The assumption that Rangers are integral to Scottish football is both flawed and patronising, argues Dianne Millen
While the announcement of Rangers’ administration on February 14 was initially an amusing distraction from compulsory romance for fans of other clubs, it did not take long for the souffle of schadenfreude to subside into tedium. The days of semi-obsessive coverage that ensued were perhaps understandable in a media market where the most banal acts of the so-called “Glasgow Giants” are reported exhaustively.
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Sunday, April 1st, 2012 - Book reviews
Matthew Barker examines US Ancona, whose supporters united to save the club after relegation and financial woe threatened its existence
US Ancona 1905 were founded at the turn of the last century by a local who returned from a stint working at the docks in Liverpool, hence their red and white kit. They have appeared in Serie A twice, most recently during the 2003-04 season (with Goran Pandev, Dario Hübner and Dino Baggio among their ranks), though they dropped straight back into the second tier with a miserly 13 points from their 34 games.
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Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Nick House doesn’t mind that little has changed at Torquay Utd’s home ground and thinks plenty has improved in the last 25 years
If 1986 was one of English football’s low points, it’s even more starkly remembered at Plainmoor where Torquay United were in the process of finishing bottom of the pile for the second year running.
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Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Adam Brown looks at how the political interaction of fan culture has developed since the disenfranchisement of the mid-1980s
The year 1985 was a nadir for English football in a decade of great change for football supporters in Britain. And May was the pit of the trough. Supporters were caged in decrepit stadiums and 56 of them died in a fire at Bradford City’s ground on May 11. Violence was rife at home and abroad, policing was brutal and on the same day a 14-year-old was killed during fighting between Leeds and Birmingham fans and police at St Andrew’s. Just over two weeks later, these two factors came together killing 39 and injuring 600 at Heysel.
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Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Producing a fanzine in 1986 was engaging in solidarity with a subculture. But, as Tom Davies argues, while the landscape has changed the issues remain the same
Hey, has anyone noticed that some footballers have funny haircuts? Aren’t there are a lot of ugly players in Liverpool’s team? And have you tasted the pies in some away ends? Anyone heard anyone behind them at the match say something particularly stupid or funny lately?
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Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - The Archive