Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger assesses whether Germany could stage the 2006 World Cup
Egidius Braun, head of the German FA, was beaming. Egidius is the undisputed world champion of jovial grinners, and so it wasn’t his smile as such that was irritating, but the occasion which brought it out.
John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson look at the bidding process for the 2006 World Cup, and England's chances of staging the competition
Sir Bobby Charlton features prominently in the calendar produced to promote England’s campaign to host the 2006 World Cup, which was recently mailed across the football and media networks of the globe. This slick bit of marketing covers 15 months from January 1999 to March 2000 – the month when FIFA is due to announce the winning bid. Sir Bobby appears in two of the pictures – straddling the nostalgia of a black-and-white image of his youth (in a back street of his home town) and the multicoloured glory of England’s 1966 World Cup victory.
A proven manager was needed to steady the ship at the County Ground after the Robins' relegation from the Premier League. But as Chris Hall explains, that was not enough for some fans
Steve McMahon has gone. Vexed and exasperated by a cost-cutting administration on the one hand, an unforgiving and am-bitious group of supporters on the other. In the end it was no surprise. Things haven’t been looking good at Swindon; results have been poor for months and confidence is low.
Patrick Harverson explains why the football authorities' waiving of their own rules will make more corporate takeovers difficult to prevent
It is understandable that there is a lot of anger within football about the proposed takeover of Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting. Any deal that combines the country’s most-liked club with its most-feared media tycoon is bound to go down like a lead balloon.
AS Thomas finds out more about the Swans' unpopular chairman
Distinguishing features Large, camp waddler with a horrendous comb-over. Always seen at The Vetch in a green bulging Barbour coat irrespective of the climate.