The Archive

Arsène Wenger and David O'Leary have a moan

As we know, David O’Leary and Arsène Wenger are as fiercely competitive as their players. Just now they are locked in competition to prove that their club is the most unpopular, and therefore the most put upon, in the Premier League. David O’Leary seems to have been stopping every passing reporter in recent weeks to tell them of his despair at Leeds’s declining reputation. “From the being the second favourite club of most neutral supporters,” he says, “we seem to have become the most hated club in the country,” a development he ascri­bes partly to the Bowyer-Woodgate trial and its aftermath, since which “nobody misses the chance to criticise and condemn us”.

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England fans are forced to ticket touts for World Cup 2002 tickets as allocations fail to meet expectations, Mark Perryman reports

“Avez-vous des billets?” It was the one French phrase all who followed England to the 1998 World Cup learnt. The market for touted tick­ets in Ja­pan and Korea this summer will of course be much smaller, with few if any fans turning up just on the off chance of a spare going cheap. But those applying through englandfans, the Official England Supporters Club administered by the FA, have nevertheless been sur­prised at the barriers in the way of those who do want to get tickets.

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Ian Plenderleith explores the murkier corners of the footballing web to discover Lincolnshire murder mysteries, Highland League replica kits and some straight shooting advice for referees

It’s midday at Sincil Bank on the opening day of the 1955-56 season. Lincoln City are away at Blackburn, so the ground is deserted. Ex­cept, that is, for a dead body lying in the middle of the pitch.

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Matthew Garrahan examines how the potential collapse of a German media company could affect English football

It is rare that English football has to take notice of what is happening overseas. The Bosman case overhauled the way players were bought and sold in 1995, but there have been relatively few in­stances since which have threatened sim­ilar instability. Until now.

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There was a severe shortage of goals, but no lack of controversy or politicking as Cameroon retained the African Cup of Nations. Alan Duncan reports

Their Malian hosts were convinced they use magical powers to win matches. They walked out, muscles flexed in sleeveless vests, having not conceded a single goal in the whole contest. And the president of the Confederation of African Football, Issa Hayatou, just happens to be one of their most famous sons. On Feb­ruary 10, the enduring legend which is Cameroonian football once again took hold when the Indomit­able Lions became the first side since Ghana in 1965 to retain the African Cup of Nations.

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