At face value, it has possibly been Livingston's most successful season ever. The semi-finals of the Scottish Cup, winners of the League Cup and a decent-looking league finish are not enough to cheer up their fans, though, as they face administration, Neil White reports
His side had just reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and won the CIS League Cup, their first major trophy, yet the man I know only as “Deasel” sounded depressed. It was understandable. Deasel supports Livingston.
It’s 14 years since Napoli were Italian champions led by Diego but, as Roberto Gotta explains, while he has grown ever larger the club and crowds have shrunk alarmingly
Diego Maradona has not come back to Naples for a while. He’s visited Italy a number of times, accepting fees of up to £10,000 for appearances on local television stations, ski slopes (he stood in the snow in shorts), carnival parades and – although this was for free – children’s hospitals, the latter probably having made nurses and parents happier than the kids, who obviously had no idea that the chubby figure was once one of the world’s greatest footballers.
Sunday 1 Arsenal are back on top after a stormy 2-1 win over Man City. Nicolas Anelka scores the latter’s goal in the 90th minute but is sent off before the restart for a bundle in the goalmouth. Surprisingly, his sparring partner Ashley Cole is only booked. Chelsea just about stay in touch, needing a late winner from Glen Johnson to beat Blackburn 3-2. Sir Alex, meanwhile, faces a decision: to climb down in his court case or finally file papers with the judge in Dublin…
Good enough for the World Cup, but not for the bench of a struggling Premiership side? Jules Brandon wonders what has gone wrong for Wolves’ star buy from Nigeria
On the evening of July 7 last year, Wolves called a press conference for the next morning, promising to unveil a new mystery signing. The club had just signed Oleg Luzhny from Arsenal, but there was a sense that this next deal might be bigger and better. If there was a slight air of anti-climax, not to mention bafflement, when the latest acquisition was revealed as Isaac Okoronkwo, it set the tone nicely.
As the anti-racism organisation celebrates its tenth birthday, Tom Davies spoke to Kick It Out co-ordinator Piara Powar about progress made and the battle still ahead
With the well established Kick It Out campaign now ten seasons old, it’s easy to forget just how marginal an issue anti-racism in football once was. In the 1980s it took the brave efforts of supporters themselves, often at the places with the worst reputations such as Leeds and Chelsea, to drag the issue to public prominence. And it’s tempting, now, to congratulate ourselves on just how far we’ve come.