8 February ~ Valencia are sitting comfortably near the top of La Liga, playing exciting football and blessed with some of Europe's best attacking players. So it is easy to forget that, just this time last year, they were facing financial ruin. In 2006, the club's president Juan Soler announced plans to build a new stadium, the Nou Mestalla, on local wasteland. The club was to go on using their existing venue until construction was complete, when the old ground would be sold. Additional funding would be provided by bank loans (paid back by the sale of broadcasting rights and sponsorship), annual qualification for the Champions League and, eventually, through money generated by the Nou Mestalla.

8 February ~ Strikers are notoriously selfish but some look petty in their self-serving behaviour. Such as Tomas Brolin, the Swedish striker who recently laid claim to a 19-year-old goal scored in a friendly – and which went in off his back as he ran across the path of the strike. The goal, attributed to former Sheffield Wednesday right-back Roland Nilsson, would make Brolin the joint seventh top goal scorer for Sweden with 27 goals, including the winner against England in Euro 92. If reversed it would half Nilsson’s international scoring record.

7 February ~ Despite the disappointment for the player and Man City fans, loaning Robinho back to Santos seems a good fit for all the parties involved. The player has been given a chance to resurrect his season in time to make the Brazil World Cup squad, Santos have picked up one of the world's most expensive players without paying a transfer fee and City have saved a reported £160,000 on their weekly wage bill. Robinho's loan deal was also thought to be a way for City to secure the first refusal on two of Santos' most promising players: Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso.

6 February ~ Following Sunderland's 1-0 victory over Arsenal on November 21, I celebrated by treating myself to a copy of Striker! by Steve Bruce. This novel, written while Bruce was Huddersfield manager in 1999, is half autobiography and half murder-mystery, topped off with the realities of lower-league football and some wholesome north-eastern values. It is a bizarre but oddly compelling mixture. But Sunderland haven't won since and I'm starting to worry that the book has something to do with it.

5 February ~ After their midweek defeat at Fulham and another takeover at the club, Portsmouth have now picked up as many League wins as they have had owners this season. Balram Chanrai, a Hong Kong-based businessman, took charge of the club this week in a move that, while only temporary, seems promising for the club.