Dear WSC
I attended the York v Colchester FA Cup second round replay. Ah, the magic of the FA Cup: went for a traditional pre-match pie and when the kiosk opened I was third in the queue. The first man ordered two meat pies. The second man ordered one meat pie. The response came back: “Sorry love, we’ve sold out.” I laughed so hard I lost my place in the queue. You don’t get that kind of comedy at Old Trafford.
Alex Gage, via email
Search: 'Oldham Athletic'
Stories
Keith Butterick looks at how Deloitte have gradually enhanced their reputation
The Deloitte & Touche Annual Review of Football Finance is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Things have changed dramatically since Gerry Boon, Oldham Athletic fan and an accountant at Deloitte’s Manchester office, produced the first report. Colleagues, who tolerated his interest in comparing the finances of football clubs like an indulgent father looks at his son’s latest craze, considered him slightly barmy.
Sunday 1 Blackburn move into the second promotion spot in the First Division with a 5-0 thrashing of Burnley, prompting Graeme Souness to issue a warning: “We’ll be treating every fixture like it’s the last game of our lives.” After a 1-0 home defeat by Wolves, Birmingham’s sights are now set no higher the play-offs, where they could yet be joined by Sheffield United, who win their local derby, 2-1 at Hillsborough. Leicester’s European hopes fade with a 2-0 defeat at Charlton, but Peter Taylor has identified the problem: “We are missing a footballer.”
Dear WSC
You published a letter from me in WSC 70 (December 1992), suggesting that Newcastle City Council may one day be cajoled into erecting an Arthur Horsfield memorial statue in Eldon Square. For over six years, WSC then callously ignored the career of one who, even in the face of fierce recent competition, must still rank as one of Newcastle United’s least successful signings (seven games in six months before being shipped off back to the lower leagues from whence he came). Imagine my surprise, then, upon reading an article in WSC 150 in which Harry Pearson suggested that the music which Middlesbrough used to run out to was “far too exotic to announce the arrival of Arthur Horsfield”. Having read Mr Pearson’s latest contribution in WSC 153, where he again cites Arthur in his musings on loyalty at Middlesbrough, I am convinced he shares my obsession with this shadowy character from my footballing childhood. Nevertheless, I must object at the vilification of Arthur as a footballing “serial philanderer” given that, apart from his brief stay at Newcastle, history shows that he played between 78 and 139 games for each of the other clubs which he represented (presumably with greater distinction), and indeed held the record of consecutive appearances for Charlton Athletic. Perhaps Mr Pearson would care to provide moral support to my latest plan to lobby Derwentside Council for a statue based on Arthur’s famed pose with arms outstretched, screaming for the ball to be centred? This could be situated inland, midway between Newcastle and Middlesbrough, high up on the rolling moors which dominate those great industrial conurbations. The Arthur of the North?
John Wright, Limours, France
Ron Noades continued influence over Crystal Palace and stadium trouble at Oldham Athletic and Swansea City
There are league rules that prevent one person owning two clubs (although as the Peter Johnson case shows, they do not mean much) but there is nothing to stop someone in control of one club from owning another club’s ground. This is the case at Crystal Palace, where the extraordinary terms of their lease with former owner Ron Noades have left him with a significant presence.