Search: ' World Cup 2006'

Jamie Rainbow points us in the direction of Hartlepool and Southend unofficial sites, bemoans the lack of an FA website and reveals a fan's obsession with mini kits

Manchester United are not the only side who can lay claim to a worldwide support. Hartlepool may not have plans to open a megastore in Singapore, but they do have a couple of Swedish-based fans who have set up a website in honour of the club. And, once the initial language difficulties have been overcome, very good it is too. You’ll find an interesting history of the town with a refreshingly honest appraisal of the football team. “Hartlepool has an appallingly bad football team which consistently struggles towards the bottom of the English football league,” admits the site. There are a few historical snippets along with a comprehensive news section featuring daily updates on all the club-related gossip.

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To mark WSC's 150th issue, we invited three critics with different links to the magazine's past to reflect on changes in fan culture since 1986

WSC The term “fan culture”, which barely existed when the magazine started in 1986, has now become commonplace. But it seems as though there is actually less of a unifying fan culture now than there was then. Are there things that still bring people together, from Premiership to the Third Division, as we assumed there were when we started? 

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Having encouraged Man Utd to pull out of the Cup, the FA are only serving to undermine the very competition they created

God knows we’ve seen some nightmarish ideas over the course of the first 150 issues of WSC, but this one is in a class of its own. Of course matches will still be played in something that calls itself the FA Cup, but the Cup as we have known it is surely dead – killed by its own creators.

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Tuesday 1 Joe Kinnear is to step down as Wimbledon manager, apparently because he wants to work at a bigger club. "I believe he will go like hot cakes," says Sam Hammam. He will be replaced by former Norway coach Egil Olsen. Sam again: "His way is the Wimbledon way. He is also the complete master both tactically and technically." Someone's been watching re-runs of Kung Fu.

Wednesday 2 Having missed out on Edwin van der Sar and Fabien Barthez, Man Utd finally sign Mark Bosnich, who seems to have turned into a character from a Barbara Cartland book: "I could have gone abroad and lived like a king, but I followed my heart." Ireland's Euro 2000 match with Yugoslavia is unlikely to go ahead after the Irish government withdraw entry visas for the Yugoslav squad. "The decision was taken by a government. We are not in a position to condone or condemn it," says an FAI spokesman. Dundee Utd supporters group United For Change are backing an attempt by a local businessman to buy out Jim McLean's controlling stake in the club. Steve Parkin resigns as manager of Mansfield.

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Rumours of the death of hooliganism may have been exaggerated. Adam Powley sees signs that it is making a comeback – though not in the newspapers

Remember the Worthington Cup final? Neutrals and even committed spectators could be forgiven for failing to recall anything memorable from such a grim game, but there was one incident that stood out for those at Wembley that day.

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