Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
INTERESTING comments to come from Celtic last week after their Glasgow neighbours and arch-rivals Rangers went into administration.
The club launched an attack on Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond after he reportedly claimed Celtic needed Rangers to prosper.
Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
FABIO Capello and Harry Redknapp have been the names in the headlines this past week but for the majority of football clubs in England there are more pressing matters.
Apparently those wise men at Fifa are planning to scrap the emergency loan window (whereby clubs outside the Premier League can loan players outside the main transfer windows) in 2014.
Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
NEXT time you think times are a bit tough, spare a thought for Gary Parkinson.
The former Middlesbrough footballer was head of youth development at Blackpool when he suffered a severe stroke last year. The 43 year old has locked-in syndrome which means he is fully aware of what's going on around him but is totally paralysed apart from being able to use his eyes.
Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
WHAT is it about the Germans and their business sense? They seem to be faring better than most in the Euro crisis and now one of England's top football writers suggests that the German model is the one to adopt when it comes to running football clubs.
James Lawton, of The Independent, who is also Sports Writer of the Year, was last week speculating on how the Premier League could move away from the situation where unless your club is owned by a wealthy benefactor you've got no chance of winning anything.
Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
THE transfer window may now be closed but its after-effects are still being felt.
The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claimed it was a traumatic period. The summer saw him lose two of his best players in Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas and Wenger was then left with a rather frantic scramble in the last few days of the window to bring reinforcements in.
Sports Diary
by Patrick O’Connor
DO you know the rules of football?
Have you any idea how and when they were first established?