Bayern steer well clear of own-goal

Television’s influence on football is well known. It has not only created millionaire fashion victims but may now be influencing the results of games.

The rumour circulating Scottish football circles is that plucky little Raith Rovers may have been more lucky than plucky in their 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Jurgen Klinsmann’s mighty Bayern Munich earlier this month.

The story goes that the teutonic scoring machine was told before the game that German TV would not be interested in broadcasting the second leg of the UEFA cup tie if Bayern scored so many in the first leg in Scotland that the second leg would be an even bigger foregone conclusion than it usually is.

In the event, the scoreline was a respectable two so no one had to worry.