One of the greatest things about Subbuteo, besides giving generations of kids endless table-topping fun, was the chance of studying the team colours chart.

Where else could you learn at a glance that your claret and blue squad could be either West Ham, Burnley or Aston Villa, or that Plymouth Argyle were the only team in the Football League to play in green shirts (as did amateur giants Hendon) and that Blackpool were unique for being the only team to play in tangerine.

I thought of that old chart for the first time in years this week as Bolton, Fulham and Derby County edged closer to relegation from the Premier League.

Forget about logos and sponsors names, as far as my generation is concerned all three teams play in identical kits — white shirts and black shorts — and they are on the brink of becoming the subject of a future pub quiz trivia question.

Q: What was unique about the relegation of Bolton, Fulham and Derby in 2008?

A: It was the first time three teams wearing identical colours were relegated together.

Derby are already doomed but if Bolton and Fulham join them — and that is far from certain as yet — it will be because they haven’t played well enough, not because of the colour of their shirts.

But is there anything in a club’s colours that determines its success rate? Bill Shankly certainly thought so, changing Liverpool’s kit from red shirts and white shorts to all-red in the early Sixties. He believed that it made Liverpool look more intimidating and perhaps he had a point, perhaps not.

Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, the three most successful clubs in English soccer all wear red, but Real Madrid, nine times European champions, play in all-white.

You can argue it until you are blue in the face, of course. Or in the case of Bolton, Fulham and Derby, white with fear as the prospect of Championship football edges closer.

PHOTO: New Derby owners pose with manager Paul Jewell in January 2008. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Paris in the early spring - perfect for a few days’ break, and as long as you are not drowning in credit crunch debt, it is still the most wonderful city to go shopping for the latest fashions.

“You’d like a cap to go with that Armani suit, monsieur? Certainly, I have just the thing. These caps have not gone out of fashion since 1872 … suits you perfectly.”

Of course David Beckham does not have to go shopping for his latest England cap, he will be awarded it in the time honoured fashion of a special delivery from the headquarters of the Football Association.

I think it’s rather fantastic that in this age of the iPod, Xbox and Blackberry, England players still get a cap for playing for their country, just as they have done since the very first international against Scotland in 1872.

The FA tells me the same company that made the caps then still makes them today — but here’s something not too many people know.

David Beckham’s appearance against France means he will have played for England 100 times, making him only the fifth English player to do that, but he will be awarded just his 85th cap.

Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given just ONE cap to cover all the matches they play in that competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself.

Beckham appeared in 20 of England’s 21 matches at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups and the 2000 and 2004 European championships. One cap was awarded for each of those five tournaments — which actually leaves him 15 short of 100 actual caps. Odd, but true.

Still, he is convinced he can make a valuable contribution for England until the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa as long as England qualify and if he does that he could also be in view of Peter Shilton’s record of 125 appearances.

Now how many caps did HE actually get…

Mike Collett, Reuters Football Correspondent, Paris

PHOTO: Beckham attends a news conference at the team hotel in Watford, March 24, 2008. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

For sheer arrogance, the Premier League’s idea to play one round of matches overseas takes some beating.

Not only has it upset almost every single fan in England, it has also annoyed senior soccer officials in Asia, Australia and Europe — as well as furiously angering FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

But I’m surprised the money-mad marketing men have stopped at the Premier League and I think some sharp-suited whiz kid has missed a trick.

I can’t believe that some agents, or agency, fuelled by the idea of increased revenue streams, hasn’t come up with a plan for England to play an exhibition tournament in Austria and Switzerland or elsewhere during Euro 2008 to prove, actually, that England are the best team in Europe, or the world, perhaps even the universe, and not whoever happens to win Euro 2008.

England could play, for example, against other European teams who failed to qualify like Denmark, Ireland, Scotland or Finland. Or they could maybe take on Australia, or the United States or Japan and Brazil in a more global competition.

TV companies, as we are always being told, can’t get enough of English football, so are likely to show all the England matches rather than official Euro 2008 games. Even more money will role in. The revenue streams will not run dry!

If England win, the money men can point to another innovative idea, brilliantly conceived, to show all the talent at England’s disposal. If England lose, well, at least the whole world has been lucky enough to get their fix of English soccer.

Not the Premier League perhaps, but the next best thing.

Someone, somewhere, out there will consider this a serious idea so don’t be surprised if you read about it happening in the next few weeks. I’m just surprised it isn’t happening already.

So in the end it wasn’t the minute’s silence that spoiled the afternoon for Manchester United, but the 90 minutes that followed it.

Manchester City’s fans observed the silence in memory of the victims of the Munich Air disaster 50 years ago, with absolute respect.

The only sound that could be heard inside Old Trafford was the occasional ringing of a mobile phone and eight loud firework bangs from outside the stadium. They were not part of the official commemoration and enquiries to the police afterwards shed no light on who set them off.

