The Archive

The League of Ireland has yet to reap any benefit from the national team's success. But plans are afoot to revive the domestic scene. Paul Doyle reports

In the Irish High Court in early February, a man was sent to prison for rape. Two minutes later, the judge re-emerged from his chambers to rule on a case between the Football Association of Ire­land and Shelbourne, one of the country’s biggest clubs. You could understand if the judge found it all quite trivial, but most League of Ireland fans were in raptures when he found in favour of the FAI.

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He was a brilliant winger in a team on the rise under a manager who loved a bit of flair. But, as Adam Powley reports, that's when it all started going wrong

You know that story about the brilliantly talented kid at school who was so good, he seemed born to be a footballer? Invariably, there’s no happy ending: the precociously gifted youngster fails to make the grade for a variety of frustrating reasons – poor coaching, a lack of application, or simply bad luck – and it all ends up as a case of what might have been.

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Partick Thistle fan Chris Fyfe sets out his side's promotion plan to the Premier League, rivalry with Airdrie and the club's 'tablecloth' kit

Have Thistle’s derby rivals changed over the years?
Our main rivals tend to fluctuate between Airdrie, Clydebank, Clyde and Killie depending on our res­pective fortunes. At the moment Killie’s prolonged SPL run takes them out of sight. The rivalry with the other Glasgow club, Clyde, came to a head when they lodged at Firhill for five years, due to their locals preferring to watch dog racing.

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Tuesday 1 Plenty of encouragement for Man Utd as would-be contenders Liverpool draw 1-1 (“You always feel with Bolton you need the extra goal,” says Phil Thompson) and Chelsea collapse 4-2 at home to Southampton. “It is very strange,” says Claudio Ranieri, rubbing his chin as though he had discovered a new phenomenon. Leeds stay top after disposing of West Ham 3-0. Newly buoyant Ipswich spring a leak, losing 3-2 at Charlton after Marcus Bent scores twice in the first five minutes. “You always remain optimistic,” says Walter Smith unconvincingly after Everton’s fifth defeat in a row, 1-0 at Middles­brough. Nicky Law leaves Chester­field to take over at Bradford City.

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The new missile crisis

It’s back. Or is it? We need to close grounds. We mustn’t have fences again. We can ban people who are caught on CCTV. But the pictures usually aren’t good enough. And bans don’t work anyway. Violence is on the increase. It’s nothing like the Eighties. It never gets in the papers. The media are blowing it out of all proportion.

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