The Archive

Following a poor refereeing performance, the debate on video replays begins

Televised football, it is often said, is nothing like the real thing. Yet, despite a setback for the advocates of the use of video replays in refereeing, we may still see it become part of the matchday experience for everyone. FIFA recently decided against sanctioning a first trial of a replay screen in next month’s friendly between Sweden and France, with general secretary Sepp Blatter saying, “We are anxious television doesn’t take over the game.” Sepp must have dozed off a few years ago because the takeover has long since been completed.

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Kevin Donnelly reports on how Scotland fans have been taken to task in the press in the wake of the World Cup debacle against Estonia

It is all too likely Scotland fans will want to forget the game against Estonia as quickly as possible. However, certain post match fallout is unlikely to allow them the opportunity, with the match seen as the breaking point in the somewhat tenuous relationship between the travelling Scotland fans and the Scottish sports press.

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Robert Fordham on Liverpool's chairman

Looks like: Keyboard player with a rock group that had a couple of hits in the mid 70s and still play them to big audiences in Kuala Lumpur, Harare and Auckland. Product of an expensive private education, David has reinvented himself as Super Scally. He may have learned the accent phonetically but it seems to have stuck. More recently, he has started to look like a prospective father who turns up at the hospital only to find out it might be a phantom pregnancy – Roy Evans’ continued specialization in almost-but-not-quites is starting to take its toll. Also known as Freddie Boswell.

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Ian Plenderleith reports on how the new model Champions League is likely to discriminate further against teams from the smaller football nations

It’s time for the Champions League highlights on German television with guest star, Franz Beckenbauer. It’s approaching midnight before we get to see the game between Steaua Bucharest and Widzew Lodz. “Well,” says Franz, relishing a rare opportunity to win some points from a public fed-up at his attempts to interfere with the game at every level and at every opportunity, “this is really the game we’ve all been waiting for!”

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Phil Ball and Juanjo Moran explain the Spanish model of the feeder club system

The Spanish league system is something of an oddity in Europe. There are basically three divisions worthy of note – The First, the Second A‚ and the Second B‚ after which there lies a morass of regional feeder leagues containing a hotch-potch of small town clubs, some forgotten bigger clubs, clubs who represent barrios (neighbourhoods), of larger cities that were once independent of the current conurbation, and some reserve sides.

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