Saturday 1 A ten-point lead for Man Utd who thrash West Ham 7-1 – “It was one of those days when everything went right,” says Sir Alex – while Big Dave’s babies lose for the third time in four games, 1-0 to Chelsea. Michael Owen’s tufty hair receives plenty of ruffling as he scores two in a 3-0 win at Coventry that takes Liverpool to within a point of Leeds. Southampton and Wimbledon both lose but Bradford fail to take advantage, beaten 2-0 at Newcastle. Watford still need eight points to avoid the worst ever Premiership total, their defensive frailties highlighted at Goodison Park, where even Mark Hughes manages to score in Everton’s 4-2 win. There’s violence in Birmingham, where home fans clash with Wolves supporters before their game at St Andrews, and in Bristol, with Stoke goalkeeper Kevin Ward attacked on the pitch by three Rovers fans at the end of the teams’ 3-3 draw. Trapdoor teasers Chester win again, 1-0 at Halifax, and draw level on points with fast sliding Shrewsbury. Hamilton’s match at Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Second Division is called off when the visiting team’s players go on strike over unpaid wages.
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Stories
Davy Millar explains why drastic action may be needed to shake up football in Northern Ireland
In what is becoming a time-honoured tradition, the Irish League season entered the final stretch with talk of reorganisation in the air. Towards the end of April, Premiership strugglers and First Division high-fliers were still unsure whether they had been putting in unnecessary effort as haggling continued over proposals to increase the size of each division.
Dear WSC
Why is Juninho (and any other Brazilian for that matter) referred to as a “samba star”? We don’t call Spanish players “tango stars” or Italians “tarantella stars”. Dennis Bergkamp has never been a “clog dance star” and I haven’t heard Everton fans heralding Joe-Max Moore as their new “hoedown star”. I wonder what foreign journalists call English players. “Morris dance stars” perhaps?
Nigel Ball, Middlesbrough
Craig Brown talks to Jonathan Northcroft about his expectations for Euro 2000 and how is job as Scotland manager is affected by changing trends in international football
Which countries do you expect to do well at Euro 2000?
If I had to pick a winner, I’d choose France. My top four favourites are France, the Czech Republic, England and Holland – in that order. People might be surprised I’m putting England that high, but I feel that when Kevin Keegan gets his squad away from club distractions, their performances will improve. There’s so much at stake at English club level these days, it’s bound to have an effect. If you’re a Manchester United player, for example, you naturally concentrate on the Champions League and winning the Premiership during the season. Get the players away at the training camp, where Keegan will be very good, where he can get the motivation bubbling up, and it’ll be different. The French have obvious qualities – they won the World Cup with a great team and none of those players has since gone over the hill. Indeed they’ve strengthened their squad by bringing in quality young players like Johan Micoud. Laurent Blanc’s still in great form, aged 34, and Didier Deschamps still battles in midfield. Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet are great striking options. And Zidane is still the man, for me. They’re the closest the world’s got to a complete team: as well as their skills, they’ve got great athleticism and just look at the size of them. The fact they struggled a little in qualifying was just a natural reaction to coming back to earth after winning the World Cup.
The worsening football violence in eastern Europe is out of sight and out of mind for the west, says Simon Evans. But not for long
While possible violence at Euro 2000 occupies the minds and column inches of the west European media, the continent’s other half, as usual, is dealing with much more real and pressing problems. The second weekend of April saw serious crowd violence in St Petersburg, Budapest, Lodz and Bucharest. These were not western-style scuffles or skirmishes. Hooliganism in eastern Europe is proper stuff: rubber batons and tear gas, head-splitting and hospitalising. The most serious clashes were in St Petersburg, where one fan died during the latest in a series of full-scale riots that have greeted the start of the Russian season.