Steven Morgan explores the financial depths to which Portsmouth have sunk
As Christmas presents go, it was like finally unwrapping something you’d asked for two years ago. Still, better late than never. Chairman Martin Gregory’s decision to quit Portsmouth on December 18th had been the top item on every fan’s festive wish list, such was the crippling financial damage wreaked during his three-year stint in charge.
Martin Brodetsky explains how a failed stadium scheme has pushed a club on the fringe of elite towards destruction
On Wednesday November 25th over 700 people crammed into Oxford Town Hall to attend a meeting organised by the pressure group FOUL (Fighting for Oxford United’s Life). The group was formed in November in response to the club’s dire situation: £13.5 million in debt; losing about £12,000 each week; a half-built stadium rusting away on the city outskirts (see WSC 140); and facing imminent receivership.
Stephanie Pride reports on the legal scrap over Scarborough's ownership that has left football – and the fans – as the main casualties
When striker Steve Brodie parted company with his boot during a dismal midweek goalless draw against Barnet in October in front of barely 1,000 spectators (Man Utd were on the telly), it just about summed up the potency and pulling power of a thoroughly disheartened side seemingly on the road to relegation. But, dismal though events on the pitch have been, it is not the football that Scarborough fans have been talking about in recent months.
Man Utd fans vent their anger at the club's board for considering a potential takeover from Rupert Murdoch and BSkyB, writes Paul Richards
The Theatre of Dreams turned into a waking nightmare for the directors of Manchester United as they were left squirming in their seats at Old Trafford on November 17th after a two-hour grilling by hundreds of shareholders.
Martin O'Neill confounded the pundits and delighted Leicester fans by declining the chance to move to a bigger club. Stephen Wagg looks at how the voluble barrack-room lawyer came to hold Filbert Street in the palm of his hand
It’s October 19th 1998, on a chilly evening at Filbert Street. Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur are awaiting permission to kick off from BSkyB producers. “OK everyone, here comes Martin,” Leicester City PRO Alan Birchenall bellows into the microphone. The crowd stirs. “Now he doesn’t know I’m doing this,” thunders Birchenall, “but if you really want to keep Martin here at the club, SHOW HIM WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM!” Most of the 20,000 spectators jump to their feet and, amid a crescendo of noise, brandish “Don’t Go Martin” posters (issued by the local newspaper) above their heads.