The Archive

The internet has its critics, but after using it to spend his money on football games to make up for his deprived childhood, Harry Pearson  certainly isn’t one of them

My childhood contact with football board games was confined to gazing wistfully at the adverts in Jimmy Hill’s Football Weekly. They promised so much delight. Wembley was based on “The English Football Association Challenge Cup Competition” and boasted “the most gripping features and exciting uncertainties” recreated “with vivid and amazing fidelity”. Soc­cerama, meanwhile was thrillingly endorsed by Eng­land World Cup star Alan Ball.

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For Steve Wilson, the gleaming seats and award-winning arches of the McAlpine Stadium cannot replace the pleasures of standing behind the goal at Leeds Road under a rickety iron roof

I can hear the words before they’re formed. Someone new asks me which team I follow. “Huddersfield Town,” I reply, then wait. A slightly blank look appears on their face, mixing surprise, confusion and pity. And then it comes: “Nice stadium.”

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This is the time of year when the news­papers are filled with hopes for the com­ing year, with pleas for respect for ref­erees, less diving and world peace. All very laudable but, really, we can’t be do­ing with any of it. There is only one thing we’ll ask for – that this year’s FA Cup isn’t won by one of the top three, or Liverpool. We’re even prepared to tolerate one of the curses of the modern age, tracking cam­era shots of whooping fans in jester hats and curly wigs, provided they are cele­brating a victory for an underdog.

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Philip Cornwall was far from alone in idolising a traditional English centre-forward in 1986, even if his choice was unusual. A lot has changed since, starting with Gary Lineker

Wayne Larkins has long been one of my favourite footballers. Though if he crossed your consciousness at all it was probably as a Northamptonshire and (occasionally) England batsman, my cup runneth over when his winter off from the county I support became a move to my non-League home town side, where he made a striking impression.

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Tuesday 2 An exciting night for several teenagers at Highbury, where 16-year-old Francesc Fabregas is among the scorers in Arsenal reserves’ 5-1 Carling Cup thrashing of Wolves. Two James Beattie goals, one a last-minute penalty, settle the first Hampshire derby for eight years. Joe Cole is banned for two games for his spat when West Ham played at Bolton last April. Ken Bates is steaming: “Those responsible for keeping him waiting seven months should have their wages withdrawn for three months, or be sacked.”

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