FA chief claims “no significant issues” ahead of Allardyce appointment, Drogba refuses to play after named as sub for Canadian club and former refugee scores first goal in Germany

1. FA chairman Greg Clarke has stated there were “no significant issues” and “due diligence was completed” on Sam Allardyce before the former West Ham and Bolton manager was given the England job, only to leave shortly following corruption allegations.

2. Championship club Birmingham City have been taken over by Chinese company Trillion Trophy Asia, often referred to as TTA. The company formally completed the deal after their parent company resumed trading following financial issues.

3. Didier Drogba refused to play for his current club Montreal Impact after the former Chelsea striker was told he wouldn’t be starting the Canadian side’s game against Toronto, according to Impact head coach Mauro Biello.

4. Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill as revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson was instrumental in his appointment as a Celtic manager in 2000. O’Neill said he received a phone call from Sir Alex who was a close friend of Celtic owner Dermot Desmond.

5. Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes feels Liverpool are favourites to win their game against his old club as he feels Jose Mourinho’s team ‘lack identity’.

6. Ousman Manneh scored his first ever goal for Werder Bremen and hailed it the “greatest moment of his life”. The strike, in a 2-1 win over Beyer Leverkusen, came two years after he left The Gambia and coming to Germany as a refugee (BleacherReport).

7. Sheffield Wednesday’s Ross Wallace took a sneaky glance at a note passed onto the pitch from manager David Wagner intended for his Huddersfield Town players. It seemed to pay off as the Owls won the match 1-0  (TalkSport).

8. A truly memorable event happened in a Brazilian second division game. Two of the most theatrical dives happened at exactly the same moment, and if that wasn’t remarkable enough, the referee didn’t notice or punish either of them (Mirror).

9. Manchester United may be struggling to produce the kind of flowing attacking football desired by the Old Trafford faithful but that hasn’t decreased the clubs global fan base. On the contrary, they saw off stiff competition from Real Madrid and Barcelona to top a table for shirt sales (Metro).

10. And finally…Argentina striker Mauro Icardi, who plays for Inter Milan, has been vilified by a section the clubs fans since an incident in which he confronted them a few years ago. Some particularly volatile Inter ultras took the bizarre step of leaving an expletive-ridden banner outside the 23-year old’s house  (WhoAteAllThePies).

By Chris Horricks (@ChrisHorricks31).