Search: ' Port Vale'

It sounds like a dream. A young man plucked from a building site and now scoring goals freely in the Football League. Scott Anthony recounts the story of Charlie Austin

When Charlie Austin swept in Swindon Town’s opener in their 3-0 victory over Leeds United it marked a truly remarkable ascent through the football pyramid. After arriving at the County Ground from Wessex League Poole Town in the summer, 20-year-old Austin has become a scoring sensation. At the time of writing he had notched 15 goals in 23 games, a ratio that bears comparison with much-hyped peers such as Jermaine Beckford and Jordan Rhodes. Austin is “constantly pinching myself”, League One defences are consistently being shredded. For Swindon promotion is a possibility, for Austin there is talk of an England Under-21 bow.

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Once upon a time English football fans generally enjoyed seeing other clubs from their league be successful in Europe. The dominance of the Big Four has changed that in recent years

“England are out of Europe,” wailed Peter Drury when Manchester United were eliminated from the Champions League on away goals to Bayern Munich, a day after Arsenal had be thrashed by Barcelona. Like many others, Drury was overlooking the Europa League where Fulham and Champions League flops Liverpool have reached the semi finals. Nonetheless, his dismay will have accurately summed up the outlook of all those who work at ITV Sport for whom those successive nights at the Nou Camp and Old Trafford must have felt like Armageddon.

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Tom Hunt examines the problems in the first year of Europe's revamped club competition – and how UEFA aren't really helping

When David Moyes reflects on Everton’s inaugural Europa League campaign, it will not only be the feeble 3-0 surrender at Sporting Lisbon that gets his hackles rising. The curious case of the Blues’ 5.45pm kick-off in the first leg of their round of 32 tie against Sporting on February 16 will have left a sour aftertaste too. Moyes was unhappy that Everton were forced into an unusual tea-time start and went so far as to accuse UEFA of “diminishing” their own competition. Not the best publicity for a tournament struggling to convince people of its worth but Moyes, who had consistently fielded his strongest team in it, warranted some sympathy.

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How Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club and its fans united to build a stadium
by Paul Hodson & Stephen North
Stripe Publishing, £15.99
Reviewed by Drew Whitworth
From WSC 302 April 2012

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We Want Falmer! is a sequel to the authors' earlier Build a Bonfire, from 1997. Their first book is a collection of testimonies from Brighton & Hove Albion players, staff and fans, recounting the fight to depose chairman Bill Archer and save the club from relegation to the Conference. At the time, Brighton were 91st in the League and playing at Gillingham to crowds under 2,000. They now sit in the upper half of the Championship and crowds at the new American Express Community Stadium (Amex) have averaged over 20,000.

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George Best at Hibs
by John Neil Munro
Birlinn, £9.99
Reviewed by Graham McColl
From WSC 289 March 2011

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Scottish club football began the 1970s in the cigar-toting strata of European football, but by the end of the decade it was doing the equivalent of rummaging around looking for fag-ends. Hibernian, whose hugely progressive Turnbull's Tornadoes side had jousted with the likes of Sporting Lisbon and Liverpool early that decade, were chief among the Scottish game's derelicts by the closing weeks of 1979. The Edinburgh club was in an abject state and heading for relegation.

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