Peterborough may have been relegated under chairman-manager Barry Fry but, as Graham Dunbar reports, they have arranged a lucrative testimonial
Amid all the fake outrage about Ashley Cole’s companions for afternoon tea in a swanky hotel and Rio Ferdinand’s chance partners for a plate-smashing session in a Greek restaurant, one potential tapping-up scandal has largely escaped attention.
Dear WSC
I have just about learned to cope with the inevitable moaning of Alex Ferguson every time so much as a throw-in is given against his little angels, but now we have to put up with Manchester United fans blathering on about how their “football club” is not for sale. Well, I hate to break it to you, lads, but it is. Manchester United (they dropped the football club bit some time ago) is first and foremost a plc and a stock market entity. So it is for sale every day of the week. And it was this state of affairs that led to Man Utd winning all those titles and cups back in the 1990s. It was the international money markets (along with a great many Roy Keane duvet covers being shifted in the Far East) that allowed Man Utd to spunk millions of quid on Van Nistelrooy, Rooney, Ferdinand and the rest. I didn’t hear Shareholders United up in arms when this happened, nor when they receive their fat dividend cheques every year. Best of all, it was their club’s rampant commercial exploitation of the game that dragged football into the sorry state we currently have to put up with. Manchester United’s supporters have got nothing whatsoever to complain about. If they think they have, maybe they could pop down the road and visit Oldham, or Bury, or any number of clubs in the north-west and beyond who really are being exploited and run into the ground.
Alex Marklew, London (ex-Nottingham, so not a Gooner before anyone says otherwise)
While the tabloids are busy 'celebrating' the England manager's 'infidelity' when it came to speaking to other clubs, perhaps we should stop and realise that the fact that Sven-Göran Eriksson is in demand can only be a good thing for the national team
Sweden 1 Wapping 0. The tabloids had been so certain of victory in this grudge match that they began celebrating a bit too early. Sneaky Sven was the Sun front-page headline on a Saturday morning as it revealed that he had had a secret meeting with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon two nights before. Stupid said the same day’s Mirror, equally confident that he was about to leave England in the lurch.
Lincoln’s Keith Alexander, back at work after brain surgery, is one of only three black managers in the league. Grahame Lloyd asked him why he thought this was so
Keith Alexander knows he’s very lucky to be alive. Just three months after undergoing major brain surgery following a collapse at his home, the Lincoln City manager was due back in the dugout for the home derby against Boston on February 7. Alexander could hardly have chosen a more volatile atmosphere for his return but, with Lincoln’s next three matches pitching them against neighbours Scunthorpe and Hull as well as promotion rivals Huddersfield, all their games this month are high-profile and high-octane.
Simon Edwards looks at Lincoln City
What were your best and worst moments as a Lincoln fan?
The very worst moments occurred last summer. We genuinely believed we would not have a club. Despite all the hard work of supporters (not just from Lincoln either I might add), the board, club staff and administrator, the executive decision still lay in the hands of a High Court judge. Luckily he was a sympathetic man. Best moment was kicking off this season clear of administration, just glad to be able to go to Kidderminster again.