Jim Gwinnell finds the two Bristol clubs still resolutely incompatible but at last in a position to move forward

The West Country is quite possibly the least suc­cess­­­ful and therefore the most anonymous of all the footballing reg­ions in the League. No past or present behemoths, the likes of which can be found in the north west, north east and London. No “sleeping giants” doz­ing fit­fully in the manner of the mid­lands clubs. Not even the nov­elty value of being Welsh (though some Lon­doners would seem to insist that we are), but even clubs such as Cardiff and Swansea have had their fair share of success.

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Foreigners both obscure and notorious are flooding into Scotland. Gary Oliver suggests some clubs may have bought better than others

If Jim McLean is proved to have cut the lip of BBC reporter John Barnes, it will be a rare instance of a Dundee United man hitting the target this season. The team, like the former manager and chairman, has become a parody of its former self. At Tannadice there no longer appears to be a quality control department, and the club is recruiting increasingly obscure foreign players of dubious ability.

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Jim McLean severed his links with Dundee United in spectacular style. Ken Gall reflects on the fall of a hero who became an embarrassment

In a recent poll, the Great British Public selected the Apollo moon landing as television’s greatest mo­ment, with the funeral of the Princess of Wales, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the release from prison of Nelson Mandela listed among other cherished mem­ories of our time.

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Spain's managerial strategy is non-existent, but the public hardly cares, says Phil Ball

The Spanish national team is called La Selección, as if it magically picked itself. Maybe the name has arisen from some sort of collective wish-fulfilment, for de­s­pite the surface appearance of relative stability (only two managers in the past 19 years) the story of their footballing representatives is certainly no happier than the present English one.

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Like England, Holland have a tradition of using club managers to run the national team. Unlike England, it doesn't change the way the play, says Simon Kuper

Holland have a dastardly way of choosing a man­ager. It works like this: a few old men at the Dutch FA settle upon some appropriate chap, usually a good club coach, always overlooking the best candidate (Johan Cruyff) on the grounds that he is difficult.

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