The birthplace of Napoleon is enjoying a football revival. Dan Brierley reports on how Ajaccio and Bastia are getting on in the French first division
Football isn’t the first thing you associate with the island of Corsica, but this season, for the first time since 1972-73, SC Bastia were joined by AC Ajaccio in the French first division. Fifty-two thousand people took to the streets to celebrate.
Sunday 1 A Jerzy Dudek howler allows goal-machine Diego Forlan to score the first of his two as Man Utd win 2-1 at Anfield. “It seems that every time we make a mistake, we pay for it,” says a disgruntled Gérard. Yet more trouble for Tel as Leeds crash to their fifth successive league defeat at home, 2-1 against Charlton, who score twice in the last ten minutes. “When the players Terry has are fit, they should be too good to go down,” says Alan Curbishley encouragingly. David Batty is said to be considering legal action over comments allegedly made by Peter Ridsdale at the Leeds AGM to the effect that knee injuries have effectively ended his career. Everton’s run of wins comes to an end at Newcastle, who come from behind with two late goals, after Joseph Yobo is sent off early in the game. David Moyes has an unusual criticism to make of the officials: “Too many referees hide behind the laws
To the surprise of many the former giants of the European game came close to hosting Euro 2008, but Ray Dexter believes a football revival is a long way off
As 19-year-old Bela Koplarovics of Zalaegerszeg bundled the ball past Manchester United’s rather ponderous defence in the crumbling Nep Stadium in August, Hungarian football found itself in the world football spotlight for the first time in a generation. The result, greeted as some kind of sporting miracle in the bars of Budapest, allowed the people to forget the twin scandals of why over half the seats in their beloved national stadium were empty for such a big game (the entire upper tier was deemed too unsafe to be used) and why Vodafone, Manchester United’s sponsor, were allowed to buy 15,000 of the remaining 28,000 tickets for their corporate clients and users.
John Fashanu's latest venture is the small Welsh team Barry Town. Simon Price outlines the reasons behind the new arrival
When John Fashanu popped up on Talk Sport in December to announce proudly that he had bought the champions of Wales, there were many patronising references to “little Barry Town”. In some respects, this is understandable. Barry, for the uninitiated, is a seaside town at the southernmost tip of Wales with a population of 50,000. The town is a microcosm of the Old Wales: sheep farms to the north, Bhopal-sized chemical plants to the east, dying dockyards to the south, and a third-rate mini Blackpool called Barry Island to the west. Most people with the means to do so get the hell out. Why, then, is Flash Fash moving in?
Friday 1 Tony Pulis, out of work since leaving Portsmouth two years ago, takes over at Stoke. Steve McLaren resigns as Sven’s assistant, saying: “It was never intended to be long-term and it has dragged on.”