becoming increasingly important. Matthew Brown reports

When the final score of the first women’s Olympic football final was flashed up on the stadium scoreboard in giant golden letters just minutes before Michael Johnson’s medal ceremony, the crowd roar almost rivalled the one which erupted when Johnson flashed through the 200 metres finish line earlier in the evening. The world’s most popular sport has had a strange, and sometimes strained, relationship with the world’s biggest sporting event, just as it has with the world’s most powerful nation. Until now. In Atlanta, Olympic football may, just possibly, have become an international competition significant enough to bridge the yawning gap between World Cup Finals.

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Matt Nation explains why beneath the surface all football teams are a seething mass of personal enmity and hatred

Players not really fitting in – it’s as old as the hills, but is always considered a scoop: Bobby Charlton was considered aloof as a player at Manchester United; Steve Archibald never used to talk to anybody: nobody understands Stan Collymore; and now, most recently, Klinsmann, and just about every other German international, won’t have anything to do with Lothar Matthäus.

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Cris Freddi looks back at the days when British coaches had to go abroad to be coaches at all and wonders if it is time for a little reciprocation

Among the British subjects living in Germany who were arrested at the outbreak of World War I was a certain S Bloomer, who must’ve been first pick in any internment camp five-a-side: he’d scored a world record 28 goals in 23 matches for England. The mighty Steve had been passing on the tricks of the trade, and not just in Germany: Vittorio Pozzo became the only manager to win the World Cup twice (1934 & 1938) on the back of conversations with Bloomer and the great centre half Charlie Roberts.

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Dave Juson looks at how Graeme Souness came to be on the south coast

The arrival of Graeme Souness at The Dell has bemused the faithful. Celebrity managers are not something Southampton FC are noted for. Actually, managers are not something we’re noted for, not until Guy Askham became chairman. Chris Nicholl, Askham’s first victim in 1991, was only our sixth manager since World War Two. Souness is the fourth attempted replacement.

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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.

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