In the first of our new "Local hero" series Tom Lines explains how Ian Roper became a fans' favourite at Walsall despite his quiet demeanour off the pitch and limited talent on it

There are no interesting anecdotes featuring Ian Roper. No drunken mishaps, no punch-ups with team-mates, no hilarious incidents featuring fireworks, criminal damage or prostitutes. That he became such a well loved figure without doing anything other than turning up and playing football makes his status as a cult hero all the more remarkable.

8 February ~ He is tactically brilliant, unbeatable in mind games and capable of overcoming any opponent on his day, but José Mourinho is not the best manager in the world. If reports suggesting he will leave the Bernabéu this summer are true, it would, in the long-term at least, be a mistake for any Premier League club to take him on. The first and most often excused problem with Mourinho as a manager is that he is a trouble maker. He might argue that his antics distract from his players and benefit his team, but there is a limit to this logic.

The new WSC is out now, available from all good newsagents or dispatched on the day of order from the WSC shop. Including:
The whining of the spoilt football fan
Luis Suárez divides Liverpool supporters
Gary Lineker fluffs his lines
Remembering Macclesfield's promotions under Sammy McIlroy
Great Britain's Olympian performers in 1908 and 1912
The welcome return of Subbuteo
Are goalkeepers unsafe hands in the dugout?
Spontaneous King Eric speaks of passion and pride

7 February ~ Zambia play Ghana in the first of the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals tomorrow evening. The Copper Bullets, nicknamed after the country's largest export, have never won the tournament, but are especially determined to succeed in this year's Cup. Should they beat Ghana, Zambia will play in Sunday's final in Libreville, the capital of Gabon and the site of a national tragedy for Zambian football. In 1993, 18 Zambia players died on their way to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal when their plane crashed moments after a stop-over in the Gabon capital. In Zambia, the word "Gabon" is now used as a slang term for a dangerously dilapidated vehicle.

7 February ~ Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson was a model of restraint after his side's 1-0 defeat to a late Brighton goal at the weekend. The defeat was "a difficult one to take at the moment", but for now he would be maintaining a diplomatic silence over the decision of the referees to dismiss Jermaine Beckford, apparently for foul and abusive language. Or, putting it another way, we lost and we all know it was the referees' fault. It was just another average weekend in the top two divisions of English football when it came to blaming the match officials for the final score.

6 February ~ Playing three central defenders has long been consigned to English football's tactical dustbin. Even during the 1980s and 1990s, when much of Europe embraced the tactic, England never really took to it. Some Premier League teams are now following the lead of several big European clubs in reviving the system in new and interesting ways. Despite its history and association with grand failure on the international stage, the three-man defence is on its way back. The last time England played a 3-5-2 they suffered a disastrous 2-0 defeat to Croatia in Zagreb and failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Steve McClaren’s tactical shift backfired comically as Croatia ran out winners off the back of Gary Neville’s ridiculous own goal.

Premier League ~ Misplaced attacks from tribal fans
The phrase "a great advent for English football" isn't the best advert for English punditry, but even the dourest of curmudgeons must be enjoying the games between the teams at the top of the Premier League this season. Manchester City's trip to Spurs provided six goals; Arsenal's defeat at Manchester United had ten; Manchester City scored six of the seven at Old Trafford; and Chelsea shared six with United yesterday. Attacking is in vogue and long may it continue. It is a shame the behaviour of the supporters at the games has not matched the improved football on show.

5 February ~ Nobody should be surprised that Italian stadiums are so empty these days after the events behind this round of midweek Serie A and Serie B matches. Six of the 21 fixtures were postponed; four in Serie A. Only two, at Bologna and Modena, could be attributed directly to adverse weather conditions. The others, at Siena, Parma, Sampdoria and Bergamo, highlighted the inadequacy of Italian stadiums in 2012. The pitches were all playable but the games were postponed due to a combination of snow-covered terraces in obsolete stadiums that date to 1920s and blocked access to games on the roads.

5 February ~ Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), the pinnacle of the women's football pyramid in America, announced it was suspending its 2012 season on Monday. The intention is to resume the league in 2013. The news has implications for both the American and Great Britain teams ahead of the 2012 Olympics, and, in the longer term, for the survival of professional women's football in the USA. The suspension comes as the costs of a lengthy legal battle with franchise owner Dan Borislow threaten to do "irreparable harm" to the league.

