´óÏó´«Ã½

For a man responsible for delivering the first major sporting event in a former communist country since the , appears to be handling the pressure well.

"We will be ready", Ukraine's Vice-Prime Minister proudly told me repeatedly during an interview to discuss his country's somewhat fraught preparations for Euro 2012.

Kolesnikov's office was straight out of the Cold War, with phones connected to the Kremlin, and a world map centred on Moscow. But it was also festooned with official memorabilia. For Ukraine, it's clear that this is a big opportunity to look forward, and towards the west.

Read the rest of this entry

It was 2100 BST on Wednesday at Arsenal's Highbury House headquarters and club officials were exhausted following the most frenetic few hours in transfer window history.

In the chief executive's office, Ivan Gazidis had spent the day making phone calls to agents and officials at other clubs as he tried desperately to complete the spending spree that the summer sales of Cesc Fabregas and had enabled and which the had subsequently made a necessity.

A few yards away, club secretary David Miles, chief accountant Stuart Wisely and head lawyer Svenja Geissmar were working furiously, filling out registration documents and ensuring they were emailed to the Premier League. In all, 20 officials from the club's finance and legal departments were working harder than they could remember.

Read the rest of this entry

surrounding Arsenal, urging the fans to give more respect or risk losing their longest-serving manager, is significant.

The former vice-chairman remains close to the man he .

The pair met when Wenger was manager of and on a scouting mission at . Dein invited him for dinner with friends and ended up playing a game of charades with the Frenchman. The pair have been best friends ever since.

When Dein left Arsenal in 2007 having fallen out with the board over his backing of , Wenger lost his closest ally, but they remain neighbours and speak all the time.

Read the rest of this entry