Book reviews

Xavier Wiggins reports on Wimbledon's lack of action as they search for a new home

As followers of a team that have spent eleven consecutive years in the top flight, won the FA Cup and established themselves as formidable opponents, Wimbledon fans ought be envied by many other supporters. Closer examination, however reveals a club exiled from its own borough for the past seven seasons whose fans, whilst growing in number (a 115% increase since moving from Plough Lane) sit in a ground painted in the landlord’s colours, are stewarded by Palace fans and buy their merchandise in a shop where Wimbledon goods look like they have been put out by mistake. They even sup their pre-match beers in a bar called ‘Crystals’.

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Bournemouth were nearly extinct due to their financial situation, but Rob Trent tells the happy story of their revival

“This afternoon at just after four o’clock the assets of AFC Bournemouth, the stand, the stadium, the name, the players, have all been transferred into the hands of the community club.” Thus spoke Trevor Watkins, the new Chairman of AFC Bournemouth, on 18th June 1997.

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Cris Freddi looks at the history of the hairless footballer, and whether they are still around abroad

A bald fact: there weren’t many of them in the very early days of the game, partly because relatively few players won any caps after leaving university. Only when international careers grew longer did hairlines began to recede.

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Tommy Burns was tasked with winning the league for Celtic, but Gary Oliver details how he found Rangers and Falkirk in his way

Twenty four hours after the country went to the polls, Glasgow East declared that Tommy Burns had lost his seat as Celtic’s manager. Although the Scottish press had campaigned for Burns to be granted a second term of office, Time For A Change proved the prevailing sentiment amongst voters in the Parkhead boardroom.

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The Scottish First Division doesn't deserve its bad reputation, says Paul Hutton

This time of year is a nervous one for many supporters, particularly, it would seem, if your team is facing possible relegation to Scotland’s First Division. Most journalists in Scotland, and a worrying number of supporters, seem to view the First Division in the same way that mediaeval monks regarded strange lands with funny customs.

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