Book reviews

Even by the standards of the Scottish League, Airdrie have sailed appalingly close to extinction in recent weeks. Ken Gall looks for someone to blame and comes up with a cast of thousands

While attention in Scotland was fixed, as ever, on the Old Firm, the real poignancy – again, as ever – lay elsewhere; at New Broomfield, the home of Airdrie­onians FC, where a major financial crisis looked like­ly to put an end to more than a century of senior football. The Dia­monds, and their putative financial and footballing saviour Steve Archibald, appeared to be on the verge of a potentially fatal defeat at the hands of the mean-spirited and seemingly impregnable defence of the club’s appointed liquidators, KPMG. The story, however, may be slightly less straightforward.

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When Hereford went down to the Conference, Richard Butler was among their fans who despaired. But now he's starting to enjoy it

An air of cautious optimism prevailed among Hereford United fans prior to our first match in the Football Conference after 25 years of League football. We felt devastated by the events of May 3, 1997, when a 1-1 draw with Brighton on the final day of the season condemned us to the drop. 

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Gillingham are bound to be the losers, regardless of the outcome, if the case between ex-manager Tony Pulis and chairman Paul Scally ends up going to court. Haydn Parry explains why

Gillingham are currently enjoying something of a golden age. The past five years have seen two promotions, an FA Cup quarter-final, three Premiership scalps and a £3.5 million renovation of Priestfield. This season, the club had maintained a healthy midtable position in the First Division, but there’s now a guaranteed nailbiting climax to come.

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In recent decades, few Britons have gone abroad and stayed. Phil Ball  profiles John Toshack, the only British coach working at the top level in a major European league

“Whether it’s with a bottle of claret, a good rioja, a glass of raki or a decent port, the attraction’s still the same – come away after 90 minutes with the three points,” said the peripatetic Welshman, John Tosh­ack, in an article penned just before Christmas from St Etienne for El Diario Vasco, the Basque newspaper with whom he had signed a contract at the beginning of the year to write a weekly column. His Bacchanalian references were, of course, a nod to all the countries in which he has managed a football team, although he seems to have had some problem recalling his Welsh spell, unless he was alluding in the opening clause to some new strain of Swansea claret.

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Clive Charles, one of the most sought after coaches in the US, says he benefited from leaving Britain. Mike Woitalla reports 

British coaches in American soccer are as easy to find as fast-food restaurants on Main Street. In a nation long dependent on foreign teachers, who more likely to dominate the tutorial corps than expatriates from a land of the same language?

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