When Kosovo and Millwall are in the same sentence, it can only mean trouble. Lance Bellers explains how a non-existent racist incident ended up in the press

Last month, for the third year running, Millwall set aside one of their fixtures to act as a focus for the efforts the club makes to combat racism and to en­courage all sections of the south London community to come to the ground. This year, 1,500 local school kids were given free tickets to visit The New Den for the Blackpool game. The day was backed by Southwark and Lewisham councils and the Metropolitan Police.

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Blyth Spartans are still the best known non-League club from the north-east thanks to their 1978 FA Cup exploits. But, as Ken Sproat explains, their centenary year has not gone smoothly

Increasingly, the term “north-east football” means only Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. The arrival of George Reynolds has brought some cheap publicity to Darlington, but Hartlepool rarely get a mention and at non-League level Gates­head’s sporadic forays into the Conference attract little attention either nationally or locally.

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One works, the other doesn't. Joe Boyle reflects on the gulf between Sunderland and Newcastle when it comes to the way they treat their supporters

So, Alastair Campbell is worried that new Labour aren’t getting their message across. There is a simple remedy: speak to Lesley Callaghan, press office sup­remo at Sunderland. Callaghan could teach Campbell a thing or two about communication. In fact, she could probably tell him a thing or two about politics too. “Social inclusion,” she told me, “is at the heart of everything we do. Everybody at the club has to buy into that ethos.”

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The north-east produces the players, but it is a cause for wild celebration when one of their own clubs signs them. Harry Pearson looks back on the history of the hotbed

Hackneyed ideas surround north-east football as midgies do a busy picnic site. If you find them too irritating it’s best not to go out. On August 6, 1996, two of the more bloated cliches collided with a resounding splat in the Leazes car park at St James’ Park, where 15,000 fans awaited a glimpse of their new signing, Alan Shearer.

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George Best's illness wasn't so much a news story as an excuse to revisit some familiar haunts. Football needs to kick its obession with Best's drinking and womanising, says Dave Hill

Perhaps the People got the nearest to the truth. Lacking a bedside interview or a hack who could recall getting legless with good old Bestie, the boy who could always sink a few bottles more, they chatted up a fellow drinker at his local.

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