COMMENT, ANALYSIS, STORIES ...

Marina Hyde in the Guardian calls for shares in footballers to be traded on the open market. “With concepts such as loyalty seemingly increasingly outmoded, surely the time has come to contemplate a future where clubs would hold a player’s registration - as they have in the case of Tevez - but be made starkly aware that the market is the ultimate decision-maker.”

Also in the Guardian, Barney Ronay looks at “the rise of the celebrity gaffer.” “Mourinho has both an official and unofficial 2007 photo-calendar (both sold out). Football management is hip. It gets you noticed. How did this happen? And is it likely to stop soon?”

With some quite apalling timing, Lawrence Donegan in the Guardian says “The wonder is not that there has been a Beckham backlash in the States but that it hasn’t been more vehement.” If only he would have waited just a few more hours…In the same paper John Doyle has an insightful article on Toronto FC and Danny Dichio.

Michael Henderson in the Daily Telegraph claims that “Roy Keane is a modern-day Brian Clough”. “He’s a chip off the old block, isn’t he, Roy Keane? The block in question being Brian Clough, who played with distinction for the club the Irishman now manages.”

Martin Samuel, writing his weekly op-ed in The Times, opts to talk about his favourite topic - the England team and Steve McClaren’s failings. “As he surveys the wreckage of his forward line, Steve McClaren, the England head coach, has two choices: to learn from history, or to repeat it.”