Nottingham is best known for Robin Hood, and a statue to the famous outlaw is perhaps the city's most famous photo op.

But today Hood has a rival as an eight-foot memorial to legendary coach Brian Clough was unveiled in front of thousands in the city's main square today. Clough died in 2004 but his legend grows:

Duncan Hamilton's memory of him, 'Provided you don't kiss me' is the UK's Sports Book of the Year, and David Peace's stunning novel about Cloughie's ill-fated 44 days in charge of Leeds, 'The Damned United', is released as a feature film next year. Click to continue reading...

"Switch and Spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match", Romeo & Juliet II, iv

Tottenham's travails go on after they fell 2-0 away at Udinese in the UEFA Cup.

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It was not quite as astounding as what went on in the global economy, but the week in football was certainly an eventful one.

I was certainly dumbfounded, but perhaps should not have been, by FIFA's woeful CHF 30,000 ($27,500) fine for the Croatian FA after their fans made monkey noises at black England players last month. Click to continue reading...

Watford captain Jay DeMerit has told Soccerphile only video replays will stop a repeat of the phantom goal 'scored' by Reading on Saturday.

The Hornets were the victims of outrageous fortune in the 13th minute when John Eustace put the ball out of play wide of the post. Working on the advice of assistant Nigel Bannister, referee Stuart Atwell stunned the Vicarage Road crowd and the 22 players, who were running back in expectation of a goal kick, by signalling a goal. Click to continue reading...

England's 4-1 thrashing of Croatia in Zagreb stands out from the UEFA World Cup qualifiers, but it is really too early to book tickets to South Africa, or pass judgment on Fabio Capello, who in the title of Gabriele Marcotti's newly-published biography, is "a winner".

The vast improvement on the same fixture two years ago was manifest, but England are still maddeningly inconsistent. Click to continue reading...

'If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well, It were done quickly' - Macbeth (Scotsman), William Shakespeare (Englishman)

Team GB is getting ridiculous. The prospect of Britain fielding a football team at the 2012 Olympics should have been something to celebrate after years of absence. Click to continue reading...

Back in England a week on from the end of Euro 2008, the tournament still looks as impressive as it did in the Alps. I am not relishing another stolid European club season, dominated by the tawdry money of the big teams, so for the last time, I am looking back on what was a refreshing festival of football, the sort of which comes around only every few years:

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So dreams can come true. Even Spanish footballing ones. And they can even come true in a wondrous way.

The Cava is still flowing and rightly so. In winning Euro 2008, Spain ended a quest for silverware that at 44 years' length, two more than England's, had defied all sense of fairness or logic. Click to continue reading...

FINAL SNOWDROPS FROM THE ALPS -

FOREIGNER FLARES
Too much was made of Germany's Lukas Podolski gunning down his country of birth, Poland.
This is a globalised world, where people emigrate and every country is to blame for not enforcing racial purity tests in their national teams. Click to continue reading...

EURO 2008 FINAL, VIENNA

The destination of the Henri Delaunay trophy could hinge on the fitness of Germany captain Michael Ballack, who has a calf strain and missed Saturday training.

Tournament hot-shot David Villa is of course also missing for Spain, but the absence of the Chelsea midfielder for Germany looks the more crucial. Click to continue reading...

Results 10th June:
Spain 4:1 Russia (Villa 20' 45' 75', Pavluchenko 86', Fabregas 90'), Innsbruck
Sweden 2:0 Greece (Ibrahimovic 67', Hansson 73'), Salzburg

Now we have seen all the teams, what have we learnt so far?

Ibrahimovic's golazo against Greece was the most spectacular goal, Spain's 4-1 torching of Russia the most alluring and the Dutch's 3-0 thumping of Italy the stand-out result of the first slew of games. Click to continue reading...

Five days after Mexico beat Ghana 2-1 in London, Hugo Sanchez was fired as Mexico's coach. How so? He had only been in charge a year and a half, so what went so badly wrong?

Under his tenure, Mexico lost the Gold Cup final 2-1 to the USA in Chicago, but that should have been no reason for dismissal since the CONCACAF bragging rights definitively crossed the Rio Grande when the States downed El Tri 2-0 back in the 2002 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

It has been a rare treat for the used and abused football fan to see the Premier League so humiliated as they have been this past week.

The seemingly invincible money-machine that was born in 1993 has for the first time hit a real brick wall in its quest to rob football of all its traditions in the pursuit of profit. Click to continue reading...

"I firmly believe that the England squad will soon be back to their usual great results"

Not the words of a stand-up comic, but the actual testimony of a certain Jose Mourinho, ruling himself out of the England job, while throwing the expected sardines from the trawler, which doubtless kept his PR men happy. Click to continue reading...

"There are not many candidates because it looks a bit like a crocodile that opens the mouth and says: 'Jump into that.' Once he's in there, he's eaten. And once you have eaten four, five says: 'No, maybe I don't jump in there.'"

So went the words of Arsene Wenger, the best coach working in England at present. Click to continue reading...

The Emperor has no clothes and it's official.

For the first time within the walls of the awesome citadel that is the new Wembley Stadium, the English national team has come a cropper in a big way, and this time there can be no hiding from the naked truth.

Now let these sombre words ring out across our green and pleasant land: England are a mediocre football nation and it's high time we accepted it. Click to continue reading...

After months of real uncertainty and voices of doom, England's qualification for Euro 2008 looks ever more likely now after the three lions cruised past Estonia 3-0 at Wembley on Saturday.

Steve McClaren can sleep that bit easier than when England succumbed lamely 2-0 in Croatia a year ago, only days after tying the mighty Macedonia 0-0 at home. Click to continue reading...

Holders Brazil reached the final of the 2007 Copa America by beating Uruguay 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Inter's Maicon opened the scoring for the seleçao in the 13th minute before former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan equalised for Uruguay in the 36th and ex-Arsenal man Julio Baptista sent Brazil into a 2-1 lead with a strike five minutes before the interval.

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