The Archive

West Brom fan Jaz Baines puts the case for his club making more of an effort to recruit players from ethnic minority backgrounds

According to the PFA about one in five professional footballers in the Premiership and Nationwide League are black. To judge by the latest Rothmans, fifteen clubs had no black players on their books last season. Black players will always come and go, of course, and there may be other mitigating circumstances, not least the fact that clubs situated in areas like Yorkshire & Humberside and Tyne & Wear, where the black population is 0.7 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively, are less likely to recruit black players than clubs in London or the Midlands. However, while the presence of the likes of Tranmere, York, Grimsby and Hartlepool on this list is no surprise, the inclusion of West Bromwich Albion ought to raise a few eyebrows.

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Mike Woitalla reviews the opening season of Major League Soccer and suggests that football followers in the US may have got what they've been hoping for

For roughly two-thirds of the money that Newcastle United spent on Alan Shearer, Sunil Gulati acquired enough players for an entire league – Major League Soccer. Gulati teaches economics at Columbia University – is there room in the class Mr Keegan? – but is better known as the deputy commissioner of MLS.

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Dear WSC
There is something to be added to Kevin Bartholemew’s article about Brighton (WSC No 117). Yes, the directors sold the Goldstone ground for retail development. And yes, the board under Bill Archer removed the clause from the constitution which said that they couldn’t profit from the sale of the ground. But, according to the Guardian (2/10/96) the company who bought the Goldstone, Chartwell, is part of the Kingfisher group which – guess what? – Bill Archer is involved with. So, someone could, if they were a director with, say, an interest in DIY and property development, profit from selling the ground. Then they could profit from the shops which are going to be built on the land. I bet Kingfisher is involved in building as well. All this could be done for a stake of, say, £56.25! Archer isn’t interested in the club; he’s interested in the Goldstone. That’s why he couldn’t care less if the club dies. The football club is a smokescreen for what he is really up to.
Keith Tester, Worthing

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Following Mark Bosnich's "Heil Hitler" salute, David Cohen offers an insight into his experience of the joys and perils of being a Jewish football fan

It isn’t often that a major Premier League controversy relates directly to me or those of my faith. Racism and football are nearly always in black and white, while Jewish players in England’s top flight can be named on the thumb of one hand. But ploughing through the acres of newsprint dedicated to Mark Bosnich’s Tottenham wind-up – a harmless bit of fun or a war crime of Adolf Eichmann proportions depending on which paper you read – I felt strangely detached from the proceedings.

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Mike Ticher explains why some Chelsea fans, himself included, feel that the tributes paid to Matthew Harding struck the wrong note

Reading the newspaper tributes to Matthew Harding in the days after his death, it was hard not to be struck by how easily the bare facts of his life could have been presented to paint an entirely different picture of the man.

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