The team from Northern Ireland that play in the Republic are more used to international competition than most and well worth a famous UEFA Cup victory over opponents who take too much for granted. By Robbie Meredith

It may have been a common experience for Everton and Sheffield Wednesday fans, but for the first and perhaps only time in my life I’d really like to know what Niclas Alexandersson is thinking. The captain of IFK Gothenburg is wandering across the pitch at Derry City’s Brandywell ground, carrying a set of training bibs for his team’s pre-match warm-up, and is looking disconsolately up into the rickety main stand. Maybe he’s wondering what has happened to the Franz’n’Sepp show he witnessed first-hand in Dortmund, Berlin, Cologne and Munich as the right-back in Sweden’s underwhelming World Cup team.

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A few years ago reserve games contained a smattering of stars and small clubs could mix it with the internationals, pulling in decent crowds. But rule changes have ended that, as Gavin Willacy explains

This season sees English football take another step towards the sanitised uniformity epitomised by America’s major leagues. Again, it is being driven by the Premier League. For the first time, every Premiership club will only play against fellow top flight clubs at reserve-team level. That sounds logical, but it is far from necessary.

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Can you imagine what it would be like to have two referees on the pitch? Well David Wangerin knows just what it's like and is pretty sure it that the proposal is simply yet another bad idea from Sepp Blatter

The Times headline was unequivocal: Two-referee system would stop the cheats. “We all know that in almost every match we see,” asserted the columnist, “there should be three or four penalties, for instance, yet often there are none; that unseen fouls are inflicted off the ball; that forwards are subtly nudged from behind in such a way that the referee 30 yards away cannot hope to detect. This imbalance in favour of defenders and of negative play could be ended almost overnight by the introduction of two referees instead of one.”

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With only one promotion left until the Football League beckons, St Albans City now have the money on board for required ground improvements. Steve Menary reports

To most non-League clubs, a marketing officer is an unaffordable luxury. John Gibson tends to agree. When Verry, a £100 million turnover construction firm owned by Gibson, opened a new office in St Albans four years ago, he decided that instead of hiring a marketing man he would buy the local team. “Their manager played for a pub team I ran. He said, ‘The club’s in real trouble, can you help?’ ” says Gibson. “I was going to get a marketing manager but decided to spend the £50,000 to £60,000 a year that would cost on a club.”

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After three years in Milton Keynes, the Dons still don't have a proper ground and are facing up to League Two football. Graham Dunbar looks at the state of Pete Winkelman's bastard brainchild

The line-up of talent playing in Milton Keynes this year is surprisingly expensive and all thanks to a stagnating stadium-building project. Why else would Robbie Williams spend five September nights in Britain’s fastest-growing urban centre, were it not for the continuing and ludicrous unavailability of the new Wembley? The part-owner of Port Vale seems to have no further need to visit football grounds.

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