The lovable chaps at the G-14 have a new, familiar face in charge. Steve Menary wonders whether David Dein will preside over a winning team or is resigned to fighting a rearguard action.

Anyone confident of winning a court case would not start publicly discussing a settlement a year before they were due in court. Yet that is what David Dein began doing on taking over as president of the G-14 group of clubs in late October. G-14 are backing Charleroi’s case against FIFA for €615,000 (£413,000) compensation for an injury Abdelmajid Oulmers suffered while playing for Morocco in 2004. He took eight months to return to action for the Belgian club. G-14 also threw their weight behind an action by one of their own members, Lyon, for €1 million in compensation from FIFA over an injury to France defender Eric Abidal in a friendly last year.

Read more…

When countries had only one European Cup entrant, the UEFA Cup commanded attention. All that seemed to change. But, asks Luke Chapman, is the junior competition now the less predictable one?

Two years ago, after a defensive display in Turin earned Liverpool a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League, a radio reporter light-heartedly asked a Reds fan what was more important: winning the European Cup or ensuring qualification for the competition next year. “Hmm,” pondered the supporter, apparently in all seriousness, “that’s a tough one."

Read more…

Famous people attract the attention of all sorts of undesirables and footballers are no exception. Taylor Parkes looks at a book that charts the game's underworld connections

People have been fascinated by gangsters for as long as gangsters have existed; there are few better illustrations of people’s reluctance to grow up. Organised crime can be an interesting subject and Graham Johnson’s lightweight, quickly written book holds the attention very well. The problem is the popular fascination for gangsters, the image of the underworld boss as sexy, charismatic rebel – rather than the ultimate Thatcherite, responding to poverty and communal desperation by making things worse for everyone but himself. It’s a kind of perverted romanticism that appeals to those whose closest contact with gang culture has been the films of Guy Ritchie or the lyrics of Biggie Smalls, and it’s no surprise that so many footballers, raised to worship guile and machismo but rarely skilled in decision-making, go for gangsters a big way.

Read more…

Jamie Redknapp and Tim Sherwood attempt to please PFA members with a vanity publication, Harry Pearson reports

Many years ago a school friend of mine had trials at Middlesbrough. Chris was at Ayresome Park for a week, training alongside Craig Johnston and Bozo Jankovic. He was offered terms and, incredibly, turned the chance down. “To be honest, I don’t think I could spend every day with people like that,” he said. “I just couldn’t find anything to talk to them about."

Read more…

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.

Read more…