Book reviews

John Secker reflects on Blackpool’s inability to escape the lower divisions since the trauma of a fluke relegation in 1978

In the good old days of the Sixties and before, Blackpool were one of the teams who could lay claim to a First Division place pretty well permanently. Along with teams like Preston, Burnley and Bolton, they were part of a Lancashire tradition of strong town teams that went back to Victorian times. Even in the Seventies Blackpool were a strong Second Division side, just missing out on promotion in 1974 and featuring on Goal of the Season in 1975 (Mickey Walsh against Sunderland).

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The West Midlands has a rich heritage of football but, as Steve Field finds out, the desperation to beat the local rivals has sometimes been substituted for success

When Aston Villa’s opponents failed to show up one Saturday in the 1880s, Joe Tillotson (so legend has it) threw down the bloater he was frying in his Summer Lane coffee shop and went next door to the draper’s owned by fellow director William MacGregor. Both men were indignant and declared angrily that some­thing should be done to ensure fixtures were hon­oured. It was a first faltering step towards modern professionalism and it was to lead to the creation of a Football League for the most prosperous and am­b­itious clubs in the north and midlands.

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Jack Hayward spent lots of money preparing Wolves for the Premier League, but as Charles Ross discovers, you need more then just a fancy stadium to get there

If it was a difficult start to this season for Wolves, it was worse for Sir Jack Hayward. After selling Robbie Keane, we exited the Worthington Cup at the hands of the other Wanderers (Wycombe), and lost the second home league game to Walsall. Cue sporadic chants of “sack the board” and “where’s the money gone?” After a decade of Hayward’s involvement, the answer seems to be that the money – around £46 million of it – has gone on a fabulous new Molineux and on players not fit to grace it.

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Having been a hero to the Birmingham City fans in the 1970s, John Tandy finds out if he stills holds the same affection as manager in the 1990s

It’s the early eighties. Birmingham City are well into the downward spiral that will shortly see them drop into the Third Division. Trevor Francis is at Sampdoria. The song rings out: “My Trevor lies over the ocean, My Trevor lies over the sea… Oh bring back my Trevor to me…”

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Between acting, punditry and chat shows, does Ally McCoist have the time to score goals for Kilmarnock? Graeme Jamieson reports

Is the fairytale over? Breaking his leg against Rangers in October may have been Ally Mc­Coist’s last act in football. Those cheery souls in the Scottish press suggested that the Kil­marnock striker, who will retire at the end of the season, would never play again. The offic­ial line is that he’ll be back after the winter break. The question is, should he bother?

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