The Premier League has been mothballed for more than a week, allowing the much-maligned international break a chance to shine. We’ve seen Scotland qualify for the Euro 2024 group stages, Wales revive their campaign and Gareth Southgate lean in to his new irritable, eye-rolling late-era England manager phase. We’ve seen it all, quite frankly – but in a league where 50% of the entertainment happens off the pitch, the Barclays was never going to stay in the shadows. And so it proved on Saturday night, just as Lithuania were taking the lead in Bulgaria, as Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani dramatically pulled the plug on his multibillion-pound bid to buy Manchester United.

The Qatari’s shock announcement also included a handily itemised here’s-what-you-could-have-won rundown of riches, focused on transfers, Carrington, fixing the roof on the Theatre of Drips, and a speedboat. Sheikh Jassim made five separate bids for United, the latest one in June offering almost double the club’s £2.63bn value, plus another £1.4bn thrown in for investment. But after months of publicly courting the club and leaving plaintive voicemails with Old Trafford reception, he’s decided he doesn’t really fancy United after all.

While the sheikh may well move on to pursue other sporting monoliths, his withdrawal has opened the door for Sir Jim Ratcliffe. He may sound like an inter-war England cricket captain, but Ratcliffe is a modern business mogul who has built sport into his chemical empire at Ineos, with a cycling team and Ligue 1’s Nice already in his grasp. Ratcliffe has been more popular than Sheikh Jassim as a potential new owner among United fans – and to be honest, if it got rid of the Glazers, said supporters would probably accept a consortium led by Curly Watts, Jamie Carragher and Moonchester. But that’s the problem – a couple of weeks before the Qatari cash bid for 100% of the club was scrapped, Ratcliffe had begun making noises about accepting a 25% minority stake.

That has now come to pass, with the United board to stop lighting cigars with dollar bills long enough to approve his £1.3bn offer. Ratcliffe will have his foot firmly in the door and there has been talk of him taking over the club’s sporting operations – but much like everything else at Old Trafford, the deal feels confusing and in danger of becoming a damp squib. All of which means that, almost a year after announcing their intention to get out of town, the Glazers are still in charge and … well, has anybody really got what they wanted out of this drawn-out affair? FFP restrictions mean a January war chest is about as likely as fans celebrating the new ownership model. Erik ten Hag now has to pick up the pieces and guide his team through a run of big fixtures before the next international break (yes, another one) in November. On the bright side, at least this historic club won’t be used as a sportswashing tool. What’s that? Oh dear.

Join Scott Murray for piping-hot MBM coverage of England 2-1 Italy in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, with kick-off at 7.45pm BST.

“I showed the video today to the players, for them to understand the history. It’s the first time in 70 years it’s been played for, so there is big meaning to this” – Graham Arnold is hoping to bring the (once actually) flamin’ “soccer Ashes” back to Australia with him when his Socceroos take on New Zealand in – checks notes – Brentford for the recently rediscovered prize. It’s the ashes of two cigars smoked by former captains, in case you were wondering. Imagine the uproar on social media disgraces if the modern-day skippers did that.

Re: the Mitre Mystery (Football Daily letters passim). The desolation of a frigid, windswept Saturday morning on the outskirts of Glasgow circa 1973. Picture an undersized 12-year-old, whose n1pples are red-raw from the wet freezing poly-something strip and who really, really wants to go home and eat beans on toast in front of Football Focus. It’s not even half-time and he can’t feel his toes. Only in these conditions can the full impact of the ‘dimpled’ Mitre be felt [sounds like the Mouldmaster – Football Daily Ed]. The ball is hard as a rock. The wet gravel sticks to the surface of the ball and lacerates any skin it comes into contact with. It is a WMD and the pain to my inner thigh has stayed with me this past 50 years” – Douglas Hardie.

As a Palace fan, I well remember that Pajtim Kasami goal for Fulham (yesterday’s Football Daily). As he chested it down in front of him, every one of us inside the stadium, the Palace defence included, had the same thought simultaneously. If you’re gonna try and shoot from there son, be my guest. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat and say well done” – Neil Chapman.

Even as a Palace fan, you have to say that goal was remarkable. And from a team who had been struggling to that point that season? You can’t get more Palace than that” – James Yelland.

Send your letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Neil Chapman.

Victor Lindelöf says it was the players who made the decision to abandon their Euro 2024 qualifier against Belgium after being told that two Swedish fans had been shot dead in Brussels. “I wanted to speak to the Belgian players,” said the defender. “I explained the situation and we were very clear that we did not want to carry on and they completely understood that.” A moment’s silence will be held before Tuesday’s games.

Roman Abramovich’s representatives believe the UK government changed the terms of the deal under which funds from the £2.5bn sale of Chelsea were to be used to help victims of the war in Ukraine.

Gareth Southgate reckons he has improved as a manager since losing against Italy in the Not Euro 2020 final as England attempt to book their spot at Euro 2024 with two matches to spare. “I hadn’t managed a European final before so the next one I am in I will have another reference and you have more experience,” he tooted. “It’s as simple as that.”

Steve Clarke: Scotland manager, amateur golfer, confident man. “After the [qualifying] draw I had to have a board meeting,” he explained. “I told them that this group would qualify directly for Euro 2024. No playoffs, I said they would go straight there. So I made it.”

There’s more Euros qualifying business in our round-up as Austria made it to Germany, and Virgil van Dijk scored a last-gasp penalty for the Netherlands to sink Greece.

Manchester United are targeting an historic Women’s Big Cup victory over PSG for stricken defender Gabby George, who tore an ACL for the second time in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Leicester. “We believe in ourselves and that’s not an arrogance, that’s a confidence borne from our performances,” roared manager Marc Skinner.

And Darren England and Daniel Cook will return to Premier League duty this weekend following that VAR error at Tottenham v Liverpool. England will be back as the fourth official for Brentford 2-1 Burnley, while Cook will return as assistant referee for Sheffield United 0-1 Manchester United.

Two of Italy’s best midfielders, Premier League-based Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo, are under investigation by public prosecutors in Turin and unavailable for international selection. Nicky Bandini ponders what it means for the Azzurri before their meeting with England.

Here’s David Hytner on Kyle Walker, Gareth Southgate and how success can be taken for granted.

World Cup qualifying. Uruguay v Brazil. Bielsa v Diniz. Jamie Hamilton and Tom Sanderson set the scene.

Quiz! Quiz!! Quiz!!! How many of these European grounds can you identify?

“You’re so annoying, my God” – João Cancelo might sound like he’s Napoleon Dynamite, but here’s Jonathan Liew on how the Barcelona defender broke the transactional visage between players and fans.

Ray Wilkins joined Milan in 1984 in a tumultuous period for the club, who had suffered relegations from Serie A in 1980 and 1982. But alongside fellow Englishman Mark Hateley, Wilkins helped the Rossoneri to a fifth-place finish and qualification for Big Vase in his first season. More off-field turmoil continued with Milan chief suit Giuseppe Farina going into exile in South Africa after he was suspected of stealing money from club. At the end of the 1985-86 season, media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi bought Milan and after one year Wilkins was sold to make way for new arrivals, something he took with good grace: “When you’ve got the likes of [Ruud] Gullit, [Marco] Van Basten and [Frank] Rijkaard coming in there are not too many players who can keep them out of the team, and Mark and I certainly weren’t good enough to keep them out.”Wilkins never won any silverware in red and black, but he and Hateley are still held in high esteem at San Siro for helping Milan during a tricky point in their history.