The Archive

The Robins have soared to new hights, but their rapid rise looks to be coming to an abrupt end. Cheltenham fan Mark Herron explains what has hampered his club's momentum

Does Cheltenham’s poor start suggest there is a significant gap in standards between the Second and Third Division?
A lot of people are saying the gap is greater than that between the Third and the Conference, but there are other reasons for our poor start, not least the loss of Steve Cotterill, whose part in our rise can never be overestimated. Also, it should be remembered that we went into the Third Division as Con­ference champions, whereas we got into the Second through the play-offs. Neither Plymouth nor Luton, the two best teams in last season’s Third, appear to be struggling.

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Sepp Blatter has taken a firmer grip than ever on FIFA since his crushing election victory over Issa Hayatou in May. Alan Tomlinson reports

At the museum of the International Olympic Com­mittee in Lausanne there is a marble display case, containing vivid portraits of the organisation’s mem­bership. They include the longest-serving member of all, an IOC luminary since 1963, Dr João Havelange, president of football’s world governing body from 1974 to 1998. Three years ago, Havelange’s successor Sepp Blatter was also invited on to the com­mittee. Anyone strolling through the IOC museum in the late summer of 2002 would hardly fathom that Blatter, studiously peeping over his professorial-looking spectacles, had been in bitter rivalry with another IOC member, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, just months before. The FIFA presidential election in late May 2002 had generated unprecedented levels of infighting around the chal­lenge mounted by Hayatou to the incumbent Blatter.

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Sepp Blatter is promising Oceania automatic entry to the World Cup, again. Matthew Hall thinks this time he may actually come up with the goods

To be or not to be? That’s the question for the Oceania Football Confederation as FIFA promises the qualifying process for the 2006 World Cup will be decided in Madrid this December. The proposal, from none other than the president Sepp Blatter, is that Oceania takes the guaranteed qualifying place freed up by the decision that the holders will no longer qualify auto­matically for future World Cups.

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Rosenborg are no longer unchallenged in Norwegian football and now face new problems caused by their years of dominance. PJ Bakke explains

Acombination of soaring wages and a failure to sell players abroad has created a financial crisis at sev­eral Norwegian clubs. Some are considering going semi-professional. The perennial champions Rosenborg, however, live in a different world, thanks to the distorting effect of the Champions League. Having qual­­ified eight years running, they have built up mas­sive bank reserves and have a lovely new stadium to boot. At the time of writing they are on course for their 11th consecutive league title with four games to go, but there are signs that their total dominance may finally be challenged.

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Phil Riley offers the perspective from the red side of Sheffield

How do fans of the Sheffield clubs see each other?
There has always been intense rivalry, but most of us have friends, workmates and even family who follow the other team, so we inevitably tolerate each other. Neither side is unfamiliar with promotion and relegation, so periods in the ascendancy don’t last. Although it’s Blades enjoying supremacy at the moment, we know it won’t be for ever. Wednesday fans claim to be less interested in us than we are in them – and there is a feeling some Blades are almost as keen to see Wednesday lose as United win – but as they’re not significant enough to consider Leeds or Man Utd as rivals, they’re stuck with us.

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