The Archive

With a new ground, booming crowds and one of the game's cult heroes in phenomenal striking form, Swansea fans aredreaming of the Toshack era writes Huw Richards

SPRE – the letters visible on seats behind the North Stand goal at Liberty Stadium, indicative not of the efforts of a dyslexic Roman signwriter but what happens when the OSPREYS branding of Swansea City’s rugby-playing co-tenants is partially obscured.They are conspicuous not only for their location, but for being just about the only untenanted seats in the stadium. A crowd of 19,288 is Swansea’s largest since Liverpool visited the Vetch Field for a First Division match in September 1982.

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The player's personal website: a wonderful way for starrs to keep in touch with their fans, or gigantic ego-trips by names big and small wth nothing worth saying? Ian Plenderleith examines the evidence

If footballers have anything of interest to say nowadays, they tend to keep it to themselves, or they save it for their post-retirement, tell-all memoirs. In the meantime, they offload their mental leftovers on to the internet. This month’s column takes you on a whistle-stop tour of players’ online diaries to save you the trouble of surfing the net for trite nothings.

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Dear WSC
Once again I feel compelled to respond to points raised by Ashley Manning in his response (WSC 226) to my earlier letter (WSC 225). Ashley is aggrieved that I am “pouring scorn” on initiatives such as family days – I am not, in my original draft I included the comment “quite rightly” in relation to the reduced entrance fees paid by the preponderance of children at Loftus Road games I attended. This comment was subsequently edited out. Ashley appears to think that I am laying sole blame for the two dismal games I witnessed (one goal, many yellows and at least one red card) at Fulham’s door. Again, this is not the case. As Ashley rightly points out, Birmingham City have not played with Brazilian flair in recent years and at present would not look out of place in the Conference. It does, however, take two to tango. I am certain that Craven Cottage is packed regularly for more attractive derby games, but I hope for all Cottagers’ sake that Fayed keeps the players interested otherwise these local derbies will be shared with QPR, or even Brentford in coming years. I can only reiterate the sentiments of my previous letter in that “there is no real malice in my choice [of Fulham as most disliked team of 2004-5], and it is in all likelihood a reflection of dislike for Momo Fayed and a lack of characters in the Premiership”. Next year I’ll be more careful where I go to get cold, wet and bored (by my own team as well as the opposition), and in any case David O’Leary’s recent antics at St Andrew’s have gone a long way to reclaiming Villa’s rightful top spot…
Ken Jones, via email

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Manchester Utd equal highest ever winning points margin. By Neil Rose

The long-term significance
Unlike Chelsea the previous season, Manchester United refused to bow to Football Association pressure not to compete in the fledgling European Cup after winning the league. However, on May 15, 1956, Birmingham City became the first English club side to compete in Europe, taking part in the International Inter-City Industrial Fairs Cup, for cities that hosted industrial and trade fairs. Games coincided with fairs and thus the tournament took three years to complete. In 1957 Birmingham lost in the semi-final to eventual winners Barcelona after a play-off in Basle in the days before the away-goals rule (which would have benefited Barça anyway). The competition evolved into the UEFA Cup. In a game dubbed “Old World meets the New”, England beat Brazil 4-2 at Wembley, during which the Brazilians – two years away from their first World Cup win – briefly walked off the pitch in a dispute over a penalty. Stanley Matthews, recalled at the age of 42, gave a virtuoso performance. His opponent on the flank, Nilton Santos, whom the Brazilians had said was unbeatable, reportedly told him at the end of the game: “Mister Matthews, you are the king.”

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Cameron Carter gets more than an eyeful

Often technology, while improving the quality of one part of our lives, has an adverse effect on another. And so it is with widescreen television, because, while it allows us to see Alan Shearer, Alan Hansen and Gary Lineker’s arm and shoulder in one shot – wider than we’ve ever seen before – it also gives us the unholy spectacle of Shearer’s too-tight trousers in fuller detail than we could ever need. Watching the England v Argentina punditry in widescreen “cinema” mode, I could descry the exact lie of the man’s genitals, right down to the fact that he is clearly not of Orthodox Jewish faith. This detracted from my enjoyment of thousands of Argentina fans looking shell-shocked and, indeed, if I know in advance that Shearer is guesting again in the studio I shall make sure I am watching on the grainy upstairs portable. Also his trousers are shiny grey, like an employee of the Trumpton biscuit factory.

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