There will have been few MLS fans who would have heard of Darren Huckerby before he signed for San Jose Earthquakes this summer and certainly quite a few million fewer than recognised the David Beckham "brand" when he made the journey across the Atlantic twelve months previous but while one has recently been booed by his US fans, the other is enjoying a new lease of life on the West Coast of America. Read more...

Former Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari should know better than most Premier League managers just how much quality Cristiano Ronaldo has after nurturing his international career over the past few years. It's with some degree of tongue in cheek that he then said this week that he would welcome Ronaldo to Stamford Bridge with open arms and rates the Manchester United forward amongst the top three players in the world.

Scolari looks to have jumped right into the world of Premier League mind games with gusto and certainly seems to be enjoying the top of the table (in theory) verbal sparring with Manchester United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson. Whether Fergie takes Scolari's latest quip as an illegal approach to his star player or a compliment to his own development techniques is another matter but after the dour public image Avram Grant pushed at Chelsea I'm gald to see a bit more vibrancy in the Mourinho mould from Scolari. Character is not something the modern game has in buckets.

I'm sure many (ahem) of our loyal readers shared my sentiments last week when I voiced some trepidation on the part of Gianfranco Zola in ruining his embryonic managerial career by taking over at West Ham United. A club wracked by boardroom strife and interference in playing matters with shadowy "executive directors" meddling in team affairs behind the manager's back is hardly a promising destination for any fledgling manager.

One game in and Zola inspired his new troops to a fine 3-1 win over hapless Newcastle United and I'm left eating some of my words if not all. The Zola factor obviously influenced the willingness of the West Ham players to work harder and smarter on the pitch, I'm still not sure it won't all end in tears once the meddlesome Upton Park baord start sticking their oar in come the next transfer window.

All of the transfer window talk was of the big money moves by some of European football's biggest names in the goalscoring department so we'll have a quick scan around to see how they got on in their first games.

Manchester City stole all of the headlines on deadline day with their capture of Real Madrid's Brazilian striker Robinho and the player's subsequent confusion over where he had actually signed up to play caused much merriment amongst football fans who were sure he'd only moved for the money. Read more...