Search: ' Portsmouth'

Terry Venables still doesn't have full control of Portsmouth, but Sarah Gilmore explains why his popularity is soaring

Late night shopping has never thrilled me. So you can imagine how I felt to be faced with a mass of families packed into Portsmouth city centre, eagerly responding to the local radio DJ’s attempts to whip up some enthusiasm for the Christmas lights’ switch-on. Expectation was in the air as I shoved my way through the throng of three thousand people. The DJ squawked his way to an hysterical climax interrupted by huge roar for the celebrity switcher: “Ladies and gentlemen… Mr Terry Venables!” The only sound of dissent amidst the cheering, and stamping came from the man squashed next to me. “Bloody second from bottom,” he said – as he clapped enthusiastically.

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Lots of players are expected to have big futures but never justify the hype. Cris Freddi profiles some of the game's biggest underachievers

Edu, (Jonas Eduardo Américo)
The first ‘new Pelé’, he scored in his second international and became an immediately controversial figure by being included in the 1966 World Cup squad at the age of 16 but not playing a match while Brazil picked a string of knackered veterans. A skilful winger, he played in the 1970 & 1974 finals, but only against the weakest opposition (Romania & Zaire), and was always a peripheral figure despite winning 42 caps.

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Did Terry Venables take illegal bungs during Teddy Sheringham's transfer to Tottenham?

Church bells peal across the land as the Premier League bungs inquiry finally publish their report. Crowds gather admiringly around anyone who has managed to read it all the way through. The report’s 300 pages, and the ten thousand pages of evidence, focus mainly on the transfer of Teddy Sheringham from Forest to Spurs in 1992. It’s a massively complicated tale, likely to defeat even the most diligent reader in much the same way as the famous Panorama programme on Terry Venables’ dealings at Spurs lost many viewers long before the fiftieth photocopied invoice flashed onto the screen.

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Although France '98 will have representatives from North and Central America, Neil Dixe Wills predicts that they won't upset the applecart

At the turn of the century Mexican president-cum-dictator Porfirio Diaz quipped, in what passed for wit in those days, “Poor Mexico: so far from God, so close to the United States.” Had he not shuffled off his mortal coil 82 years ago he might now be tempted to add, “But thank goodness we’re in the CONCACAF region.”

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WSC readers and fanzine editors weight up the season to come

BIRMINGHAM

John Tandy

How will your team do next season? At best mid table; at worst it’ll end in tears.

Who will be the single most important person at your club? Probably the combination of owners and the Chief Executive. The names of the club and the stadium are up for sale, so by the time you read this I may well be watching Atletico Notcutts Garden Centre at the Bordesley Family Butchers Stadium (except if that ever happens, I won’t be). There’s money at the club, but it still has to be spent astutely.

If you had to come up with a new piece of merchandise to sell at the club shop what would it be? A Mark McGhee dartboard would sell like hot cakes.

Which player at your club most divides the home support and why? Probably, I’m afraid, Paul Furlong. There are those who say that he’s workshy, ineffective and inadequate – and there are those that really don’t like him at all.

What one thing would you most like to change about the matchday environment? I’d quite like the football to be more interesting.

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