Search: ' Terry Venables'

WSC readers and fanzine editors weight up the season to come

BIRMINGHAM

John Tandy

How will your team do next season? At best mid table; at worst it’ll end in tears.

Who will be the single most important person at your club? Probably the combination of owners and the Chief Executive. The names of the club and the stadium are up for sale, so by the time you read this I may well be watching Atletico Notcutts Garden Centre at the Bordesley Family Butchers Stadium (except if that ever happens, I won’t be). There’s money at the club, but it still has to be spent astutely.

If you had to come up with a new piece of merchandise to sell at the club shop what would it be? A Mark McGhee dartboard would sell like hot cakes.

Which player at your club most divides the home support and why? Probably, I’m afraid, Paul Furlong. There are those who say that he’s workshy, ineffective and inadequate – and there are those that really don’t like him at all.

What one thing would you most like to change about the matchday environment? I’d quite like the football to be more interesting.

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Tuesday 3 Le Tournoi begins with a 1-1 draw between France and Brazil, whose goal comes from a 35-yard swerving free kick by Roberto Carlos, the sort that used to win cup finals in boys' annuals while the crowd shouted, "Lummee!" and "What's the youngster playing at?" Teddy Sheringham asks Spurs for a transfer, saying, as you do, "I am looking for a new challenge at this stage in my career." Iran break a World Cup goalscoring record, beating the Maldives 17-0 in a first round qualifier. So, Teddy, coach to the Maldives?

Wednesday 4 England beat Italy 2-0 with goals from Ian Wright and Paul Scholes (Ginger Rogers 'Em says the Sun, desperately). "It was an end of season performance by us," snarls Cesare Maldini, suddenly sounding like a man stuck at the wrong end of Division Two. "It'll be different in Rome – there'll be 80,000 screaming Italians for a start," observes Glenn. And if England lose, they could go into a playoff with, say, Croatia or Yugoslavia… we may yet see Jimmy Hill in a tartan tie next summer.

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Neil Rose on Vinnie Jones's legal proceedings against the transfer system

British football will shortly face arguably its greatest challenge yet. A London solicitors’ firm is preparing to launch a legal challenge on behalf of two Premiership players – one of whom is thought to be Vinnie Jones – against the transfer system.

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Jimmy Nicholl has returned to Raith Rovers, but has he done the right thing? Gary Oliver thinks not

Unless a Sunday scandal sheet catches Alan Sugar and Terry Venables sharing illicit candlelit dinners, 1997 will witness no more unlikely reunion than that of Raith Rovers and Jimmy Nicholl. For Raith’s supporters there is relief that hostilities between the club and its most successful manager have finally ceased. But Nicholl returning alongside manager Iain Munro, as Messiah without portfolio, is a bizarre twist which raises more questions than it answers.

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A boardroom reshuffle at Nottingham Forest throws up a familiar face to Spurs fan Martin Cloake

In 1989, this man said: “I love Tottenham. You watch two other teams and you don’t feel you want either to win… unless they’re playing Arsenal.” He also told the Independent that he disapproved, pointedly, of directors who “move around” between clubs. The man was Irving Scholar, then director of Tottenham Hotspur, now at Nottingham Forest. At least Forest fans should be under no illusions about Scholar’s priorities – it will be business first. Unless of course Forest are playing Arsenal.

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