Wayne Rooney may not be quite ready to declare that he has found renewed happiness at Manchester United, but he definitely looks content.
In Sedhiou, southern Senegal, Papiss Cissé is very much the local hero.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has come under increasing pressure to get results after an embarrassing six losses in seven games.
Chelsea’s caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo can fall back on his streetwise savvy and history at Stamford Bridge if he is to take the reigns.
It is easy to imagine Andy Carroll driving alone in his car with "I’m Coming Home Newcastle" booming out of the sound system.
Never mind the star players, this year’s Champions League final will be all about the clash between Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho.
Malcolm Glazer had no sooner delisted Manchester United from the Stock Exchange on Wednesday, ending 14 years of trading in the club’s shares, than the club announced the arrival of a player who will go some way to easing the huge debts the American has incurred in his takeover.
When Everton’s first-team squad reconvened for pre-season preparations David Moyes’s players were greeted with specially mounted photographs of themselves positioned above their personal changing-room clothes hooks. It was the sort of touch footballers appreciate. More significantly, the photos represented an olive branch proffered by Moyes.
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/ 30 January 2004
Steve McClaren’s hopes of parading Nicky Butt on the Riverside pitch before Middlesbrough’s League Cup semifinal against Arsenal on Tuesday were dashed by the midfielder’s reluctance to leave Manchester United. The player has decided he wants to remain at the club and fight for a first-team place.
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/ 23 January 2004
After the build-up week, Scarborough’s match against Chelsea will be easy — Malcolm Reynolds trusts that any last-minute hitches will be ironed out on Friday – such as the thorny question of how to accommodate everyone in the sub-6 000 capacity grounds where Saturday’s tickets, all sold, went for between £10 and £25.