Football Daily | The European groups look predictable. With one spectacular exception

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Since its introduction in 1999, the 32-team group stage of Big Cup has, it says here, produced thousands of moments that will stay with Football Daily forever, and the moment we remember one we’ll let you know. Actually, in the early years it was good fun. Who could forget when Sturm Graz lost 5-0 to Rangers and Monaco … and qualified ahead of both, eh? Or when Juventus failed to secure even the Big Vase parachute and Zinedine Zidane decided to see if anyone fancied a tear-up instead. But as football has become more unequal, so the group stage has become less interesting. For the best teams it has about as much jeopardy as an episode of Scooby-Doo.

Even as a City fan, I find it completely wrong that Pep Guardiola should laugh when asked about Manchester United’s title chances. Rolling around on the floor while clutching his sides would be a far more appropriate response” – Neil Bage.

Further to Stephen Rankin’s assertions that whistling Danny Boy would be enough to get an Irish cap (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), au contraire! Celtic musical knowledge was not a pre-requisite for representing The Boys In Green. There is the (potentially apocryphal) tale of Joe Kinnear, who to be fair was actually born in Ireland but left for England aged seven. Making his debut against Turkey in 1967, upon the conclusion of Amhrán na bhFiann (the Irish national anthem), Joe is alleged to have turned to a teammate and said: ‘Blimey, I hope our anthem isn’t as long as that!’ Twenty-six caps would follow” – Derek McGee.

Your photo feature on Newcastle’s European adventures (yesterday’s Still Want More, full email edition) had a rather downbeat ending, with a bemused Scott Parker holding the ‘trophy’ for their Intertoto Cup success in 2006. The design of the item struck me, with the 1-X-2 arrangement in the background being familiar to those of us of sufficient vintage to remember the football coupons in bookies’ offices. The design harks back to the tournament’s commercially pragmatic origins, which was to provide competitive matches in the summer months for European football pools companies. The tournament ran annually from 1961; Uefa was initially reluctant to get involved but did allow teams to participate. It was 1995 before it was formally brought under the umbrella of official Uefa competitions, and that year also saw the first English teams taking part. Given the widespread debate around the involvement and influence of gambling and its advertising in football, it’s another reminder that the links go back far and wide” – Mike Slattery.

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