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Some of WSC's regular contributors give their views on 1999 and their hopes for football in the new millennium

Harry Pearson
Ups
The return of Juninho.
Des Lynam’s move to ITV. The adverts mean we get less of his banter.
Alan Shearer’s public persona. A comedic tour de force combining the best of Victor Meldrew and Harry Enfield’s teenager. Every time I see his face I just crease up.

Downs
Paul Gas­coigne’s appearance as a sub v Chelsea. Sad and ­irritating in equal measure. And that was just his hairstyle. Continued ranting about foreign players and the pernicious effect their presence is having on our national team. As if England have never been useless before now. The media’s barrel-scraping attempts to fill hours of airtime and acres of newsprint with England v Scotland build-up. Sending a reporter to Hampden Park, Eastbourne.

Hope for 2000
Someone high up at the FA to slap his forehead one morning and say, “I’ve got it! Why don’t we stop the Premiership wages spiral by putting a cap on admission prices!”

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Many Scottish clubs are looking to move, but Gary Oliver reports on why this may not be good for them

Anyone attempting to visit the homes of all 92 English league clubs during the 1990s has been faced with a moving target. In Scotland, where far fewer new stadiums have risen, it is several nomadic clubs that have been doing the groundhopping – an experience from which not one has benefited.

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Some regular WSC contributors weigh up the best and worst things to have happened to football in 1998, and look ahead to 1999

Ian Plenderleith

Ups
– Soaring wages in the Premier League – it makes me feel warm inside to watch players and know at the same time that they will be secure in their old age.

– England’s World Cup exit – God save us eternally from Englishmen on top of the world.

– Scotland fans once again annoying the English by showing them how to enjoy a football tournament.

Downs
– The desecration of once-wonderful European club competitions.

– The failure of self-appointed fan-of-the-people David Mellor to drown in his own grease.

– Overall, too much hype and too little substance.

Hope
That football will eat itself and then we can all do something worthwhile with our spare time.

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Things could be about to change in Scottish football, as Gary Oliver analyses what the future holds for the SPL

Tony Blair may have no intention of repealing trade union legislation, but that has not prevented ten Scots hankering for a closed shop. And far from being Old Labour dinosaurs, these protectionists are the thrusting ‘entrepreneurs’ who chair Scotland’s Premier Division clubs: in the crusade to create an autonomous Premiership, their latest threat is to sever all links with the Scottish Football League and dispense with promotion and relegation.

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Scotland's biggest clubs are threatening to resign from the league. Paul Hutton details their bizarre plans

Even the most casual observer of Scottish football can hardly have been surprised by the news that Scotland’s Premier League teams were planning to resign from the League at the end of the season. It was, after all, common knowledge that they had already employed an accountancy firm to investigate how the Scottish game might be improved (bless ’em). More importantly perhaps, almost five whole years had elapsed since the leagues were last tinkered with.

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