For 100 years, Bradford City battled boardroom conservatism, economic decline and rival clubs of two codes – and won.  Mike Harrison wonders when Leeds will notice

For a city with a metropolitan population of nearly half a million (more than Manchester and nearly twice the size of Newcastle), Bradford has rarely come close to fulfilling its potential as a football centre. In some ways the figure is misleading, including as it does the rural suburbs of Ilkley, Addingham, Menston and Burley. In addition, Bradford has had a growing Asian population since the 1960s, working in what remained of the wool industry. Very few have become regulars at Valley Parade, even though the ground lies in the heart of their community. While that does not reflect well on the club’s efforts to draw them in, it does help to explain why City, even in the Premier League, struggle with a relatively modest fan base.

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Leeds United no longer have to look back in anger, says Dave Cohen. They have finally shed the burden of the club's great years under Don Revie

The history of Leeds United is the history of Don Revie and can be written as follows: Chapter One: Before Don Revie; Chapter Two: The Revie Years; and Chapter Three: The Revie Legacy.

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Ian Plenderleith  takes a look at Rivals.net, a new site that brings unofficial online fanzines to one site, and Impnet, the Lincoln City fanzine that has signed up to the Rivals venture

Rivals.net is a new umbrella website for unofficial online fanzines. It is a joint venture between US-based online sports network Rivals.com and media giant Chrysalis Group plc which says it is providing “a powerful online soapbox that sees the future of sports media publishing placed in the hands of the fans”.

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WSC’s almost annual roundtable brought together three contributors from different branches of the media to discuss trends in football reporting and a host of other relevant (and irrelevant) matters

WSC It’s often said that players these days are remote from the fans. But has the attitude of players towards journalists also changed now that many of them are so phenomenally wealthy?

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When England meet Germany at Wembley, the managers will have more in common than the greying remnants of a perm, says Matt Nation

Anyone who has played in a support band or given a speech as best man at a wedding will know what it’s like to perform for an increasingly disgruntled aud­ience. Expectation is great, pressure is enormous and, with the exception of the odd beer bottle winging through the air, rewards are few. In an attempt to make it all seem a little more attractive, such unfortunates are described in German, rather winsomely, as Pausenclowns.

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