Belgium have everything in place to host next year’s European Championship, except a reasonable football team.  Jan Antonissen reports on the co-hosts’ disarray

What the hell is wrong with Belgian football? At the 1998 World Cup Belgium were clearly the most cowardly team. The team didn’t lose in France, not even to the Dutch, yet they were sent home after the first round. Since last summer, the inappropriately named Red Devils have even lost the ability to draw. They lost five games in a row, and on March 30th were humiliated by Egypt in front of an outraged crowd in Liège. Belgium has become a Third World football nation.

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Matthew Brown explains why the Football in the Community scheme at Leyton Orient is setting a trend for others to follow

At the northern end of Brisbane Road, the street that gives its name to Leyton Orient’s home ground, be­yond the players’ entrance and the club shop, is a small Portakabin-style building. Inside, a few old desks and chairs are scattered around two small rooms.

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Al Needham bravely takes on Reds in the Hood by Terry Christian and If the Kids are United by Tony Hill, two reflections on Man Utd-obsessed childhoods

With Manchester United finally confirming their status as the team of the Nineties with probably their best season ever, it’s no surprise that large chunks of Brazil are being cut down as we speak for scores of officially endorsed ghostwritten McUnited product. Much of it will be as incisive as a plastic knife on a rhino, so perhaps we ought to play like Da­v­id Mellor and let the fans have their say.

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Rupert Murdoch may have been rejected but Manchester United fans are expecting another takeover bid, as Michael Crick explains

When Stephen Byers’s announcement came, it didn’t actually surprise us. It had been clear since late Jan­uary, when six members of Shareholders United Ag­ainst Murdoch (SUAM) attended a hearing with the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC), that they were taking the competition arguments against BSkyB much more seriously than we’d realised.

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Cris Freddi pays tribute to the inscrutable Sir Alf Ramsey, who died on April 28, 1999

There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of the reaction to Sir Alf Ramsey’s death, but it raises a point or two. Some of the football writers praising him today tried to bury him when he was England manager (“Ramsey’s Robots” they called his teams). The change wouldn’t have surprised Alf, who was always suspicious of them. He probably knew the passage of time would provide a sense of perspective. He was just piss­ed off it took so long.

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