A long-running corruption investigation seemed to be going nowhere fast, until some remarkable claims against Porto’s president were made by his ex-wife. Phil Town wonders where it will all end

Apito Dourado (Golden Whistle) is the code name for an ongoing investigation by the judicial police into corruption in Portuguese football. The investigation has its roots in the 2003-04 season, when widespread phone-tapping was conducted by the police, following up tip-offs from as yet anonymous sources. There has always been a vague notion of a “system” in the Portuguese game, with, depending on your allegiances, Benfica and FC Porto at the forefront of suspicions, but Apito Dourado is effectively skewering actual protagonists left, right and centre.

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Cameron Carter watches Graham Poll's quest for celebrity, and an economist's attempts to get players to cough up for nurses

Becoming a famous referee is an odd way of turning out. It’s a bit like being a celebrity waiter. Acknowledging Graham Poll’s unique position in society, Inside Sport lent him a camera for his last season to give, in effect, a video retirement speech to his public.

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Poulsen punch penalty pitch invasion leads to chaos in Copenhagen. Kasper Steenbach reports

A week rarely passes without Flemming Østergaard making his opinion known in the Danish press, either about his own abilities, or the lack of same in others. But at the beginning of June, the wealthy 63-year-old, who in ten years has turned FC Copenhagen into a Champions League club, was surprisingly quiet. As chairman of the Copenhagen team, and thereby also Parken, the Danish national stadium, Østergaard had much explaining to do after referee Herbert Fandel was attacked by a drunken spectator during Denmark’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden.

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Dear WSC
As a born cynic (and Northerner) this is very hard for me, but with regards to Colin Smith’s letter in WSC 245 I feel I must write in defence of the new Wembley. I wanted to hate it, I really did, but after attending the Blackpool v Yeovil play-off final I, or should I say we, as the friends I went with felt the same, just couldn’t find anything to complain about. OK, maybe that’s hyperbole – the empty ring of Club Wembley seats was a bit annoying on the eye, as was the over-exaggeration of the stewards when a nearby bloke pulled a cigarette, and not an Uzi, out of his pocket. But outrageously priced food and drink? I don’t know where Mr Smith got his hotdog from, but I paid £5 for the most edible burger I’ve ever had inside a football ground, and as for £3.50 a pint being extortionate even for London, I take it that he didn’t sample the delights of Soho after the match. It seems we’ve turned into a nation of whingers who will complain just for the sake of it – take the furore over the 2012 Olympic logo. For once, let’s just give credit where it’s due. Yes, it was vastly over time and even more over budget; yes, I’ll miss the internationals being played around the country; and an even bigger yes, I’ll miss falling out of a pub and being in my seat within ten minutes à la Cardiff. But the new Wembley is a fantastic stadium, unrecognisable from the eyesore it replaced. And things could be worse – I’m going to have to go to Deepdale and Turf Moor next season.
Jason Taylor, Hadfield

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Given the record of British coaches in developing players in the UK, is it a good idea that they are doing well in the burgeoning and highly profitable US soccer market? Mike Woitalla doesn’t think so

One of the myriad American youth soccer programmes declares it uses “soccer as a tool to teach kids about life”. Classes are open to children from 18 months old and, by the time a child is three, the Lil’ Kickers coaches will be teaching them “concepts of co-operation and teamwork”. So now, even for the youngest, it’s not just a game. If it were and kids were simply given a place to kick around in the manner that has created the world’s best players, could Lil’ Kickers promise the indoor arenas that host their classes an annual income boost of £125,000?

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