Book reviews

While the steel city rivals squabble, Doncaster’s pragmatism is paying off. Glen Wilson assesses the mood in South Yorkshire

At the Keepmoat Stadium there is a bloke on my row who is notoriously hard to please. A frustrated yell of “No, not backwards” will greet any pass Doncaster Rovers play towards their own goal. Passes hit in the other direction are “just another bloody lump for’ards” while anything in between constitutes “fannying around with it”. In the midst of a poor run earlier this season we timed his first damning bellow of “Nooooo” at just 34 seconds after kick-off.

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Bradford left it to the last moment before calling off their match with Darlington. Jason McKeown looks at why they waited

Football postponements are rarely satisfying. Often one manager will launch conspiracy theories about the other pressurising the referee to call it off, the chairman rues money lost on those now worthless pie orders and programmes, away supporters who’d already set off complain it should have been postponed sooner.

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When Ebbsfleet were bought by 32,000 fans last February it was heralded as real-life fantasy football. A year on membership has fallen dramatically. Gary Andrews ponders the future

It’s unlikely any champagne corks would have popped at the headquarters of MyFootballClub.co.uk (MyFC) on the anniversary of their takeover of Conference side Ebbsfleet United. For a start, they probably wouldn’t have been able to afford it given their membership – and with it the cash that kept the project going – had just dropped from 32,000 to under 10,000.

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With small attendances and full-time wages the Football League is proving costly for Accrington Stanley, as Karl Sturgeon reflects

The Racecourse Ground, April 2008. Wrexham are playing their last home game as a Football League team, and it’s not hard to see why they’re going down: they’re losing 3-0 to Accrington Stanley, a team with a goal difference of minus 29. In the final seconds, however, Wrexham win a penalty. 3-1. Little consolation for fans already more concerned with finding Ebbsfleet on a map, but, up in the flimsy old directors’ box, someone is happy.

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After being plunged into administration in February, Darlington have been left wondering if they will be able to continue to play in League Two. Thom Kennedy investigates the depth of the clubs problems

If a week is a long time in football, events at League Two Darlington have proved that a day is long enough for a crisis to unfold in the bottom division. On February 21 fans were celebrating a 1-0 victory over Grimsby, and another obstacle on the path to promotion cleared. Curtis Main, 16, had become Darlo’s youngest ever scorer, dropping a neat match-winning header into the bottom corner within moments of coming on, and an exciting run-in lay ahead.

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