Matthew Garrahan examines how the potential collapse of a German media company could affect English football
It is rare that English football has to take notice of what is happening overseas. The Bosman case overhauled the way players were bought and sold in 1995, but there have been relatively few instances since which have threatened similar instability. Until now.
The headlines were about English infiltration after trouble at Pittodrie. But the Scottish game would do better to take a long, hard look at itself, says Dianne Millen
Never mind Afghanistan – hold the front page for the Battle of Pittodrie, billed as the biggest Scots skirmish since Culloden. The coins had barely been picked up from pitchside before SPL chief executive Roger Mitchell had fallen back on that old stand-by, blaming the violence on “mindless morons”, a description later repeated by the police, press and both clubs. Idiots there most certainly were at the game, but not all of them were throwing things.
In the aftermath of the controversy over Neil MacNamara, Mark Rowe argues that new legislation will do little to improve club stewarding while the pay and training attached to the job is so poor
So what if Neil MacNamara, the minder of Sam Hammam, turned out to be a convicted football hooligan? I would argue it would have made a better front page headline in the Sun if Sam’s minder had not had a criminal record – bearing in mind that one in four British men born in 1968 had a conviction by the age of 25, and every event security manager needs at least some staff who are not afraid to mix it.
Pitch invasions and missile-throwing are in the news again. Andrew Turton reflects on the events in Cardiff that kicked it all off
Every few years, the FA Cup comes up with a shock result, the sort of scoreline that almost invites the double-take. Well, there’s a new one to add to that list after the incredible scenes at Ninian Park on January 6, when Second Division Cardiff City beat Premiership leaders Leeds United.
Ed Parkinson recalls a striker who failed to break through at Chelsea, but scored the goals that took Hartlepool up and returned to save them from relegation
On a wet Wednesday in October 1988, desperate Hartlepool manager Bobby Moncur drove to Swansea to watch Newcastle reserves. At the final whistle, believing he had seen the answer to his goalscoring problems, Bobby invited Joe Allon into his car and persuaded him to sign for Hartlepool.