No other coach has won as many Serie A titles as Giovanni Trapattoni – and that includes England’s coach. Paul Doyle looks at the reaction to the appointment of the Republic of Ireland’s new boss
And so, with the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni to replace Steve Staunton, the Republic of Ireland team prepare to leap from one extreme to the other: from the era of the bungling novice to the reign of the revered veteran.
Declining attendances but still little movement on ticket prices. Bruce Wilkinson discovers why
When the then minister for culture, media and sport negotiated with the EU in 2005-06 to save the Premier League’s right to retain collective TV bargaining, there was supposed to be a payback. Richard Caborn believed that part of the money the clubs would get from the next huge TV deal would be used to reduce ticket prices. A couple of football seasons and sports ministers down the line and we are yet to see much evidence of the Premier League members fulfilling their part of the bargain.
Tribute to a man who has given Dundee United his all, by Neil Forsyth
In a season that has already seen the hopeless tragedy of Motherwell captain Phil O’Donnell’s death, Scottish football has another event approaching that will be markedly tinged with sadness. When Dundee United face Rangers in the CIS League Cup final at Hampden on Sunday March 16, they will do so with a chairman in Eddie Thompson who is openly suffering from the latter stages of terminal cancer. Football looks desperately flimsy against such issues, yet it is in his dedication to United that Thompson has spoken of finding salvation in recent months.
Andy Brassell looks at the fallout in Portugal four years after they hosted the European Championship
Fans may complain that the Swiss and Austrian stadiums to be used in Euro 2008 may be a little on the small side, with only those in Basel and Vienna having room for significantly more than 30,000 spectators. And you can imagine by how much those dissenting voices would have been amplified had England, or indeed any of the home nations, managed to qualify for the finals. However, there is at least little doubt over the sustainability of the grounds post-tournament.
Cameron Carter revisits The Big Match
Nostalgia is such a beautiful, furry thing that even the mundane and irksome, when viewed from the impossible distance of the future, can bring forth the smile of regret. Many years after the first sacking of Rome, and some time before the final collapse, there were probably some older citizens who became wistful about how one didn’t hear much about Visigoths these days. That is how it is with The Big Match Revisited (Thursdays, 4pm, ITV4), hidden away in the netherworld of daytime digital TV.