Dear WSC
AFC Wimbledon fan Aled Thomas (Letters, WSC 267) bemoans people not knowing what to call his club. He would have enjoyed this exchange on Talksport on a recent Saturday when they decided to venture south of the Premier League, for a change. Ian Danter: “AFC Wimbledon could gain promotion to the Conference today.” Micky Quinn: “Is that the original club?” Danter (hesitantly): “Yes.” Quinn: “Do they still play at Plough Lane?” Why so knowledgeable?
Glyn Berrington, Brierley Hill
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Stories
Wigan's chairman Dave Whelan gives his views on his opposite number at Newcastle, Mike Ashley
“Mike Ashley has no class whatsoever. I think he has got what he deserves at Newcastle. You don’t go in there and lower the standards.” Such comments about Newcastle’s beleaguered owner and his fondness for XXL replica shirts could have come from any number of columnists. Instead they were made by another Premier League chairman. Managers snipe at one another publicly all the time these days but it is quite rare for club owners to feud. It’s less of a surprise however that this unofficial protocol should have been breached by Wigan’s Dave Whelan. Of course, Whelan’s beef with Ashley doesn’t really stem from his concern about falling standards in the boadroom. This much is borne out by other comments at the same press conference about Ashley’s predecessor: “Whatever you think of Freddy Shepherd, he had great dignity. People say he made a good living out of it, but he was also Newcastle United through and through.” That’s the same Freddy Shepherd who alternately scandalised and embarrassed Newcastle supporters with his crass behaviour over a period of several years before making £50 million in selling up to Ashley.
England's premier cup competition is starting to suffer in popularity as ITV and Setanta take the rights
On successive days in December, the sports pages carried several pictures of excited young fans reaching out to touch players. Firstly Japanese children in Ronaldo replica shirts greeted Manchester United when they arrived in Tokyo for the Club World Cup. The following day Blyth Spartans fans celebrated the FA Cup second-round defeat of Bournemouth; it’s unlikely that their green-and-white shirts are available anywhere other than the club shop and a couple of stores in Blyth town centre.
What’s it like to have not seen your team play for 15 years?Matt Nation makes an unsentimental return to Ashton Gate
The point behind school reunions, find-your-mates websites and other sewers of nostalgia has always seemed rather moot. There are reasons why people haven’t seen each other for half a lifetime. The hugs may be cloying, the air-kisses sloppy and the compliments gushing, but they do not alter one crucial fact. If they had wanted to stay in touch, they would have.
Ian Wright has quit the BBC to present Gladiators on Sky. Some are delighted, but his unique style will be lost, writes Cameron Carter
It hasn’t been the most resonant resignation. Ian Wright has severed his links with the BBC’s football coverage, complaining that the corporation had lost touch with real fans and that he had been cast in the role of “comedy jester” in his appearances as a pundit. For the sake of accuracy, Wright is not so much resigning as making himself unavailable, as his role was always a freelance one and, with the BBC losing the rights to live England games and FA Cup games from August, his future appearances would have been irregular at best. Patrick Mower declining to appear on any further editions of Give Us A Clue because Una Stubbs and Lionel Blair didn’t understand how the kids related to mime would be a workable comparison.