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Stories
Plenty of football-mad cities are yet to host major tournaments or finals, but FIFA and UEFA are increasingly indifferent to passionate fanbases
David Stubbs explains exactly how he feels about the west London club
As Chelsea thumped six goals first past West Brom and then, as disappointingly as life itself, did the same to Wigan, hideous memories danced in my mind as the overbearing boys in blue hugged each other wreathed in boorish smiles. Memories of Margaret Thatcher leaning triumphantly out of the window in 1987, of John Selwyn Gummer being congratulated by the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate in 1992, or of David Mellor gurning and grinning like the Squire’s fat son who has just won the garden fête raffle. Every Chelsea victory, I realised, feels like a Tory landslide. Two games in, six points, 12 goals, none conceded. Just rejoice at that news, just rejoice.
Sean Barnes dreamed of becoming a Premier League manager and so signed up for an FA coaching course. But his new career path has reached a hurdle and it's not due to lack of time or inclination
Last summer I went through a personal crisis and bought an unnecessarily large television, a train ticket from the 1930s, searched everywhere for a white leather jacket and resolved to learn to play the harmonica.
A plan to make fans in Italy carry ID cards has met opposition at all levels. Paul Virgo explains
When interior minister Roberto Maroni announced on a roasting August 15 bank holiday that next year Italian fans will need special club ID cards to see away games, the plan got a fittingly heated response. Ultras throughout Italy united in expressing outrage at the tessera del tifoso and their intention to fight it. The innovation brought the volcanic best out of Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini, who described it as “a police system, Fascist, a measure that goes against liberty”.