For the richest European clubs, the term “the global game” has a new meaning as they rush to sew up their share of overseas markets. Gary Bowerman analyses the attempts to colonise China

As Liverpool’s new marketing strategy starts to look east, China seems an attractive option, particularly as the world’s biggest clubs have made a head start. AC Milan, Manchester United and Real Madrid have all played here in the last four years, with Barcelona, who beat then Chinese Champions Shenzhen Jianlibao 9-0 in Macau in 2003, set to play in Beijing this summer. The public-relations results were mixed, however, especially for Milan, whose second-string team were soundly beaten 2-0 by Shanghai Shenhua in front of a pitifully small crowd at the 80,000-seat Shanghai Stadium. The Chinese fans’ message was clear: don’t take us for granted.

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The massive increase in the Premiership TV deal has led to a rush of takeovers of Championship sides. But, asks Simon Moore, what do the new owners do if their clubs don’t win promotion?

“We are not looking for small-time people, we are looking for a mega-rich businessman like Roman Abramovich who wants to buy a football club for a hobby.” Dave Allen, chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, issued that invitation to potential investors in March. Wednesday, now in talks with a consortium fronted by a Chinese casino owner, are one of a group of Championship clubs who have been sounded out about a takeover in recent months. Most of the teams up for sale regularly pull in crowds of more than 20,000 and, with the average asking price around the £20 million mark, they look a much better bet than, say, Manchester City, a club treading water in the Premiership with debts of around £60m. But the new Premiership TV deal, with even the bottom-placed club guaranteed a minimum of £26.8m per season, is the principal bait that is luring potential buyers.

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As some clubs impose a price freeze or even cuts in response to poor crowds, a campaign has been launched to give a fair deal to away fans. Tom Green reports

How much are you prepared to pay to watch a game of football? With millionaires on the pitch and billionaires taking over the clubs, is it fair that the fans should be paying more in England than anywhere else in the world?

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English pundits are widely seen as bland, irritating sycophants, but in Ireland Eamon Dunphy and friends pull no punches on RTE, earning popularity with viewers if not managers. Paul Doyle reports

So you’re assigned the task of creating a panel of people to inform and entertain television viewers before, during and after football matches: what do you do? If you work for the BBC, you round up a giggling gaggle of self-satisfied golfing buddies and tell them to inform and entertain no one but themselves. If you work for Sky, you collar some besuited former footballers and order them to rehearse bland cliches and beatific grins in preparation for a hard day’s cheerleading. If you work for Irish state channel RTE, however, you hire abrasive codgers who can be relied upon to call a spade a spade, a bungling manager “a boil on the arse of humanity” (Eamon Dunphy on Mick McCarthy) and, just for kicks, BBC pundits “spoofers and muppets”.

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According to the Spanish football authorities, no cup competitions took place between 1936 and 1939. This claim is contested fiercely in one half of Valencia. Andy Brassell reports

Age doesn’t always guarantee respect. Levante, founded in 1909 and pointedly named after the entire region rather than just the city, are the older of the two Valencia clubs by nine years. Their history, however, is dominated by lower-division drudgery and the current season is only their fourth ever in La Primera. They are largely noted solely for Johan Cruyff’s short – and incongruous – spell in their colours in 1981, and for being coached by one of Spain’s more controversial imports, the spiky Bernd Schuster, during their last spell in the top flight.

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