He may not be a massively wealthy owner, but Paul Cook reveals that Doncaster fans have other reasons for disliking their chairman
Distinguishing Features: A typical small town businessman, he introduced a trendy new look at a recent friendly with his trousers tucked into the back of his shoes.
Brazil and Japan's recent international friendly was less about football and more about a chance to promote a well-known sports brand, says Sam Wallace
The ‘summer tour’ is normally associated with a gentle amble through the locals’ defence in a country otherwise too hot to play football. West Bromwich Albion once made it to China, only for Bryan Robson to muse that he’d rather they’d gone somewhere warmer. More recently Manchester United visited post-apartheid South Africa, where Ryan Giggs identified the clement weather as the highlight rather than the fact that he was met (and recognized) by Nelson Mandela.
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.
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.
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.