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Mark Poole describes the season in which Celtic won the championship on goals difference

The long-term significance
The year Hearts threw it all away, in one of Scotland’s most dramatic league finales ever. The Jam Tarts last won the title in 1960 and only Celtic and Rangers have won it since Aberdeen in 1984- 85. Hearts, unbeaten in seven months, went into the last day of the season needing just a draw.

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Tom Davies describes the financial predicaments of Dundee, Mansfield Town and Kidderminster Harriers

A glimmer of light is flickering at the end of a dark tunnel at Dundee, whose supporters’ trust, Dee4Life, has co-ordinated a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to pull the Scottish First Division club out of administration – though a 25-point penalty still threatens their footballing status.

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The media blame just about everyone for the failure of England’s 2018 World Cup bid

During the hung parliament of the 2010 general election the 24-hour news coverage made frequent and portentous reference to how the financial markets were reacting to events, instead of concentrating on political horse-trading and an unproportional voting system. In the run-up to the announcement of the 2018 World Cup hosts on December 2, Britain’s bookmakers were held in similar regard, despite having no actual bearing on the outcome of the decision. Although there was plenty of evidence to the contrary, England’s bid was installed as the favourite. So when Russia won, many in the press were shocked and extremely angry.

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Graham Hughes recounts the only season of English League football to have been played during war time

The long-term significance
This was the only time that a full English League programme has gone ahead during wartime. Since its formation 26 years earlier, the Football League had been growing in membership and popularity. It now faced its first real setback, with a barrage of criticism over the decision to play on while Britain’s young men were being asked to go to war.

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Mike Whalley tells how after an unexpectedly slow start to club existence, AFC Liverpool are in it for the long haul

“We didn’t really have an idea as to what we were letting ourselves in for,” says AFC Liverpool chairman Chris Stirrup. “Everyone had seen what FC United had done. In that first season, we thought we would walk the league.” Two-and-a-half years in, Merseyside’s newest non-League club have learned to temper ambition with realism. They’ve had to, when their home gates in the North West Counties League First Division – the tenth level of the pyramid – are below 150. Considering the amount of publicity they generated on their formation in 2008, it’s easy to wonder why they aren’t doing better.

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