Search: ' Southend Utd'

Sunday 1 England beat Moldova 3-0. "We came here with a few banana skins lying about and sidestepped them," says Glenn, whose metaphors might need a bit of working on.

Tuesday 3 Sheff Wed extend their lead at the top to five points after a 2-1 home win over Leicester, the first of their two coming from 'teenage sensation' Richie Humphreys who now has three in four games. "He came, he saw, and (guess…) he conquered," says David Pleat.

Wednesday 4 Never a dull moment for George Graham. Both he and Frank Clark are to help Norwegian police with their enquiries into the business activities of agent provocateur Rune Hauge, facing jail on fraud charges. Colchester stage the come back of the night in the Coke Cup First Round – 3-2 down from the first leg they win 3-1 at West Brom. Southend lose 3-2 on aggregate to Fulham and Reading's first-ever visit to Wycombe ends in a 2-0 defeat. Internazionale's Nwankwo Kanu may have to retire due to a heart condition spotted during a medical following his move to Milan from Ajax.

Read more…

Thursday 1 The US win the women's football tournament at the Olympics, beating China… Patrik Berger finally signs for Liverpool after weeks of negotiations, the sticking point being whether he would be contractually obliged to go nightclubbing with Robbie 'n' Jamie 'n' Macca every Saturday. Terry Venables declines an offer to become joint owner of Portsmouth, saying that the club will need to clear their debts before he is prepared to get involved. There's a joke in there somewhere.

Friday 2 Blackburn deny that they are about to spend a hefty wedge of the Shearer money on Ajax's Patrick Kluivert. So a deal must be imminent. Celtic are fined £42,000 for dealing with an unlicensed agent, Bruce Rioch's brother, Neil, when buying Alan Stubbs from Bolton, and Stubbs is also fined. Hove Council vote against Brighton's plans to build a new stadium and shopping complex at, ahem, Toad's Hole Valley. Brighton chairman Bill Archer says that a groundshare with Portsmouth now seems likely for 1997-98 (assuming, of course that Portsmouth are still in existence).

Saturday 3 Nigeria become the first African team to win an Olympic gold, beating Argentina 3-2 with a goal from Emmanuel Amunike in the last minute. Brazil have to make do with the bronze after a 5-0 win over Portugal.

Read more…

Monday 1 Graham Kelly confirms that the FA are interested in bidding for the 2006 World Cup, and says: "One of our early acts will be to inform the Germans of our intentions. What we won't want to do is split the vote as far as Europe is concerned." Scotland and Wales will not be involved in the bid. South Africa are also likely to be candidates.

Tuesday 2 After much wrangling Leeds have been taken over by the Caspian group, backed by ex-QPR sugar dad, Richard Thompson. Howard Wilkinson may spend some of their money to tempt David Batty, no, Jamie Pollock, easy mistake to make. West Ham sign the out of contract Paulo Futre from Milan with more big names to come: "We're going back to the era of Moore, Hurst and Peters," says Frank Lampard, clearly dreaming of cup runs, relegation battles and 4-0 defeats at Leicester.

Read more…

Dear WSC
I’m sorry for having caused a misunderstanding with a line from my piece, Hardcore Football. Of course Derek Megginson is perfectly right (Letters, WSC No 111): Matthäus, Völler and Klinsmann were neither born in the Ruhr, nor have they ever played for a team from this region; actually, few places can be imagined that are further removed from the Ruhr than these gentlemen’s respective birthplaces. And that, I have to confess, was supposed to be my point.“Matthäus, Völler, Klinsmann . . . they all come from here, the Ruhr” was not meant to be taken literally; it functions as a metaphor (to avoid another complaint: yes, in highbrow lingo it’s a synecdoche). I thought a reader would stumble over this statement and, as a consequence, have a closer look at the err, subordinate clause, “the place where German football was spawned”. No matter how smart, suave and stinking rich these modern pros may be, they are still footballing descendants of the men with furry brows and callused hands. That’s what I wanted to say; and I thought it would work, because few people ran out and checked JFK’s birth certificate when he claimed, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Alas, it’s not what you want to say, it’s what you say. Any misunderstanding in a text is always the writers;’ fault; metaphors are tricky bastards, and they have fooled better writers than me.  We all make mistakes (Derek made one too: Pelé wasn’t born in Scarborough; he was born in Tres Caracoes, Brazil; it’s true that he spent the summers of his youth in Scarborough, with his uncle Simon Garfunkel, but he never would have qualified for Walter Winterbottom’s team). I promise to be less pretentious from now on.
Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger, Witten (birthplace of nobody), Germany (home to few)

Read more…

Saturday 2 A glimmer of hope left for Bolton, who win 1-0 at Leeds. "There is still belief that we can stay up," says Colin Todd, chomping on a four leaved clover. Dave Merrington is also feeling chipper – "The spirit in our dressing room is excellent" – despite Southampton slipping into the bottom three after losing 1-0 at Spurs, below Man City who get a late equalizer at home to Blackburn. Forest prepare for Bayern with a 3-1 win at Sheffield Wed who have Steve Nicol in goal for the whole of the second half. The other side making a late bid for relegation, Middlesbrough, suffer their ninth defeat in ten games, 2-0 at home to Everton. Debutant Branco appears for the last ten minutes and nearly scores with a trademark thirty yarder. The First Division continues on its insanely egalitarian course with erstwhile strugglers Sheffield Utd and Wolves winning away to one-time pace setters Birmingham (featuring the 49th and 50th signings of Barry Fry's two-year reign) and Millwall, the latter having Champions League deserter Sergei Yuran sent off just before full-time. What if everyone – barring Derby and Watford, in the clear at either end – were to finish level on points and goals scored and goal difference? Just exactly where would we be then, eh?

Sunday 3 Liverpool disprove the notion that the Championship is a two-horse race with a comprehensive demolition of fourth-placed Aston Villa, scoring all their goals in a 3-0 win in the first eight minutes. "I've had a few kicks up the backside in football and sometimes it's the best thing for you" says Brian Little, smiling through the tears. In Scotland, Rangers go three points clear of Celtic once more after a 2-0 win at Hibs during which goalkeeper Andy Goram is attacked by a home fan.

Read more…