The Archive

The blueprint for the European Cup was laid down in pre-war Budapest, Vienna and Prague. Cris Freddi recalls the mayhem and magnificence of the Mitropa

The name derives from Mittel Europa (central Eur­ope) and the Cup was the baby of Hugo Meisl, international referee turned secretary of the Austrian FA and manager of the national team. After the Second World War, it couldn’t compete with first the Latin Cup, then UEFA’s three major club competitions and, al­though it staggered on in one form or another until 1992, ended up no better than an Intertoto.

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Ian Plenderleith reports on the unexpected legal fallout from Notts County's first round FA Cup match against Cambridge

The webmaster of a small, non-profit making Notts County website was surprised to receive a ro­bust letter from the Football Association re­cently. His crime was to feature a video high­lights clip from the FA Cup first round match against Cambridge United. The FA were not happy at all.

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Is the Phoenix League a genuine breakaway threat to the Premier League?

So, the Phoenix League. If we are to believe what the Daily Mail says, and who wouldn’t, “revolution” is afoot. Some-time soon, possibly next season, more likely in 2004 when the current TV deal expires, 14 clubs will leave the Football Lea­gue to form a second tier of the Prem­ier League, where they will be joined by two clubs demoted from the top level, together with Celtic and Rangers. 

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It's the season of goodwill and all that kind of cobblers, so Ian Plenderleith finds some reasons to be cheerful on the internet

In the spirit of transient positivity that is un­ique to either the start of the new football sea­son or the beginning of a fresh year, WSC hereby presents its Web Awards for the best five independent club-based fan sites, and for the best five general sites. The judge has scrup­ulously retained his penchant for wang-eyed subjectivity and has failed to cast off irrational prejudices, but would like to emphasise that or­iginality, wit and the quality of writing play­ed a considerable part in his selection of the following webzines, which appear in no par­ticular order.

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Dear WSC
I found Rob Smythe’s comments on Juan Pablo Angel to be a heart-warming defence of life as an assimilating millionaire. I agree that the lazy journalists of which he speaks should “get off their fat arses and make their way up to Villa Park”. Perhaps they could give some of the absent Villa fans a lift while they are at it. For every London-based hack missing out on “the best Villa side for a number of years” there are 1,500 Villa fans out shopping on a Saturday. Oh hang on, Newcastle v Villa is game of the day on tonight’s show. It looks like the team forgot to turn up to this one. Twen­ty minutes prime time and you blew it. Note to Des – only show extended coverage of Villa when they win. Happy, Mr Smythe?
Chris Wright, via email

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