Collymore’s column: Gambling in football, Phillips and McTominay on the move, Guardiola gets his way and why finishing above Liverpool will be reserved for champions

In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Liverpool attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including how football can help Sandro Tonalo overcome a gambling addiction, what the January transfer window could have in store for Kalvin Phillips and Scott Mctominay, as well as a look ahead to this weekend’s Merseyside Derby, plus much more.

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Newcastle will stand by Sandro Tonali but football must do more…

I’m sure Newcastle United would have been shocked when they heard Sandro Tonali’s agent confirm he has a gambling addiction, and although they won’t come out and say it, they would have felt disappointed but the club will look after him. They, like all clubs, have a responsibility to look after their employees and that’s what they’ll do. I thought Eddie Howe’s press conferences, which have obviously been dominated by questions about Tonali, have been handled impeccably well.

Tonali isn’t the first player to suffer from a crippling addiction. Although gambling isn’t something I have ever suffered with, I know of a lot of players, past and present, who do struggle with it.

It’s a really big problem. The phasing out of gambling-related front-of-shirt sponsors is a good step to take, but we need to do more to shield addicts and also to help prevent the next generation from becoming addicts. I think there should be a total ban on all gambling-related advertisements. We should make football a gambling-free environment; this would allow those who do have a problem to enter a ‘safe space’ while not totally forbidding those who do gamble responsibly from doing something they enjoy. I think that is probably the fairest way to manage it, but we have to do something