Book reviews

Neil Rose paints a sorry picture of Luton Town

I wanted to believe, really I did. I wanted to be­lieve Luton Town could become “the largest club in Europe”. I wanted to believe we would have a 75,000-seat indoor stadium that also accommodated a Grand Prix track, from which we would net a clean £200 million profit a year once Luton took its rightful place alongside Mon­aco and the rest on the Formula One cal­endar. I even wanted to believe our new sta­dium would be home to NFL and NBA fran­chises and that thousands of Europe-based Americans would travel to it.

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Paul Ashley-Jones explains why TNS will be a force to be reckoned with in the Welsh Premier next season

When this year’s UEFA Cup draw was made, there cannot have been any greater sense of anticlimax than that felt by Manchester City when they were drawn against Total Network Solutions. Still, at least it should mean a straightforward passage into the next round for Kevin Keegan’s team, with no one really expecting an upset against a team based in Llansantffraid, a mid-Wales village of under 1,000 people. No one, that is, except Mike Har­ris, chairman and owner of TNS Football Club, who has gone on record as expressing his condolences to City for the fact that their long-awaited European adventure is to finish so soon. This is the same Mike Harris who has predicted his TNS side will become the second largest team in Wales, behind only Cardiff City, within five years.

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Cardiff City are in Division One – but not everyone is convinced Sam Hammam has a long-term recipe for success. Andrew Turton, though, hopes he does

It’s the Second Division play-off final and it’s goalless with less than five minutes of extra time remaining. Andy Campbell beats the offside trap and, sprinting clear, lobs the keeper to send Cardiff City into the First Division for the first time in nearly 20 years.

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Dave Hannigan tells the story of the Irishman who's been around the world and back

Just four summers have passed since the then Juventus manager Carlo Ancelotti introduced Ronnie O’Brien for the last 13 minutes of an Intertoto Cup semi-final against the Russian representatives Rostelmash. Making his third cameo appearance in the competition, the 20-year-old Irishman slotted in comfortably along­side Edgar Davids, Alessandro Del Piero et al. A matter of months after Bryan Robson had shown him the door at the Riverside Sta­dium, while very publicly dismissing his chances of ever making it at the highest level, he was pulling that famous zebra-striped jer­sey over his head and trousering £3,000 a week. Life was good and the unfortunate Liam Brady com­parisons were far too plentiful.

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Dianne Millen explores the potential pit falls of a groundshare bewteen two rivals

Groundsharing controversies – you go years without them and then two come along at once. After the Falkirk saga comes the controversial announcement that Hearts and Hibs are proposing to sell their grounds, both in traditional working-class areas of the city, to fund a purpose-built stadium miles out of town in Straiton, an area currently best known for hosting the local Ikea.

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