Book reviews

When the opening day of the 2010 League One season paired newly-relegated Norwich with local rivals Colchester, few would have predicted the scoreline or the season-long feud that followed. Paul Buller documents events in East Anglia

Norwich City and Colchester Utd fans rarely have anything more in common than flat landscapes and a mutual distaste for Ipswich Town. Following Norwich’s relegation to League One, however, two matches, 13 goals, two new managers, accusations of skullduggery and even a demand for an unprecedented points deduction finds both clubs inextricably linked – whether they like it or not.

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Stockport supporters have been taking action to highlight the crisis that has gripped their club, as David Meller reports

On a freezing Wednesday morning late last December around 300 Stockport County supporters gathered outside Edgeley Park and downed shots of whisky and hot water to keep warm. After eight months of administration we were preparing to march to the club’s administrators in Manchester city centre, to raise knowledge of a club moving towards liquidation and those responsible for doing so. The question was whether the march would yield anything constructive.

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Martin Warrillow warns West Ham fans of what to expect now that Birmingham City's former owners are in charge of their club

It was the jacket that did it. The spectacularly naff claret-coloured jacket David Sullivan was wearing when he swanned into Upton Park having, as he put it, “defied commercial and financial sense” by buying West Ham United despite their reported £110 million debts.

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In an unlikely setting, David Wells enjoyed several hours in the company of some famous English footballers

It’s a damp, blustery evening a few weeks before Christmas. There are more than the usual number of middle-aged men about, some furtively clutching carrier bags and cardboard tubes. Many are heading to the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, a large soulless venue with the feel of a school hall circa 1975, where earlier in the week Alice Cooper had been appearing. Tonight is billed as “An evening with the 1966 England World Cup Squad”. It should read “or most of them”, as two cannot appear and Bobby Charlton presumably prefers not to. The company run by agent Terry Baker (“the only worldwide agents for Pelé’s signature”) do a steady line in selling signed memorablia in the foyer. One of their clients, Jimmy Greaves, is the evening’s compere.

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Sarah Gilmore attempts to understand the basis of the problems at Fratton Park and wonders just what the future might hold

On May 18, 2008, along with an estimated 250,000 people, I walked down to the seafront to celebrate Portsmouth’s FA Cup win. I’ve lived in the city since the mid-1980s and witnessed several pretty major events occurring here such as the commemoration of the D-Day landings and the bicentenary of the victory at Trafalgar. But neither of these events came close to involving virtually every person in the city and beyond.

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