Saturday 1 Leicester are relegated after a 2-2 draw at Charlton after which Micky Adams forecasts the “rape and pillage” of his squad by other clubs. Wolves are all but down, too, despite a 2-1 home win over Everton. Man City go six points above the relegation area by beating Newcastle 1-0. Walsall stay third bottom of the First after losing 1-0 at Palace. Only Gillingham, beaten 5-2 at home by Coventry, can finish below them. In the Second, Rushden drop into the bottom four for the first time after losing 2-0 at Colchester. Hull clinch promotion from the Third with a 2-1 win at Yeovil. Carlisle join York in being relegated to the Conference after conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Cheltenham.
Search: 'Hope Powell'
Stories
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.
Dear WSC
I enjoyed Roger Titford’s nostalgic piece about half-time scoreboards (WSC 202). Many people will remember Huddersfield Town’s big scorebox at the old Leeds Road ground. It was manned from within and, although it couldn’t boast Fulham-style coloured lights, it was still a complicated business to fathom its information. Scores were displayed in three groups (A, B & C) of eight and unless you watched it constantly, you couldn’t be sure whether the scores shown were from Group A or Group B. I missed many a goal and other dramatic incidents early in second halves through over-attentiveness to my programme to see how (for example) Plymouth and Blackburn were getting on. It was usually 0-0.
Stuart Barker, Carlisle
With China beckoning, Paula Cocozza checks on the development of England's feminine side
When the whistle blew on England’s 1-0 win over Iceland at St Andrews on September 22, the coaching staff and subs ran on to the pitch and the players hugged each other as one. It was the way almost every positive result that had taken them this far – to the brink of the 2003 World Cup in China – had been greeted. In the press room afterwards the England manager Hope Powell searched for the right words. “I think it’s… it’s relief,” she said.