Search: ' Club World Cup'

Thom Gibbs knew there would be little domestic news during the summer, but he couldn't help checking anyway

Pre-season is a tough time. After the white-hot glare of the World Cup we’re left with four barren weeks to search fruitlessly for meaning in a life devoid of competitive football. So spare a thought for the media in this difficult period, which has football space to fill but very little actual news to work with. Their normal world of match reports, gaffers’ reactions and injury bulletins goes out the window, and the paucity of genuine news is especially noticeable in an internet-enabled world. Starved of anything substantial to talk about, messageboards go into overdrive over innocuous announcements such as the season’s new squad numbers, speculating wildly about the significance of the third-choice right-back’s move from 27 to 31.

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Jon Spurling looks at how footballers' holidaying habits have changed radically since the days of the maximum wage

For England’s multimillionaire footballers, there is one major consolation to having flopped so dismally on the grand stage earlier this summer. With cash to burn, they have the choice of jetting off to any destination in the short gap between the World Cup and the new season. Frank Lampard, with girlfriend Christine Bleakley in tow, holidayed in Italy with the Redknapps while the newly single Ashley Cole took a break in Los Angeles. According to the tabloids, Cole quickly got over the trauma of his split from Cheryl by partying until the early hours in “the city’s top nightspots”.

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Steve Menary explains how qualification for the Champions League is becoming a closed shop

Spurs’ appearance in this year’s Champions League qualifiers is the first in four seasons by a team outside of the Premier League’s big four. Since 1994-95 and the start of the group format, just nine English clubs have played in the Champions League. The Premier League is a cash cow but between 1992-93 and 2008-09, Man Utd earned €261 million (£217m) from the Champions League – and that’s just from UEFA. Research from tournament sponsor Mastercard shortly before this year’s final claimed that whoever won would earn €120m in total.

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While goal-line technology is a popular concept in theory, Rob Freeman explores the issues it may bring into the game

It’s not often that UEFA makes changes in the Champions League that benefit football at all levels, but this season sees the use of extra officials behind the goal, as piloted in last season’s Europa League. This is in line with FIFA’s recent decision to ignore renewed calls for goal-line technology, and refusal to even consider the subject, despite incidents such as Frank Lampard’s World Cup “goal” against Germany. Such a decision has angered those in the media supportive of using technology, but have they thought it through?

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As more Northern Irish fans look to England and Scotland for their football, Robbie Meredith stikes up for the financially challenged local game

Like their lower-division counterparts across the water, supporters in Northern Ireland will have mixed views on England’s summer struggles in South Africa. There’s always the hope that widespread disillusion with brand Wazza, Lamps and JT will lead more people to abandon the Premier League chimera and venture to their nearest club. Yet most local fans also fear that within a couple of “Super Sundays”, many potential supporters will be booking flights and tickets for Anfield and Old Trafford rather than trekking a mile or two to Seaview or Solitude.

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