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Aside from the chevron on their shirts, Filippo Ricci explains that Sampdoria are now unrecognisable from the team that came so close to European glory just a decade ago

On April 21, Sampdoria lost 2-0 at home to Serie B’s bottom club, Crotone, a team from a tiny town in Cal­abria. The result left the once-mighty club just four points above the relegation zone with six games to go. Ten years ago, Sampdoria lost the last the Euro­pean Cup final before the start of the Champions League, 1-0 to Barcelona at Wembley. On paper, it’s a long jour­ney, on the pitch, a quick and irreversible plunge.

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Dear WSC
Wasn’t it nice to see Peter Ridsdale go behind the goal to speak to his fans at the recent Everton v Leeds game? If only more chairmen would show this sort of passion and interest in their fans.
Paul Weaver, Cardiff

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Football managed to soldier on without the devious involvement of television, and the Football League does not have to lie down and die when the money is taken away

The Football League are getting all kinds of advice from the press about what to do in their dispute with ITV Digital, most of it accompanied by fingerwagging. The News of the World, for one, wonders why lower division clubs “think they have a right to such money in the first place” given that they have “wallowed in a swamp of debt for too long”.

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Ian Plenderleith explores the murkier corners of the footballing web to discover Lincolnshire murder mysteries, Highland League replica kits and some straight shooting advice for referees

It’s midday at Sincil Bank on the opening day of the 1955-56 season. Lincoln City are away at Blackburn, so the ground is deserted. Ex­cept, that is, for a dead body lying in the middle of the pitch.

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In the latest of our series on local rivalries, David Harrison attempts to convince the sceptics that Watford v Luton is as bitter and passionate as they come

Yeah, OK. It’s not exactly The Old Firm, but believe me, it all gets pretty agitated around these parts. It’s a rivalry with no name, which frustrates the hell out of the headline-besotted press. To such a degree that they tried dubbing it, pathetically, “The M1 Derby”.  Just like Arsenal v Leeds then.

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