by Michael Dunne
Pitch Publishing, £18.99
Reviewed by Simon Melville
From WSC 379, September 2018
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Stories
Progress has been made on making games more affordable for families but an important age group is falling through the cracks of modern football
Once again Hull’s season has begun with a thin squad that a new manager is having to patch up as he goes, with any success despite, not because of, the club’s owners
After a decade in the top flight Bolton seem destined for relegation, but Owen Coyle’s team are capable of conjuring up an unlikely belief and beating anyone on their day, argues Jon Callow
In August 2001, the Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld brought his career at the club to an early close with a late blunder that sent newly promoted Bolton Wanderers to the top of the table just three games into their current Premier League stint. Establishing themselves in the top division after years of ups and downs, Bolton became a tricky fixture for their distinguished guests. Liverpool collected just five points from their next five visits
to the Reebok.
Tom Shepherd argues that the concept of feeder teams is not too dissimilar to the current league structure and will have similarly negative effects
André Villas-Boas raised the possibility of introducing “feeder” teams into the English league structure recently. “The youth development system in England is not right, in my belief. The reserve leagues and youth levels are not competitive enough,” said the Chelsea manager. Villas-Boas believes that having a Chelsea feeder side in the lower leagues would help bridge the gap between reserve standards and first-team football. He also wants to improve his club’s youth development. John Terry, the last player to come through the Chelsea academy and become a first-team regular, is now in his thirties.