Clydebank are the latest Scottish club to encounter financial difficulties. Colin McPherson analyses what the future holds
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Small, modestly successful Scottish club, relatively new to the League, finds itself asset stripped, relegated and threatened with a move to another part of the footballing world, without a care for their loyal band of long-suffering supporters.
A guest editorial from Colin Moneypenny, secretary of the Merseyside branch of the Football Supporters Association
Lord Justice Stuart-Smith’s scrutiny of new evidence relating to the Hillsborough disaster has lead him to conclude that there was insufficient reason to reopen the inquest. Anyone involved in the aftermath of Hillsborough had their suspicions that this would happen but many of the bereaved families were still astonished when Jack Straw made his announcement to the Commons, in the process not just denying a further inquiry but seemingly preventing any further investigation whatsoever into the events of April 15th 1989.
Wednesday 4 High drama at Barnsley who beat Spurs 3-1 in their replayed Cup tie. With the game scoreless, Stephen Clemence is sent off after collecting a second booking for a dive in the area. (Gerald Ashby is later described by Les Ferdinand as giving "the worst refereeing display I have ever seen".) Late in the game Jurgen Klinsmann is taken off with a suspected broken jaw. Two goals from Alan Shearer prove just about enough to see off Stevenage at St James' Park, 2-1 the final score, though Kenny is still up for a whinge: "Off the pitch they left a lot to be desired. They need to learn a lot about manners". (The crash you can hear is stones being thrown in a glass house).
Saturday 7 A very odd day with Man Utd the only one of the leading clubs to manage a point, Andy Cole getting a late equaliser against Bolton at Old Trafford where the match was preceded by wreath-laying in memory of the Munich air crash. Liverpool miss a chance to close the gap, losing 3-2 at home to Southampton – "It's nice for a bluenose to come here and win. I'm going to have a pint now and a gloat," says David Jones – and Blackburn come badly unstuck against Spurs at Ewood Park where the visitors score twice in the last minute in a 3-0 win. If the papers are right, this saves Christian's job, with Jurgen supposedly about to take over as manager had the match been lost (he'd be in no position to shout instructions for a while, though). The three clubs promoted last season are now in the bottom three places though Barnsley are now level with Bolton after a 2-2 draw with Everton. Newcastle give home debuts to three new signings, including Gary Speed who cost £5.5 million from Everton, but still lose to a Stan Lazaridis goal for West Ham. In Division One the three clubs relegated last season hold the top three places, with Sunderland moving up to third after winning at Wolves. Forest stay top after a 1-0 win at Portsmouth where the Vince Wolanin consortium is poised to make another takeover bid. In Scotland Rangers slip up again, conceding a last-minute equaliser at home to Dunfermline.
There's nothing quite like the floodlights, reminisces Jeffrey Prest
It wasn’t the normal route to night-time football. There were no alluring floodlights visible above the rooftops; no hordes funnelling expectantly past my window. No, it was down to the Airey brothers, excused the last ten minutes of our Scout meeting every Wednesday so they wouldn’t miss Spennymoor Utd’s kick-off. I grew to envy them. The idea that the heroes I occasionally watched on Saturday afternoons were reconvening in the midst of a working week had the exotic flavour of stolen pleasure. The Aireys had sold me.
He was already a veteran supporter of Newcastle, but Matthew Roche remembers the first time he saw them play in Minsk
Sorting through my Newcastle videos the other day I noticed several were missing. Where was the “Abject failure dressed up as excitement” compilation? Who had swiped my record of the abortive 1990-91 campaign? Then a guilty thought struck me – Dynamo Minsk must still have them.