Israel's new star is held up by right tape. Shaul Adar reports
With the Euro 2008 game against England only weeks away and Israel’s top scorer in the qualifying campaign suspended, you might expect that the domestic league’s top striker would be picked to play. But, not for the first time, Israel has shown itself to be very different from the rest of the football world
Soheb Panja reports on the evolution of sponsorship
At the time of its announcement, Vodafone’s termination of a £9 million-a-year sponsorship deal with Manchester United was viewed as a symbolic moment in the club’s fortunes. In hindsight, it wasn’t the moment the United empire crumbled, rather a turning point for sponsorship in football and sport generally, one reflected in Emirates’ deal with Arsenal and that may see Liverpool’s new home also named after a company rather than a place.
Bristol Rovers look to rebuild, reports Steve Menary
With their discounts and perennially empty pockets, students are not big favourites of cash-strapped football club chairmen, but could that be about to change?
Gabby settles in at the Beeb. Cameron Carter watches
Of the many shocking defections of the last two centuries, Gabby Logan’s appearance on BBC1’s FA Cup coverage ranks right up there with Rudolf Nureyev’s defection to the West, Burgess and Maclean’s to the East and Des Lynam’s moves, first to ITV and then all the way to the bank.
Paul Ince and the dearth of black managers
Should you need evidence that football is the global game, then England is the place to find it. The Premiership is the most widely followed league in the world (if not perhaps the best, whatever Sky may claim) and there are more nationalities represented in it than any other. All of which throws into stark relief that in one way English football upholds a very old tradition – almost all the managers are white.