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Got To Be There
Part One 1964-1987
by Dave Burnley
Dawber, £10.00
Reviewed by Alan Tomlinson
From WSC 274 December 2009 

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Big Club, Small Town & Me
The epic story of Burnley’s meteoric rise to the Premiership
by Brendan Flood with Stuart Wilkin
TH Media, £9.99
Reviewed by Alan Tomlinson
From WSC 274 December 2009 

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Before and on October 18, 2009, the UK’s sport media focused upon what some called the “cotton-town derby” – Blackburn Rovers versus Burnley – that would establish “bragging rights” in east Lancashire. The two clubs were founder members of the Football League in 1888, but had not met in a top-flight fixture for over 40 years. It was an eerie atmosphere walking to Ewood Park from Lower Darwen, as the blue-and-white of Blackburn dominated the streets, one shirt announcing “Burnley fans eat bananas with their feet”. The 2,800 Burnley supporters were bussed in with a police escort. During this 11-mile journey passengers were abused from the windows of respectable Blackburn residences. On arrival buses were cordoned off by lines of police, preventing any contact with the visiting supporters. “How many of you are on duty for this?” I asked a young policewoman. “All of us… They’ve cancelled everyone’s day off.”

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Andy Brassell looks at an organisation, run by a former international, that seeks to protect young players in Africa

While the football world at large queued up to applaud RC Lens’ stand against Chelsea after the Londoners were punished over the Gaël Kakuta affair, one voice from across the channel notably dissented. Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini may have mentioned Kakuta as a victim of “child slavery” and “child trafficking”, but Jean-Claude Mbvoumin knows the full meaning of those terms and the often neglected problem that they represent in the game.

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Saul Pope looks at the relationship between short-term solution, long-term planning and nationality in Russian football

Considering he was sacked by his club following a series of disappointing results, the warm send-off Dick Advocaat received from Zenit St Petersburg fans was unusual and pleasantly surprising. In a league where managers from outside the former USSR have struggled to make a serious impact and many have been fired within a few months, his achievements with Zenit should also not be underestimated.

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Marseille's late owner has left the club with a legacy of big investment but underachievement, as James Eastham reports

Did Robert Louis-Dreyfus die an unhappy man? In his role as owner of Olympique de Marseille, he was certainly unfulfilled. The Franco-Swiss billionaire (rated the fifth richest man in France this year, with a family fortune of €7 billion) passed away on July 4, 2009, succumbing to the leukemia he had suffered from for more than a decade. He became OM’s owner on December 14, 1996 but failed to win a single trophy during his 12-and-a-half-year reign. Marseille came close on several occasions – runners-up in the French League three times (1999, 2007 and 2009) and losing finalists in the UEFA Cup (1999 and 2004) and French Cup (2006 and 2007) – but are still seeking their first piece of silverware since 1993.

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Ray Stubbs has flown the BBC nest to become the main anchorman at ESPN. Si Hawkins relates a cautionary tale of broadcasting folk who made similar transfers

Amid all the machinations surrounding John Terry’s mooted move to Manchester City this summer it was easy to ignore another tale of long-term loyalty gone amiss. Ray Stubbs has joined ESPN from the BBC after a sterling 26 years of filling in while more important presenters went on holiday.

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