Having been a hero to the Birmingham City fans in the 1970s, John Tandy finds out if he stills holds the same affection as manager in the 1990s
It’s the early eighties. Birmingham City are well into the downward spiral that will shortly see them drop into the Third Division. Trevor Francis is at Sampdoria. The song rings out: “My Trevor lies over the ocean, My Trevor lies over the sea… Oh bring back my Trevor to me…”
Jack Hayward spent lots of money preparing Wolves for the Premier League, but as Charles Ross discovers, you need more then just a fancy stadium to get there
If it was a difficult start to this season for Wolves, it was worse for Sir Jack Hayward. After selling Robbie Keane, we exited the Worthington Cup at the hands of the other Wanderers (Wycombe), and lost the second home league game to Walsall. Cue sporadic chants of “sack the board” and “where’s the money gone?” After a decade of Hayward’s involvement, the answer seems to be that the money – around £46 million of it – has gone on a fabulous new Molineux and on players not fit to grace it.
The West Midlands has a rich heritage of football but, as Steve Field finds out, the desperation to beat the local rivals has sometimes been substituted for success
When Aston Villa’s opponents failed to show up one Saturday in the 1880s, Joe Tillotson (so legend has it) threw down the bloater he was frying in his Summer Lane coffee shop and went next door to the draper’s owned by fellow director William MacGregor. Both men were indignant and declared angrily that something should be done to ensure fixtures were honoured. It was a first faltering step towards modern professionalism and it was to lead to the creation of a Football League for the most prosperous and ambitious clubs in the north and midlands.
Michael Palin tells WSC about his favourite players, being an England fan and his love for both halves of Sheffield
Who was your favourite player when you were growing up?
Jimmy Hagan, who was an inside forward with Sheffield United, was one. I’ve kept a scrapbook from when I was nine or ten with cuttings about him and other players. Before television you’d keep in touch with football mostly over the radio so it was important to keep pictures of the players. I had a great soft spot for Newcastle at the time, the Robledos and Jackie Milburn in their Cup sides, and Matthews and Mortensen at Blackpool. It was always players from the northern teams though, because I identified with them more.
Jan Age Fjortoft talks to Mike Ticher about his own adjustment to English football and the effect foreign players have had on the game
When I arrived in English football I found you could walk into the dressing-room and be completely accepted. I was taken into the group straight away at Swindon, although it probably helped that it was a small club. I’ve never had a problem at any club, but I think that’s a bit to do with my personality as well. And of course I already spoke English. But the English mentality is that in principle you are valued as part of the team. There’s lots of selling and buying in English football and so you get used to having new faces in the dressing-room. I don’t think that affects foreigners in any different way from anyone else.