Manchester Utd may be the biggest club in the world and have the most fans, but recent talk of takeovers and turnover is causing some to forget the team's humble beginnings. Andrew Ward explains

When news came through of Rupert Murdoch’s proposed takeover of Manchester United, who did the Sun seek out for a reaction first? Bobby Charlton maybe, or fellow Sixties legends George Best and Denis Law? How about Sir Matt Busby’s son, Sandy, or former manager and Busby Babe Wilf McGuinness? No, none of these would do, the opinion which most mattered was that of Zoe Ball.

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With clubs getting desperate for overnight success, the concept of time is becoming an elusive commodity for managers

Two managers have been booted out of Premiership clubs after three games of the season, and although no one is crying in the streets at the departure of Kenny Dalglish or Christian Gross, the circumstances of their dismissal speak volumes for the feverish state of the game.

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Dear WSC
There wasn’t room on the questionnaire (WSC No 138) to record my favourite World Cup moment. Given the paucity of the “entertainment”, the presence of the Paraguayan defender, Arce, was a blessing. Credit must be given to Barry Davies, who never slipped up with his pronunciation, as the rest of us surely would have. Thus, Arce was constantly announced as “Ah-Say!” in the grand manner of the blustering cartoon rooster, Foghorn Leghorn, and never once degenerated into “Aaaarse” like the yokel in The Fast Show sketches.
Martin Callaghan, Wakefield

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Archie MacGregor salutes a long overdue win for St Johnstone

Twenty-six and three-quarters years of hurt. Doesn’t exactly roll poetically off the tongue, does it? But then again, we St Johnstone supporters don’t sing much anyway in the sanitized confines of McDiarmid Park, where the noise levels often barely exceed those of the nearby crematorium. Besides, to have finally beaten our jinx team – Glasgow Rangers, no less – after all this time left many of us in a state of shock just a couple of stops short of stunned silence.

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A summer of unprecedented World Cup hype has done nothing to slow down the football juggernaut. We invited three critics, Simon Inglis, Alyson Rudd and John Williams, to ruminate on the shape of things to come

The onset of the football boom in Britain is usually dated from the 1990 World Cup. Two tournaments on from there it still appears to be racing ahead at ever greater speed. Are there any indications that the boom is nearing its end?

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