Troubles at Hull City and confusion at Hasting Town and St Leonards
When clubs get rid of an unpopular owner, fans are naturally tempted to greet his successors with a relatively uncritical eye. Few at Hull City were sorry to see the back of David Lloyd and the new regime of chairman Nick Buchanan appears to have restored a measure of stability. However, there may still be trouble ahead.
Tuesday 2 Man Utd finish top of their Champions League group with a 2-1 win over Sturm Graz. "The competition will be more exciting for everyone from now on," yawns Alex. Arsenal's magnificently meaningless last group game ends in a 3-2 win in Stockholm. The FA are to take no action against Neil Ruddock over garlic-related remarks allegedly made to Patrick Vieira. "We fully accept that he is not racist ñ as his many black friends in the game will testify," says one of those FA spokesmen. Charlton regain second spot in the First Division after winning at Crewe. Moneybags Wigan, still unbeaten, go top of the Second by beating Chesterfield. Another bad day at the office for Barry Hearn as Leyton Orient slip to the bottom of the Third after losing at Darlington while rivals Chester win at Shrewsbury. Exciting times ahead in the Potteries, possibly, as Stoke City are bought by a consortium of Icelandic businessmen.
Many Scottish clubs are looking to move, but Gary Oliver reports on why this may not be good for them
Anyone attempting to visit the homes of all 92 English league clubs during the 1990s has been faced with a moving target. In Scotland, where far fewer new stadiums have risen, it is several nomadic clubs that have been doing the groundhopping – an experience from which not one has benefited.
Day ten of the WSC advent calendar and, having had Jesus on the eighth, it’s only fair we focus on his mother Mary today. In 1999 Southampton were desperate to relocate from The Dell into a new, bigger stadium. Tim Springett discussed the problems surrounding the proposed move in issue 154, and considered the option of moving to a gasworks called St Mary’s
The saga of Southampton’s efforts to move to a new ground has now moved into injury time with the announcement that building work on a new 32,000 seater stadium to replace The Dell is set to begin in the spring. However, as every Saints fan knows only too well, a lot of things can go wrong in injury time.
It seems that everyone in Britain thinks we have the hardest centre-halves. Matt Nation disagrees
There appears to be a stipulation in certain player-turned-TV-pundits’ contracts which dictates that, at least twice a season, the audience must be told just how much one six-footer is looking forward to kicking lumps out of another six-footer in the game coming up on Saturday. Similarly, the pundits’ stooge is obliged to inform the camera just how much the fans will be looking forward to it as well. Their failure to use the phrase “Clash of the Titans” represents potential grounds for instant dismissal.