DESPITE the trauma of his previous flirtation with Tottenham Hotspur, perhaps Alan Sugar should turn to football in the search for his next apprentice.

The Amstrad chief loves a hard bargain and, at the moment, no-one is bargaining harder than the G14 group of leading European clubs.

In a previous edition of his popular television show, Sugar told his wannabe business gurus the secret of his own negotiating technique. Make your initial demands unreasonably high so that you come down to what you actually want, and hint at something you wouldn't really be prepared to do but which could prove damaging to whoever is on the opposite side of the table. Clearly, someone at G14 is a fan of the Beeb.

European football has been quivering with fear since the publication of an "official G14 policy document" this month.

The blueprint, which is backed by 18 of Europe's leading clubs including Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, discusses the prospect of a breakaway European super league and proposes the "detachment of the top professional level from all remaining levels."

As a prophecy of football's future, it is a work of fictional hokum. But, as a bargaining technique, it is brilliant in its ruthless simplicity. Back UEFA into a corner until they eventually acquiesce to your real demands.

The continent's biggest clubs have been threatening to break away for a while now but, despite their occasional musings, there is still no genuine desire for such a radical overhaul of the European game.

A clash between two of Europe's superpowers remains an enthralling event - as proved by this week's four Champions League quarter-finals - but, in part, it is the novelty of such a game that makes it so appealing.

Fans of Manchester United do not want to see their side playing Real Madrid one week and then Lyon the next ad infinitum. They want to see a derby against City and a Premiership ding-dong with Chelsea along the way.

The situation is even starker on the continent, where the likes of Juventus and Inter Milan regularly fail to attract crowds of 30,000 in the early stages of the Champions League.

Football remains a largely parochial game and, while the leading clubs have become more and more global in their outlook, they are not about to forget that most of their revenue originates rather closer to home.

So, if a complete breakaway is out of the question, what about a more subtle change to effectively achieve the same ends?

A number of commentators have taken this month's posturing to be the first step in G14's long-term move towards ring-fencing their leading cash cow, the Champions League.

With Arsenal struggling to force their way into the Premiership's top four this season, wouldn't it be to nice to know they were guaranteed a Champions League spot anyway?

Such suggestions have ruffled feathers in the boardrooms of clubs excluded from G14 - a group that interestingly includes Chelsea - but, in reality, such a scenario is no more likely than a completely separate league.

UEFA would not stand for a competition with such a restrictive entry policy, while even G14's spin-doctors would struggle to make Bayer Leverkusen versus Porto sound interesting every season.

But the mere suggestion of such a move is enough to get Europe's governing body twitching. Without the glitz and glamour of the Champions League, UEFA would be deprived of its heartbeat, in both a financial and a footballing sense.

So representatives from G14 will be invited for talks aimed at sprucing up Europe's leading competition and, if past experience is anything to go by, the clubs will achieve their primary objective from the beginning, namely a restoration of the unpopular but profitable group stage that was scrapped last season.

Manchester United chief executive David Gill effectively let the cat out of the bag last weekend when he spoke of a general desire to increase the number of Champions League match days from 13 to 17. A second group stage would do exactly that.

It would also dilute the quality of the competition even further and usher in a host of meaningless matches that few fans really want. But, as usual, that is hardly the issue. It will maintain UEFA's hold on the Champions League and keep the leading clubs happy for another few years so, inevitably, it will happen.

The circle will only be broken when UEFA appoint an Alan Sugar-style figure with the courage and conviction to call G14's bluff.

The disqualification of England's victorious 4x400m women's relay team capped a calamitous Commonwealth Games for Britain's athletes.

With London 2012 looming large, there is the real possibility the hosts could be embarrassed by their performances in the blue-riband events.

It is time for UK Athletics to seize the bull by the horns and call time on some of Britain's elder statesmen and women. The likes of Christian Malcolm and Darren Campbell are not going to win sprinting golds in London, so it is time to give the younger generation a chance.

It might mean a sparse medal haul at Beijing in 2008, but there is a bigger picture to think of here. If a few lean years lead to a bonanza in London the pain will have been worth it.

There was no need for Embrace to have written a new tune after being chosen to write England's World Cup song - they could simply have re-visited their back catalogue.

I would have thought "Come Back To What You Know" would have been fitting for England's players - ahead of their return to a dispirited nation digesting yet another penalty shoot-out defeat.