There's added optimism at Villa Park as the club finally get rid of Deadly Doug and have a manager worthy of the Champions League. Dave Woodhall reports on the American revolution about to take place in the Midlands

Just a few weeks ago, Villa fans were looking forward to the forthcoming season with unremitting gloom. David O’Leary’s appalling football had led to the club’s worst Premiership season, his constant talking-down of the club had destroyed morale and Doug Ellis was seemingly as immovable as ever. Now we’ve got the best British manager, billionaires are vying to throw money at us and the only real problem is that we might not have anything to moan about between now and May.

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Wayne Rooney releases his first autobiography but as Taylor Parkes reports it's little more than a book aimed at children

Monday morning, primary school. It’s time to write up what you did over the weekend. Everyone remembers the drill: “I went to the pub with my mum and dad. I had a coke and some crisps. It was good.”    

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World renowned names arrive at Stamford Bridge with the added confusion as to who's signing them. Oh and England have a new man at the helm

Summer is usually spent finding ways to fill time before the next football season starts. No such problem this year, of course, with just four weeks between the end of the World Cup and the Football League’s opening fixtures. It may be an effect of the heatwave, but we’ve thought of a few reasons to feel optimistic about 2006-07.

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Saturday 1 Berlin’s stadium announcer is replaced after urging the crowd to cheer Germany during their quarter-final. Glenn Hoddle resigns at Wolves. “My expectations and the club’s have drifted too far apart,” he says. Paul Ince is tipped to step in.

Sunday 2 David Beckham quits as England captain, although he wants to keep playing. He tearfully mentions Steve McClaren and Peter Taylor twice, with a solitary nod towards “Sven”. “Maybe we’re a victim of our own honesty and Wayne more than most,” reasons John Terry as the campaign against “Sly Senor” Ronaldo gathers momentum. Honest Wayne is quoted as telling team-mates over breakfast that he wants to “smack him on the head and split him in two”, though he may have been referring to his boiled egg.X

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Dear WSC
Where would you say are the game’s real hotbeds? Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham? Wrong! Try Ipswich, Norwich, Gloucester and Wolverhampton, some of the places where there is still enough interest to make it worthwhile printing a Saturday night sports paper. We all know that new technology makes information much more easily accessible, but at least in those places the traditional method of getting the latest football news will still be available. Those towns I have named who still have Saturday “Pinks” (or whatever) have papers owned by local companies, whereas the papers in Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham are owned by the Trinity Mirror group. It seems therefore that while local companies can still find a way to serve their community, Trinity Mirror can’t be bothered. In view of their hostility to football fans and their contempt for the needs of their regional customers, I suggest that we all boycott all Trinity Mirror papers until such time as they either reinstate the Pinks or sell their local interests to local people.
Mick Blakeman, Wolverhampton

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