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Michael Palin tells WSC about his favourite players, being an England fan and his love for both halves of Sheffield

Who was your favourite player when you were growing up?
Jimmy Hagan, who was an inside forward with Sheffield United, was one. I’ve kept a scrapbook from when I was nine or ten with cuttings about him and other players. Before television you’d keep in touch with football mostly over the radio so it was important to keep pictures of the players. I had a great soft spot for Newcastle at the time, the Robledos and Jackie Milburn in their Cup sides, and Matthews and Mortensen at Blackpool. It was always players from the northern teams though, because I identified with them more. 

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Relieved to see the end of Peter Johnson's reign at Everton, Neil Wolstenholme hopes for better times at Goodison Park

Given the many false dawns over the past year I will only believe that Bill Kenwright has bought Everton when Peter Johnson’s shares are safely transferred. As Kenwright is a current director of the club, the process of due diligence, allowing for the books to be examined before the deal is a concluded, should not be a problem. A bigger concern for many fans lies in the identity of the new owner’s possible backers, rum­oured to include marketing moguls the Barclay brothers and the corporate raider Philip Green, recently lin­k­­ed to an attempted takeover of Marks and Spencer. It is to be hoped Kenwright will identify his partners as soon as possible.

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Huge debt, daily losses and a bankrupt chairman – Dominic Fifield recounts the sorry saga at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace, founder members of the Premier League which they left just two years ago, have now been perched on the brink of oblivion for nearly a year. Over £20 million in debt and losing £40,000 every week, south London’s perennial under-achievers have been brought to their knees by gross financial mis­management.

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After much publicity, the Football Task Force released its final report. Roger Titford finds out if it will make any difference to English football and its fans

The final report from the Football Task Force appeared just before Christmas. If it were a match it would be a 0-0 stalemate and a sadly predictable one too. This was a big opportunity for fans and authorities to move closer together. In the event, each side issued sep­arate and contradictory reports on how the game should, or should not, be regulated and passed the buck to Kate Hoey, the sports min­ister, who now has the tough choice of being radical or practical.

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Wednesday 1 Holders Spurs slink out of the Worthington Cup at Fulham, their 3-1 defeat described by George Graham as "by far our worst performance since I became manager". A crowd of 17,000 sees Aston Villa trounce Southampton 4-0. "The crowds have been crap because we've played crap until tonight," says the forthright John Gregory. In the Scottish equivalent Rangers' mini-crisis continues with an extra-time defeat at Aberdeen (yes, Aberdeen). Huddersfield threaten legal action against the Football League for referee Jeff Winter's failure to award a penalty during their Worthington match against Wimbledon. That'll work. Darlington are the lucky losers drawn to play at Villa in the third round of the FA Cup. "I have a direct line to the big man upstairs," says their safe-cracking chairman. The government rejects plans for the new Wembley, on the grounds that it would not be able to stage major athletics tournaments as well as football matches.

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