Search: ' La Liga'

Closing a ground to England fans would just hurt the wrong people, believes Alan Bailey, who wants a more imaginative penalty imposed: a media blackout

By the time you read this, UEFA should have decided how to punish the attacks, constant racist chanting and pitch invasions which surrounded and intruded upon England’s 2-0 win over Turkey at the Stadium of Light in April. I can’t tell you what was decided on May 1 and what the FA’s response will be. But if the rumours are right it will be both too much and far, far too little.

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Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger investgates the scandal engulfing the Bundesliga

A week after All Fools’ Day, Franz Beckenbauer made international headlines. He said Bayern Munich would apply for membership of Serie A should the Bundesliga penalise the club for a clandestine contract with the Kirch Media Group. That, of course, was a typical Kaiserism, the kind of irreverent remark Beckenbauer is known for, but it reflects a serious dispute that began four years ago.

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Barney Ronay examines why average players often make good bosses while star names struggle

It is a footballing axiom that great players rarely make great managers. No swag-bag of playing honours, no bulging armoury of international caps can prepare a middle-aged footballing man for the vertiginous leap into management. In fact, the most successful man­agers in English football currently – Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and Gérard Houllier – all eked out relatively mediocre play­ing careers.

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Racing Santander’s forthright new president-cum-manager has been derided by critics but, says Phil Ball, he might just be on the right track

Dimitri Piterman is no ordinary chap. Shortly after buying a 24 per cent majority shareholding in Ra­cing Santander in January, the new millionaire president of the ailing Spanish top-flight club was stopped outside the entrance to the El Sardinero stadium by a TV journalist and asked if he thought that his stated intention of personally running all aspects of the club – right down to team management – was perhaps a tad over-ambitious, even ar­rogant? Espec­ially when he was not qual­ified to do so? Piterman leaned into the beam of the cameras and eyeballed the journalist with a withering stare: “There’s a dork running the most powerful country in the world without a qualification to his name. And you ask me for a diploma to run a football team? Give me a break.” And so began one of the lengthiest me­dia circuses witnessed in Spain over the past couple of decades, with the result that the 39-year-old Piterman has be­come at least as famous as Jesus Gil.

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Dear WSC
How’s this for a delicious sense of irony? Brentford v Colchester United, Tuesday February 18, 2003. 1) On a freezing cold night when almost everyone wishes they’d stayed indoors, the Bees put in a dreadful first-half display and are roundly booed off the pitch. 2) In an effort to pla­cate the home fans, Brentford decide to play the D:Ream hit Things Can Only Get Better over the tannoy. 3) Immediately the song finishes, the club announ­ces the match has been abandoned at half time. If only the Bees’ strike force was as good as their comic timing.
Eddie Hutchinson, Ashford

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