Gary Oliver analyses the impact of any premature elimination from European football for Rangers

Following Rangers’ trouncing in Gothenburg, acting skipper Jonas Thern complained that he had suffered cramp through having to cover for colleagues who had gone AWOL. But it was not only certain players whose whereabouts were unknown: Walter Smith vanished until the following week, it later emerging that he had been in hospital for a minor operation. Numbed by watching his latest batch of expensive imports capitulate in almost unimaginable fashion, Smith would have had little need for an anaesthetic.

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Tottenham fans once adored Teddy Sheringham, but Adam Powley reflects upon the awful reception he got when he returned to White Hart Lane with Manchester United

“Tormentors”, “enemies” and, according to Radio 5 Live’s Peter Drury, “mindless supporters”. Just a few of the accusations levelled at Spurs fans by the media following Teddy Sheringham’s acrimonious return to White Hart Lane. Over reams of newsprint and hours of broadcasting time devoted to reporting Tottenham’s first home defeat of the season, radio, TV, press and even players predictably focussed on the treatment that the fans meted out to Sheringham. And once again, they got it wrong.

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Unconvincing and offensive portrayals of football fans

There was no escaping football this summer. If you live anywhere near a major town you will have seen the huge billboards featuring text taken from the new Sky advertisement for its coverage of the 1997-98 season. “Football is our life,” says one, above a picture of two fans, one celebrating, the other with head in hands. “Football is our religion,” says another, over a picture of fans sitting on a fence overlooking a ground. The TV commercial from which the posters are derived only lasts a minute or so but it’s one of the most disturbing things ever seen on satellite television, weirder even than the 24 hour shopping channel or episodes of Scooby Doo dubbed into German.

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Tuesday 1 Chris Waddle has been offered a coaching role at Sheffield Utd but hints that he'd prefer a proper manager's job. He's not stuck for choice: today's new vacancy is at Southend where Ronnie Whelan has just resigned, saying, "Some fans at the end of last season made it clear I wasn't welcome." Blackpool's Gary Megson is the surprise choice as new Stockport manager, while Celtic seem to be having a chat with Portugal national team boss Artur Jorge, he of the thicket moustache and facility in a dozen languages. (Or is that Graeme Souness? No, as you were.) The Rep of Ireland teenies go out of the World Youth Cup at the semi-final stage, beaten 1-0 by Argentina.

Wednesday 3 Celtic's new coach is Dutchman Wim Jansen, once of Feyenoord, and lately out of work after leaving his last job in Japan. "It is a big challenge," he says. "Celtic were involved in the greatest day of my career, the 1970 European Cup final against Feyenoord." Not the greatest day for Celtic fans, of course, but at least they used to get past the early rounds in Europe then. Fabrizio Ravanelli faces a fine of a week's wages (that's £42,000, in case you want to start a whip round) from Middlesbrough for not turning up to pre-season training. He may yet move to Liverpool, where he would join Paul Ince who is about to sign up for £4.5 million. Another man in demand, Chris Waddle, has talks with Hull City about becoming their player-manager, but is said to favour a move to Burnley. Looks like Juninho is heading for Atletico Madrid for £12.5 million after Spurs' interest cools. Assuming, of course, that they ever were interested and not just trying to buy a bit of positive publicity after the bad press over the Sheringham transfer.

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Dear WSC
It’s hard to say which of the many depressing scenes from Channel 4’s Football Dreams documentary carried the most negative message for the future of the English game. Was it the sight of the Chelsea YTS kids spending their days scrubbing boots and cleaning toilets instead of playing football? Or the tin-pot sergeant-major’s approach favoured by coach Graham Rix, so reminiscent of bullying school teachers? Or perhaps it was the lack of self-confidence and immaturity of the boys themselves, reduced to mumbling self-pity by Rix’s ranting? It seems to me that the responsibility of the club towards YTS trainees is two-fold. First, to equip the players who are taken on as professionals with the skills to cope with the game at the highest level. Second, to give the ones who will be rejected the best possible chance to make a different career for themselves. It would be nice to think that the kids received some practical training in something useful (as they are compelled to do in other countries, such as Germany). But in essence the two jobs come down to the same thing: teaching the youngsters to think and act for themselves, whether on or off the football pitch. It seemed that at Chelsea all they were trained for was to follow orders, and the more ridiculous the orders were, the more slavishly they were enforced. True, the programme was made a year ago. Perhaps since then Ruud Gullit has encouraged a more enlightened regime, which encourages the trainees to question their coaches and develop their own judgment as he did himself in Holland. But if this is how things are done at the club which has been most receptive to continental influences and systems of play which depend on a certain degree of intelligence, then what on earth are the rest of them like?
Colin Sullivan, Lincoln

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