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.
Harry Pearson remembers the player and man who still casts a shadow over Teesside
For many of us who grew up around Teesside in the Sixties and Seventies, Wilf Mannion was a source of considerable youthful irritation. The older generation of Middlesbrough fan made it abundantly clear that those of us who had not had the privilege to see the blond inside forward play had missed a vital part of our footballing education and would therefore never be competent to pass any judgment on the game whatsoever. Any praise for a modern star was routinely dismissed by an unflattering comparison with the South Bank-born genius. It was as well Mannion was capable of lacing his own boots, for it was widely held that no one else was fit to do it for him.
Season ticket prices are in a state of flux, as clubs try to fill their grounds, whatever the price, says Adam Powley
Strange things have been happening in the Premiership with several clubs freezing, or even reducing, their season ticket prices for the next campaign. Leading the charge in this bizarre phenomenon is Tottenham, a club notorious for its high admission charges and dreadful public relations. Others have followed. Aston Villa, Leicester City and freshly relegated Watford have all decided either to cancel any increase or, in the latter’s case, actually cut some prices to the level they were two years ago. Even Chelsea have promised to put prices on hold for 2001-02.
Having won the Premiership for the sixth time in eight seasons, are Manchester United in a (European) league of their own?
So, another stroll to the title for Manchester United with records broken in the process for the number of goals scored and the points margin ahead of second place. Is it all getting a bit too easy? The Sunday Times thinks so, suggesting they “are on the threshold of the sort of monopoly Rangers enjoy in Scotland”. The relative ease with which United won their sixth title in eight years has been contrasted with more closely contested championships elsewhere, with Lazio still pushing Juventus in Italy, Bayer Leverkusen leading Bayern Munich going into the final fortnight of the Bundesliga and as many as four teams with a realistic chance of winning the Spanish league with three games left.
England peaked in 1966, not four years later, as is often believed, says David Montrose
It’s the view put forward in the official history of the England team. It’s what Geoff Hurst thinks. Sir Alf himself supposedly believed it, though I’ve never discovered when and where he said so. And, of course, it’s been the opinion of assorted scribblers. Joe Lovejoy of the Sunday Times, for one, whose contribution to the pre-millennial surfeit of list-making was his assessment of the Greatest Football Teams. Occupying the top five slots, a genuine celebrity parade: Brazil 1970; Real Madrid 1960; Ajax 1972; Brazil 1958; Hungary 1953. Then, England 1970 – outranking the boys of ’66 as well as every team produced by Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina, Italy and France. Praise indeed for a side that lost two out of four.