Tuesday 1 Steve McClaren begins his first day as England manager by saying: “It will be totally different from Sven and the past five years. I’m going to do it my way.” Liverpool’s Champions League opponents Maccabi Haifa are contesting UEFA’s plan to switch the Israel leg of their tie to a neutral venue. That man Ken Bates is to report Chelsea to the Premier League, the FA, FIFA and the World Council of Churches after claiming they recruited two Leeds youth-team players through an illegal approach. José Antonio Reyes is hoping to tie up a move to Madrid: “Real are like a candy that is difficult to turn down.” Ghana full-back John Pantsil joins West Ham.
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Stories
James Brandon reports on how Roman Abramovich's increasingly hands-on approach is making life difficult for José Mourinho
Sporting a new shaven-headed look, José Mourinho claims he is “ready for the war”. The posturing and the rhetoric are typically gladiatorial. But recent developments suggest that, like Samson, he may be losing his powers, in the transfer market at least. It seems like the biggest battle the Special One faces is finding a way to integrate his employer’s vanity signings into a winning and potentially job-saving formula.
Terry Venables returns to the England setup but it's unlikely he'll be welcomed back by all, reports Barney Ronay
Rumours of Terry Venables’ appointment to the England coaching staff have tended to provoke either feelings of bafflement or tub-thumping applause, depending mainly on whether or not you happen to be one of his special mates in the media. To anybody out there younger than, say, Rio Ferdinand, the recurrent championing of Venables in the tabloid press must be slightly bemusing. Why all the fuss?
There's added optimism at Villa Park as the club finally get rid of Deadly Doug and have a manager worthy of the Champions League. Dave Woodhall reports on the American revolution about to take place in the Midlands
Just a few weeks ago, Villa fans were looking forward to the forthcoming season with unremitting gloom. David O’Leary’s appalling football had led to the club’s worst Premiership season, his constant talking-down of the club had destroyed morale and Doug Ellis was seemingly as immovable as ever. Now we’ve got the best British manager, billionaires are vying to throw money at us and the only real problem is that we might not have anything to moan about between now and May.
World renowned names arrive at Stamford Bridge with the added confusion as to who's signing them. Oh and England have a new man at the helm
Summer is usually spent finding ways to fill time before the next football season starts. No such problem this year, of course, with just four weeks between the end of the World Cup and the Football League’s opening fixtures. It may be an effect of the heatwave, but we’ve thought of a few reasons to feel optimistic about 2006-07.