4 February ~ West Ham United play hosts to Millwall today for the first time since 2009’s infamous League Cup tie, when the home fans ran riot both on and off the pitch. An early kick-off plus a scandalously small ticket allocation for away supporters was supposedly designed to prevent any possible repeat of those scenes. It appears to have had the opposite effect, with rumours of Millwall fans threatening to turn up on the day in the hope of gaining entrance to the ground or buying tickets for the home end. Only five days ago Sky announced they would be showing the game – apparently on the request of the police.

3 February ~ Winning Ugly is a tennis manual written by former tour pro Brad Gilbert in which he explains how to achieve success even when hampered by a lack of ability or form simply by focusing on clear strategy and resolve to defeat an opponent. Gilbert would doubtless be wringing his hands in frustration at the current Manchester City squad, who, despite having no shortage of talent, are finding the art of grinding out the difficult win when not at their best a major stumbling block to their title aspirations.

2 February ~ "Our City Our Team" is the statement that greets readers logging onto York City’s official website. Sadly it seems inevitable that in the near future these sentiments will no longer be appropriate. After nearly 80 years of calling Bootham Crescent home, a planning application has been submitted to the council that would see City move to a new home three miles out of town, on the site of the Monks Cross shopping centre. Bootham Crescent, situated in the terraced streets of Bootham just a wayward free-kick away from the bustle of the city centre, is no longer wanted by the club’s directors due to its lack of corporate facilities and inability to provide income away from match days.

2 February ~ It would be understandable if Vladimir Weiss, who quit his job as coach of Slovakia this week "by mutual consent", reflected that he had become a victim of his own standards. Three and a half years ago Weiss took on a team that had become a target of ridicule after losing a Euro 2008 qualifier 5-2 at home to Wales. He proceeded to guide them to the top of their World Cup qualification group, earning a rare win over neighbours the Czech Republic in the process. In South Africa, a thrilling victory over the World Cup holders Italy sent the Slovaks through to the last 16.

2 February ~ Chile is an unpredictable place, epitomised by the desert city of Antofagasta ("Anto" is Spanish for opposite, while "fagasta" can be loosely translated as "Reeaally?"). The club's crest refers to the constant state of alert locals are in when disposing domestic refuse and recycling. It is not unknown for residents and council employees to be surprised by a white panther rearing up at them from inside wheelie-bins. Grown to excessive size by feasting on human detritus, these scavenging behemoths were responsible for the phenomenon of "mob recycling", in which armed parties of up to 30 neighbours separated their glass, paper and card accompanied by a priest and a doctor. Deportes Antofagasta have used this terrifying image to suggest Dormant Menace, which, coincidentally, is pretty much Andy Carroll's role in the current Liverpool side. Read more

In today's Reappraisal Ed Wilson proposes that, if you look past his bitter demeanour, Gordon Strachan is a decent manager

Gordon Strachan is probably one of British football's most quoted people. When asked by a journalist for "a quick word", he famously replied "Velocity". This quotability is, in fragrance terms, The Essence of Strachan: while other managers are noted for being charismatic, beleaguered, or defiant, he is quintessentially pithy.

31 January ~ Last week the Bundesliga announced a record high revenue for its 18 clubs during the 2010-11 season, with a turnover of almost €2 billion (£1.7bn) and an overall profit of €52.5 million. On the same day, UEFA revealed that more than half of its top 650 clubs lost money during 2010, despite the threat of exclusion from European competitions under its looming financial fair play regulations. What is Germany doing right that the rest of Europe is doing wrong?

With Harry Redknapp in the news at the moment, we took a flick through his autobiography and found the following passage, where Redknapp talks about signing the striker Carl Richards for Bournemouth. An incredulous Redknapp was shocked to discover the player didn't know he had to pay income tax.

Carl turned out to be a massive success for us. Opposing defences couldn't handle him. But off the field he didn't have a clue. The first week he got paid he came to my office and accused me of fiddling him.
"You told me I'd be getting £250 a week but I'm only getting £190," he complained.
"That's your tax and stuff," I said.
He looked at me accusingly. "You didn't tell me anything about this."
"That's your income tax," I said, amazed. "Everyone in the country has to pay it. When you went to work before you joined us you must have paid tax, didn't you?"

