The winger, who was part of the Guardian’s first Next Generation in 2014, talks about rebuilding his career after being released by Southampton

Harley Willard made one of those sliding-doors decisions that can turn anyone’s life around last December. He had arrived at Heathrow airport, packed and ready for the 14-hour slog back to Phnom Penh, and at that point another season at the Cambodian club Svay Rieng felt like a trade-off he could just about stomach. The football there offered few real prospects but he had enjoyed the lifestyle and, after such an uncertain year and a half since leaving Southampton, surely his happiness was the most important thing.

Related: Next Generation: after five years, how has our first full class of picks fared?

Eidur Gudjohnsen’s son, the new Paul Pogba and Barça’s Ansu Fati are among our 60 most talented players in the world born in 2002. Check the progress of our 2018 picks | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

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The objections to restart plans are understandable and the game should pay attention, but ultimately clubs need to play games to survive

With each week the plans become a little more refined and with each week any final decision is pushed back. Football may return, and this is how it may look if it does, but nobody is sure, and any proposed date can only be provisional. Which is as it should be. In an age that often favours decisiveness over the decision itself, there is something vaguely comforting about a process that accepts the wisdom of waiting.

But in the background there is a crucial, nagging voice, and what it is saying is this: if football isn’t prepared to return, at least initially, in a form very different to the one it took before the virus, it may not return for a very long time – and for many clubs that means never.

How much do you know about clubs with dusty trophy cabinets?

More quizzes: big goals, penalties and famous photos

In which decade did Tottenham last win a major trophy?

The 2010s

The 2000s

The 1990s

The 1980s

Leeds have not won a trophy since Howard Wilkinson guided them to the league title in 1991-92. Who was their top scorer that season?

Eric Cantona

Lee Chapman

Gordon Strachan

Gary Speed

Who was the prime minister the last time Everton won a trophy?

Margaret Thatcher

John Major

Tony Blair

James Callaghan

Manchester United won the double in the 1993–94 and 1995-96 season. Which club won the League Cup in those two seasons – and have not won a trophy since?

Middlesbrough

Leeds United

Aston Villa

Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland have not won a major trophy since they beat Leeds in the FA Cup final in 1973. What was remarkable about that Sunderland team?

They were in the Third Division at the time

They won the game 1-0 even though they did not have a shot on target

None of their team had played international football at the time

They won all of their FA Cup ties 1-0 that season – including the final

Newcastle have not won the league in the post-war period. In which decade did they win three FA Cups?

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Which of these London clubs has won the top flight?

West Ham

Crystal Palace

Queens Park Rangers

Fulham

Charlton Athletic

None of them

Which club won three league titles in a row in the 1920s and have never won the league since?

Ipswich Town

Sheffield Wednesday

Huddersfield Town

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Who are the only club to have won the old First Division yet never played in the Premier League?

Notts County

Bristol City

Plymouth Argyle

Preston North End

Which club won the league title 100 years ago but haven’t won it since?

West Brom

Bolton Wanderers

Birmingham City

Swansea City

1 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

2 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

3 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

4 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

5 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

6 and above.

No trophy drought for you

7 and above.

No trophy drought for you

8 and above.

No trophy drought for you

9 and above.

No trophy drought for you

0 and above.

Your trophy drought continues

10 and above.

No trophy drought for you

Plus: the policing of goalkeepers, home shirts that became away tops and strike partners sharing birthdays

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Which two footballers have played the most matches together? I reckon Jason Dodd and Francis Benali for Southampton must be up there,” asks Mark Williams.

They’re not even close, Mark, but we’ll get back to that shortly. First, Geoff Airey has two long-standing midfielders at Manchester United who knock Benali and Dodd (170 appearances together) into a cocked hat.

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Emotions in Scottish fitba circles were mixed on Thursday morning before the release of the eagerly-awaited Pope’s Newc O’Rangers dossier alleging assorted shenanigans on the part of the Scottish Professional Football League in ending the season prematurely. After weeks of suspense, the excitement of those intrigued to learn what hard evidence O’Rangers have been keeping up their sleeve was rather tempered by the fact they’d have to wade through no fewer than 200 pages of outrage to find out.

Not everyone can win everything. Do you know which achievements these players have missed out on in their careers?

Who has scored the most Premier League goals without ever winning the trophy?

Jermain Defoe

Robbie Fowler

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Harry Kane

And who has made the most appearances without winning the Premier League?

David James

Gary Speed

Emile Heskey

Steven Gerrard

Who is the only England player to win 50 caps yet never appear at a World Cup or European Championship finals?

Glen Johnson

Colin Bell

Emlyn Hughes

Gary Cahill

Who scored 434 league goals, an English record, yet never played for his country?

Brian Clough

Arthur Rowley

Steve Bull

Kerry Dixon

Who is the last Ballon d’Or winner never to win the Champions League?

Fabio Cannavaro

Pavel Nedved

Thierry Henry

Michael Owen

Gary Lineker never won the top division in England, but for how many clubs did he finish as top scorer in the league?

