The Archive

Tom Davies pays tribute to an enigmatic midfielder whose sudden departure proved symbolic for Leyton Orient and, perhaps, the whole of English football

If I were to say that the past ten years in English football have seen the forces of righteousness take a bit of a drubbing while all manner of charlatans have prospered, I’d hardly win any prizes for originality. But when exactly did the rot start? The answer is simple: on December 28, 1991 when Leyton Orient played Brent­ford in the old Third Division.

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Chris Taylor & Craig Ellyard argue for and against the idea of scrapping the League Cup

Yes ~
Paul Scholes is not most people’s idea of a rebellious prima donna, so when the mild-mannered Manc refused to play in a match against Arsenal you knew some­thing was up. This season he’s been played out of position, left on the bench and generally messed ar­ound as his manager attempts to accommodate Ruud van Nistelrooy and Juan Sebastian Veron. All accepted without a murmur. “But for God’s sake,” you can im­agine him telling Sir Alex, “not the bloody League Cup!”

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Australia missed out on the World Cup finals yet again. Matthew Hall watched them succumb to mild paranoia – and a better team – in Montevideo

Three strikes and you’re out, and a triple lash from Uruguay in Montevideo was enough to send Aus­tralia crashing out of the World Cup without qualifying for the finals for the seventh time in succession. The first and last time the Socceroos made it to the finals was in 1974. On the past five occasions Australia have been eliminated in sudden death play-offs, ag­ainst Scotland, Israel, Argentina, Iran and now Uru­guay. Con­spiracy theories, administrative blun­ders, plain bad luck and the comeback of Diego Mara­dona have all contributed to past failures.

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Mathias Kowoll bemoans the decision of 1860 Munich to cosy up to their more powerful neighbours

Rangers and Celtic have teamed up. They are now planning a shared ground with a capacity of 80,000 next to the municipal sewage plant. Profits from any games played there will be shared equally. In order to persuade the public to support the plan, the last Old Firm derby is promoted as one big demonstration for the common cause. Both sets of fans put on a show, hair dyed green and blue – often both colours on the same head – and the two chairmen can frequently be seen hugging each other.

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Finally, China have made it to the World Cup finals. They can hardly wait and nor can the Korean tourism industry. Zhang Wenya reports

If England fans think “30 years of hurt” was tough, pity their Chinese counterparts. China have been trying simply to qualify for the World Cup finals since 1957. Nearly 50 years of hurt – and considerable heaps of humiliation – have been the fate of fans in the world’s most populous country. Among a people for whom “face” (and not losing it) is of considerable im­portance, the procession of defeats in vital qualifying matches has been soul-destroying.

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