Racing Genk have recently experiemented with earpiece technology, enabling the coaching staff to send orders to their keeper. Despite being used in cycling, Genk's innovative approach was a global first in football, as John Chapman writes

Where did Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary anger and desire to win come from? Some say it’s due to the time he spent as an apprentice tool-worker, but others trace it back to Rangers’ 4-0 defeat by Celtic in the 1969 Scottish Cup final. Fer­gie was made the scapegoat for the de­feat, after he failed to mark Willie McNeil at a corner two minutes into the match. Almost as the final whistle blew, Ferguson was on his way out of Ibrox, seemingly into obscurity.

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The falling cost of satellite technology has combined with an increase in broadcasts of live English games. Bruce Wilkinson examines modern football's global accessibility to televised matches 

The international popularity of the Premiership has given rise to an ever growing demand for broadcasts of English football around the world. What began as a few Scandinavian coun­­tries beaming back live games has grown into scores of television companies from Los Angeles to Uzbekistan paying to show live transmissions, delayed broad­casts and highlights packages.

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Spartans FC have overcome two Scottish second division clubs and have garnered much media coverage since the draw sent Livingston to City Park, but  Spartan's Cup campaign has also highlighted Scotland's chaotic non-league situation, as Neil Forsyth writes

Unless their Scottish Cup fourth round tie against SPL outfit Livingston is postponed, Spartans Football Club are unlikely to be in the competition as you read this. If the lopsided clash ends with victory for Goliath, it will have done little to demean the most celebrated Scottish Cup story of recent years.

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Tributes have been pouring in after the very public death of Miklós Fehér, but Phil Town believes Benfica's mourning smacked more than a little of hypocrisy.

Miklós Fehér’s untimely death at the age of just 24 set into motion a wave of popular feeling not seen in Portugal since fado diva Amália Rodrigues passed on in 1999. The fact that it all happened live on television, and that it involved someone playing for Benfica, by far the best sup­­­ported club in the country, went a long way to stoking up the hysteria.

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The First Division may be renamed The Football League Championship

Three years ago, we suggested that if a marketing company were ever presented with the task of revamping football they might suggest renaming it Krazy Kick, or Leggy Fun. In fact, 13 years ago we speculated that soon we would be reading about “the Hyper League or the Supreme Set-up or the Utter Division”. We’re horrified to discover that the Football League are entertaining similar thoughts, only they appear to be serious.

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