Dan Brennan wonders whether a Columbian who spiced up Tyneside but is still looking for will ever return to England, either to play football or open a nightclub

Tino Asprilla will long be remembered by Newcastle fans, not least for a dazzling hat-trick against Barcelona in their team’s first Champions League campaign, coun­ter­pointed by one of the most spectacular fouls ever seen in these parts – an elbow-head­butt combination against Keith Curle in a match with Manchester City. In two years on Tyneside, the gun-toting, porn­star-fancying, moped-riding, poodle-loving Col­ombian also spiced things up off the pitch. But in 1998, his off-the-wall antics finally proved too much for Kenny Dalglish and he was sent back to Parma for £6.5 mil­lion – £1m less than Kevin Keegan had paid for him.

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Steve Gibson first got involved at Middlesbrough to save the club from extinction in 1986. Jon Lymer looks back at the  lowest point in Boro's history

The bond between Middlesbrough’s chairman, Steve Gibson, and the club’s supporters is uncommon in both its intensity and its longevity. This is because when the club was at its lowest ebb, Gibson acted as any of us would have done, rescuing the club from a seemingly impossible position and sticking valiantly to the task of rebuilding and transforming it.

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John Driscoll  interviews Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson, the man who helped save the club  from banckruptcy in 1986. Chairman since 1994, he has seen them reach three cup finals and become Premiership fixtures, in a ground fit for internationals. But what next?

How much time do you devote to the club?
What we have is a very strong executive. The chief ex­ecutive [Keith Lamb], the manager and I speak to each other every day. The club is run on very sound business principles and everyone knows their role. Oth­er than that I cherry-pick my involvement.

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The beggars of Brunton Park aren't choosy when it comes to loan players. Roger Lytollis highlights the one advantage of being the worst club yet to be relegated from the League

Loan players are the cavalry for a Third Division club. No matter how badly you’re struggling – and in the case of my team, Carlisle United, that’s usually very badly indeed – there’s no problem so great that it can’t be fixed by a 19-year-old midfielder on a month’s loan from Rotherham.

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Duncan Young recalls how Mick Ferguson did his job, thereby relegating himself, and questions new rules that could make the dilema Ferguson faced a common one

Imagine it’s the last game of the season. You’re a striker. You’ve only got the keeper to beat to score the goal that keeps your team in the top division. There’s just one problem. You’re on loan from another club and if you score they’re the ones going down. What would you do?

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