The Archive

After looking painstakingly through all the surveys our readers sent in, Roger Titford explains the results

In an unusual turnabout, this year’s WSC survey gives Sepp Blatter a helping hand. Ever anticipating the key issues, we asked what damage you thought the number of foreign players was causing the game to­day. Of the first 900 questionnaires re­turned, 50 per cent said the England team was suffering, 45 per cent saw damage in the Premiership, 35 per cent in the Scot­tish Premier League and 30 per cent to the Scottish national side. Only 29 per cent felt the number of foreign players causing no damage anywhere in the game. Thirty-two per cent felt, like Sepp, the restrictions should be tightened, but 51 per cent thought they were about right.

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Dear WSC
Geoff Leonard (WSC 152) shouldn’t dismiss his Murphy’s Mob theory so hastily. Consider this: from 1982 to 1984, Murphy’s Mob was filmed at Vicarage Road. In that time, Watford were promoted to the First Division for the first time in their history, finished second in their first season there and reached the FA Cup final. From 1984 to 1997, Watford achiev­ed little of any great note. From 1997 to 1999, Sky One’s Dream Team was film­ed at Vicarage Road. In that time, Watford won the Second Division and then went straight up to the Premiership. Coincidence? You decide. Sadly, Dream Team’s Harchester United have now moved to the Theatre of Dreams, aka the New Den. Bad news for us Hornets fans, but a glimmer of hope for the Millwall faithful?
Tim Turner, London N4

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It seems that everyone in Britain thinks we have the hardest centre-halves. Matt Nation disagrees

There appears to be a stipulation in certain player-turned-TV-pundits’ contracts which dictates that, at least twice a sea­son, the audience must be told just how much one six-footer is looking forward to kicking lumps out of another six-footer in the game coming up on Saturday. Similarly, the pundits’ stooge is obliged to inform the camera just how much the fans will be looking forward to it as well. Their failure to use the phrase “Clash of the Titans” represents potential grounds for instant dismissal.

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Howard Borrell gives us a brief history of Chesterfield

1866 Chesterfield FC founded, making them the fourth oldest league club still in existence. They take their nickname from the town’s twisted church spire constructed from unseasoned timbers.

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A weekly dose of Champions League is not necessarily proving to be a hit in Europe

There’s more than a slight air of desperation hanging around this season’s Champions League, and it’s not just emanating from Bob Wilson. “This first stage of the competition doesn’t interest me,” says Johan Cruyff, and frankly we’d have to lump ourselves in with the thousands of fans who appear to agree with him.

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