Search: ' Lilian Thuram'

After another incident-packed transfer window, is there any shred of club loyalty left?

If Chelsea were going to make Lyon an offer for Michael Essien they couldn’t refuse, you would think they could have hurried up about it a bit. Far too much newsprint was expended on a depressingly inevitable saga. Lyon’s point of view – that if they were going to lose their best player to a team with a bottomless pit of cash then they would take every rouble they could get – was understandable. Essien, too, cannot be blamed for wanting more money than he could dream of

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October's friendly between France and Algeria ended up providing the opposite of the symbolism its organisers had hoped for, writes Alan Duncan

October 6 was supposed to herald a new era in the complex world of Franco-Algerian relations with the first ever football friendly between the two nations. Yet it may now be  better remembered as the day France was confronted with a deeper social unease that will not simply disappear with the blow of a whistle.

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The World Cup may be in their own country, but Neil McCarthy explains why the French aren't as confident as you might think

There are two main advantages in being the World Cup’s host nation: automatic qualification and playing at home. France, however, appear to be turning them both into disadvantages. After 18 months of lacklustre friendly matches, the French players are finding it increasingly difficult to perform to a background of boos and whistling from their own supporters.

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A view on the media and public reaction in France to Euro '96. Neil McCarthy reports

Two big news stories in France before Euro ’96 were Mad Cow Disease and the arrest of football hooligans in Birmingham and Newcastle. Some suggested that the shaky relationship between Britain and the rest of Europe coupled with England’s hooligans were a recipe for trouble.

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