Book reviews

Problems when England visited Moscow suggested the Champions League final could be a mess, but Chelsea fan Terry Daley enjoyed more or less his whole excursion except the result and the trip home

Much had been made of Moscow by the British press in the run-up to the Champions League final, and none of it made particularly good reading for those of us who had started planning trips to the Russian capital 30 minutes after Liverpool were beaten in the semi-final at Stamford Bridge. Supposedly English supporters would have to contend with baton‑happy military police and hordes of neo-Nazi hooligans patrolling the streets. Then we would be forced to pay £25 a beer at gunpoint by a one-eyed veteran of the Afghanistan war – if our pockets hadn’t already been picked by a shoeless orphan. Why didn’t they just cancel the whole operation, moaned the English press, and move the damn thing to Wembley?

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Halifax bounced back into the League once, but a failure to do so again has led to aseemingly terminal decline. Many want to keep football in the town but, writes Peter Brooksbank, they cannot agree how

Friday May 9, 2008. As the rest of the football world was being ordered by Sky to whip themselves into a frenzy for the final Premier League Sunday of the season, supporters of Conference strugglers Halifax Town spent their day glued to the internet, tapping the refresh button every other minute and glancing nervously at the clock. They weren’t, however, waiting on updates of a play-off game or a Trophy final. In a macabre parody of online minute-by-minute match reports, they were watching the Halifax Courier’s live updates from a meeting organised by administrators Begbies Traynor with the club and their owners, a last-ditch effort to keep Halifax Town alive. And, to the fans’ horror, it was not going at all well.

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Johan Cruyff's latest revelation has only added to the idea that things are not always as they seem with the Dutch genius, says Derek Brookman

A 30-year-old story recently exploded back into life when Johan Cruyff gave what would appear to be the definitive explanation for his non-participation in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

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Fulham's Premier League life has never really taken off, despite Mohamed Fayed's big plans, writes Will Hawkes

It was almost the perfect start. Twice ahead through Louis Saha away to champions Manchester United, Fulham deserved better than a 3-2 defeat in their first top-flight game since the 1960s. Still, as pundits and press rather patronisingly agreed, the team had performed well and on that showing they’d be a worthy addition to the Premier League in 2001-02.

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No matter what his team does on the field, Avram Grant is always able to rely on his home support in Israel, writes Shaul Adar

“We will put you on hold, Shaul, you’ll be on-air in a minute,” said the producer at Radio Tel Aviv, where I was about to do a radio interview. In the background I could hear Rom Kofman, an Israeli sports shock jock booming over the airwaves. “I’m telling you, those English are stinking farts, pompous morons, lifeless stiffs. Anybody with over nine years of education is a minister. They can’t take Avram’s sense of humour and that’s why the tabloids hunt him.”

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