The Archive

The various clubs to be affected by Reg Brealey and Steve Morgan

Sheffield United fans will be only too familiar with the reputation of Reg Brealey, the chairman of their club in the 1980s. The one-time jute magnate is now officially bankrupt and has 20,000 luckless shareholders from a previous company failure on his conscience, but he has been far from idle since leaving Bramall Lane. In conjunction with sidekick Steve Morgon he has recently embarked on an unlikely groundhopping tour, sowing further confusion, debt and dissatisfaction wherever he goes. 

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Economic problems for Norwegian clubs have meant they have looked for outside help in financing player wages and transfers. Ole P Pedersen reports

On the face of it, football in Norway is booming. The national team has qualified for Euro 2000, two clubs are in the Champions League and the Premiership remains a popular destination for Norwegian players. However, all is not as it seems.

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With 4,000 miles seperating them and the country's capital, it is safe to say that Spartak Vulkan of Russia are pretty remote. Kevin O'Flynn looks at the the team nearer Japan then any other part of Europe

Find Moscow on your map and head east. Take a breather after 375 miles – Torquay to Middlesbrough – and keep going. After 700 miles you reach Second Division (that is, third-level) Zenit Chelyabinsk. An­other 2,200 miles and you’re in Siberia – Lokomotiv Chita, a mid-table First Division club. Go on past Sib­eria to Kamchatka, the sheep’s tail of a peninsula that hangs down towards Japan in the far east of Rus­sia.

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Hooligan's and Graeme Souness (no connection) are just some of the things that Jamie Rainbow has been looking at on the web

In the wake of Cardiff’s opening day visit from Millwall, there has been much talk of a resurgence in football hooliganism involving rival fans allegedly arranging fights over the internet. Time then for WSC to undertake an in-depth invest­igation into the phenomenon. An initial search for “football hooligan” produced 230 sites. The first selection was called simply: “Hooligan’s”, which sounded promising until I discovered it was a site advertising Hooligan’s Tavern in New York. However, the bar does claim to be “equipped to serve all your sporting needs”, so you never know.

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Arguing continues between the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA over the number of World Cup spots for Asian teams. Justin McCurry gives us the lowdown

When the Asian Football Confederation decided at the end of last year to boycott the 2002 World Cup if it was not granted an extra place in the qualifying rounds, there were few inklings of the bitter feud that was to develop among the most senior members of the FIFA family. With just three months left before the draw for the qualifying rounds, the prospect of FIFA and its Asian siblings kissing and making up still looks some way off.

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