Search: ' Euro 68'

Brian Homewood salutes an unconventional goalkeeper

Like Timbuktu and Outer Mongolia, Paraguay is best-known for being an out-of-the-way place. If it has any claim to fame, it is for harbouring Nazi war criminals. It is mocked by neighbouring Brazil, which sees it as a smugglers’ haven (in reality Brazil is one of South America’s crime capitals), and sneered at by Argentina, which looks on it as a source of cheap labour. An estimated one million Paraguayans live in Argentina, many of them employed cleaning up after rich natives.

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Villa's autocratic chairman, as seen by Brad Woodhouse

Distinguishing Features: Aside from the Mr Whippy wavy quiff (and a faint air of campness), he looks like any other 73 year-old self-made West Midlands businessman – rotund, besuited, drives a Rolls Royce with personalized number plate (AV 1).

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Sarah Gilmore and John Williams explain why Paul Gascoigne had an easy time of it following allegations of wife beating

Who could doubt the awfulness of the daily existence of Paul Gascoigne, given the culture of the ‘tabloid celebrity’ shaped for us by the popular press over the past decade? A goldfish bowl nightmare if ever there was one. But the precarious PR profile being created of Gazza as ‘new-ish’ man fell apart at Gleneagles. The subsequent press mêlée which focused on his inclusion or exclusion from the England squad revealed some extremely unpleasant and morally suspect views so prevalent in the game and in the liberal media.

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In WSC 115 we asked you how you felt your club was fairing on and off the pitch  and you feel the biggest problems facing the game are. Roger Titford reports the results

So how has football’s boom left the typically cynical and crisis-hardened WSC readership feeling? In the six years we have been conducting these surveys we have never had such upbeat results, but many of you can sense the problems of success (aka too much money) just around the corner. All percentages are based on 720 replies.

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Boyd Hilton explains why the manner in which Bruce Rioch was removed from his job came as no surprise to Arsenal supporters

I’m almost starting to enjoy the daily stream of conjecture and rumour surrounding Arsenal. Only a few years ago life was this exciting for fans of Tottenham, these days a model of stability on and off the pitch. My guess is that all this talk of an ‘Arsenal crisis’ will soon be forgotten, though that doesn’t excuse the bizarre behaviour of the Arsenal board. 

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