Book reviews

Martin Brodetsky explains how a failed stadium scheme has pushed a club on the fringe of elite towards destruction

On Wednesday November 25th over 700 people crammed into Oxford Town Hall to attend a meeting organised by the pressure group FOUL (Fighting for Oxford United’s Life). The group was formed in November in response to the club’s dire situation: £13.5 million in debt; losing about £12,000 each week; a half-built stadium rusting away on the city outskirts (see WSC 140); and facing imminent receivership.

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Steven Morgan explores the financial depths to which Portsmouth have sunk

As Christmas presents go, it was like finally unwrapping something you’d asked for two years ago. Still, better late than never. Chairman Martin Gregory’s decision to quit Portsmouth on December 18th had been the top item on every fan’s festive wish list, such was the crippling financial damage wreaked during his three-year stint in charge.

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Tim Springett examines FA chariman Keith Wiseman's record at Southampton

In addition to holding the position of FA chairman, Keith Wiseman has been a director of Southampton Football Club for ten years, holding the post of vice-chairman until six months ago. He is also a solicitor, the coroner for the Southampton and New Forest area and a high-ranking member of the Hampshire branch of the Lawn Tennis Association. At first glance, he seems a veritable pillar of the community.

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Hans Segers, a defendant in the football betting trials, has told his story. Matthew Roche, present in court, is unimpressed

For Hans Segers to put his name to a book on the two 1997 Winchester match-rigging trials is a little like Torquay’s chief air raid warden penning a per­s­onal history of the Second World War. Segers was a bit-player in the affair and this is reflected in a thin and disappointing book which reveals little about “soccer’s trial of the century”.

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Adam Powley wonders if Tottenham Hostpur could be selling their fans short by not taking up full allocations

It's a conspiracy theorist’s dream – not quite on a par with the Kennedy assassination, but of concern to football fans all the same. Tottenham had been accused of deliberately denying their supporters the chance to buy tickets for away games in order to force them to attend live screenings of the matches at Spurs, a serious accusation which required some clear answers. Getting them, however, proved to be a shade tricky.

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