Book reviews

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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Could this be the end of the road for Oldham Athletic? Steve Ragg explains how a promising season suddenly went so wrong

From the brink of promotion to the edge of ex­tinction in what seems like no time at all. While hopes of Division One football died with the play-off defeat at QPR, Oldham Athletic may be killed off altogether if a solution to our latest crisis isn’t found very soon.

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In the first of two features on record-breaking top-flight relegation seasons, Joe Boyle struggles to find any positive signs amid the despair at Sunderland

There are internet addresses that snare you and reel you in, even as you sense something unwholesome. Like this: www.freud.org.uk/archiegemmill.html.

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In a dark season for the game as well as Stoke, Ken Sproat saw Newcastle inflict one of the Potters’ 31 defeats of 1984-85 – but can now see it wasn't all gloom

A football team cannot get much worse than Stoke City during the 1984-85 season. There, in the all-time records for being hopeless, they skulk alongside such Victorian disasters as Darwen, Loughborough Town and Glossop. The fewest points in a season (17), the fewest wins (three – all at home), the most defeats (31) and, with 24, the fewest goals (the leading scorer was Ian Painter with six, of which four were penalties). They failed to score in 25 of the 42 league matches. They suffered mathematically definite relegation with eight miserable matches still to play.

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