The Archive

A tournament organised by fans and played by fans, with the proceeds going to charity, should have been an ideal way to spend a day in football's off-season. But Phil Mongredien explains how the FA tried to shut it down

The close season: a good time to have a holiday, catch up on friends not seen since last August, or watch Ceefax for that big-money signing promised by the chairman. A good time, too, one would have thought, for a few light-hearted football matches against fans of rival clubs. Well, no, actually. This is the strange tale of how the FA attempted to prevent the staging of a low-profile charity tournament arranged and contested by fans.

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John Ellis profiles the former property developer who now owns Luton Town

Distinguishing Features: A remarkable resemblance to Rodney Bewes in his chubby middle manager period from the second series of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads. For younger readers, this means Alan Sugar without the beard.

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The 1997 Copa America was, well, breathtaking. Brian Homewood tells the story of the tournament

The organization was weird, the refereeing was at best inept and the helping hand given to the host nation was outrageous, but it was still better than watching the Czech Republic and France playing to a goalless draw after extra time.

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Although Yugoslavia's players are in other European leagues, the state of the game back home is in crisis. Simon Evans reports

Having spent decades just missing out on glory, the Yugoslavs looked set to finally make a decisive impact in a major tournament. Red Star Belgrade had been crowned champions of Europe and the national team – with stars such as Prosinecki, Savicevic and Stojkovic – was among the favourites for the 1992 European Championships in Sweden.

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The English Premier League has attracted players from all over the world – except Africa, it seems. Mike Ticher looks at the reasons why

You might be forgiven for thinking after the last few seasons that no country in the world was safe from the all-seeing eyes of desperate English football clubs. With Brazilians at Bradford and Bulgarians at Reading, it seemed no club was too modest nor any nationality too exotic to be persuaded of each other’s merits.

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