Gary Oliver looks at Airdrie, a middle-ranking Scottish club caught between the Premier League and oblivion
Airdrieonians manager Gary Mackay described Wednesday June 14 as his “worst day in 20 years of football”. From a man who spent most of that period playing for ill-fated Hearts sides, that is quite a statement. For Mackay, the miseries of losing titles, finals and semis were seemingly preferable to telling 27 of his 30 players that a liquidator had made them redundant.
Scotland's middle-ranking clubs are caught between the Premier League and oblivion, says Frank Plowright
Since last mentioned in WSC 140, Morton’s property developing chairman Hugh Scott has indulged in a breathtaking series of outbursts, outrages and tantrums, which eventually became so hard to ignore that it prompted a Scottish parliamentary debate on June 15.
South Yorkshire's clubs can learn from the trials of their rugby league neighbours. Dick Roebuck reports
Somewhere along the A61 connecting Barnsley with Wakefield there is a disruption in the sports-time continuum. Things are similar but not the same. This is the frontier between football and rugby league, a Checkpoint Charlie dividing the sporting affections of Yorkshire’s working classes.
Less than 20 years ago, Barnsley and Rotherham were eyeball to eyeball. Richard Darn examines how it ll went right for the Tykes and wrong for the Millers
I’ve always had difficulty understanding Charles Darwin and all that Origin of the Species stuff. How on earth could a hare and a tortoise be descended from the same creature? Then one day it suddenly dawned on me. Once upon a time Barnsley FC were just like Rotherham United – and now they’re not.
The two Sheffield clubs share a long history of mediocrity. That makes their relationship all the more fraught, says Gary Armstrong
It cannot easily be argued that footballing success is the reason for the large number of fans in Sheffield who flock to watch both United and Wednesday. Historically neither side has been superior to the other for very long, and neither has won an FA Cup or League championship for over 50 years.