Somewhat to their own surprise, Reading fans have been presented with a big new ground. Roger Titford assesses early reactions to the Madejski Stadium

In terms of stadium comfort no English fans can have travelled so far so fast as Reading’s followers. Only 20 days after the final, final farewell to the rusting tin and crumbling concrete of Elm Park, last used for  a testimonial, we welcomed “the clarity of vision and handsomeness of space” (the Times) of the Madejski Stadium. It was like 40 years of ground improvements in a day.

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You may think that whatever you did this summer has long since been forgotten, but we know what you were up to and here's the evidence to prove it. Roger Titford mulls over the 1998 WSC readers' survey

As the international treadmill begins to turn again with the European Championship, now is a good time to remind you of the costs and sufferings involved in supporting your country. Here are the results of our 1998 World Cup survey, based on the answers sent in by 700 readers.

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A driveway in Yorkshire will always mean something special to Dave Cohen and his chamois leather

Whenever I come to Leeds on the train, I still experience a shudder of recognition as we chug past Elland Road, even though the ground now resembles the hundreds of superstore complexes already passed on the way up from London, where I now live. But the most significant footballing address I remember is number 41, The Drive, Leeds 17 – the modest suburban semi that for a few years was the home of Peter “Hot Shot” Lorimer, and a mere ten minutes walk from my teenager abode.

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Even without their English based "stars" Jamaica triumphed in the annual Shell Caribbean Cup. Billy Mitchell witnessed the events in Trinidad

It’s been quite a summer for the Caribbean. Jamaica played in the World Cup finals, Dwight Yorke from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) was involved in a £12.6 million transfer. Nevis threatened to secede from St Kitts and become the world’s smallest nation state (8,000 people). In amongst all that was the Shell Caribbean Cup.

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Amazingly, not everyone in Europe has welcomed the proposed super league. WSC correspondents sum up reactions in three of the key countries

Germany
When the plans for a European super league were first presented in the German media, reactions were as vague as the proposals themselves. Most Bundesliga club officials grieved over the loss of morality in sport in a rather populist manner, knowing that the vast majority of German teams would be excluded from the feeding troughs of the ESL and may have their very existence threatened. But even for those who will be involved in it, the new era may bring about just as many problems as advantages.

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