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Book reviews

Reviews from When Saturday Comes. Follow the link to buy the book from Amazon.

Same difference

Mike Ticher explains how Glenn Hoddle changed the culture at Chelsea without changing there fortunes

There’s a saying about the underlying sameness of German history, despite all the turmoil on the surface: “It was a very German revolution. That is, not a revolution at all.” In some ways, Glenn Hoddle’s already-mythical reign at Stamford Bridge was a very Chelsea revolution. He has been rightly praised in all quarters for implementing a highly technical, intelligent and aesthetically pleasing style of play. Or, as the Daily Telegraph so graciously put it, for “achieving the monumental feat of educating Chelsea supporters about what constitutes good football”. Yet in terms of consistency and ultimate achievement, it was the same old Chelsea.

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Diamond mine

Dick Sharman examines Rushden & Diamonds' success in 1996

Something is stirring in East Northants. In the little-known market town of Irthlingborough, one of many such places in the area separated by unremarkable, gently rolling fields, a a fledgling club are being nurtured by a multi-millionaire. Rushden and Diamonds are the new champions of the Beazer Homes League, already priming themselves for Endsleigh League status – and beyond. The galling thing for Northampton Town fans is that is should have been us.

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Poole of talent

Poole Town have had a nightmare season. Colin Tapner reports

It is too easy to be seduced by pre-season form. When Poole Town beat an understrength Dorchester 1-0 in a friendly in August, I was brimming with confidence for the season ahead. Eight months and thirty-nine straight defeats later, we were on the brink of breaking a British record.

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The strategic masterplan

John Tandy makes a case for there being signs of a method in Barry Fry's madness

What’s it like watching Birmingham City these days? Imagine you’ve tuned in to Coronation Street. You want to find out whether Kev’s going to buy the garage. Instead you find two strangers that you’ve never seen before, and they’re making no sense at all. You check the Radio Times and discover that they only joined the cast the day before. They’ve not had time to learn any lines yet but they’re making it up as they go along. Then Reg Holdsworth disappears. It’ll turn out three weeks later that he’s been transferred to Brookside in part exchange for Barry Grant. You tune in the next day, and Curly’s been flogged to Pobol Y Cwm.

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Walking the tightrope

What can Howard Wilkinson do to turn around Leeds' fortunes after such a disappointing season? Don Watson has a suggestion

Perhaps it was symbolic that Aston Villa were the opposition. There had, in our first season back in the top division, been indications to the broader audience that Leeds had at last produced a team capable of superseding all those flickering monochrome memories of the Whites of the Sixties and rose-tinted visions of the smiley-badge Seventies. But it was the performance away to Aston Villa in November ’91, televised live on ITV, that showed the world, well  the country anyway, just what a force the new order really was.

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