The Archive

Having won the Premiership for the sixth time in eight seasons, are Manchester United in a (European) league of their own?

­So, another stroll to the title for Manchester United with records broken in the process for the number of goals scored and the points margin ahead of second place. Is it all getting a bit too easy? The Sunday Times thinks so, suggesting they “are on the threshold of the sort of monopoly Rangers enjoy in Scotland”.  The relative ease with which United won their sixth title in eight years has been contrasted with more closely contested championships elsewhere, with Lazio still pushing Juventus in Italy, Bayer Leverkusen leading Bayern Munich going into the final fortnight of the Bundesliga and as many as four teams with a realistic chance of winning the Spanish league with three games left.

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Season ticket prices are in a state of flux, as clubs try to fill their grounds, whatever the price, says Adam Powley

Strange things have been happening in the Premiership with several clubs freezing, or even reducing, their season ticket prices for the next campaign. Leading the charge in this bizarre phenomenon is Tottenham, a club notorious for its high admission charges and dreadful public relations. Others have fol­lowed. Aston Villa, Leicester City and freshly relegated Watford have all decided either to cancel any increase or, in the latter’s case, actually cut some prices to the level they were two years ago. Even Chelsea have promised to put prices on hold for 2001-02.

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Alex Horsburgh investigates the life and times of the Cowdenbeath chairman, a man who sacked his manager the week after they were promoted

Distinguishing features  Small and wiry, reminiscent of Granville from Open All Hours.

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The murder conviction of an Atletico Madrid fan has focused attention on Spain's indulgence of far right hooligan gangs. Phil Ball reports

On the night of December 8, 1998, outside one of the turnstiles of Atlético Madrid’s Vicente Calderón stadium, someone shoved a 9cm steel blade into the heart of Aitor Zabaleta, a 27-year-old Real Sociedad fan. Lost in the middle of a ruck of Atlético fans who had suddenly surrounded him and cut him off from his girlfriend, he was dead by the time she managed to get back to him.

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The worsening football violence in eastern Europe is out of sight and out of mind for the west, says Simon Evans. But not for long

While possible violence at Euro 2000 occupies the minds and column inches of the west European media, the continent’s other half, as usual, is dealing with much more real and pressing problems. The second weekend of April saw serious crowd violence in St Petersburg, Budapest, Lodz and Bucharest. These were not western-style scuffles or skirmishes. Hooliganism in eastern Europe is proper stuff: rubber batons and tear gas, head-splitting and hospitalising. The most serious clashes were in St Petersburg, where one fan died during the latest in a series of full-scale riots that have greeted the start of the Russian season.

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