Dear WSC
It’s hard not to be impressed by the awful judgment displayed by the Football League. First the ITV Digital fiasco and now the appointment of a failed politician as their new chairman. Apparently Brian Mawhinney’s credentials are that he “has been an MP for 23 years and has served as Secretary of State for Transport and as Northern Ireland Sports Minister”. Also that he has “contacts in the corridors of power”. Oh, and he’s been a keen supporter of Peterborough United for 25 years! Let’s look at a few facts. He is an MP for buggery’s sake! The new “family friendly” working hours introduced in Westminster in January are shifting an MP’s work to the daytime. Are all Football League board meetings going to be shifted to the evening to accommodate Mr Mawhinney’s day job? In the register of members’ interests, he already has four other part-time jobs. Plus, he is a trustee of Boston University (that’s Boston Massachussetts, not Boston Lincs, by the way). Is he going to carry on with them while providing “strategic planning” for the Football League? A keen supporter of Peterborough United? Indeed, so keen a supporter, that when it looked like he was sure to lose the Peterborough constituency at the 1997 General Election, he joined the Tory “chicken-run” and legged it to north-west Cambridgeshire in search of a safe seat. What’s more, on the Peterborough fans’ website, it was claimed that, yes, he had a season ticket – but sadly it was at Arsenal. Good news for lower league clubs, then. He wasn’t specifically the “sports minister” for Northern Ireland. He was a Northern Ireland minister and, because at that time there was no devolution, he as a minister would have had hundreds of areas of responsibilities, only one of which would have been sport. The biggest joke is about him having contacts within government. Picture the scene: Mawhinney asks a Labour minister for a meeting to discuss football. Labour minister thinks: “Hmm, it’s the man whose greatest achievement was to come up with the idea of rail privatisation and he is still a Tory MP to boot.” Says to secretary: “See if you can squeeze Mr Mawhinney into the diary for July 2009.” I don’t live in north-west Cambs and its not my business to slag off their MP, but as a football fan, I simply cannot believe this is a good appointment.
Niall Duffy, Worthing
To the surprise of many the former giants of the European game came close to hosting Euro 2008, but Ray Dexter believes a football revival is a long way off
As 19-year-old Bela Koplarovics of Zalaegerszeg bundled the ball past Manchester United’s rather ponderous defence in the crumbling Nep Stadium in August, Hungarian football found itself in the world football spotlight for the first time in a generation. The result, greeted as some kind of sporting miracle in the bars of Budapest, allowed the people to forget the twin scandals of why over half the seats in their beloved national stadium were empty for such a big game (the entire upper tier was deemed too unsafe to be used) and why Vodafone, Manchester United’s sponsor, were allowed to buy 15,000 of the remaining 28,000 tickets for their corporate clients and users.
Dianne Millen explains why the northernmost stadium in the Scottish Premier League can still be an intimidating venue, even 16 years after Alex Ferguson left, along with the glory days
Fortress Pittodrie. Not the only thing which Alex Ferguson, who more or less invented the concept, took with him when he went: like many things about Aberdeen, it has declined in recent years, although nine consecutive home victories last season in a storming run to Europe saw the idea briefly, poignantly revived.
Dan Brennan looks at the shifting rivalries in Moscow, heavily influenced by the secret policeman taking his ball away
Moscow is probably second only to London in its surfeit of local derbies. The Russian capital currently provides six premier league sides and, one blip aside, has been the home of the champions of the national league since it was formed a decade ago. There is a generally accepted hierarchy among the city’s teams, based on success, tradition and support, that reads: Spartak, Dynamo, CSKA, Torpedo-Luzhniki, Lokomotiv and Torpedo-ZIL. But this does not tell the whole story, which is one of ever-changing fortunes influenced by political machinations.
Tim Springett wonders why Kevin Davies has gone downhill after a promising start to his career, and if it is already too late to do something about it
All the talk in Southampton concerns James Beattie’s prospects of earning an England call-up. Yet five years ago Kevin Davies was seen not only as Saints’ brightest hope but one of England’s. Now, however, he languishes in the reserves, his copious ability dimmed by a seemingly insurmountable crisis of confidence. He has gone from being an international star in the making to the scrapheap by the age of 26. How – and why – has this happened?