Search: ' Danny Blanchflower'

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.

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Should Northern Ireland once again pick some players from domestic football? Davy Millar thinks so and fondly remembers the few given a chance

Even while the domestic scene has struggled and the best school-age players have been hoovered up by English clubs, there is an underlying belief among North­ern Ireland supporters that things would be better if only there were a few Irish League names in the national squad. To the outsider, handing out international jerseys to players who have failed to attract the interest of even the lowliest Third Division club might seem a rash move but at least the local players can be gua­ranteed to bring a more robust attitude than is us­ual at this level. After all, none of us watching Spain string 87 passes together could help being thrilled by the idea of the move breaking down courtesy of an Irish League boot coming into contact with Gaizka Mendieta’s genitalia.

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Scotland's efforts at the World Cup Finals have been frustrating, but their best team never made it that far. Cris Freddi looks back on their narrow exit in 1961

Czechoslovakia were probably annoyed to be in this play-off. After beating the Scots 4-0 at home in their World Cup qualifying group, they led 2-1 at Hampden before Denis Law scored twice, including the winner with only seven minutes left. That left the two teams level on points – the only other team in the group, Ire­land, lost every game. To make matters worse, Czechoslovakia’s captain and left-back Ladislav Novak picked up an injury that was still keeping him out.

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Is George Graham's departure a victory for Tottenham tradition? No, says Paul Kelso, he paid the pricce for not winning football matches

Since George Graham was turfed out to make way for the Second Coming at White Hart Lane there has been so much talk of The Spurs Way that the uninitiated would be excused for thinking Haringey Council were renaming the Tottenham High Road. Of course many clubs have a distinct self-image, an un­written statement of principle based in equal parts on tradition and nostalgia – West Ham’s academy, Ever­ton’s school of science or Wimbledon’s school of hard knocks – but at Spurs the blend is particularly potent.

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Jeff Hill pays tribute to a famous building that is about to disappear

The Wembley that we all love to hate – the dog track with a football ground in the middle – will soon be no more. Next year it will be pulled down, and by 2002 or thereabouts only the famous twin towers are likely to remain of the present structure. Barring last minute hitches, the rest is to be transformed into a multi-sports National Stad­ium. So England will have a site to equal the Stade de France and all those other sporting venues which are supposed to symbolise “the nation”.

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