Pm Doutreligne is proud to support a Brussels club with a singular history, and opposes a merger with local rivalsIn August my team, Union Saint-Gilloise, played a pre-season friendly, five miles away at FC Brussels. Although both based in the Belgian capital, the two clubs could hardly be any more different.
Manchester City’s recently departed chief executive was offensive and distasteful, but he was also good at his job, as Tony Curran reportsDuring his time as chief executive of Manchester City, Garry Cook developed a reputation for making public faux pas. So it was not surprise when this propensity brought him down. Cook, should we need reminding, sent an email that he believed was exclusively directed to colleague Brian Marwood in which he mocked the cancer diagnosis of Dr Anthonia Onuoha, the mother and agent of City player Nedum.
Dear WSC
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the article on footballing statues (Striking a pose, WSC 294) it did miss out one rather infamous example – the Ted Bates horror show of a few years back. This short-lived “tribute” to the former Saints player, manager, director and president was astonishingly inept, with legs roughly half the length they should have been. To add to the indignity, more than once a resemblance to dignity-phobic Portsmouth owner/asset-stripper Milan Mandaric was pointed out. The overall effect was of a top-heavy, inebriated and besuited dwarf waving at passers-by. Not really the ideal summing up a lifetime’s service to a club.
Keith Wright, Cheltenham
Henrik Manninen explains how a raft of match-fixing allegations in the far north of Europre has swiftly ended an international experiment“If I was wearing my cap the bet would be on, and if I took the cap off, there would be no business,” said Wilson Raj Perumal on his chosen method for catching the attention of players during a Finnish league cup game between Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) and Jaro played on February 20 this year.
While there is a certain inevitability about this home victory, it’s only August and these two clubs have very different expectations and requirements from a season in League One, writes Julian McDougallAway, at Hillsborough. In the days leading up to and following this match, it is in the news again with speculation about relatives of the 1989 disaster victims getting access to crucial documents and Billy Bragg releasing a song about the phone hacking scandal called Scousers Never Buy The Sun.