The Archive

A season in which northern clubs made a revival saw Aston Villa move into the third tier, by Keith Wilson

The long-term significance
The promotion of Blackpool and Huddersfield represented a brief revival for traditional northern clubs – against a prevailing trend. At the start of the 1960s Blackpool had been one of five Lancashire town teams in the First Division. By the end of that decade, with the abolition of the maximum wage badly affecting many smaller clubs, only Burnley were left – and they were to be relegated with Blackpool in 1970-71 (to return briefly in the mid‑1970s). Huddersfield, who had spent several seasons more at the top level than their west Yorkshire rivals Leeds, returned to Division Two after two seasons. Like Blackpool, they have spent much of the past 38 years in the bottom two divisions.

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As Argentina's traditional clubs struggle three unlikely teams rise to the top, writes Rodrigo Orihuela

It was the year of the minnow in Argentine football. Two small teams from the suburbs of Buenos Aires – Lanús and Tigre – took the two top places in the championship and a third – Arsenal – won the Copa Sudamericana, second only to the Copa Libertadores. Arsenal’s story is probably the most eye-catching of all since the club, founded in 1957, only reached the top division in 2002. The club were set up by the two Grondona brothers, one of whom, Julio, has been FA chairman since 1979. The team are located in the industrial district of Avellaneda, also the home of giants Racing and Independiente, and have the smallest fan base in the first division – their average crowd last season was just 3,005.

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Where did it all go wrong this time? Harry Pearson assesses the tenure of the man under the brolly and Ashley Shaw looks at why the England team fail to unite the support of the country's biggest clubs

It was hard to look at him as he wagged his left arm in some forlorn attempt to get his players to deliver a decent cross and not think of Stevie Smith: “I was too far out all my life/and not waving but drowning.” Though sadly for the poet, she was not about to pocket £2.5 million on her way to a fortnight’s holiday in the Caribbean.

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Even bigger than the headlines about England's exit were the figures estimating its cost. Roger Titford looks at what it will really mean for sponsors, business generally and the marketability of football

Euro 2008 will be the first such tournament without an English-speaking nation since the eight-team European Championship finals in France in 1984. For the football purist, this may be a good thing. For the marketing man, it is a bit of a disaster. On Thursday November 22, Britain’s marketing community awoke to see an enormous hole blown in media plans and promotional schedules across the entire range of consumer goods. Worst affected will be the official commercial partner companies with events and activities planned around England’s summer participation. The typical, rudderless bloke in the supermarket won’t be wearing his new Umbro England shirt and loading his trolley with cases of cheap Carlsberg in anticipation of Austria v Romania. Eat Turkey! Drink Greece! Sleep Switzerland! This tournament is not going to work for the uncommitted UK target audience.

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Rioting marred a dramatic final of Africa's Champions League, a competition that struggles in comparison to its European namesake and shares some of its drawbacks. Chris Taylor reports

It was not perhaps the showpiece culmination to the year that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had hoped for. The Cairo Stadium was full to bursting, with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak on hand to present the Champions League trophy to the winning team in the presence of massed ranks of dignitaries, and the match itself was certainly exciting. But the occasion ended in mayhem as the victorious Etoile du Sahel players were pelted with missiles and attacked by a mutinous crowd. And by the dignitaries. And the gentlemen of the press. At least no one could accuse them of not taking the competition seriously enough.

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