Inside the stadium, a city was truly united in paying its respects to the 23 people who lost their lives as a result of the disaster in Munich in February 1958.

From the moment lone piper Terry Carr led out the procession of teams and officials on to the pitch, Old Trafford seemed to shift from being the Theatre of Dreams to a huge Field of Remembrance.

The weather was spring-like, United resplendent in their 1958-style kit without logos, or badges or names on the back — just old-fashioned numbers 1-11.

Old Trafford is an awesome arena, and of course has witnessed many anniversaries of the disaster before. This one was special, however.

The survivors are getting older. Even those young enough to remember the disaster are well into middle-age.

There was apprehension all around Old Trafford before the silence began, especially as a minute’s silence for the victims was cut short at Wembley on Wednesday before England played Switzerland.

But the piper’s tune gave the occasion a sense of solemn dignity. The way United manager Alex Ferguson and City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson laid wreaths in their club colours side by side on the centre-circle was a deeply moving moment.

City fans respected United’s fallen heroes — and then chanted the name of former City goalkeeper Frank Swift who died in the crash too.

Football came together for a moment in the best possible way before kickoff, and after City’s fans had played their part off the pitch, City’s players did theirs on it.

It was a victory for a united Manchester, and for football too.

Mike Collett, Old Trafford

PHOTOS: United and City fans hold scarves during a minute’s silence at Old Trafford, February 10, 2008. Lower down, Ryan Giggs chases the ball. REUTERS/Darren Staples

There are certain things that English football fans just “know”. They know Pele was the greatest player to ever play the game, that Bobby Moore captained England to the World Cup in 1966, and they know that the Busby Babes died in the Munich Air Disaster of 1958.
 
Anyone in England with the vaguest interest in football history grows up absorbing these facts. Your dad has told you, or your mates, or you read it when you were a kid in comics. Or if you’re of a different generation, you’ve Googled it.
 
This week is the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster in which eight Manchester United players died when their plane crashed on takeoff after a refuelling stop on the way home from a European Cup quarter-final in Belgrade.
 
Tens of thousands of words will be written over the next few days about the crash: about the players who died, the ones who survived. How Sir Matt Busby, the manager fought for his life and pulled through. How Duncan Edwards, the 21-year-old star of the team, lost his fight for life.

Sometimes, words trip off the tongue all too easily, and, at a distance of 50 years, the words “Munich Air Crash, Manchester United, Busby Babes died” are not all that shocking simply because they are so familiar.

But two weeks ago, Manchester United organised a very special media day with four survivors of the the crash: Sir Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes, Kenny Morgans and Albert Scanlon. Sandy Busby, Sir Matt’s son, and Jimmy Murphy junior, the son of Busby’s assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, also told their tales and their reminiscences were heart-rending.

Spending time in the company of four remarkable men who survived the crash was a humbling experience (click “play video” above to here Charlton and others talk about it).

Charlton, of course, recovered from minor injuries and had a glittering career for United and England. Foulkes too survived, and no one, apart from Charlton and Ryan Giggs has played more times for United.

But the career of Kenny Morgans was blighted by the disaster. He was the youngest of all the Babes at 18. In 1968 when United won the European Cup he was 28 and could have been in the side. Instead, he had retired as a footballer and was running a pub.

Scanlon’s career too was cut short by the crash. Within a few short years of playing for United, he was struggling to find work as a docker.

The disaster was half a century ago now, but the pain and the anguish lives on for so many touched by it. Bobby Charlton and Kenny Morgans said they thought about it every single day of their lives.

Many fans today dislike Manchester United for their successes, their wealth and, perhaps, for what they see as the club’s self-importance. But no fan would ever want their club to go through what United suffered half-a-century ago.

UPDATE: This post was updated at 1745 GMT to add video.

* You can read Mike’s package of interviews and features by visiting our main soccer website. Click here for a look at Duncan Edwards and what might have been and here for Mike’s view on how the accident changed Manchester United. Follow the links for interviews with Kenny Morgans and Bobby Charlton.

The colour red is prominent at Christmas whether its Santa’s red coat, Rudolph’s red nose or this season’s “in” colour - a red card from the referee.

A record-equalling 19 red cards were shown in England’s four top divisions on Boxing Day - the worst number on a single day since 19 were handed out on December 13, 2003.

Wednesday’s number was swollen by the continuing proliferation of two-footed lunges which have appeared from nowhere in the last month to blight the English game.

Chelsea’s Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho was the worst offender on Wednesday for a wild two-footed assault on Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor.

He was forced to apologise to Agbonlahor afterrwards saying: “It was never my intention to hurt Agbonlahor with the tackle. I was going for the ball and I don’t want people to think I tried
to hurt another player. I didn’t see him after the game to apologise but I asked for a message to be passed on to him.”

