Search: ' Dean Saunders'

With Mark Hughes on his way out, Steve Bidmead looks at the main contenders competing to succeed the now-Blackburn Rovers boss as manager of the Welsh national team

“If that had happened to me I’d have been slaughtered by the media,” complained Sven-Göran Eriksson on learning that Mark Hughes had taken the Blackburn Rovers job and would be part-time Wales manager for the World Cup qualifiers against England and Poland. But there were vital differences between the two coaches. Not only had Hughes avoided controversy in his private life, he had also carried his team as far as he realistically could, enjoying comparative success. The timing could have been better, but fans understood his departure was on the cards. Beating Italy 2-1 in Cardiff in 2002 is his epitaph, rocketing Wales from non-League to Premiership.

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Neil Heath looks at the career to date of a former Nottingham Forest striker, torn between football and rock ’n’ roll and not quite succeeding at either

Paul McGregor was once branded the first “Britpop footballer”. In 1995 he broke into the Nottingham Forest first team and a year later his band, Merc, were brought to the attention of the man who discovered Oasis. There seemed to be no end to his talents. But during the 1997-98 season McGregor was sold to Ply­mouth Argyle, and he now plays for Northampton Town. Was he a victim of turbulent times at the City Ground or did rock ’n’ roll stall his football career?

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One of Britain's best-ever goalkeepers is now a striker for a pub side. Mark Winter relates the latest unlikely chapter in the Neville Southall story

If a pin could make a noise when it drops on mud, you would have heard it. Even the pied wagtail that was hopping up and down the touchline seemed to stop to watch the pen­alty being taken. The score was 1-1 mid­way through the second half and the outcome of the Se­cond Division championship race could have de­pended on a successful conversion.

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Brian Clough’s reign saw two clubs from the east midlands reach for the stars, then slump. Simon Tyers looks for the reasons why success didn’t last

It is not even as if the area can boast a great stadium with lots of history. While other English regions have grounds dripping with prestige and memories – Old Trafford, Anfield, Highbury, even Deepdale – the best the east midlands’ top three clubs can come up with are the City Ground, whose only real dis­tinguishing feature is that the Trent runs alongside it; Filbert Street, which looks as though it has stolen its stands from clubs in four different div­isions; and Pride Park, where the floodlight failure during its first League match ­couldn’t even be put down to sabotage by Malaysian gambling syndicates.

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Sunday 1 Tony Banks joins the Kate Hoey row: "If they go back in the FA Cup then that would be bloody disastrous. This sacrifice is worth paying even if it is unpopular with a number of politicians." Arsenal beat Man Utd 2-1 in the Charity Shield, Ray Parlour scoring the winner. Nicolas Anelka does not turn up to cheer on his old mates. 

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