Search: 'Fan culture'

The 1995-96 season was the first time that Welsh Clubs playing in England were excluded from the Welsh Cup, resulting in the final being an all-League of Wales affair. Thomas Crockett explains why the occasion didn't get the publicity it deserved

Many supporters felt that the absence of the holy trinity (Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham) devalued the Welsh Cup, one of the world’s oldest football tournaments. Pre-match prognoses in the press were pessimistic, Wales on Sunday dishing the dirt by predicting the FA of Wales would lose £30,000 by holding the final at the National Stadium in front of a low crowd – a self-fulfilling prophesy if ever there was one.

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Mike Ticher explains how Glenn Hoddle changed the culture at Chelsea without changing there fortunes

There’s a saying about the underlying sameness of German history, despite all the turmoil on the surface: “It was a very German revolution. That is, not a revolution at all.” In some ways, Glenn Hoddle’s already-mythical reign at Stamford Bridge was a very Chelsea revolution. He has been rightly praised in all quarters for implementing a highly technical, intelligent and aesthetically pleasing style of play. Or, as the Daily Telegraph so graciously put it, for “achieving the monumental feat of educating Chelsea supporters about what constitutes good football”. Yet in terms of consistency and ultimate achievement, it was the same old Chelsea.

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The FA's isn't the only organising commitee going into overdrive as Euro '96 approaches, as Philip Cornwall reports

Admirable though their attempts are, Glenn and Terry are not the only ones trying to bring English football closer to the rest of Europe. It is crucial that this summer as much is done to improve the English game’s image off the pitch as on it.

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Borussia Dortmund's recent success in the Bundesliga is a throwback to the days when their region dominated German football, as Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger explains

Just over a month into the New Year and Borussia Dortmund are exactly where they were twelve months ago: at the top of the Bundesliga and in the quarter finals of a European cup. In 1995 they beat Lazio to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. This year their Champions League run seems likely to end at the hands of Ajax. If you had predicted this scenario a decade ago, you would have been taken to a place where the rooms have no windows.

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Nick House explains how Torquay Utd have come to find themselves light years adrift at the bottom of Division Three

They say when things are looking brightest the worst should be expected, when things look bad the best is to come. Such has been the story at Torquay United where spells at the foot of the Football League give way to play-off appearances before depths are plummeted again. The score since 1987: Fights for League Survival, 3; Play-off Heroics, 3.

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