Reading’s Brynjar Gunnarson also went for a two-footed lunge on West Ham’s Hayden Mullins while in recent weeks Tottenham’s Didier Zokora, Manchester City’s Stephen Ireland and Peter
Crouch of Liverpool have all been sent off for similar rash tackles.

The two-footed lunge is one of the most dangerous in the sport because it can easily result in the victim suffering a broken leg or ankle, and it is a miracle that no-one has ended up in hospital yet.

Footballers have always tended to mimic each other whether its in the type of cars they drive, the clothes they wear or the nightclubs they get drunk in. Now it seems, its in the fouls
they commit.

Last week Portsmouth’s Sol Campbell was complaining that players don’t get enough respect from crowds. When you see them trying to commit full frontal assault on each other, is it any
wonder ?

The two-footed studs-up lunge can end a career. Here’s a way to stop it. Ban the player who committed the foul for at least three months. If the victim is out for nine months with a broken
leg, the purpatrator cannot play until the victim is fit again.

And if the worst comes to the worst and he loses his career — then the perpetrator is banned for life too. I guarantee two-footed jump-tackles would disappear from the game tomorrow.

Fabio Capello’s opening press conference with more than 200 media representatives was a relatively downbeat affair. Speaking through an interpreter, his answers were direct. There was little wild speculation about anything. He was considered, polite and to the point.

Watching the man in London on Monday, what struck me was this: With Capello’s appointment as the new England manager, coach, visionary, restorer of national pride or whatever else you may call him, English football has reached a point of no return.

By setting out to get one of the best managers in the world, and actually getting him, no-one can fault the English FA for failing in their promise to deliver a proven winner.

And what this has done, at a stroke, is actually return the responsibility of winning back to the players. Under Capello there can be no return to blaming the coach if things start going wrong. Capello has coached the best players in the world over the last two decades — and won things with almost all of them.

Of course, no-one expects England to win every game they play, but they will at least be expected to qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010 and to start playing with the authority, confidence and style that has been lacking from the team for years.

Whereas England’s first overseas coach Sven Goran-Eriksson spoke excellent English and his immediate predecessor Steve McClaren could flash an international level toothy grin, Capello’s facial expression at today’s news conference reflected that of a winner.

Even when he smiled he looked like he was made out of steel.

It’s going to be interesting.

Mike Collett, Reuters Football Correspondent

PHOTO: Fabio Capello listens to a question during a news conference at a hotel in London December 17, 2007. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Every World Cup is special with its own unique atmosphere and I am not just quoting from the FIFA good news catalogue here, I am talking from experience.
 
I first saw a World Cup match as youngster in 1966 and have covered the last seven since Spain 1982 as a journalist.

After spending a week in South Africa, a country very different from when I was last here in 1976, I believe that the 2010 World Cup finals are going to be incredible — and like none that have ever been staged before.

We all know this is going to be the first World Cup on African soil, but it is also going to be the first World Cup held in a developing country, and in essence this new South Africa is less than 20 years old.

However, as they say in soccer speak, if you are good enough it doesn’t matter how young you are, and this young vibrant country is certainly good enough and equipped enough to host a dazzling, unique finals.

On Saturday, overseas journalists, many of whom were seeing a match in Africa for the first time, had their eyes opened when they witnessed the astonishing vibrancy, atmosphere and passion of the fans at the Soweto derby between Orlando
Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs moved to Durban to coincide with the preliminary round draw.
 
Put the noise generated by the fans at Anfield, St James’ Park and Schalke together, treble the volume and you’ll have some idea of the cacophony that lasted from an hour before kickoff till after the game finished.
 
Add into the mix the truly welcoming nature of the South African people — this cannot be under-estimated — and you’ll find yourself swept along on a tide of excitement.
 
Of course I am not being naive. We know there is widespread and brutal crime in South Africa, there is poverty, there are huge gulfs between rich and poor. But there have been social problems in every country that has staged a World Cup over the last 40 years. Perhaps the legacy of the 2010 World Cup might be to actually help South Africa improve some of these blights on its society.

Danny Jordaan, the driving force behind South Africa’s World Cup bid and the CEO of the local organising committee oversaw Sunday’s preliminary round draw in Durban that went off virtually without a hitch.
 
South Africa, as Jordaan said, is beginning to prove the Doubting Thomases wrong. I agree with him. Anyone who still thinks that the World Cup will not take place here should go and sit down in a quiet corner away from it all.
 
It’s going to be amazing.

PHOTO: FIFA President Sepp Blatter unveils the official poster for the 2010 World Cup at press conference in Durban, November 23, 2007. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

It’s not the first time, of course, that a small eastern European country has humiliated England at Wembley, giving the nation that invented the game a lesson in how to play it.

Hungary’s famous 6-3 victory over England under Wembley’s Twin Towers in 1953 is the stuff of legend.

