The publishers paid a fortune for the rights and the papers serialised them, but few others have coughed up to read the life stories of Rio, Ashley, Frank and Wayne. Barney Ronay finds out why

It hasn’t been a great summer for England’s World Cup players. Forget the red cards and penalty misses, the terrible wives and girlfriends, the slow congealing of arrogance into bewilderment. The real problems start when you log on to Amazon and check out the book section. Rio Ferdinand: sales ranking 302; Frank Lampard: 393; Wayne Rooney: 1,038; Ashley Cole: 2,181. In literary terms, our boys have taken a hell of a beating.

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Zagreb was a debacle for Steve McClaren on and off the pitch, with echoes of the worst of his predecessors and, as Jonathan Wilson reports, a faux pas that wound up the locals

It wasn’t just the on-field tactics that Steve McClaren got badly wrong in Zagreb. For a man supposedly so media savvy, his decision to conduct his post-match press conference solely in English (with a “summary” in Croatian at the end; little use for any non-English-speaking member of the Croatian media who might have wished to ask a question) was a howler that eclipsed Paul Robinson’s airshot.

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Update on clubs in crisis, Tom Davies reports

The slow-burning decline of Bristol Rovers this decade has had less attention than other more immediately cataclysmic crises, but matters have come to a head recently with a batch of resignations. Four directors quit in the summer, taking promises of extra investment with them. The spat was sparked by the rejection of a plan by managing director Mike Turl to restructure the club, which would have involved Turl buying £200,000 worth of shares as part of a wider investment plan and the appointment of a new chairman and vice-chairman. But chairman Geoff Dunford and fellow director Ron Craig, who between them held more than 50 per cent of the shares, rejected this and criticised the plan in public. Turl resigned, as did three other directors, including the directly elected supporters’ club representative, citing a lack of boardroom democracy. Increasingly ill-tempered wars of words involving the ex-directors, fans and Dunford have followed, while the team and club continue to stagnate.

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Robert Shaw finds Corinthians reeling after the loss of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano

Crisis at Corinthians is a relative term, but the upheaval at the São Paulo club this season has been staggering even by their standards. The MSI-driven transfer of Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham triggered renewed difficulties and the hangover from a title win in 2005 has lasted all year. From being carefree, high-scoring table-toppers, the club are now scrambling to avoid relegation. In 2005 they scored 87 goals in 42 games; after 31 outings in this year’s national championship, they had netted only 28 times.

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Julius Bergmann looks at the alarming recent rise in racism at German matches

Long before Anton Ferdinand and Micah Richards made allegations of verbal abuse from opponents during England Under-21s’ recent win in Leverkusen, German football had been shaken by a series of racially motivated incidents. Werder Bremen striker Patrick Owomoyela was branded as “non-German” by an extreme right party when he was being considered for the 2006 World Cup and Schalke’s Gerald Asamoah, another Germany player, was subject to abuse during a cup tie in Rostock. In Aachen a referee threatened to abandon a Bundesliga match unless offensive chanting stopped. For many, the real low point came when Germany fans sang discriminatory songs during the Euro 2008 qualifier in Bratislava in October.

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