Glenn Hoddle will remain a Tottenham legend, believes Adam Powley, but was undone as a manager by the faults he was always said to possess yet never would admit
Tottenham fans now have two things to thank Glenn Hoddle for. A decade of sublime football guarantees his place among the club’s most cherished sons. And, briefly, the club led the back pages again. For fans increasingly desperate to see their side regain its lustre, such dubious comforts are strangely welcome.
Tom Davies examines the day to day struggle for survival of three clubs in the lower leagues
The wheels have well and truly come off at Barry Town. Mounting debts have caught up with the seven-times League of Wales champions, forcing the club into administration and the team to the bottom of the Welsh Premier table. The crisis came to a head shortly after shy and retiring John Fashanu quit in August. As reported in WSC 192, Fashanu took over at the end of last year with talk of using the club as a gateway to European football for African players for whom he acted as agent. But none of this came to pass and fans now see his tenure as just a publicity stunt.
Doug Stenhouse sheds some light on the colourful history of Berwick Rangers
How would you assess the playing standard in Scottish Division Two?
The standard is certainly better in Division One, with some full-time squads. However, clubs such as Clyde have done well with part-timers. It’s possible most Second Division boards are happy to stay where they are, knowing all too well that higher standards mean higher salaries they can ill afford.
Dear WSC
Your Blackpool “expert” in the pre-season preview (WSC 199) doesn’t have much chance of getting this season correct if he can’t work out what happened last season. Blackpool didn’t lose home and away to Cardiff – we won 1-0 at Bloomfield Road. And my experiences of Cardiff fans’ hospitality were somewhat different from your expert’s. After the home game we passed a load of Cardiff fans who applauded us on our fine display and victory. As for the away game, a Cardiff supporting friend drove me all the way from our midlands office and back and plied me with drinks before and after the match in a friendly atmosphere at the local rugby club. I know hospitality may have been different if I’d been a fan from some other club with more of a reputation for confrontation, but don’t always believe the stereotyping.
Chris Lowry, Solihull
Neil Warnock’s love of Sheffield United has received plenty of publicity but the Wednesday are currently managed by a fan, too. Chris Turner has the job of rescuing the former Premiership regulars from Division Two and talks to Al Needham about how he plans to do it in these difficult times
Managers who have been successful elsewhere have struggled at Hillsborough. Was there a particular set of circumstances that made it a difficult place to succeed?
Very much so. Terry Yorath, Peter Shreeves and Paul Jewell were battling against the financial position. They had a lot of players signed during the Premiership days on high salaries who wouldn’t or couldn’t be moved on. From what I’ve heard from Terry and Paul, a number weren’t interested in playing or training. The difficulties they had were insurmountable. Peter Shreeves inherited a squad of players who had three years on their contracts who weren’t doing the business. While managers came and went, these players stayed. I was in the fortunate position of coming in at a time when something like 14 players were out of contract. So I didn’t have the worry of having to move these players on. That doesn’t mean the problem of high salaries has gone – we still have players here on high wages, certainly too high for Second Division football.