Croatia’s win under the floodlit Wembley Arch on Wednesday night ought to serve as just as big a wake-up call to the English game as that famous victory of the Mighty Magyars did, 54 years ago this week.

For what cannot be ignored in the wreckage of England’s humiliating 3-2 defeat was that Croatia outclassed England tactically and technically – just as Ferenc Puskas and his team did when they became the first ever foreign side to beat England at home.

The wet, slippery conditions were the same for both teams — but Croatia mastered them and England could not. Their players controlled the ball better, and Croatia coach Slaven Bilic outwitted England coach Steve McClaren, pulling the largely inexperienced England defence all over the pitch. Croatia had so much space and time. Their players looked sharper and fitter. Their passing was more accurate.

McClaren’s decision to drop Paul Robinson and David Beckham back-fired spectacularly. Scott Carson, making his first competitive appearance for England, was beaten twice in the opening 14 minutes and while not at fault for the second goal, he was for the first.

The sense of incredulity at Wembley was tangible. People were looking at each other saying, “I don’t believe what is happening here.”

But Carson cannot shoulder all the blame. At the heart of the matter is the fact that there are now far too many ordinary foreign players earning their fortunes in the Premier League.

No-one begrudges the fact that some of the world’s top players are here. But so, it seems, is everyone else who can kick a ball in a straight line. As a result, the pool of English players at the top level is diminishing.

When England won the World Cup in 1966, more than half of the goalkeepers playing in the old First Division were English. Right now there are four.

English pundits never stop telling the public the Premier League is the best, most exciting in the world, but as Steven Gerrard said last week, what’s the point of having the best league in the world if the national team is not good enough to qualify for major competitions.

It took England time to learn the lessons and catch up with the developing world of football in the 1950s after losing to Hungary. Thirteen years in fact.

There are different lessons to be learnt now, and in my view the main one is this.

England’s Premier League clubs should stop importing “ordinary” foreign players. That does not mean English football needs “quotas” to limit foreign players; it can impose its own by actually playing English players.

Clubs should concentrate on developing their own local talent instead of casting the nets ever wider across the world.

But we all know there is as much chance of that happening as England winning Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

PHOTO: Steven Gerrard walks off the pitch following England’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia at Wembley, November 21, 2007. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

I was standing at the side of the pitch as England’s goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence was working with keepers Paul Robinson, Scott Carson and David James at Arsenal’s London Colney training complex on Tuesday morning.

They were preparing for Wednesday night’s vital Euro 2008 qualifier by doing their usual drills, diving low to the right, then to the left, saving shots from in front of them, then from behind them as Clemence varied the routines.

The thing that struck our little posse of reporters was just how relaxed the trio was and what great camaraderie there exists between them. They are a strange, tall breed of men are goalies.

I remarked to a  colleague just how relaxed Paul Robinson looked. “That’s because the pressure’s off!” he shot back. “He knows he’s been dropped!”

We won’t know for certain whether Steve McClaren has or hasn’t left him out of the starting line-up until just before this crucial game.

He has played in every minute of all 11 qualifiers so far and actually kept clean sheets in nine of those games. The four goals he has conceded came in the 2-0 defeat at Croatia in October 2006 and in the 2-1 loss to Russia in Moscow last month.

Despite the impressive stats, Robinson’s confidence has never been the same since that game against Croatia in Zagreb 13 months ago when a harmless-looking backpass from Gary Neville hit a divot and went bouncing under Robinson’s boot and into his own net as he went to clear it.

Mistakes this season against Germany and Russia haven’t helped his cause, and his club form for Spurs has also been patchy. But he has played for England 41 times since making his debut nearly five years ago and is still the No.1 choice.

Scott Carson, on the other hand, is 22 and has played once for England, in last week’s friendly against Austria. England won 1-0 and he hardly had a shot to save. David James, 37 years old and 35 caps in his cupboard, is unlikely to start — but if Carson edges out Robinson then surely James should be on the bench. If McClaren believes Robinson is out of form, why have him as his nominated substitute?

And who else will be on the bench? David Beckham or Shaun Wright-Phillips? Beckham has played 98 times for England, but just twice in England’s six internationals this season. Wright-Phillips has played five times for England this season and scored twice in the last three games at Wembley.

Will McClaren opt for experience, or go for, as he called it on Tuesday, “the innocence of youth”? He’ll be damned for whatever decision he makes — unless England win.

Even if Carson and Wright-Phillips get the nod, which is very possible, I don’t think Robinson and Beckham will be out of the frame for long. Beckham will eventually get his 100 caps. Robinson deserves to fight another day.

Reuters Soccer Correspondent Mike Collett will be at Wembley on Wednesday

PHOTO: Ray Clemence watches goalkeepers (L-R) Scott Carson, Paul Robinson and David James during a training session in London Colney, November 20, 2007. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh