The Archive

There are no shortage of suitors for Sepp Blatter's seat at FIFA. Alan Duncan profiles the interest from Africa

Long since giving up the 400 metres, at which he was Cameroon champion, the 55-year-old Confederation of African Football president Issa Hayatou still bears the edgy look of a man wary of being caught off guard by the sound of a starting pistol. In his 14 years at the helm of CAF, Hayatou has made few false starts but now faces an uphill struggle if he is to land the highest office in world football.

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Dear WSC
Wasn’t it nice to see Peter Ridsdale go behind the goal to speak to his fans at the recent Everton v Leeds game? If only more chairmen would show this sort of passion and interest in their fans.
Paul Weaver, Cardiff

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Haydn Parry looks back on the life of Britain's first regular TV football commentator, who will inevitably be best remembered for just two sentences

The first time I met Kenneth Wolstenholme, I im­mediately got into his good books by not mentioning “you know what”. As luck would have it, I wanted him to talk specifically about the World Cup of four years later, Mexico 1970, which he went on to admit was his favourite tournament for the quality of the football, if not for England’s fate. He managed to get through a whole interview without any mention of Geoff Hurst, 4-2 or “people on the pitch” which, understandably, was something of a rar­ity for him – actually, I got the distinct im­pression he was rather relieved.

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Plymouth Argyle fan Rob Synnott looks at his clubs fortunes, the current crop and rivalries

What are the main reasons why Argyle have under-achieved over the years ?
Certainly the club has been left behind in terms of infrastructure, especially with the stadium, al­though that would now appear to be a thing of the past. Equally, the geographical position of Ply­mouth has dissuaded many would-be players from joining the club. Stories abound of prospective sign­ings having to be offered sweeteners to even consider travelling this far south-west. The upshot has been that it has proved frustratingly difficult to attract the calibre of player and staff necessary to improve the club.

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He looked as though he might be a key player for Barcelona, but now Lazio can't give him away. Paul Virgo profiles the man who is following him around Europe

In the summer of 1998 the Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti forked out £10 million for a promising Spanish lad called Ivan de la Peña. Not a modest sum by any stretch, but Cragnotti was satisfied it was money well spent. According to reliable sources he’d landed himself the next Maradona. Offer Cragnotti the price of a second-hand Fiat Panda for De la Peña today and he’ll take your arm off.

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