Ben Lyttleton looks at the corruption scandal rocking Turkish football

Turkey’s national coach Ersun Yanal has been forced to deny allegations that he received illegal payments for fixing matches when he was Ankaragucu coach four years ago. Yanal claimed the accusations against him, made by former Ankaragucu player Cafer Aydin, were part of a plot to oust him from his current post. Yanal is under fire for poor results since replacing Senol Gunes as Turkey coach. The side that finished third in the last World Cup are looking unlikely to qualify for the 2006 tournament: they are currently fourth in Group Two, eight points behind leaders Ukraine. “It is very clear that this has been done for certain purposes,” said Yanal. “I have never been involved in any such dealings.”

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Malcolm Glazer is back for more at Old Trafford, but all he seems to have achieved so far is to build an opposing alliance between board and fans. Ashley Shaw reports

I am sure Malcolm Glazer thought it would be easier than this. In launching his bid for Manchester United he has unwittingly galvanised the club’s fans, management, directors and playing staff into an effective opposition. Has there ever been a precedent for a hostile takeover overcoming such overwhelming odds in football or any other business?

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UEFA’s quotas for home-grown players could simply increase the trade in teenage players and lead to more switches in national allegiance, argues Michael Dunne

Where, ask those who condemn the record number of foreigners in British football, will the next generation of England players come from if young English talent is not given its head in the Premiership?

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Arsène Wenger isn’t prejudiced against English players, says Jon Spurling, but the exploits of Paul Merson, Francis Jeffers and Jermaine Pennant won’t have impressed him or anyone

Having been described in Le Monde as “une honte” and in Die Welt as “eine Schande”, Arsène Wenger appears to be “a disgrace” in every European language. Paul Merson’s comments, which first ap­peared in the Daily Mail, were quickly taken out of context by an assortment of newspapers around the continent. Le Monde excelled itself, suggesting that Merson had also labelled his former manager “une brome” (“a joke”). In fact, Merson had described the absence of any British players in Arsenal’s squad to face Crystal Palace as “a joke”, rather than directly name-calling Wenger. By selecting an all-foreign squad, the Arsenal manager left himself open to a raft of criticism. José Mourinho claimed that “the backbone of my Chelsea team will always be English”, ignoring the fact that only three of his regular starting XI (John Terry, Wayne Bridge and Frank Lampard) are British and that a spate of injuries could easily leave him in the same boat as Wenger. Mourinho added: “He [Wenger] is forgetting the influence which English players have had on Arsenal.” The opposite is true. Wenger is totally au fait with the legacy left by English players at Highbury, perhaps overly so.

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Europe's big guns are pushing for reimbursement for releasing players for internationals. Steve D Wilson assesses their chances for success

Meaningful internationals are back this month with the resumption of World Cup qualifying. Each round brings murmurs from Europe’s leading clubs about reimbursement for releasing players. The G-14 group have been leaning heavily on FIFA, saying that as compensation national FAs should pay the players salaries for the duration of major international events and have threatened to take legal action if the ruling bodies refuse to negotiate. Their argument is that they make huge expenditures turning players into recognisable names, then see them use that status to create huge revenue for someone else.

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