Search: ' Euro 68'

In a dark season for the game as well as Stoke, Ken Sproat saw Newcastle inflict one of the Potters’ 31 defeats of 1984-85 – but can now see it wasn't all gloom

A football team cannot get much worse than Stoke City during the 1984-85 season. There, in the all-time records for being hopeless, they skulk alongside such Victorian disasters as Darwen, Loughborough Town and Glossop. The fewest points in a season (17), the fewest wins (three – all at home), the most defeats (31) and, with 24, the fewest goals (the leading scorer was Ian Painter with six, of which four were penalties). They failed to score in 25 of the 42 league matches. They suffered mathematically definite relegation with eight miserable matches still to play.

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Not all revolutionaries are fondly remembered. Barney Ronay examines the controversial legacy of Charles Reep, football’s first tactical statistician 

Wing Commander Charles Reep has been called many things. Twenty years ago the Times dubbed him “The Human Computer of the Fabled Fifties”; an obituary described him more simply as “a football ana­lyst”; while a slightly empurpled Brian Glanville once declared him a member of FA coaching director Char­les Hughes’s “band of believers and acolytes”, the arch­angel of “a fanatical credo, a pseudo-religion”.

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As Iraq gets used to life after Saddam, Hassanin Mubarak recounts what his rule meant for football – and hopes all Iraqis can now enjoy the game in peace

When Saddam Hussein took over as president in 1979, Iraq had one of the most successful nat­ional teams in Asia and some of the continent’s strong­est clubs. The regime quickly asserted its authority over the nation’s favourite sport, appointing Saddam’s personal body­guard, Sabah Mirza Mahmoud, as head of the Iraq Football Association (IFA). His predecessor, Faleh Akram, was later executed on charges of opposing the regime.

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Cardiff City manager Lennie Lawrence has just been honoured after taking charge of his 1,000th English domestic game, as Charles Morris reports

Jim Smith once said that the only requirement for being a football manager was “a degree in insanity”. To pursue his theme, it could be said that Smith has a professorship in the subject, being one of only eight men known to have reached the remarkable total of over­seeing teams in 1,000 English league, FA Cup and League Cup matches.

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Phil Kyte looks at the big issues affecting Rotherham

Has Ronnie Moore’s standing in the eyes of Rotherham fans been seriously affected by the saga of his non-move to Ipswich?
Not really. His eagerness to jump ship left a nasty taste, but most are realistic enough to know it’s more a case of when rather than if he leaves. But like a turbulent love affair, the love you share means you can forgive just about anything. Apart from joining Wednesday. We just hope that when he does go it’s to a big club. (And that rules out Wednesday.)

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