A new Maradona documentary flatters to deceive. Terry Staunton explains his disappointment
As a minister leads his congregation in a revised football-friendly rendition of the Lord’s Prayer before performing a wedding on the pitch of an Argentine stadium, it’s clear we’ve dropped in on no ordinary place of worship. This is the Church Of Maradona, just as surreal as anything in Sarajevo filmmaker Emir Kusturica’s back pages, but it’s tiny moment of light relief in a disappointing movie.
There are no official feeder clubs in England, to the relief of Jon Spurling. But, as he reports, Arsenal and others are busy doing abroad what they can’t get away with at home
Feeder clubs are very much in vogue – and not always in the expected places. Blackpool’s Latvian director Valery Belokon is currently setting up a “farm club” in his homeland and Sheffield United, who already control Chinese side Chengdu Blades, are discussing a link-up with Sparta Rotterdam. Top clubs – Manchester United with Royal Antwerp, Arsenal with Beveren – led the way.
Errol Lawrence follows closely the movements of Zizou for 90 minutes, with the aid of 17 cameras
In 1970, a German film-maker named Hellmuth Costard pointed six 16mm cameras at George Best as he played for Manchester United against Coventry City. Footage was edited and framed so that other players and the crowd were ignored and, at most, incidental. Fussball wie noch nie (Football as never before) is not a film for the fan. Watching Best in less than splendid isolation is quite disturbing and, with the benefit of hindsight, the fascination and value of the film lies in its idiosyncratic study of what might be charitably described as an eccentric performance by football’s supreme individualist at the beginning of that long, sad decline.
Marseille were first crowned League champions, then European Champions. They were stripped of the former though, reports Aaron Donaghy
The long-term significance
The best-supported and richest club in French football, Olympique de Marseille, beat AC Milan to win the first-ever Champions League on May 26, 1993. Twenty-four hours later, news broke that Marseille’s vital league match against Valenciennes just six days earlier had been fixed. It emerged that three Valenciennes players had been paid to “go easy” on Marseille, who were chasing a record fifth consecutive league title. Valenciennes defender Jacques Glassmann claimed that he and two of his colleagues were offered £30,000 to throw the match. Marseille were thus barred from the 1993‑94 Champions League by UEFA and stripped of their league title by the French FA, while three players and a Marseille director were banned from football. A year later they were further punished with enforced relegation, bankruptcy and the imprisonment of club president and millionaire entrepreneur Bernard Tapie. The whistle-blower Glassmann claimed to have been shunned by French clubs subsequently and wound down his career playing on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion.
Thomas Pinault swapped the French riviera for the joys of Essex. Maison Urwin grilled Colchester's midfield anchor on his unlikely transition
Welcome to England. We are sure you will enjoy your stay. You will find the general public both friendly and hostile. Abuse will be a part of your professional life but will be kept to a minimum in social situations. You may be applauded for your footballing prowess but do not expect this to exempt you from being harangued for your national origins.