Stuart James

Steve Walsh and staff are lining up additions for the club's Champions League campaign. "We are underdogs but we are dangerous," says Claudio Ranieri.

Castigated after France's players boycotted training at the World Cup in South Africa, Patrice Evra has rebuilt his reputation under Didier Deschamps.

Rio Ferdinand has warned Wayne Rooney that there is nowhere better to play than Manchester United.

David Beckham's American rollercoaster ride nears an end. What is next?

Avram Grant appears to be on borrowed time after it emerged that West Ham are giving consideration to replacing their manager with Sam Allardyce.

Guus Hiddink tells the photographer not to draw the curtains. ''That is so Russian, all closed,'' he says. Little in Hiddink's world is secretive. The Dutchman's interpretation of glasnost means everything from his liaisons with Roman Abramovich to the attraction of managing in England and thrill of riding a Harley Davidson illegally can be freely discussed.

Newcastle, having paid a club record fee for Michael Owen, were also involved in the second biggest deal of the final day of the transfer window when Jermaine Jenas joined Tottenham Hotspur for £7-million. In addition, the Tyneside club re-signed the 30-year-old Nolberto Solano from Aston Villa.

From combat jackets in Kiawah Island to matching corporate suits at The Belfry, the outfits of the United States's Ryder Cup players and their partners have, in the past, supported the notion that those on the other side of the Atlantic view the golf course as a place for both battle and business.