Business as usual for Scotland in the World Cup, but not for their fans. As a shellshocked Archie MacGregor reports, some found themselves backing England

As if anyone needed reminding, Scotland made their customary ignominious exit from the World Cup in St Etienne on June 23rd. This should not, however, be confused with the end of the Scottish nation’s World Cup campaign, which was only formally completed a full seven days later in the same city. Only with confirmation that England too would be hopping it back across the Channel could the average football-supporting Scot accept that this Coupe de Monde business was done and dusted.

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The conflicting emotions experienced by those who followed the England team around France are described by Mark Perryman & Tom Davies

During this world Cup tattoos and beer bellies have been made to symbolize all that is supposedly wrong with England abroad.

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A lot can be learnt from England's World Cup performance, and not just on the footballing side of it

At the risk of prompting a wave of cancelled subscriptions, your old pals at WSC have to admit that in some respects we enjoy the World Cup more when England aren’t in it.

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Tuesday 2 Sir John Hall resigns from the board of Newcastle Utd and its parent company. Two directors of the plc stepped down last week, apparently in protest at the impending return to the club board of Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall. Stan Ternent leaves Bury to become manager of Burnley. Romario is out of Brazil's World Cup squad having not recovered from injury. "We had a similar situation with Gary McAllister so things have evened out," says Craig Brown.

Wednesday 3 Terry Venables criticizes Glenn Hoddle's decision to drop Paul Gascoigne: "I think I would have been a little more patient."

Saturday 6 Hoddle summons Teddy Sheringham for a chat after the tabloids find him drinking in a nightclub in Portugal. "If people read that I was out until 6am I admit that it sounds disgraceful," says Teddy. Slough Town are thrown out of the Conference for failing to upgrade their ground. Telford, who finished in the third relegation spot, are reinstated.

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Stoke's season began with optimism but ended with relegation, as Penny Davies explains

On Saturday August 30th 1997, 23,859 people sat down in Stoke City’s new home, the Britannia Stadium, to watch the first League match there. Earlier, Sir Stanley Matthews had officially opened the ground. The idea was that he would roll back the years by scoring in front of admiring fans. This didn’t go to plan. The 82-year-old couldn’t get enough power behind his shot and the ball stopped well short of the goal. The more prescient among the crowd knew that this cock-up was a taste of the season ahead.

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