Search: ' Steve Morgan'

The Lost Legacy of a Dundee and Spurs Legend
by James Morgan
Back Page Press, £9.99
Reviewed by Ken Gall
From WSC 286 December 2010

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Your reviewer approached this book with what can be fairly described as some scepticism. After all, can anything be more wearying than another "Where did it all go wrong, George?"/birds 'n' booze/study of a legend of the 1960s and 70s? Happily, however, while there are elements of the above, James Morgan's study of Alan Gilzean offers something else again; combining the career of a great player with an exploration of a personality at odds with our expectations of the great names of the past.

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Wolves are the quintessential Championship side, in the second tier for two decades, bar one season. Coventry used to be the epitome of top-flight survivors. Both are casting their eyes upwards this autumn, though neither is exactly confident, writes Josh Widdicombe

At 2.15pm in the car park Molineux shares with a 24-hour Asda, a sprinkling of people amble away from their cars, the odd old-gold replica shirt peeking out from under a coat the only clues that they aren’t here for the weekly shop. The loudest shouts come from the raffle-ticket sellers and the strongest evidence of pride in the home colours can be found on the metalwork in and around the ground, an area painted on the Midas principle: anything that can be gold, should be gold.

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Dear WSC
The checklist of things to look out for in the Football League in WSC 259 brought to my mind the imminent passing of one of the great grounds. Ninian Park is every-thing a stadium was supposed to be: old-style floodlights; a terrace the length of one side of the pitch; seagulls taking flight in panic at the surge of electricity up the pylons; a club shop with no new kit in stock before the start of the season. Some even put our relatively low attendances in recent years down to the rusty roof, crumbling concrete and general air of neglect. Terraced houses? I bet the locals were delighted to hear we were leaving. Imagine their disappointment as the new ground started going up just over the road. I’m well aware that all of the above are the very reasons some supporters use as excuses not to come, but it does sadden me that there will be a whole generation of fans who will grow up in all-seat stadiums. For better or worse, Ninian Park truly is the last of its kind. Whatever anyone’s feelings towards Cardiff City, anyone who has been attending football since pre-1992 will join me in acknowledging the approach of a landmark moment. But this being Cardiff, it would be remiss of me not to mention the prospect of a good old-fashioned pitch invasion. I’m sure I’m not alone in being secretly glad that Swansea got promoted last year, just to send the old place off in style.
Gareth Dix, via email

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Administration has hit Bournemouth hard, making relagtion secondary to financial survival, writes Steve Menary

Many Bournemouth fans will have mixed feelings when Harry Redknapp leads out Portsmouth at the FA Cup final. In 1986-87 Redknapp won the Cherries’ first ever promotion to Division Two, but the club he left behind four years later have never been in such a state. Bournemouth fans were braced for a grim 2007-08 when the team took just two points from their first nine games. After sinking into administration, a ten-point deduction made staying up almost impossible – despite a remarkable revival under Kevin Bond, who had won six games in a row as WSC went to press. But just staying afloat is the main target.

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Relegation to League One, administration, Kevin Blackwell – Luton and Leeds share quite a lot. So why not add the points, too, when the teams meet at a packed-out if still fairly charmless Kenilworth Road, asks Neil Rose

There is something exciting about having Leeds United in town. Irritating though the whole concept of clubs being “big” or “small” is, there is no denying that Leeds have an aura about them. It’s an aura that attracts by far the largest league crowd of the season to Luton, as well as more police than every other home game combined. It generates an edgy atmosphere at times, punctuated by the odd, quickly subdued fight at both ends.

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