The Archive

Anti-racism initiatives in football should be applauded, but it's only scratching the surface

The press lounge at a Premiership ground one evening a few years ago. Journalists gathered for a midweek game are looking at a TV screen that is replaying goals from the previous weekend. Dwight Yorke scores against a team supported by one of those watching, who walks up to the screen and says loudly, in mock indignation: “Yorke, you black twat!” In the wake of last month’s friendly in Mad­rid, the journalist in question was one of many who set about suggesting various forms of action that might be taken against Spain for the Bernabéu crowd’s racial abuse of black England players. It is fair to assume, then, that he has long since seen the error of his ways.

Read more…

Malcolm Glazer may have been frustrated in his first attempt to take over at Old Trafford, but he and the United ownership saga are certainly not finished, as Adam Brown explains

When the board of Manchester United announced at the end of October that they were breaking off talks with Malcolm Glazer, the American businessman attempting to take over the club, many assumed that this was the end of the matter. However, far from this being the “final nail in the coffin”, as one put it, there are a number of options left open to the owner of Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At least one of these scenarios should be sounding alarm bells in the minds of all football fans, for the future ownership of Manchester United will have implications far beyond Old Trafford.

Read more…

Some people live football; other people live in what used to be football grounds. Steve Menary reports on the growing relationship between the game and builders

So, goodbye then, Tynecastle, as yet another football stadium falls underneath the bulldozer. Despite the objections of Hearts fans, their ground looks  like being sold to house-builder Cala for £22 mil­lion. Tynecastle will join a line of much loved stadiums, from The Dell to Oxford United’s Manor Ground, in becoming housing.

Read more…

As Arsenal announce that they are calling their new home after a rival's current sponsors, Neville Hadsley looks at the still-bleaker future offered by 'naming rights'

Many people can recall where they were when they heard that John Lennon had been shot. I can’t. But I can remember exactly where I was when word came through that Bradford City’s ground had been renamed The Bradford And Bingley Building Society Stadium. I was in the offices of the Bradford Telegraph & Argus where, at the time, I was employed on the sports desk. The news did not impress the then-sports editor who, in a rare moment of decisiveness, said that we would con­tinue to call the ground Valley Parade. Un­surprisingly, the Bradford supporters opted to stick with Valley Parade as well. It’s tradition – you can’t change it just by handing over a wad of cash, can you?

Read more…

After the death of a steward following incidents at Aston Villa's Carling Cup tie with QPR, Dave Woodhall wonders if it is time for the police to increase their presence at games

If I had a pound for every time I’ve been asked the question: “Is football violence on the way back?” I’d be a lot better off than I am now. The answer, of course, is that it never entirely died out. The average Premiership attendance is around 35,000 and in a crowd of that size there will inevitably be some undesirables. Hooliganism happens, but it’s rare and the chances of getting caught up in the type of pre-planned violence that forms the majority of skirmishes loosely based around football is so small as to be not worth worrying about.

Read more…