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The Dinamo Moscow striker was so eager to come to England after early success for Russia that his career has all but ground to a halt, writes Dan Brennan

From England’s north-west to its south coast, the considerable frame and increasingly weary visage of Dmitri Bulykin were familiar sights at training grounds in January. In fact, one in five top-flight clubs have had the pleasure of his company – a decent record if ground-hopping is your game, but not if you’re a Premiership wannabe with a dislike of hotel rooms.

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Euro 2005 ended early with disappointment for the hosts, but this opening win highlighted – rather noisily – the growing enthusiasm for the women’s game, writes Helen Duff

One-second pause. Two-second pause. HONK! One-second pause. Two-second pause. Three-second pause. HONK! HONK! One-second pause. HONNNNNK! (Repeat, unrelentingly, for two hours.)

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Sympathy for Ashley Cole has been hard to find in his battle for the right to talk to Chelsea behind Arsenal's back. But, as  Neil Rose points out, the rule cole is battling costs less well paid players dear and he might yet win on principle in the courts

To most people, the Ashley Cole affair, with meetings in posh hotels and squabbles over whether an extra £5,000 a week really was promised, seem far away from everyday life. It was Shaka Hislop’s evidence to the disciplinary commission that brought it down to earth. He was called by Cole’s lawyers to show the unfairness of Premier League rule K5, which prevents a contracted player making an approach to another club without the consent of his employer and under which Cole was fined. Near the end of his career at 36, Hislop did not know at the time whether his contract, expiring on 29 June, would be renewed by Portsmouth.

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The SPL relegation battles are rarely without incident, writes Neil Forsyth

Nothing marks the Scottish Premier League’s character more than the manner of its departing. For three years now the nation’s uppermost collection of professional football clubs have ended their season in squabbling and intrigue that has left most fans watching events through their fingers in embarrassment.

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MK Dons are facing an uphill struggle to be accepted, writes Tom Davies

Attempts by supporters of the Milton Keynes Dons franchise to integrate themselves into the wider football fan movement have received their first knockback, with the rejection by the Football Supporters’ Federation of a membership application from the club’s supporters’ association. The FSF’s annual conference in May voted to refuse the MK Dons supporters’ application until the football authorities had tightened their rules on clubs moving grounds and disposing of stadiums (something the League have since acted upon) and until MK Dons stopped claiming the history and honours of Wimbledon FC as their own.

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