Search: 'media'

An American website could herald a new way of completely digesting football, as Ian Plenderleith describes

Looking back on historical sporting events, how much information do we really need to know? A California-based website called Match Analysis has been using its specially tailored software to provide detailed touch-by-touch breakdowns of football games, mainly to professional US coaches, for the past five years. Now it wants to expand that service to fans keen to focus on each kick, slice, header or fumble by every player.

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With the credit crunch starting to hit fan's pockets, attendances are suffering. Ashley Shaw looks into how Man Utd are trying to deal with the problem

The Manchester United Supporters Trust campaign to urge the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the ticket-pricing policy at Old Trafford represents the first skirmish in what could become a war between cash-strapped supporters and football clubs at all levels.

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Cameron Carter reviews a documentary on the life and tragic death of Britain's first black outfield player and army officer

We sometimes forget how hard our modern-day players have it – up to two games a week, fans throwing coins at them, contractually obliged to visit an infant classroom to encourage a healthy diet – and yet even this suffering pales in comparison with what one player went through in the early part of the last century. Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero and Walter’s Story (BBC4) were, respectively, a documentary and dramatisation of the life of an almost inconceivably strong-willed man who was the first black outfield player in the Football League and then the first black officer in the British army.

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Brazil is suddenly keen on its football heritage – but with the emphasis on the Ricardo Teixeira years Robert Shaw reports

“The Maracaña has to be blown up. It is impossible to remake it, or even to adapt it to host a World Cup.” “This venue is simply fantastic for the history of Brazilian football.” Spot the difference. In 2004, Ricardo Teixeira president of the Brazilian football federation (CBF) was talking down his country’s most famous stadium as well as the game’s history before 1994, but by this September Teixeira could barely contain his enthusiasm for the past at the inauguration of São ­Paulo’s Museu do Futebol. Teixeira now expects a revamped Maracaña to host the 2014 World Cup final.

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Neil Forsyth recalls a Carlisle takeover bid that turned out to be less than credible

In an era when takeovers of football clubs involve sheikhs, billionaires and intricate financial arrangements, it is worth remembering a simpler time. A time when just about anyone could try to buy a football club and, in the memorable case of Stephen Brown, just about anyone did. Among the vast ranks of dreamers and chancers who have drifted into football for often questionable reasons, Brown stands alone for his sheer daring.

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