Book reviews

Chester City fans celebrated the arrival of Terry Smith, who took over the club last year. They are not celebrating now, says Mark Howell

Terry Smith, the 40-year-old former coach of Manchester Spartans American Football team, took control of Chester City in July 1999. Asked to explain his interest, Smith cited his children’s love of Chester Zoo and the fact that “Americans love history, and Chester is steep­ed in history”. Supporters celebrated nonetheless. They had raised over £100,000 to­­­wards Smith’s takeover and were set to own over 30 per cent of the club, which had been in administration for almost a year.

Read more…

Money can't buy you happiness, as this year's play-off losers can confirm. Paul Middleton reports on Wigan Athletic's failed bid to join the Firts Division

This season, despite its desperate ending at Wembley, stands out as the greatest in Wigan Athletic’s short history. It saw the club’s highest league placing, the biggest crowd at a home match, highest average attendance – up almost two thirds on last season – all in a new stadium in front of a millionaire chairman. Yet for the fans it has still been a season of frustration.

Read more…

Money does not always bring success, as Hartlepool found out in the play-offs. Ed Parkinson reports

Reasonably sane supporters of Hartlepool and Darlington probably approached most seasons in the last century with a common set of priorities – stay in the league, stay solvent and finish above the local rival. The first two have proved difficult for both clubs at times but over­all supremacy in the third area is a matter of heated debate.

Read more…

Harry Pearson remembers the player and man who still casts a shadow over Teesside

For many of us who grew up around Teesside in the Sixties and Seventies, Wilf Mannion was a source of considerable youthful irritation. The older generation of Middlesbrough fan made it abundantly clear that those of us who had not had the privilege to see the blond inside forward play had missed a vital part of our footballing education and would therefore never be competent to pass any judgment on the game whatsoever. Any praise for a modern star was routinely dismissed by an unflattering comparison with the South Bank-born genius. It was as well Mannion was capable of lacing his own boots, for it was widely held that no one else was fit to do it for him.

Read more…

The killing of two fans in Turkey put Leeds United under intense scrutiny. Mark Rutter says its response shows how far the club has come

“Welcome to civilisation.” So read the banner displayed outside Elland Road before Leeds United’s UEFA Cup semi-final second leg against Galatasaray. Produced for the benefit of the TV cameras as a barbed message to watching Turks, this bold claim to the moral high ground must have caused a few raised eyebrows among English fans who have visited this part of west Yorkshire at various times over the past 30 years.

Read more…