The Archive

Ruud Gullit may have failed to bring “sexy football” to Newcastle, but he won’t try that when he takes over at Feyenoord. And the fans there won’t care, Ernst Bouwes writes

Situated at the “arse” of the Netherlands, where several rivers come together to spit Europe’s chemical waste into the North Sea, Rotterdam is a place where people love winning football matches by a dub­ious penalty or a deflected free-kick in the last minute. A world removed from the entertaining and high-quality football associated with Holland, Feyenoord fans mainly care for industrious, tough and ruthless players, the type who have won all sorts of trophies for their club since 1970. It is no surprise, therefore, that Ruud Gullit will be in charge for the start of next season.

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The internet has sparked a boom in betting and inevitably there are sites that promise to help you to beat the bookies and win endless riches. Ian Plenderleith – just for fun – gave a couple of systems the once-over

I’m not a gambler, but I can bet you one thing for sure. If betting were profitable for pun­ters, bookies wouldn’t exist. Bearing this in mind, I locked up my credit card and examined two websites that promise to help players beat the odds.

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Dear WSC
Following the recent kerfuffle between Ashley Cole, Nicolas Anelka et al at High­bury, most commentators seemed to agree that Cole was as much to blame as Anelka and deserved to walk too. Obviously Cole’s reputation is now goi­ng before him, but surely in this case Cole had every right to pick up the ball and return it to the centre circle in his own time? What none of the so-called “ex­perts” ever cares to mention in these cases is that once a goal has been scored, the scored-against team has possession of the ball and should not expect to have to deal with a full-on assault from the opposing team’s front line (everyone seemed to conveniently miss Robbie Fowler’s rugby tackle during the same incident). If they waste time returning it, the ref can show a yellow card and add on a few seconds accordingly – simple. OK, Cole raised an arm, but didn’t we all when someone tried to grab our ball? No, in this case the referee was ab­solutely right and for once the video panel also saw sense. I think it was Eusebio who started this trend for grabbing balls out of nets in the 1966 World Cup against North Korea and the sooner FIFA send out a directive banning such blatant gamesmanship the better for all concerned.
Martin D Ling (not the Os manager), Bethnal Green

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Bristol City supporter Mo Davies assesses the standard of League Two and how the rivalry with relegated Rovers is sorely missed

What have been your best and worst moments?
The best moments are few and far between. I have seen us in the top flight but was a bit young to appreciate it fully. I could revel in Freight Rover/LDV successes, but the promotion seasons have been ultimately more satisfying. The best of which was 1989-90, with Bob Taylor and Robbie Turner terrorising defences up and down the country, including dumping Chelsea out of the FA Cup. The worst was definitely 1982: the club almost went of business and were relegated to Division Four.

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In January the editor responsible for the creation of Roy of the Rovers, the most famous of all football comic strips, died. Neil Rose  looks at the life of Derek Birnage’s brainchild, while there have also been more recent developments in the industry

He lost his wife in a mysterious car crash, his left foot in a helicopter accident, eight of his team-mates in a Middle Eastern terrorist attack and in January Roy Race suffered further loss when the man who brought him to the world died, almost 50 years after Racey’s Rocket first slammed into the net.

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