Dressing room humour bounces around and Curbs, as everyone calls him, is still the boss, respected for his great wealth of knowledge and catalogue of hilarious stories.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Zanetti is one of football's gentlemen. He was loyal to Inter for 19 years and 858 senior appearances, politely declining the chance to join United.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - MATT BARLOW: Jamie Cureton still wonders about Sir Alex Ferguson. His big 'what if' in a career stretching across more than a thousand games.

McClaren's Reggae Boyz lead their final qualifying group with two games to play. First, a trip to Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday. Then the crunch against Curacao, the closest challengers for top spot...

Donny have picked up 143 points in the last 20 months - more than every other team in England's top four tiers during that period. These are the secrets of their success.

MATT BARLOW: With players returning for preseason, the transfer market open and a new set of fixtures released these are normally times of fresh optimism in the world of football.

MATT BARLOW: When Morten Olsen was searching for coaches with the energy and innovation to revolutionise his country's development strategy, he liked what he saw in Thomas Frank.

MATT BARLOW: Sunderland, who beat Sheffield United in the play-off final to end their exile from the topflight, are on their way back with more than a hint of another side about them.

MATT BARLOW: First there was Luton Town , winning on penalties at Wembley Stadium to complete their odyssey from non-league, fuelled by injustices to end their long exile.

MATT BARLOW: There's a maxim from the boot room era, coined by a famous former manager who would confide to his staff, 'We'll be fine as long as the right ones get injured'.

MATT BARLOW: Nuno Espirito Santo should win the Premier League 's manager of the year award if he can complete the leap from 17th to the top five.

MATT BARLOW: Oliver Glasner would have cashed out if he could. The plan could hardly have gone better but the initiative had been lost.

MATT BARLOW: If automatic promotion was decided by Rudyard Kipling it might go to someone keeping his head when all around lose theirs and trusting himself when others cast doubt.

MATT BARLOW: Lord Sugar's approach to football's transfer market came to mind with the big 'game's gone' moment of the international break - Southampton's £100million valuation of Tyler Dibling.

MATT BARLOW: It was the morning after England had been demolished by Germany in the Under-21 Euros final and Sir Trevor Brooking was sifting through the debris in a Malmo hotel.

MATT BARLOW: Few had it down as a good development for Raphinha when Lamine Yamal burst from Barcelona's youth ranks to make the position on the right wing his own.

MATT BARLOW: Two thirds of Portugal's top flight go into the season aiming for what they call 'manutencao'. When Ian Cathro took the job at Estoril last summer, he banned the word.

MATT BARLOW: Conversations among the Bayern Munich supporters leaving Celtic Park made it clear Die Roten did not have confidence tanks replenished to capacity.

INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Two photographs are captured within a single picture frame that hangs on a wall inside Gary Caldwell's office at Exeter City.

MATT BARLOW: There is an argument that Grealish would be more suited to playing more centrally. With his head up and his eye for a pass, he will find better angles when not pinned on to the left wing.

MATT BARLOW: Meaningfulness should return to European football this week as the rambling and incoherent first phase finally winds to a close.

There has been a remarkable shift at Tottenham from last season, when Ange Postecoglou entrusted just five minutes of Premier League action to teenagers.

MATT BARLOW: There was no great sense of ceremony. No drumroll nor fanfare. That's hardly his style and yet it was no ordinary comeback as Tony Mowbray strolled out at the Hawthorns.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Les Ferdinand is well into his stride by the time he tackles Tottenham 's perennial puzzle of style versus substance.

MATT BARLOW: Louie Barry is once more a footballer in demand, back at Aston Villa after a goal-packed loan spell at Stockport with a new long-term deal on the table.

MATT BARLOW: The physical benefits are clear. The psychological benefits are no less important, bringing people together, giving them purpose and forging friendships.

Andoni Iraola's subs have scored seven in the Premier League this season to enhance his growing reputation as a modern football thinker.

MATT BARLOW: Arsenal's threat from set-pieces got me thinking about Dave Bassett, who once figured out his Wimbledon team at their peak scored on average from every 13 corners.

MATT BARLOW: Richard Kone came on to score the second in a 2-0 win at Wealdstone in the FA Cup second round on Saturday, his 12th goal of the season.

MATT BARLOW: Paul Elliott stopped to weigh up the changing nature of English football crowds as he launched an exciting new initiative at Charlton Athletic aimed at improving crowd diversity.

MATT BARLOW: The headlines were about Manchester City hitting a wall, the goal hero was James Maddison on his birthday and Dejan Kulusevski was the best player on the pitch.

Son is safely in the land of legends when it comes to his achievements and Tottenham boss Ange Posteocglou will be pleased to see his captain hitting the net a couple of times.

MATT BARLOW: The name of Joey Beauchamp still resonates deeply at Oxford United. For many he is the greatest player they have seen.