General rules
Accents
Put them in on French, German, Spanish and Portuguese words where we’re certain they’re right. Leave them off all other languages except in occasional instances when it’s polite, eg with a contributor’s name. Use discretion when the whole article contains accents and they are definitely correct and consistent. Leave them off common English words like cliche and protege. But do put them on words that could otherwise be confusing eg exposé.
Nick Miller reports on Ken Bates’s decision to ban critical supporters from Leeds United gamesTo put things delicately, Ken Bates’s tenure as chairman of Leeds United has been interesting. It was difficult to imagine a way he could top appointing his godson’s father as manager, banning journalists for having the temerity to ask whether he actually owned the club (before eventually admitting that he did) and calling Leeds fans who disagreed with his methods “morons”. However, Bates arguably outdid himself in March, after a group of fans were barred from Leeds games, simply for speaking out.
Ron Hamilton asks where next for Darlington, as they endure another woeful seasonSupporting Darlington has long had a certain Beckettian quality – an unceasing bleakness punctuated by bursts of farcical tragicomedy. Even in the aftermath of May’s FA Trophy victory, the joy of a winner in the 120th minute at Wembley soon gave way to cynical muttering about how long it would be before things went wrong. Less than six months later the club’s future is, once again, hanging in the balance.
As Huddersfield’s unbeaten record comes to an end, Steve Wilson looks ahead to the second half of the seasonOn Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, Neil Clement had only enough time for one leading question to Huddersfield Town manager Lee Clark about the club’s unbeaten run in the league that stretched back to December 28 last year. “Is it actually a distraction you could do without?” he probed. A mixture of confusion and mild disdain coloured Clark’s response. “No,” he said, not unreasonably. “If it carries on for the rest of the season, I’m pretty sure we’ll go up.”
Dear WSC
Congratulations on the article about match-fixing (Crimes and misdemeanours, WSC 283). Paul Joyce did a superb job reviewing the many different cases of corruption in European football. As the German police investigation began, partly because of the controversy around my book, The Fix, I did want to take him up on one issue. He mentioned that “Germany lies second in the match-fixing table” – this is true but it is not because corruption is more prevalent in German football. Rather it is because the German authorities are now, after years of denial, actually taking the issue seriously and are vigorously investigating match-fixing – and the more they investigate, the more they find. This proactive attitude is in stark contrast with British football authorities who seem to have adopted the attitude of “don’t know, don’t want to find out”. The circumstances in British football are similar to other European countries: thousands of relatively badly paid players; lots of poor clubs and lots of interest in the gambling markets. However, the British authorities have not yet fully woken to the dangers. I can only hope that they do before they discover a similar problem to the one in Europe.
Declan Hill, Oxford