Search: 'Neville Southall'

Jon Spurling looks at how footballers' holidaying habits have changed radically since the days of the maximum wage

For England’s multimillionaire footballers, there is one major consolation to having flopped so dismally on the grand stage earlier this summer. With cash to burn, they have the choice of jetting off to any destination in the short gap between the World Cup and the new season. Frank Lampard, with girlfriend Christine Bleakley in tow, holidayed in Italy with the Redknapps while the newly single Ashley Cole took a break in Los Angeles. According to the tabloids, Cole quickly got over the trauma of his split from Cheryl by partying until the early hours in “the city’s top nightspots”.

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With Mark Hughes on his way out, Steve Bidmead looks at the main contenders competing to succeed the now-Blackburn Rovers boss as manager of the Welsh national team

“If that had happened to me I’d have been slaughtered by the media,” complained Sven-Göran Eriksson on learning that Mark Hughes had taken the Blackburn Rovers job and would be part-time Wales manager for the World Cup qualifiers against England and Poland. But there were vital differences between the two coaches. Not only had Hughes avoided controversy in his private life, he had also carried his team as far as he realistically could, enjoying comparative success. The timing could have been better, but fans understood his departure was on the cards. Beating Italy 2-1 in Cardiff in 2002 is his epitaph, rocketing Wales from non-League to Premiership.

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Once, twice and once more (as a coach) an Evertonian, Alan Harper had a host of nicknames and collected several medals for Mark Tallentire to count

Alan Harper joined his team-mates in picking up the 1984 FA Cup while clad in an uncomfortably tight tracksuit top. It was almost as if he was underlining his bit-part status – Everton’s utility player had spent the final against Watford waiting patiently for the call which never came.

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WSC speaks to Watford’s Alec Chamberlain about how the game has changed for goalkeepers during his 20 year career

One of the effects of the blanket TV coverage of football is that every player’s mistakes are highlighted. Are keepers given too hard a time generally?
At the risking of sounding paranoid, I definitely think goalkeepers come under the microscope too often, especially in the Premiership and at international level as well. It’s there for all to see, every Saturday night you watch the Premiership and it’s dissected. Out­field play­ers come under criticism, but the commentators hang, draw and quarter you before it even gets to the expert. The advent of super slo-mo hasn’t done us any favours either because when you see things com­ing in real time I think that’s the only fair way to see whether or not the keeper could have done better. Slow motion makes things looks easier than they were in real time.

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Dear WSC
How’s this for a delicious sense of irony? Brentford v Colchester United, Tuesday February 18, 2003. 1) On a freezing cold night when almost everyone wishes they’d stayed indoors, the Bees put in a dreadful first-half display and are roundly booed off the pitch. 2) In an effort to pla­cate the home fans, Brentford decide to play the D:Ream hit Things Can Only Get Better over the tannoy. 3) Immediately the song finishes, the club announ­ces the match has been abandoned at half time. If only the Bees’ strike force was as good as their comic timing.
Eddie Hutchinson, Ashford

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