Book reviews

Piers Pennington  takes on the mysteries of the Didcot triangle, with three teams that lurk around the periphery of the big time

Look at a map of England, go left from London and you’ll come across a footballing desert stretching across Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somerset. Only three oases of league football offer succour to the parched lower division journeyman and many a camel towards the end of its career has found refreshment in Oxford, Reading or Swindon. In the middle of the three lies Didcot, the railway junction which links them, and this has persuaded some to call this area the Didcot Triangle.

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Ian Plenderleith looks back to the late 1970s, when Lincolnshire buzzed with football enthusiasm – for Nottingham Forest

Where is Lincolnshire? It’s the second biggest county in England after Yorkshire, but you’d be sur­prised how few people know the answer. Even some of the people who actually live there. A similar sense of bafflement can be seen etched on the face of anyone who might be asked the following: name three pro­fessional football clubs in Lin­coln­shire? And what have they ever won?

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None of Devon's three clubs can claim glorious, trophy-laden histories, yet one seems to attract more than its fair share of attention, says Nick House

Some years ago, Harry Pearson wrote a wonderful book about football in the north east of England. By calling it The Far Corner he unwittingly paid a compliment to football west of Taunton Deane services by not labelling Devon as English football’s outpost. Unfortunately, others continue to do so, portraying Devon football fans as wretched individuals who spend Saturdays travelling to Old Trafford courtesy of Taw and Torridge Coaches.

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Will Wimbledon FC be based in Wimbledon much longer? Kris Stewart doesn't seem the think so, unfortuantely

On May 4, 1991, Wimbledon lost 3-0 to Crystal Palace at Plough Lane. It wasn’t until after the game that I knew for certain we were moving to Selhurst Park. Plough Lane had done us proud since 1912, but the demands of the Taylor Report, we were told, made a “temporary” move inevitable. Since then, we have play­ed 486 consecutive matches away from home. As soon as we moved, we started hear­ing rumours linking us to all sorts of places, the worst being a plan to take us to Dublin.

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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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