The Archive

Mike Woitalla explains why the NASL wasn't an elephants' graveyard

The depiction of the North America Soccer League as a circus of geriatric home escapees lives on – especially in the British press, which can’t mention the NASL without ridiculing it. Alas, even WSC has bought into this one. A recent review of the biography of Giorgio Chinaglia, the Welsh-raised Italian World Cup striker who came to New York at 29 and scored 193 goals in eight years, said: “The world’s stars descended on the US to play on astroturf, wear garish strips and generally make fools of themselves while topping up their retirement funds.”

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Ian Plenderleith takes a look at the diverse range of football websites

Welcome in to my exciting life, declares Crystal Palace’s Finn Aki Riihilahti at the start of his official homepage. As player websites go it’s a treat, and you can follow the ups and downs of Aki’s existential mood swings that correspond to his fluctuations in form.

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Barry Kilby is a majority shareholder of Burnley FC and has revitalised the club. Jeremy Wilson endeavours to find out who is the man behind all the success

Distinguishing Features Tall, with a crop of red hair, Barry stands out in a crowd. In the early days of his reign he could be easily spotted from afar ensconced in a full-length 100 per cent llama hair coat. However, following merciless piss-taking of said garment on a supporters’ group website (Barry is known to check out a variety of sites on a regular basis) it failed to make another appearance on the Turf.

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Access problems at the new venue for showpiece finals make for a disaster waiting to happen, says Richard Browne

The first Worthington Cup final at the Millennium Stadium was a shambles. Cardiff was just not prepared for a huge influx of people on a Sunday morning. The most frustrating feature of the whole chaotic day was the refusal to delay the kick-off by any more than ten minutes. With only one Sunday service on the trains, most people had no choice but to arrive by road. There were 65,000 in the ground at kick-off, with some 8,500 still struggling to get in. There were stories of fans arriving in Cardiff after a six-hour journey in time to watch the second half in a pub near where their coach parked, miles from the stadium. I was among the lucky ones who only missed the first 15 minutes, to be greeted on arrival by the slogan “It’s a fan thing”, and the discovery that there was no food or drink and no programmes.

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Players from eastern Europe may soon have the same rights as their EU team-mates. Simon Evans does not think that is any reason to panic

The Bosman ruling may have had a massive impact on the game but until now its reach has been restricted to the borders of the European Union. Whatever deal is reached over the new transfer system, it is almost certain to involve an extension of the Bosman principle to those countries with associate agreements and trade deals with the EU – and that means most of eastern Europe.

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