John Beck's return to Cambridge has delighted some but disgusted others. Simon Knott explains why there is such a difference in opinion

And so, he’s back. The man who gave us our proudest moments as Cambridge United fans returns under a cloud, albeit someone else’s. John Beck’s reappearance in the Cambridge hot seat has been greeted with a few gasps of horror and revulsion. These have mainly come from younger fans, brought up on Roy McFarland’s gentle arm-round-the-shoulders dressing room diplomacy, as well as the horror stories of their parents; there are mums on Ditton Fields who still threaten their naughty children with what Beck might do to them.

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Just what exactly was Middlesbrough's fascination with some bagless vacuum cleaners? Dave Carter blows the story

I blame it all on my friend Mark. He is a guerrilla comper, a professional competition entrant who specialises in winning prizes without purchasing the products the competitions are designed to pro­mote. It is his fault that I arrived at the Riverside Stadium bleary-eyed at 9.45 on the morning of Middlesbrough’s clash with Charlton Athletic, to be photo­graph­ed standing alongside a purple, top-of-the-range turbo-suction Dyson vac­uum cleaner.

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Barry Kilby is a majority shareholder of Burnley FC and has revitalised the club. Jeremy Wilson endeavours to find out who is the man behind all the success

Distinguishing Features Tall, with a crop of red hair, Barry stands out in a crowd. In the early days of his reign he could be easily spotted from afar ensconced in a full-length 100 per cent llama hair coat. However, following merciless piss-taking of said garment on a supporters’ group website (Barry is known to check out a variety of sites on a regular basis) it failed to make another appearance on the Turf.

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Hull City are likely to be saved from extinction… again. But this is an all to common experience for the club, writes Craig Ellyard

There is little doubt that by the time you read this article Hull City will, once again, have been saved. A “my­s­­t­ery consortium” have asked the club’s creditors to accept 30p in the pound on their out­­­­­standing liabilities. If, as expected, agreement is reached, the consortium, hav­ing already lodged a ­substantial bond, will take over the running of the club. So, all’s well that ends well?

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Do England really need a new national stadium? And more specifically, does it have to be London?

The past month has seen two games which gave a tantalising hint of how things might have been if football had not got into such a mind-boggling mess over the reconstruction of Wembley.

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