Three Railtrack executives - Alistair Cook, 52, Sean Fugill, 52, and Keith Lea, 55 - and two executives from Balfour Beatty - Anthony Walker, 48, and Nicholas Jeffries, 50, have also denied the charges.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Hatfield jury considers verdicts

Other members of the cast are Sean Patrick Thomas, Michael Ealy and Keith David.

WSJ: 'Igby' Is a Darkly Comic Trip

But having turned previously limited players whose names would only be familiar to the most avid followers of English football - such as Keith Andrews, Glenn Whelan and Sean St Ledger - into seasoned internationals, one wonders what the Italian could achieve with some of the talent in the Nigerian squad.

BBC: Why Trapattoni would suit Nigeria