The Archive

With football supporters regularly lambasted for their fast-changing opinions on their sides' staff and players, it sometimes turns out that the ficklest fans can actually be found in the boardroom – as Sir Bobby Robson has found out of his chairman, Freddy Shepherd

Anyone who has looked at football internet message boards will know the form by now. Alongside the well in­­formed contributors, there are always a few who offer only irate bluster and bombast, often expressed in capital letters. Unfortunately for Newcastle United supporters, one such person appears to be in charge of their club.

Read more…

Paul Doyle hails Shelbourne's Champions League exploits

To get an idea of Shelbourne’s standing in Europe until recently, consider the sheer contempt with which Croa­t­ia’s Hajduk Split prepared for their crucial Champions League second-round clash with the League of Ireland winners. Vic­tory would set up a glamour clash with the mighty De­portivo La Coruña and Hajduk were so convinced that honour would be theirs that Shels manager Pat Fenlon claimed his Croatian counterpart simply blank­ed him when the draw was made in Switz­erland and instead went straight up to the Span­ish team’s officials to make arrangements.

Read more…

Tom Davies reports on three of the Football League's troubled clubs

The fight to secure the future of Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground (reported in WSC 208) has acquired a new urgency over the summer. Elusive chairman Mark Guterman has left the club, leaving the abrasive Alex Hamilton in charge. Hamilton, now revealed as the real power behind Guterman from the start, wants to sell the ground (which could fetch up to £25 million) and move the club to an out-of-town site, claiming that the sale would be the only way to stave off the lingering threat of administration and clear debts of around £5m.

Read more…

"No one likes them" – Justin McCurry reports on Japan, Asia's answer to Millwall, and their trip to China for this year's Asian Cup

The impeccable behaviour of Japan fans at France 98 and their hospitality at Korea/Japan 2002 earned them a deserved reputation as one of the most popular sets of supporters in the world. That is until they arrived in China last month to follow their team at the Asian Cup.

Read more…

Since playing a key role in Arsène's 1998 triumphs, this former Arsenal striker has become virtually anonymous and also larger than life, as Ian Davey discovered

“Riding along on the Christ-oph-er Wreh” went the memorable anthem conceived in honour of the Liberian striker who arrived at Arsenal in 1997. He was so good, in fact, that Arsène Wenger signed him twice (he had taken him to Monaco when he was just 14); and he was even supposed to be cousin of a former World Footballer of the Year, George Weah.

Read more…