None

One

Two

Three

Who has scored the most Champions League goals without winning the competition?

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Edinson Cavani

Robert Lewandowski

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Who was Serie A’s leading scorer three times in the 1990s yet never won the title?

Oliver Bierhoff

Gabriel Batistuta

Enrico Chiesa

Giuseppe Signori

Which of these players has never won the Premier League Golden Boot?

Wayne Rooney

Luis Suárez

Alan Shearer

Andy Cole

Which of these greats never won the Ballon d’Or?

Pavel Nedved

Xavi

Hristo Stoichkov

Eusébio

How many goals have Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi scored between them in the knockout stages of the World Cup?

None

Two

Five

14

3 and above.

You missed out too.

4 and above.

You missed out too.

5 and above.

A fine score

6 and above.

A fine score

7 and above.

A superb score

8 and above.

A superb score

9 and above.

A superb score

10 and above.

A superb score

11 and above.

You missed nothing

2 and above.

You missed out too.

0 and above.

You missed out too

1 and above.

You missed out too.

Investment is bound to suffer in the post-Covid weeks of return but the outlook is cautiously positive for the women’s game

Ominous warnings have been sounded by the international players’ union that women’s football faces an existential threat. When AFC Fylde disbanded their women’s team last week it was probably the tip of an iceberg – but how gloomy is the game’s future?

Although everyone agrees there will be casualties, opinion is split about the extent of any setback. Alan Naigeon offers his assessment from a position of authority as a managing partner of the agency A&V Sports, which represents players such as Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Lyon’s Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg.

In the latest in our series on how Covid-19 will change football, we look at its impact at grassroots and non-league level

This could be the end of grassroots football. The impact is going to be horrendous. The main problem now is we’re not getting money we would usually receive from training-session fees or fundraising, because they’re not taking place. That money goes towards subsidising teams for the next season, helping them with pitch fees, league fees, trophy presentations, etc.

• President calls for resumption of football despite crisis
• Brazil has more than 5,900 deaths due to the coronavirus

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro wants to see football competitions restart soon despite the country’s high number of coronavirus cases, arguing that players are less likely to die from Covid-19 because of their physical fitness.

Bolsonaro is one of the few world leaders that still downplays the risks brought by the coronavirus, which he has likened to “a little flu”.

Many questions need answers, not least where games will be played and the not-insignificant 100 concerns of club doctors

Without government endorsement of a return to play, nothing can happen. Since the beginning of March, when games were still being played in front of paying crowds, the Premier League has said it would follow government advice on the best way to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Max Rushden and Barry Glendenning talk to Jacqui Oatley about the ups and downs of being the first woman to commentate on Match of the Day and her love of Wolves. Also, Archie Rhind-Tutt on the impending return of the Bundesliga

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

Max and Barry talk with Jacqui Oatley about her love of football, how her career came about and how she learned to deal with the enormous level of scrutiny which came with becoming the first woman to commentate on Match of the Day.

• Premier League could be played as normal, says Owen West
• ‘Tone demonises fans who have been very mature’

Police advice that Premier League clubs must play at neutral venues if they resume the season has “no rationale” and risks demonising supporters by assuming they will gather unsafely outside grounds, a former football policing commander has said.

Owen West, a recently retired West Yorkshire chief superintendent, told the Guardian that football clubs can help give a lead as local community organisations to any gradual easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and do not need to be switched from their home grounds to play games.

In an empty stadium with strict coronavirus protocols enforced, probably the first spit- and snot-free match in football history drew legions of online fans to South Korea

So football is back. Jeonbuk Motors and Suwon Bluewings opened the coronavirus-delayed K-League season in an empty stadium in the south-west city of Jeonju on Friday evening and for legions of online fans around the world, starved of football by the pandemic, the exertions were a sporting balm. It is fair to say that no football match played on South Korean soil had attracted this level of international interest since the 2002 World Cup finals.

With the exceptions of Belarus, Burundi, Tajikistan and Nicaragua, the global game has been at a virtual standstill, presenting the K-League with an opportunity to fill the hole left by the postponement or cancellation of all other major competitions.

As football prepares to start or resume seasons we look at 17 countries to see how close they are to a return

Clubs and the football federation hope for an August restart with a July training phase to step up for a resumption of the A-League, which was postponed indefinitely on 24 March. Five rounds of games, plus the finals, remain. All games are likely to be played in Sydney without spectators, with Wellington Phoenix to be based in NSW for a two-week quarantine before playing. The National Rugby League has the green light to restart on 28 May, which may lead to fixture clashes at cross-code venues such as Kogarah and Bankwest Stadium.

Figures from across the men’s professional game including managers, players and a scout, discuss how football will alter

When life has finally returned to normal, I think football will change for the better. We should see the reversal of a power balance that has swung the wrong way for too long, switching it back in favour of the clubs. I would certainly expect that to happen in the divisions below the Premier League, where the financial implications of Covid-19 are hitting particularly hard. Players and agents will have to lower their expectations, and we will see fewer instances of football clubs being held to ransom over deals and contracts.