Match-fixing has always been in football. Simon Craig looks at the murky history
The lights went out at Upton Park and at Selhurst, and might yet have followed suit at The Valley and up to eight other grounds over the country.
Book reviews
Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.
Chaos ensued at White Hart Lane when not all season ticket books were recieved by fans. Adam Powley reports
Tottenham’s recent foray into the giddy heights of the table might have surprised their supporters but, when it comes to how they are treated by the club, it appears to be business as usual. Spurs fans are wearily used to shoddy treatment from a plc for whom customer service is an alien concept, but this season the club has surpassed itself with what has come to be known as the great season ticket fiasco.
Sky's money has not had a good effect on Rangers' crowds as Ronnie Esplin discovered
Success may breed success, but in the case of Glasgow Rangers it appears it has ultimately bred apathy. Anything less than winning the three domestic trophies this season will be a failure. When you add to that a massive increase in season ticket prices (for fewer games than usual, since Scottish Cup ties are not included this season), saturation television coverage and the moving of games to anti-social times, then you have a bubble on the verge of bursting.
Despite a successful pre-season tournament in Northern Ireland, it was all rather meaningless, as Davy Millar explains
The inaugural Belfast Carlsberg Challenge was adjudged to be a great success by nearly everyone involved. The promoter made a profit and Linfield and Glentoran each pocketed £50,000 for their efforts. Liverpool re-established contact with their Irish fans, sold a few more replica kits and got some much-needed trophy-lifting practice thrown in. And even if Feyenoord seemed occasionally confused by events, especially in defence, at least it got them out of the house for a while.
Frank Clark talks to WSC about his new book, Kicked Into Touch, which charts the ups and downs of more than a decade in football management
You had some uncomfortable experiences as a manager. If you were a player now, would you still want to become a manager?
Yes, for two reasons. As a player I knew I wanted to stay in the game when I stopped because I loved being involved. I’d feel the same today. The other factor, of course, is the amount of money you can earn. There’s no question that the job has got much harder, for various reasons: Bosman, the sums of money involved, Sky. The spotlight has become that much more intense. The other side of the coin is that managers are being paid wages at least on a par with some of the players.