The Archive

Five years ago a brand new stadium arrived in Darlington, even if Faustino Asprilla didn’t. This visit of play-off contenders to play-off hopefuls reveals a lot about life in League Division Two. Ian Plenderleith was there too

South Korea and Portugal built a number of stadiums for major international football tournaments that now sit underused and half-empty on match days, but at least they had their World Cup and Euro days in the sun. In Darlington, the 25,000-seat 96.6 TFM Arena has never been full to capacity and it probably never will be. It’s destined to spend its days under the eternal grey clouds of ­England’s fourth division.

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Football in Mexico has recently enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with another great national passion. This is now under severe threat. Martin del Palacio Langer explains

When, in March, the International Board – FIFA’s rule making body – banned players from wearing masks during matches, the footballing world barely batted an eyelid. After all, only a couple of players had ever done it in international matches, notably Ecuadorian Iván Kaviedes at the 2006 World Cup.

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Dan Brennan looks back at the antics of the hot-headed former Rangers player. Until his move to Russia, no SPL player could rest easy, not to mention the Glaswegian suburbs

Last summer, Dutch midfielder Fernando Ricksen checked himself into the Sporting Chance clinic, a rehab centre founded by Tony Adams, for help with his drink problem and with “anger management”.

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Creating your own entertainment while watching a football match is a major part of the experience. Unfortunately, Howard Pattison finds he is increasingly unable to do so

It’s probably asking too much, but if Exeter City were to achieve promotion this season, I should like them to do so without scoring another goal in the process. At least then I wouldn’t have to be subjected to the sound of Freddie Mercury shrieking Don’t Stop Me Now, which he is apt to do whenever the ball hits the net. However, it seems unlikely that a series of goalless draws will be sufficient to secure a place in the play-offs. And it is even less probable that they would be successful in these without scoring at least a single goal. (I’ve yet to discover if the controller of the PA system will insist on playing Queen records during a penalty shootout.)

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Barney Ronay examines the list of the world's most valuable football clubs

It’s that list time of year again. Never mind the monotonous rhetoric surrounding the duopoly at the top of the Premiership – in the table that really counts, Manchester United are still well clear of the field. Forbes magazine’s annual survey of the world’s most valuable football clubs was published last month, once again ranking United miles ahead in first place with a valuation of £740 million. Real Madrid creep into second with a paltry £528m. Unexpectedly, Arsenal are third on £466m, a position that sits slightly confusingly alongside their status as the world’s most indebted football club thanks to the massive borrowings for the construction of the Emirates Stadium.

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