Football Notebook

Evelyn Waugh said that only when a person had lost all curiosity about the future had they reached the age to write an autobiography.

Book of the month, however, is Geoff Hurst's 1966 and All That (Headline, £18.99).
The ghost writer is Standard's Sport's distinguished Chief Football Correspondent Michael Hart and the book details the life of everyone's favourite World Cup winner.
Hurst himself is embarking on a massive signing tour to promote the book, which started last night and continues today at Borders in Oxford Street.
Before West Ham play Leeds on Saturday he will be at the Newham Parents' Centre (tel. 020 8552 9993).
The tour, throughout Britain, goes on right up to 7 December (they think it's all over, it is now, he can mutter as he finally puts his pen away) when the former West Ham striker visits the Trafford Centre, Manchester.

Notebook is normally content to stay away from party politics - there's enough corruption, backbiting and egotism in football - but we have some advice for Tory party members, who receive their leadership ballot papers today.
Vote Kenneth Clarke if you want England to win the World Cup.
Pedants among you might point to Geoff Hurst's hat-trick as the decisive factor at Wembley in 1966, but the roly-poly MP and Nottingham Forest fan claims he played a starring role.
Clarke was then a barrister in Birmingham and won a ticket for the final against Germany.
He recalled: "I was sitting directly behind the Russian linesman when he famously gave England's third goal in extra time.
"It wasn't obvious at all whether Hurst's shot had crossed the line to make it 3-2 and I saw the linesman hesitate.
"Spotting the doubt, I just shouted at him as loudly as I could, as did everyone around me.
"My command of Russian is quite rudimentary and I can't quite remember what I said, but it seemed to work.
"That goal was decisive. England were world champions. I like to think I played a crucial part in the victory, but as I'd come alone, my celebrations were muted and I simply got the next train home."
Because Notebook is so fair-minded it only seems right to also direct the huge contingent of Conservative Leyton Orient fans to vote for Clarke's opponent, Iain Duncan Smith.
The Chingford MP claims to be a fan of the Third Division club, although Notebook wasn't able to discover exactly how many times he gets down to Brisbane Road.
A loyal spokesman said, though, that he likes to read about Orient in the papers.

Who remembers their first football match? When I told a colleague I was taking my sixyearold son Louis to his first game at Crystal Palace, he offered some good advice. "It could be hard to keep concentrating so it might be worth taking a comic and colouring book.
"Thanks, if he doesn't use them I certainly will," I replied.
Louis is nominally a Chelsea fan and although there are a lot of empty seats in the Millennium Suite at Stamford Bridge, I thought Palace might make a good place to start, particularly as it meant we could combine football with a map-reading adventure just to get there.
As it turned out it was a great choice, even though he had never heard of "Stockpot Country".
It was £23 (£5 for child) to sit in the Croydon Advertiser Family Stand and we were there early enough to see the Crystal cheerleaders (they were runners-up in an international cheer competition, so who says Palace never win anything) but we had to take cover from a spate of footballs flying into the crowd as Stockport practised their shooting.
"What's that budgerigar doing, Dad?" he said as Pete the Eagle wandered round the pitch.
The little ones all enjoyed seeing the mascot, especially the boy in Row A of the Glaziers Lounge who seemed to be trying to stuff a hot dog through Pete's beak.
The first half was dire (and out came the Dandy for a while as the adventures of Bananman and Desperate Dan claimed both our attentions) but the second half was brilliant. Five goals (four for Palace) - he loyally booed when Stockport equalised - and a red card.
A six-year was able instantly to grasp the childish delight of singing "Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio" and waving as County's red carded Aaron Wilbraham trudged off.
With about six minutes to go, people started leaving. "What are they doing, Dad?"
"Leaving early to get home, quickly." "Why?" Who knows, but they missed two excellent late goals from Dougie Freedman and Clinton Morrison.
The fans were friendly and Selhurst Park was a really enjoyable place to take a child to football - free of much of the marketing that blights top clubs these days (and it's hard to take the Crystal Palace Credit Card seriously).
As we walked to the station, Louis asked: "Can we come and see Palace again, Dad?"
I know. It serves me right.

Some heartening news. Notebook has found a footballer not using a mobile phone.
Ryan Giggs has four mobiles and most players are texting friends all day - but let's salute Paul Kitson for his Luddite tendencies.
West Ham striker Kitson, who missed his side's 2-1 defeat at Anfield on Saturday due to a hamstring injury, was spotted drinking in Edward's bar in Romford on Friday night, just down the road from the Yates's Wine Lodge where his team-mates got into trouble on a Christmas do a couple of years ago.
Kitson spent about 10 minutes in the corner of the bar on the public payphone.
Give that man a phone card.

There were two Japanese reporters at Middlesbrough v Arsenal and seven at Leicester v Bolton. Alas, their chances of filing brilliant copy back home were slightly hindered because both Arsenal's Japanese star Junichi Inamoto and Bolton's Akinori Nishizawa failed even to make the bench.