Martin O'Neill confounded the pundits and delighted Leicester fans by declining the chance to move to a bigger club. Stephen Wagg looks at how the voluble barrack-room lawyer came to hold Filbert Street in the palm of his hand

It’s October 19th 1998, on a chilly evening at Filbert Street. Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur are awaiting permission to kick off from BSkyB producers. “OK everyone, here comes Martin,” Leicester City PRO Alan Birchenall bellows into the microphone. The crowd stirs. “Now he doesn’t know I’m doing this,” thunders Birchenall, “but if you really want to keep Martin here at the club, SHOW HIM WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM!” Most of the 20,000 spectators jump to their feet and, amid a crescendo of noise, brandish “Don’t Go Martin” posters (issued by the local newspaper) above their heads.

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Mansley Allen gives us a brief history of Brentford

1929-30 A Brentford team likened to“a well tuned Rolls Royce” break a League record by winning all 21 home games. Carried on doing the Charleston in Division Three (South) as there was only one up in those days – could explain the Depression.

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A proven manager was needed to steady the ship at the County Ground after the Robins' relegation from the Premier League. But as Chris Hall explains, that was not enough for some fans

Steve McMahon has gone. Vexed and exasperated by a cost-cutting administration on the one hand, an unforgiving and am-bitious group of supporters on the other. In the end it was no surprise. Things haven’t been looking good at Swindon; results have been poor for months and confidence is low.

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After years of young Asian players being discarded so readily by clubs, Matthew Brown explains why the next generation just might be the real deal

Jimmy Khan was 14 and full of hope when he signed associate schoolboy forms for Blackburn Rovers. “There we were standing in the office of the chief scout when in walked Howard Kendall, who was the club’s player- manager at the time. I’ll never forget his exact words. ‘What’s this then? Am I witnessing the signing of the first Asian football star?’”

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Recent spats at the New Den have put the club's fans back under the microscope, but Lance Bellers explains why things are different this time around

Hooliganism would appear to be back at Millwall. Recently we have had Man City players supposedly “too frightened to go for a winner”, City fans kept in for an hour after the final whistle for their own safety and Fulham players confronted on the pitch by home fans. Same old story in south-east London? Well, yes and no.

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