The fantastic sums of money spread around by Serie A clubs in recent years are finally taking their toll. Roberto Gotta reports on a rude awakening for Italy

So, poor Alvaro Recoba, Ronaldo and Christian Vieri will have to cut back on croissants and cappuccinos. A few weeks have passed since Internazionale’s golden trio exercised a trait of surprising common sense (or possibly opportunism) and asked that their salaries be reduced for the coming season. In total, it mean they will earn between €675,000 and €1.35 mil­lion (£425,000-£850,000) a year less than stated in their contract. Which makes for a lot of croissants, although they will hardly be suffering too badly – Vieri will still earn £2.84 million a year and his colleagues won’t be far behind.

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From top to bottom, in Britain and abroad, fooball's finances are in a mess. Dave Jennings examines the plight of one club, Bradford City

I was sitting in my usual seat at Valley Parade, but something was badly wrong. There were only about 200 people there, and we were watching a truly dire game. A handful of away fans were chanting “Hello, hello, League rejects”. Fortunately, I then woke up and realised that it had all been a particularly vivid nightmare. Bradford City weren’t a non-League club… yet.

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Barcelona fans are coming to terms with the arrival of Louis van Gaal and the departure of Rivaldo. Strangely, says Phil Ball, they might see it as a fair swap

As in the Middle Ages, when physical ugliness was considered to be a sign of a dysfunctional soul, the Spanish cannot bring themselves to say anything nice about Louis van Gaal – El Enano Veneno (the poisoned dwarf) as they dubbed him during his first mandate with Barcelona from 1997 to 2000. Laurent Blanc, after his brief sojourn at the Camp Nou, called him “inhuman”, and Win­ston Bogarde said he found him “heartless. He has no compassion – like a robot.”

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Craig Branch reveals why, despite their World Cup heroics, the expected exodus of South Korea's stars from the domestic K-League hasn't come to fruition

South Korea gained worldwide plaudits for both their team and their fans during the World Cup. An estimated seven million sup­porters took to the streets up and down the peninsula for the semi-final against Germany, and it’s thought that over 22 million people con­gre­gated over the course of their six games.

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Paul Hutton reflects on a sordid affair north of the border

It’s enough to make even Marti Pellow weep – on July 9 Clydebank, the club whose shirts were once sponsored by Wet Wet Wet, ceased to exist as a Scottish League club. Having sur­vived more traumas in the last few years than anyone deserves, Clydebank were finally sold by the administrators to a Glasgow-based ac­countant and Airdrie fan, Jim Ballantyne. They will play next season’s fixtures as tenants in the ground left vacant by Airdrie’s liquidation, in Airdrie’s colours, under the name Airdrie United.

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