Alex Horsburgh investigates the life and times of the Cowdenbeath chairman, a man who sacked his manager the week after they were promoted
Distinguishing features Small and wiry, reminiscent of Granville from Open All Hours.
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Cris Freddi's examination of cheque book blunders continues our series looking at the worst of football in the 20th century
Might as well get Stan out of the way: he was always going to feature here. At the time, it was hard to know how an individualist like that was going to fit into a passing team like Liverpool, and he didn’t really – you can say that despite a crashing goal on his debut and 26 in 81 league games. At Villa, of course, he’s simply been an embarrassment. “It was a surprise to me when he [Brian Little] signed Collymore. It was a shock given the problems he’d faced at Anfield and the problems he was having off the field.” (John Gregory, February 1999). Hard to think of £15.5 million worse spent. Even Paul Stewart’s various moves can’t compare.
Call us negative if you must (no, go on), but we feel obliged to record the worst football feats of the century before it’s over. Cris Freddi opens the series with an assessment of its most heinous fouls
No shortage of material in this category. We've all got our nominations and it becomes a question of which to leave out. One that gets in without much argument was perpetrated in Manchester United’s Champions League match against Feyenoord in 1997, when Paul Bosvelt crashed his studs into Denis Irwin’s calf, a really dangerous foul. Sándor Puhl, who didn’t even show a yellow card, was dropped from the rest of the competition as well as France 98, missing the chance of becoming the first referee to take charge of two World Cup Finals.
Cris Freddi continues his series building up to the World Cup finals with a look at Scotland's record in the tournament
Sorry, there’s no getting away from it. Scotland’s record in the World Cup finals is dead poor, we all know that. Only four wins in 20 matches, two of them against Zaire and New Zealand. But the most humiliating thing is that nothing better has ever been expected of them. Except once, and that ended in the biggest let-down of all. Despite regular wins over England, they haven’t been a world force for 60 years.
Alex Horsburgh explains why Cowdenbeath have particular cause to be grateful for the intervention of the motor car
There’s an old Scottish saying “it takes a long spoon to sup with a Fifer”. Meaning people from the ancient kingdom of Fife, once the stomping ground of Robert the Bruce, are hard to know, suspicious to the point of paranoia.