Recent spats at the New Den have put the club's fans back under the microscope, but Lance Bellers explains why things are different this time around
Hooliganism would appear to be back at Millwall. Recently we have had Man City players supposedly “too frightened to go for a winner”, City fans kept in for an hour after the final whistle for their own safety and Fulham players confronted on the pitch by home fans. Same old story in south-east London? Well, yes and no.
Borussia Dortmund are a modern and corporate club but that hasn't stopped them constructing a huge new standing terrace. Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger reports
It started to rain a few minutes into the game. No drizzle, mind you. Real, heavy rain. Thick, grey clouds. Chilly gusts. The works. We had been promised the roof would be ready in time for this, the first home game of the season but, meticulous planning being what it is, there were gaping holes above our heads. I always wear my lucky baseball cap and my old leather jacket on match days, so the weather didn’t bother me, but those around me who were either less superstitious or too trustful when it comes to workmen’s promises got soaking wet within seconds. What was more, the roofers had left piles of tiles lying around. They dammed up the water until it periodically came crashing down on our heads like a torrent from a giant bucket.
Amazingly, not everyone in Europe has welcomed the proposed super league. WSC correspondents sum up reactions in three of the key countries
Germany
When the plans for a European super league were first presented in the German media, reactions were as vague as the proposals themselves. Most Bundesliga club officials grieved over the loss of morality in sport in a rather populist manner, knowing that the vast majority of German teams would be excluded from the feeding troughs of the ESL and may have their very existence threatened. But even for those who will be involved in it, the new era may bring about just as many problems as advantages.
Dear WSC
There wasn’t room on the questionnaire (WSC No 138) to record my favourite World Cup moment. Given the paucity of the “entertainment”, the presence of the Paraguayan defender, Arce, was a blessing. Credit must be given to Barry Davies, who never slipped up with his pronunciation, as the rest of us surely would have. Thus, Arce was constantly announced as “Ah-Say!” in the grand manner of the blustering cartoon rooster, Foghorn Leghorn, and never once degenerated into “Aaaarse” like the yokel in The Fast Show sketches.
Martin Callaghan, Wakefield
You'd think with a heavy police presence at least one of the officers would arrest any violent football fans, wouldn't you? Well as Paul Mathews discovered, not even the policemen want to hear about trouble at games
It’s five o’clock on a Saturday afternoon in October. You return to your car after a typically fiery local derby, comforted by the presence of a number of uniformed police officers, who stay close to the main contingent of away supporters. However, at some point you must peel off from the main group and negotiate the side streets. Seconds later, a rival supporter suddenly comes alongside you. Seeing several police officers in the distance, you decide to ignore him and keep your head down. The rival fan decides to exorcise his frustration at his own team’s 4-0 stuffing by acquainting his right fist with your face.