Saturday 2 The addition of Rio Ferdinand to Leeds’ defence has an instant impact, with Leicester scoring three times in the first half hour at Filbert Street. “One of my central defenders cost us all three goals but I’m not saying who it was,” says David O’Leary. The fact that Jonathan Woodgate was taken off after 37 minutes may be a clue. At Anfield, Alan Curbishley and Gérard Houllier disagree politely about Emile Heskey, who twice downs Richard Rufus. “I try to cool my players down and he tries to get my player sent off,” rages Houllier after Liverpool’s 3-0 win. “Mind you, he is English, so you forgive him.” In the First Division, Huddersfield win at home for the first time this season, beating Crewe 3-1. Wimbledon lose at home again, 1-0 to rising West Brom. “Maybe the players have a rampant sex life when they stay in their houses on Friday night,” ponders knockabout Dons boss Terry Burton. Oxford are seven points adrift in the Second after losing 3-2 at Oldham. “It is time to start kicking backsides because some of these players are looking for excuses and that’s why they are losers,” says manager David Kemp. Which should help boost morale.
Search: ' Euro 68'
Stories
Dear WSC
Matt Nation’s defence of the long ball game (Myths, WSC 167) was a welcome read for someone like me who went to Wimbledon regularly in the Eighties and saw contempt spat at the club from all directions for the no frills style of play that apparently invalidated everything we had achieved. Long ball football, admittedly, can be boring, but only if it doesn’t work. And for Wimbledon in the Eighties it did work – like a dream. In fact the Dons were the League’s top scorers in each of their first two seasons of hoofing it (1982-83 and 1983-84) with 96 and 97 League goals respectively, topping the hundred mark in all competitions.We were also, not surprisingly, promoted in both as well (as champions with 98 points in the former) and again in 1985-86. By September 1986 – less than four years after losing 4-2 at home to Halifax in a Fourth Division match – we were top of the whole League (albeit only for 11 days). In all the excitement I don’t think I even noticed that we were a “boring long ball side” until the media and our disgruntled victims started bleating about it.
Brian Matthews, Sutton
The demise of the Cup-Winners Cup means there are some European ties destined never to be repeated and Bangor City v Napoli is one of them. A shame, since the first meeting was very close. Cris Freddi looks back
This was the first European match played by either side, but no prizes for realising the comparisons end there. One of the big names of Serie A against something from the Cheshire League emerging blinking into the light. The two Argentinian forwards, Rosa and Tacchi, had cost more than Bangor’s entire income since the war. One team looked set for 90 minutes with their backs to the wall.
As Ipswich revel in their role as the nation's sweethearts and Norwich flounder, Gavin Barber reflects on their sudden change of fortunes
What were you doing on August 22? If you are an Ipswich fan, you were probably watching a thrilling draw with Manchester United. If you support Norwich, you were most likely searching for a reason to miss your team’s 0-0 draw with Bournemouth in the Worthington Cup. This stark illustration of the current disparity between the two teams didn’t go unnoticed by either set of supporters. Since then, of course, Ipswich’s astounding Premiership form and City’s further struggles have only made it more marked.
The vioence at Africa's Champions League final was the climax of a troubled year. Alan Duncan fears little will change as a result
The reputation of African football suffered yet another knock following December’s ill-fated second leg of the Champions League final between Tunisian outfit Espérance de Tunis and Ghana’s Hearts of Oak, in the west African country’s capital, Accra. The match, the climax of the continental club calendar, degenerated into scenes of pandemonium with 18 minutes of the second half remaining when security forces responded to a hostile, missile-throwing faction of Ghanaian fans by firing teargas up into the stadium’s north stand, with one canister landing above the VIP enclosure.