Day ten of the WSC advent calendar and, having had Jesus on the eighth, it’s only fair we focus on his mother Mary today. In 1999 Southampton were desperate to relocate from The Dell into a new, bigger stadium. Tim Springett discussed the problems surrounding the proposed move in issue 154, and considered the option of moving to a gasworks called St Mary’s

The saga of Southampton’s efforts to move to a new ground has now moved into injury time with the ann­oun­cement that building work on a new 32,000 seater stadium to replace The Dell is set to begin in the spring. However, as every Saints fan knows only too well, a lot of things can go wrong in injury time.

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Their was shock when Portugal won the rights to stage Euro 2004, but as Phil Town explains, it won't be an easy ride

Portuguese emotions have been on a veritable roller-coaster ride of late. The plight of its ex-colony East Timor cut the national psyche deep, then the is­land’s resistance leaders visited and the streets of Lis­bon were paved with petals. Spirits plunged again with three days of mourning for the singer and nat­ional institution Amelia Rodrigues, but straight away foot­ball dragged the nation back up by its bootlaces.

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Dan McCauley is not the most popular man in Devon, as David Pay explains

Distinguishing features Slobodan Milosevic lookalike from north Devon. Has also been chairman of Tiverton Town and on the board of Exeter City. According to the Times list of wealthy people, he has a fortune larger than the chairmen of Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea. He is Fat Dan, aka the Fat Controller.

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Bradford City and Lincoln City are up in arms about a programme made in the USA regarding the Bradford fire. David Pendleton finds out why

Over the 14 years since the Bradford fire I can barely remember any adverse publicity. It be­came a private disaster, rarely talked about and only in the public domain on the anniversary when a sombre ceremony is held at the mem­orial in Bradford city centre.

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Ron Noades continued influence over Crystal Palace and stadium trouble at Oldham Athletic and Swansea City

There are league rules that prevent one person owning two clubs (although as the Peter Johnson case shows, they do not mean much) but there is nothing to stop someone in control of one club from owning another club’s ground. This is the case at Crystal Palace, where the extraordinary terms of their lease with former owner Ron Noades have left him with a significant presence.

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