The Archive

MLS has abandoned the Americanisms in soccer to please supporters familiar with the game as it is played across the rest of the globe. Mike Woitalla reports

When Major League Soccer kicked off for its fifth season last month, there were a number of new rules for the fans to get used to. For once, however, they were intended to drag the US back towards the mainstream of world football. Arguments over the rules in the MLS date back to a meeting in New York some years ago. Those present plot­ted the return of a professional league in 1996. And they believed in enlarging the goals.

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Bill Costley, the Kilmarnock chairman, is a chef with a long term plan for his club. Graeme Jamieson investigates Aryshire's answer to Delia

Distinguishing features A respectable, bespectacled gentleman with a headline writer’s dream name. And a moustache.

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Blyth Spartans are still the best known non-League club from the north-east thanks to their 1978 FA Cup exploits. But, as Ken Sproat explains, their centenary year has not gone smoothly

Increasingly, the term “north-east football” means only Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. The arrival of George Reynolds has brought some cheap publicity to Darlington, but Hartlepool rarely get a mention and at non-League level Gates­head’s sporadic forays into the Conference attract little attention either nationally or locally.

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Everyone agrees top footballers are playing too many games, except Roger Titford, who can remember when they endured far more without whining. Phil Ball and Neil McCarthy sum up the situation in Spain and France

England
Once again, the top clubs are calling for a reduction in the number of fixtures. Arsène Wenger (31 players used already this season) is to the fore of the com­plaints, while Alex  Ferguson’s strategy for managing his club’s 60-game workload is plain to see. “The recovery time is too short,” Wenger said after Arsenal’s defeat at Middlesbrough in March, which followed a midweek UEFA Cup match. “It is nonsense to have only two and a half days of preparation.”

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Dear WSC
Jon Harrison is probably correct about Bruce Rioch peaking in the Derby side of 1975 (Letters, WSC 158), but his recollection of Don Masson suggests his memory is as ropey as Ken Gall’s. Masson wasn’t playing for the Rams in 1975. His best season was 75-76 as a pivotal member of the QPR side which came within 14 minutes of the title. His clever passes (usually to Don Givens) were as familiar as the skills of Bowles and Francis and the pace of Dave Thomas. Older Rs fans who have witnessed the Stamford Bridge transformation with dismay can’t see the glory days ever returning to Loftus Road, especially after Bruce Rioch left his mark with Stewart Houston.
Colin Baker, Sutton

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