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Stick or twist

Mark Brophy isn’t surprised that both clubs and players take the big-money gamble on promising teenagers

I wouldn’t recognise Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the Southampton winger, if I saw him in the street. Thanks to the footballing gossip columns, I know that he’s 17 and the same kind of hot property Theo Walcott was in his Saints days, supposedly worth £10 million and interesting the very biggest English clubs. Ipswich’s Connor Wickham, perhaps better known, is another to be the subject of speculation on a close-season transfer. Should either make a move this summer they will be embarking on a well-trodden path.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

International playboys

Owen Amos explains how two brothers dealt with rejection in England – by becoming footballing celebrities in the Philippines

While Chelsea wait for Josh McEachran to establish himself (or be sold to Fulham), two of their other youth team graduates are doing rather well. James and Phil Younghusband, brothers from Middlesex, were released by Chelsea in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Now, they’ve got 50 caps between them, a string of sponsorship deals and – most importantly of all – 200,000 followers on Twitter. The Younghusbands have made it; they’ve just made it 7,000 miles away, in the Philippines.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews

Austerity measures

Continuing our anniversary series we look back at how the spectator experience has changed in the last 25 years. David Wangerin was fascinated with English football in the 1980s as everything was so different to his native US. Times have changed

I was unlucky, I suppose, that both of the first two English football matches I ever saw ended without a goal. But what I remember most about my first trip to Villa Park, on the first Saturday of February, 1984, wasn’t the score, the weather, or even the opposition: it was all the empty seats.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - The Archive

Plain sailing

Nick House doesn’t mind that little has changed at Torquay Utd’s home ground and thinks plenty has improved in the last 25 years

If 1986 was one of English football’s low points, it’s even more starkly remembered at Plainmoor where Torquay United were in the process of finishing bottom of the pile for the second year running.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews

Cash converters

Gary Andrews bids farewell to some contentious champions and their suitably controversial manager

Even after cantering to the Conference title, Crawley’s manager Steve Evans was still taking potshots at his nearest rivals. “I did expect the players of Luton Town to give my players a guard of honour onto the pitch at the start of a wonderful night, but obviously they were told not to do that,” he complained following their first game after securing the title. This minor spat over a bigger occasion sums up Crawley’s championship triumph neatly.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews

Author Archive

Stick or twist

Mark Brophy isn’t surprised that both clubs and players take the big-money gamble on promising teenagers

International playboys

Owen Amos explains how two brothers dealt with rejection in England – by becoming footballing celebrities in the Philippines

Austerity measures

Continuing our anniversary series we look back at how the spectator experience has changed in the last 25 years. David Wangerin was fascinated with English football in the 1980s as everything was so different to his native US. Times have changed

Plain sailing

Nick House doesn’t mind that little has changed at Torquay Utd’s home ground and thinks plenty has improved in the last 25 years

Cash converters

Gary Andrews bids farewell to some contentious champions and their suitably controversial manager