The Archive

Monday 1 How long do you go on waiting for results?” asks Wolves chairman Rick Hayward after sacking Dave Jones with the club 19th in the Championship. Bradford’s Dean Windass has the second yellow card shown to him during a 4-0 defeat at Luton rescinded – he had protested at the referee allegedly taunting him about the score.

Tuesday 2 “There is no need to get dramatic because we are still unbeaten in Europe,” says Arsène as the Gunners are held 1-1 at home by Panathinaikos. Pascal Cygan, now firmly established as the new Frank Sinclair, contributes an own goal for the visitors’ equaliser after the Greeks miss a penalty. Chelsea are through to the Champions League knockout stages, though, after a 1-0 win at CSKA Moscow who also squander a spot-kick. Celtic can still avoid elimination after beating Donetsk 1-0. In the Championship, managerless Wolves are only three points above the relegation zone after a 3-1 defeat at Sunderland and West Ham lose to Cardiff for the first time since 1952, 4-1 at Ninian Park. The top two, Wigan and Ipswich, both win, the latter setting a club record by scoring in their 29th consecutive game, a 5-1 victory over Sheffield United.

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Adrian Mutu's failed drugs test is just the latest, albeit highest-profile, indication of the doping problem sweeping Romanian football, writes Ben Lyttleton

The biggest surprise about the reaction in Romania to Adrian Mutu’s positive drugs test was that anyone was surprised: a week earlier, three Farul Constanta players were banned for failing dope tests, while Robert Sandu, nephew of FA president Mircea Sandu, is awaiting trial for dealing large amounts of drugs to a client list allegedly packed with high-profile sports stars.

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Saturday 2 Arsenal rampage past Charlton, 4-0 at Highbury. “He’s the most exciting player anywhere,” says Alan Curbishley of two-goal Thierry. Everton’s good run comes to an end with a 1-0 defeat to Spurs in a bad-tempered game highlighted by Jamie Redknapp’s clogging of Tim Cahill, which may be referred to the FA. “It was a momentous effort,” says Gary Megson, surrounded by streamers and popping corks, as West Brom win a match, beating Bolton 2-1. Wigan top the Championship once more by beating Rotherham 2-0 while Reading are held at home by Burnley. QPR go third by winning at Stoke, but Tony Pulis claims Marc Bircham play-acted to get Gerry Taggart sent off: “Taggart’s a tough warrior. He’s incensed.” “If the fans want me to go then they will keep doing what they have been doing,” says Leicester’s Micky Adams, who is barracked during a 1-1 home draw with Preston. In League One the Arsenal of Bedfordshire drop points for only the second time in a 1-1 draw at Tranmere, who score with a rebound from a twice-taken penalty. Brentford are nine points back in second after beating Oldham. Yeovil top League Two again, but only three points separate the top seven. Kidderminster blow a chance to get off the foot by letting in a 90th-minute equaliser to next-to-bottom Cambridge. Paul Gascoigne is to leave Boston after two months; Scottish club Morton are said to be mustard-keen to offer him their manager’s job. Why, Morton?

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After two-and-a-half-years' worth of poor performances, Berti Vogts leaves his post as Scotland manager blaming media and supporter pressure for his failure. Dianne Millen explains why reform is desperately needed in Scottish football

If you listened hard on that icy Moldovan night, you could almost hear the sound of Berti Vogts’ tartan bodywarmer falling off the proverbial shoogly peg as the travelling Tartan Army cordially invited him to go forth and multiply. From then on, the combative German’s one-way ticket from Glasgow Airport was as good as booked, although his emotional “personal statement” on resigning laid the blame not on the fans directly, but on “the unacceptable power of the tabloid press to influence its readership”.

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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.

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