Book reviews

A boardroom reshuffle at Nottingham Forest throws up a familiar face to Spurs fan Martin Cloake

In 1989, this man said: “I love Tottenham. You watch two other teams and you don’t feel you want either to win… unless they’re playing Arsenal.” He also told the Independent that he disapproved, pointedly, of directors who “move around” between clubs. The man was Irving Scholar, then director of Tottenham Hotspur, now at Nottingham Forest. At least Forest fans should be under no illusions about Scholar’s priorities – it will be business first. Unless of course Forest are playing Arsenal.

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Ian Cusack reports on the way the local media handled the departure of Kevin Keegan

I happened to be in Newcastle city centre at 10.30 am when the story of Kevin Keegan’s resignation broke, so I saw the stage-managed outpourings of false emotion at first hand. The sudden nature of the departure made it a perfect opportunity for soundbite and snapshot.

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Ian Cusack explains why Darlington and Hartlepool United are synonymous with the term 'perennial strugglers'

Imagine the scenario: a resurgent North Eastern club, managed by an ex-international captain, playing the best football in their history and seemingly certain to be rewarded with a major prize, inexplicably falter in the closing weeks of the season and chuck it away on the final day. The next season begins with an air of gloom despite a major signing and rumours of a relocation to a brand new stadium. Eventually the board accept one of the frustrated manager’s numerous offers to resign and replace him with a former manager and former player.

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Brian Homewood salutes an unconventional goalkeeper

Like Timbuktu and Outer Mongolia, Paraguay is best-known for being an out-of-the-way place. If it has any claim to fame, it is for harbouring Nazi war criminals. It is mocked by neighbouring Brazil, which sees it as a smugglers’ haven (in reality Brazil is one of South America’s crime capitals), and sneered at by Argentina, which looks on it as a source of cheap labour. An estimated one million Paraguayans live in Argentina, many of them employed cleaning up after rich natives.

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Cris Freddi takes a look at 'unique' goalkeepers

Leslie Henderson Skene, who kept goal for Scotland in 1904, was a specialist in mental disorders. What a nugget to dig up. Let the rest of the article write itself, one case history after another.

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