Arsenal and Manchester City crashing in the Champions League means more foreign buys and a kick in teeth for Greg Dyke... the big boys run our game for themselves

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Greg Dyke has made a confused, faltering, ego-stricken start to his stint as FA chairman but he has taken a positive step in the right direction with proposals aimed at bringing more and better youngsters to the aid of England’s ailing national team.

Stricter limitations on foreign imports and a prohibition against the big clubs signing players by the bucket-load and immediately farming them out on loan would create Premiership opportunities for home-grown talent.

A pity, then, that this initiative has coincided with a faltering start to the Champions League by England’s leading clubs.

Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski hold their heads after Arsenal's defeat by Borussia Dortmund

With Arsenal and Manchester City losing at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively and Chelsea held at home by Schalke, our only winners this midweek were Liverpool. And they needed a last-gasp penalty from Steven Gerrard to struggle past a team nobody here had heard of until last month and whose name few of us can pronounce.

These ragged showings are likely to set up another raft of over-priced buys from abroad when that transfer window creaks open again in January.

Even if their Euro-results improve in the meantime, they have been warned as to how difficult the Germans will be to beat when it comes to the sharp end of the Champions League in the new year.

Since the answer to that threat will not be to bring on young English talent, do not expect the Premier League to be encouraged by its biggest paymasters to accede to Dyke’s reforms.

Do not expect, for example, Chelsea to be forced to rein back on their 26 – yes, 26 – players currently being borrowed by other clubs here and on the Continent.

Dyke made a pompous ass of himself when he declared that England would not bid for any future World Cup while Sepp Blatter is still president of FIFA but he is right to highlight the abuse of UEFA’s transfer system.

But is it likely to make much difference?

Not while the giant clubs effectively run our national game for their own selfish ends.

James Milner (left), Martin Demichelis and Gael Clichy (right) after Manchester City's loss at Bayern Munich

Football, the universal language 

Arsene Wenger admits ‘it would have been a paradox’ if Arsenal had taken their couple of half chances in Dortmund and deprived Borussia of a deserved victory.

You have to love him, managing in his second language as he does. 

Arsene Wenger is stoney-faced as Arsenal are beaten in Dortmund

Yes or No, Blatter knows home nations back him on TV referrals 

It seems that fooball was the only element of the United Kingdom in a win-win situation as Scotland voted on the independence referendum. 

If we are waking up to a Yes on Friday morning, it will be an end to the pressure from the wider football world for Britain, England included, to field a combined team in World Cups.

If it’s No, FIFA president Sepp Blatter will reinforce the position of the four home associations on the International Board which rules on the regulations of the game. He knows he has the support of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish for the introduction of TV referrals of disputed decisions during matches.

Ole's a goner from Cardiff - Pardew could be next

There are still 14 weeks to Christmas but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has gone from Cardiff and Felix Magath from Fulham already.

Can Newcastle’s Alan Pardew be far behind?

Not that we should shed too many tears.

These days the pay-off to a failed football manager amounts to more than the average fan earns in a lifetime.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has left as Cardiff manager with the season only a month old

Starter for 10 - who was Pele's toughest opponent

Twenty-one years after his premature death the legacy of Bobby Moore grows ever stronger, not least through the raising of millions of pounds to help fight the bowel cancer which killed the only England captain ever to raise the World Cup aloft.

Driven by the unstinting commitment of his widow Stephanie, the Bobby Moore Fund has now surpassed £20million.

That figure will grow significantly this November when the most lucrative annual event in the Fund’s calendar takes place in London.

Bobby Moore in two iconic poses, lifting the World Cup (left) and being embraced by Pele in 1970

The Celebrity Sports Quiz – as it says on the label – features a host of famous football and sports figures who, buoyed by a champagne reception and a lavish dinner, attempt to answer a raft of fiendish questions.

This is the starter for 10 which everyone gets right: Who does Pele describe as the greatest defender he ever played against?

This is how to answer yes to the question of whether you would like to pit your wits against the stars on the evening of November 13 at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London EC1:

Call 02034695307 or email amanda.myers@cancer.org.uk