Premier division unis

Universities clearly believe that football can reach the students a mere prospectus cannot touch.

Last week, the diary reported Newcastle University's wheeze to attract Indonesian students by sending them copies of Newcastle United's fixture programme. Now Oxford and Cambridge universities have gone one better. They are holding conferences for sixth formers at Wembley and Old Trafford.

"Having Wembley and Manchester United as the venues for these conferences has definitely sent out the right message to young people," said the organiser. One hopes any young person making it to Oxbridge will not be too disappointed to discover they will not actually be training alongside David Beckham.