He was already a veteran supporter of Newcastle, but Matthew Roche remembers the first time he saw them play in Minsk
Sorting through my Newcastle videos the other day I noticed several were missing. Where was the “Abject failure dressed up as excitement” compilation? Who had swiped my record of the abortive 1990-91 campaign? Then a guilty thought struck me – Dynamo Minsk must still have them.
It's been a long time since Austria had a national team worth shouting about, but Mark Brownlow believes the country are looking forward to the World Cup
Until recently, your typical Austrian fan would approach an upcoming international fixture with an air of subdued pessimism. Strong opponents were “too good for us”, while weaker opponents might always turn out to be “another Faroes”. About halfway through the World Cup qualification, as Austria’s chances grew rosier with each passing game, the sweeper in my Sunday league team whispered to me confidentially: “I hope we don’t qualify – we’ll only embarrass ourselves."
Dublin has been mentioned as Wimbledon's next home, but Mike Ticher warns that the club have a lot to lose if they move to Ireland
Jean-Louis Dupont, the lawyer who won the Bosman case, obviously thinks he knows a thing or two. A thing or two more than UEFA, maybe, but it would be foolish to get overly pleased with yourself about that. And the news that he has been hired by Wimbledon to further their bid to move to Dublin has only added to the apparently unstoppable flow of guff eman-ating from the Dons’ corner on their plight.
Scarborough have had numerous set-backs in their history, and Mark Staniforth thinks he knows why
Far too many clubs’ greatest achievements have disappeared in the mists of time. But few clubs can claim that their most memorable moments have disappeared into the smoke from No 55 Edgehill Road.
Billy Bremner passed away last month, so Don Watson remembers the Leeds United and Scotland legend
We all know the hush that follows an opposition goal, but we know too that there are as many different kinds of hush to a football fan as there are types of snow to an Eskimo. Disbelief, resignation, bewilderment and anger can all be expressed in that silence.