The murder conviction of an Atletico Madrid fan has focused attention on Spain's indulgence of far right hooligan gangs. Phil Ball reports

On the night of December 8, 1998, outside one of the turnstiles of Atlético Madrid’s Vicente Calderón stadium, someone shoved a 9cm steel blade into the heart of Aitor Zabaleta, a 27-year-old Real Sociedad fan. Lost in the middle of a ruck of Atlético fans who had suddenly surrounded him and cut him off from his girlfriend, he was dead by the time she managed to get back to him.

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The killing of two Leeds fans in Turkey was a shock to David O'Byrne, one of the first journalists on the scene. Here he describes the reaction in Istanbul

I’m still in shock. I’ve lived in Istanbul for 12 years – for ten years within walking distance of Taksim Square where the two Leeds United supporters were murdered on April 5. And I don’t understand why it happened.

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The killing of two fans in Turkey put Leeds United under intense scrutiny. Mark Rutter says its response shows how far the club has come

“Welcome to civilisation.” So read the banner displayed outside Elland Road before Leeds United’s UEFA Cup semi-final second leg against Galatasaray. Produced for the benefit of the TV cameras as a barbed message to watching Turks, this bold claim to the moral high ground must have caused a few raised eyebrows among English fans who have visited this part of west Yorkshire at various times over the past 30 years.

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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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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.

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