Swiss police catch a controversial owner, reports Graham Dunbar

A celebrated players’ agent and club owner currently sits in a prison cell awaiting trial on charges including fraudulent bankruptcy and abuse of trust. For added comedy value, he is a dead ringer for David Brent, one of his victims was the former president of Real Madrid, and his farcical extradition saga entertained even non-football fans throughout the summer. Of course, there is inevitable tragedy at the heart of the life and times of Marc Roger and that is the near-destruction of a proud club, Servette, 17 times the champions of Switzerland.

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Referees get official help. Steve Menary reports

The idea of clubs even at semi-professional level – let alone in the Premier League – having to find their own referee for a home game is hard to imagine. At parks level, however, many clubs do that every week, often prompting disputes about the officials’ impartiality. The reason that referees are in such short supply is because hundreds have drifted out of the game due to the poor behaviour of players and spectators. That is why the Football Association launched its initiative to improve respect for referees, which begins in earnest in January 2008.

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Live non-League coverage bemuses Cameron Carter

Setanta, having promised its subscribers that it will bring them closer to football with its coverage of the Blue Square Premier League, has proceeded to zoom in so close as to make its subject almost unrecognisable. Encountering affairs such as Halifax Town v Grays Athletic (Setanta Sports 1) transports the day-tripping mollycoddled big-game viewer to the unnerving world of football stripped of its usual lush soundtrack. Here one is exposed to the individual bellowing of team coaches – be it the complex polysyllabic cry of “Give it wide!” or the beautiful rhythmic simplicity of “Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben!” – as we become eavesdroppers on this raw, pitch-perfect reality.

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A night of European glory has given Tampere United, from their country’s third city, a major lift. But football in these climes has its own particular challenges, as a well wrapped-up Egan Richardson reports

When Tampere United clung on to a 1-0 lead at home to Levski Sofia in the Champions League second qualifying round in July, they shocked themselves, their fans and Finland’s journalists. Levski qualified for the group stages last season and nobody had given Tampere much of a chance. It was still unclear whether the return leg would be televised in Finland until the day before it was played, as most channels had thought the tie would be over by then and hadn’t bothered bidding for the rights beforehand. In the end, a small free-to-air sports channel cobbled together a sponsorship deal with a local hotel and paid the rights fee in the nick of time. A good job too, as the game in Sofia was a famous victory with Jari Niemi scoring the only goal in another 1-0 win.

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A German player refuses to play against Israel – because he was born in Iran. But Ashkan Dejagah, who has dual nationality, has picked up sympathy in some unexpected places, as Paul Joyce explains

Tattooed on the neck of VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Ashkan Dejagah is the motto “Never forget where you’re from”. On his right forearm is the word “Teheran”, the German spelling of the city where he was born in 1986; on his left “Berlin”, where he grew up and played for Hertha. Not that anyone will forget where he comes from after he withdrew from a Germany Under-21 game against Israel in Tel Aviv in October. “There are political reasons for this,” he told the paper Bild. “Everyone knows I’m a German-Iranian.”

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