Page 74 of Harry Redknapp: My Autobiography published in 1998 by CollinsWillow

28 January ~ In light of the recent race row between Luis Suárez and Patrice Evra, today's FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Manchester United is expected to be played out in a particularly poisonous atmosphere. But there will be one potentially explosive ingredient missing, in the form of an injured Michael Owen. He is deeply disliked by the majority of Liverpool fans. Exactly why he is so unpopular is less well known. The fact that Owen plays for their most hated rivals doesn't endear him to the Liverpool fans. But considering the injury-plagued, bit-part role he has at Old Trafford, most Liverpool supporters are happy to see him on the United bench – as opposed to say, Karim Benzema or David Villa.

In today's "I was there", James Baxter remembers seeing his West Brom team humiliated in the FA Cup third round by Woking, a team from four divisions below. Things could only get better, or so he hoped

I am convinced that West Bromwich Albion’s 1990-91 season was planned by a Wolves fan. There is simply no other way to explain it.

26 January ~ On Saturday there will be a new addition to the long list of derbies played out at Hampden Park. For the first time in a century of private enmity, Kilmarnock and Ayr United will meet in the semi-finals of a major cup competition. Scotland v England, Rangers v Celtic and Hibs v Hearts may garner more media hype when they slug it out at the national stadium, but the Ayrshire derby won't disappoint the Sunday Mail sub-editors. There's plenty of animosity here. Kilmarnock sit mid-table in the SPL while Ayr occupy the relegation play-off spot in the second tier. But history shows this is no mismatch and form suggests Killie have more to fear.

The AFC Wimbledon supporter, Siobhain McDonagh MP, will hold a debate in the House of Commons this evening about football governance and AFC Wimbledon. The Labour MP for the former home of Wimbledon FC, will urge her colleagues to ensure any rule changes guarantee clubs are responsible to their supporters. She will also call for MPs to support the Drop the Dons campaign: "I want ministers to remember the case of Wimbledon and look at the running sore of Franchise FC stealing our name. I don't mind if Milton Keynes has its own team, although I wish they had built it from the bottom up, like AFC Wimbledon. The name Dons belongs to us and I will be asking the House of Commons to support the campaign." To read more click here.

In today's Reappraisal Scott Collen defends John O'Shea. He was not Man Utd's greatest player, but his versatility allowed Alex Ferguson to create tactically flexible teams

For 25 years Alex Ferguson has reigned supreme at Old Trafford with phenomenal talents like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Peter Schmeichel, Brian McClair and David Beckham. In defence he has relied on the services of Gary Neville, Denis Irwin, Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and Roy Keane to provide the backbone of his squad.

24 January ~ Sunday was billed as an historic day for football in the United States when terrestrial television broadcast live its first ever domestic English match, Arsenal versus Manchester United. And how did Fox TV – the channel whose political hacks spend their lives shrieking that Bolshevism is the planet's greatest threat – choose to mark this momentous day? They wheeled out Piers Morgan as a pundit, possibly leaving American viewers wondering why they bothered with the Revolutionary War at all.

20 January ~ Although they face a Swansea team high on confidence, Sunderland have every reason to be optimistic ahead of tomorrow afternoon's match. They are creeping into the top half of the table. O'Neill has them playing like his old Aston Villa team – determined, resilient and with a habit of grabbing late winners. He has also demonstrated his knack for picking out a quality winger. Where his minor successes at Villa were built on the attacking ability of James Milner, Ashley Young and Stuart Downing (all overseen by O'Neill's assistant manager, best friend forever and former left-winger John Robertson), James McClean has become central to the renaissance at Sunderland.

In the first of our new "The season when" series, Gary Andrews remembers Exeter City's disastrous flirtation with Uri Geller, Lee Sharpe, Paul Gascoigne, Michael Jackson and Darth Vader in 2002-03

It is August 2002 and Exeter City fans are gripped by uncharacteristic excitement. The previous season, new manager John Cornforth led the Grecians to a comfortable 16th-place finish and now a crack at the play-offs isn't out of the question.