Greetings once more from Paris, where I am covering the presidential election, the result of which is due, as I write, in an hour’s time.

When I read a review of Anthony Clavane’s new book last weekend, the sketchy outline convinced me immediately it had to be read.

Tonight there’s a documentary on TG4 which I heartily recommend, and not for the viewer-retardant fact that I appear in it.

If we’ve learned one thing since Fergie left, it’s to avoid reading too much into a manager’s proper debut.

As John Giles completed 30 years on the RTE football panel last night, Eamon Dunphy paid an eloquent and emotional tribute to his friend and colleague’s career in football.

Reaction from the weekend’s top Premier League action.

Massimo Cellino does not hang around. The chain-smoking, aviator-wearing Italian sacked Darko Milanic on Saturday, just 32 days after making him his fourth Leeds manager in eight months.

Leeds great Johnny Giles has told club owner Massimo Cellino to put himself in charge of the team after the man known as the ’manager eater’ struck again.

Mickey Ned O’Sullivan was the first footballer to score a goal in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and all going well was meant to be coaching the Kerry minors on the last day the old ground hosted a Munster football final as well.

Your daily spoiler-free guide to what to look out for on the box.

Leeds United legend John Giles has called on the English Football League to tighten their vetting procedures to avoid last weekend’s debacle at his former club.

When Howard Wilkinson took charge of Leeds United, one of his first acts was to remove all the pictures of the successful Don Revie years that adorned the walls of Elland Road.

Felix Jones has faced a series of serious injuries that would have made most young players question the wisdom of trying to make a career at the highest level.

Chatting to Packie Bonner this week, ahead of Celtic’s cruel defeat in Barcelona, I was somewhat taken aback when he didn’t hesitate for a second to hail Lionel Messi as the greatest footballer of all time.

Given the extent of globalisation in football these days, distinct national traits are increasingly hard to define.

Don Revie would have loved modern professional sport. It seems remarkable now, in these days of hi-tech performance analysis data, that the late Leeds United manager was derided in the 1960s and 70s for preparing his dossiers on opposition teams.

Nottingham Forest 0 Leeds 4

SUPERSTITION in football is an almost endless topic; there’s enough material for a good-sized book.

AH the magic of the FA Cup, eh? The disappointing sight of so many thousands of empty seats up and down the country, on what was once guaranteed to be one of football’s most exciting weekends of the season, suggests that the guardians of the oldest knockout competition on the planet aren’t particularly competent.

LIVERPOOL boss Rafael Benitez will warn his players to be on their guard against a fallen giant who used to be one of their biggest rivals.

Liam Mackey is brushing up in his Italian, checking out his list of Puglian delicacies, and heading off for Southern Italy so perennial substitute ALLAN PROSSER takes up the role of mediator for today's Angry Fans.

Liam Mackey is brushing up in his Italian, checking out his list of Puglian

I HAVEN’T seen “The Damned United”. I have no intention of seeing the movie or of reading the book that provoked it. I distrust the mixture of ‘fact’ and fiction or, as its called, ‘faction’. Johnny Giles’ disparagement was quite enough for me.

Michael Sheen has cornered the market in portraying famous – or infamous – Englishmen and here he teams up with writer Peter Morgan who penned ‘The Queen’ (in which Sheen played Tony Blair) and ‘Frost/Nixon’ (ditto David Frost) to bring us that most individual of football managers Brian Clough.

Colm Meaney is playing legendary English football boss Don Revie in director Tom Hooper’s 'The Damned United'.

VIOLINS, hankies and onions at the ready, please, as we pity poor David Pizarro.

ROY KEANE is backing the spirit of ‘73 to help Sunderland turn around their Premier League campaign today.

Sunderland legend Ian Porterfield’s funeral will take place in Surrey next Thursday afternoon.

Belfast-born Kenneth Branagh is dubbing up his footie boots - to play a famous manager.

The race to take control of Leeds could be decided at a creditors’ meeting early next month.

Duncan Revie has vowed to contact Leeds chairman Ken Bates tomorrow with a view to pushing forwards his takeover plans.

Leeds United’s administrators are expecting several parties keen on taking control at Elland Road to step up their bids this week.

LEEDS legend Eddie Gray fears the club could struggle to get back among the game’s elite after a humiliating relegation to League One — English football’s third tier — was all but sealed.

Bobby Cram, the man who captained Colchester to arguably the most famous giantkilling feat in FA Cup history, has died.

STEVE McCLAREN must have wondered if he had wandered in to an episode of ‘Life on Mars’.

IF you’ve just unearthed that Christmas book token from down the back of the sofa, here’s a sure-fire way to turn it into literary gold: pop around to your local bookstore and exchange it for a copy of “The Damned United” (Faber).

SHAUN WRIGHT PHILLIPS couldn’t have looked more dumbstruck if Jose Mourinho had just told him he was going to start a match for Chelsea.

ROY KEANE has evoked the memory of Sunderland’s fairytale FA Cup final triumph over Leeds United as he prepares to make his managerial bow in the competition at Preston today.

Leeds United have known some dark times.

Duncan McKenzie, the charismatic Leeds idol of the 70s, admits to being horrified by the club’s current plight – but he still insists they will beat the drop.

Arsenal 2 Bolton 1

ARSENE WENGER insisted he would not swap Highbury for the Bernabeu as he warned the Barclaycard Premiership that the best of his record-chasing Arsenal side was yet to come.