Book reviews

After initial success in the Premiership, Ipswich Town now find themselves in financial turmoil. Csaba Abrahall documents their fall from grace

“So much of football is about short-term glory which leads so often to boom and bust. We’re not about that.” So said David Sheepshanks when Gavin Barber and I interviewed him for WSC 172 on the day Ipswich se­cured European qualification in 2001. This kind of level-headed approach had been a feature of his chairmanship and while he continued to adopt it, the club appeared to be in safe hands. Yet today it is in administration, with debts spiralling and the team a long way short of delivering financial salvation in the form of a return to the Premiership. What on earth went wrong?

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With their short-term existence secure, Bradford City are looking to learn from past mistakes to stop history repeating itself. Gary Rolin looks into their birthday wish

Real Madrid celebrated their centenary year by win­ning the European Champions League for the third time in five years. At the other end of the football scale, Bradford City’s preparations for their 100th birthday party have been boosted by Leeds High Court’s decision in February to lift the administration order that threa­tened the survival of the club form­ed in May 1903 when the Football League voted them into the Second Division. 

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Previously best known for providing comedian Eric Bartholomew's stage name, the seaside resort could soon have a Football League team. Geoff Walters reports

Until 1995 my experience of watching Morecambe had been restricted to the Northern Premier League. Memories are of high-scoring games in dilapidated grounds featuring players who would have looked more at home on Blackpool beach, and the peculiar habit Morecambe had of scoring every time I decided to move to another position in the ground.

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Sergei Rebrov is off to Istanbul – and his former translator, Dan Brennan, hopes the Ukranian will be better looked after at Fenerbache than at Tottenham

And so, finally, the Sergei Rebrov saga has drawn to a close. Just as it seemed he would be playing his football in West London, he has bid the Premiership a sad farewell and opted for Istanbul. It has been two wast­­ed years for the player, and an opportunity missed for Spurs and English football.

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With ground criteria set too high for Falkirk and rivals Inverness, the Scottish First Division champions could be going nowhere this summer, reports Neil White

As soon as the Scottish Cup third-round draw handed Hearts a trip to Fal­kirk’s dilapidated Brockville Park, the tie was flagged up as a possible shock. The Edin­burgh side sat third in the Scottish Prem­ier League, but this was their first game back after the win­ter break. Falkirk were leading the First Division and in fine form. More im­portantly, the tie was at Brockville, the sym­bol of their ongoing struggle against the footballing elite.

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