Markus Babbel, Pegguy Arphexad and Vladimir Smicer keep the bench warm under a delightful bedspread. Not Neil Mellor, though. He’s hard. Photograph: Matthew Ashton/Empics
“Who has the best collection of cup winners’ medals, without having even having been on the pitch in a final,” wondered Mark Ireland a fortnight ago.
Thomas Paternoster writes in to tell us [...]

Liverpool’s Graeme Souness wins the ball. Photograph: Duncan Raban/Getty Images
1. Dave Mackay
As well as being the definitive man’s man, Dave Mackay was the indestructible hero in the movies who leaves his enemies shouting, “What does it take to kill this goddamn sunnabitch?” as bullets, knives and sharply worded insults bounce off him. Mackay was definitely [...]

Iraq fans retain an intense love of the game in the face of almost intolerable pressures. Photograph: Karim Sahib/Getty Images
So now we know. Iraq will play Australia, as planned, in Brisbane on Sunday in a crucial World Cup qualifier. The will-they-won’t-they-play shambles that has blundered on for the past week has left everyone looking bad: [...]