Dear WSC
Amid all the furore over the arrival of Kevin Keegan at Newcastle, I was struck by the fact Kev’s old mate Terry McDermott has somehow been kept on at St James’ Park in the ten years since KK’s departure. He usually sat among the coaching staff on matchdays with seemingly no specific role and was never mentioned by TV commentators when the cameras scanned the bench (as they often did during the later days of Big Sam’s turbulent reign). His insignificance was such that I wonder if he had been there so long that no one at Newcastle could actually see him any more. He was visible from afar, showing up on photographs and on TV screens, but up close he blended into the background. Terry has rematerialised fully now that his little mate is back in charge, although his exact role remains unclear – I’m guessing that it doesn’t extend much further than making tea and going out to get Special K’s copy of the Racing Post.
Ross Cannon, via email
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Stories
In two years Wales have gone from the brink of qualification glory to an effective play-off for last spot with Azerbaijan. Huw Richards looks for optimistic signs
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The six stages of grief following a home defeat are well known: shock, disbelief, anger, homicidal anger, blame, and resignation while watching Casualty. Plymouth fans should never have had to go through these on this weekend, but in the last 20 minutes Wolves snatched this game from them like the Childcatcher figure they had come to represent during the course of 90 minutes.
John Charles was arguably Wales's greatest ever sportman. Huw Richards remembers the career of a footballer who could have traded his boots for boxing gloves
Last year John Charles said: “Only grandfathers remember me now.” How wrong he was was shown by well observed minutes’ of silence at venues as diverse as Kidderminster (playing his home town Swansea), Manchester United (v Leeds) and Bologna (v Juventus) and the tribute, moving in its unexpectedness, from Leeds’ extremely ungrandfatherly Alan Smith.
Huw Richards gives us an update on life as a Swans fan
Are Swansea fans in favour of a move to a new stadium or would some prefer to stay put?
The Vetch is a dump, but it is a much loved, highly atmospheric dump in which a 4,000 crowd can sound like a packed Colosseum on a bad day for Christians. We all recognise the possible economic benefits of a move to the Morfa Stadium, but can’t help worrying about the possibility of rattling around in an atmosphere-less 20,000-seater tin can.