Search: 'Paul Ince'

Paul Merson's season at Walsall, which was widely expected to be his last, didn't quite go to plan as he finished the season as player-manager, watching his side plummet into Division Two. Paul Giess looks at the task facing the league's most unlikely manager

After several half-hearted attempts to consolidate in Division One, there was a feeling that Walsall had finally got it right last July when Paul Merson signed up. Sky turned up to cover his arrival – suddenly the Saddlers had a big name on their books for the first time. His plan was to play through a two-year contract while working towards coaching qualifications. The thought of a man who struggled to manage his own daily routine taking charge of someone’s club seemed absurd at that time. 

Read more…

Saturday 1 Leicester are relegated after a 2-2 draw at Charlton after which Micky Adams forecasts the “rape and pillage” of his squad by other clubs. Wolves are all but down, too, despite a 2-1 home win over Everton. Man City go six points above the relegation area by beating Newcastle 1-0. Walsall stay third bottom of the First after losing 1-0 at Palace. Only Gillingham, beaten 5-2 at home by Coventry, can finish below them. In the Second, Rushden drop into the bottom four for the first time after losing 2-0 at Colchester. Hull clinch promotion from the Third with a 2-1 win at Yeovil. Carlisle join York in being relegated to the Conference after conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Cheltenham.

Read more…

Dear WSC
Dave Boyle’s article Count Me Out (WSC 207) prompted me to finally come clean about my rather bizarre obsession with shirt numbers. While players wearing 77 seems rather farcical, what gets my goat are squad numbers that bear no relation to the owner’s position. Why does Mark­us Babbel wear No 11 even though he’s a defender? What is Liverpool striker Milan Baros doing wearing No 5? Even during a game of Championship Man­ager I can’t get away from it: the other day I discovered that Barcelona had signed Alessandro Nesta and given him No 1. Unbelievable. But what I really need to get off my chest is a somewhat strange habit of mine. For some reason I can’t walk past a replica shirt-wearer in the high street without running round to see whether they have a name and number on the back. I’ve been doing this for quite a while now, so you can imagine my delight when my wife picked up the habit too. We now have a rudimentary scoring system, whereby teams receive one point for a fan wearing a “plain” shirt and two for someone with a named and numbered-up top. I was hoping that someone might come forward and reassure me that I’m not the only one out there looking at supporters’ backs, but I’ll understand if you all want to remain anonymous about it.
Joe Newman, Brighton

Read more…

One part of football still believes the game is about fun, not finance. Gavin Willacy celebrates the volunteers whose predecessors created the schools' FA 100 years ago

Despite the major upheavals in both professional football and the education system in this country over the past decade, the English Schools’ Football Association has survived to celebrate its centenary this season. In November 1904, encouraged by the National Union of Teachers, a group of local association secretaries met in Birmingham to form the ESFA. The founder members included the major football metropolises of London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bolton, Bradford and Derby, along with Northampton, Herts and Luton, St Albans, Wordsley, Hickley and Aston Manor.

Read more…

Do you ever see a picture of a player and come up confidently with half a dozen names for him? Matt Nation knows the feeling, especially with one former Arsenal man

A recent article on European Union expansion  highlighted the problems Slovenia faces in trying to convince people that it is who it says it is. People who try to point it out on a map usually end up putting their finger on Serbia & Montenegro. The flag gets confused with the Russian one. Even George W is convinced Slovenia is half of what used to be Czechoslovakia.

Read more…