A tournament organised by fans and played by fans, with the proceeds going to charity, should have been an ideal way to spend a day in football's off-season. But Phil Mongredien explains how the FA tried to shut it down

The close season: a good time to have a holiday, catch up on friends not seen since last August, or watch Ceefax for that big-money signing promised by the chairman. A good time, too, one would have thought, for a few light-hearted football matches against fans of rival clubs. Well, no, actually. This is the strange tale of how the FA attempted to prevent the staging of a low-profile charity tournament arranged and contested by fans.

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Stewards are often unpopular in football grounds, but Chris Paxton puts their side of the story

Wembley Stadium, the Coca-Cola Cup Final, 1995. With my usual bad sense of positioning, I found myself in the Bolton end next to a couple of Liverpool supporters all decked out in their red shirts and scarves. Everything was fine (just about) until McManaman scored. The two Liverpool fans jumped to their feet and started celebrating. The Bolton fans nearby started complaining and somebody behind me threw something at them. Guess who got hit? That’s right. Yours truly. Fortunately for me, they didn’t return after half-time.

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Spanish clubs have started to influence the results of matches by offering certain teams lavish incentives. Alex Simpson reports on this legal method of winning the league

When Hercules Alicante beat Barcelona in the game which all but scuppered the latter’s title hopes, the winning team were reported to have picked up $50,000 a man from rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona reciprocated by offering a $2 million incentive to Atlético Madrid in the title decider derby. Big bucks weren’t on offer in the relegation battle at the other end of the table the following week, but with the new TV deal kicking in, the stakes were equally high.

Pedro Nieto, President of Extremadura, the smallest-ever club to grace Spain´s top flight, hit on a novel way to ensure that the opponents of fellow relegation candidates took to the field equally motivated.

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Xavier Wiggins reports on Wimbledon's lack of action as they search for a new home

As followers of a team that have spent eleven consecutive years in the top flight, won the FA Cup and established themselves as formidable opponents, Wimbledon fans ought be envied by many other supporters. Closer examination, however reveals a club exiled from its own borough for the past seven seasons whose fans, whilst growing in number (a 115% increase since moving from Plough Lane) sit in a ground painted in the landlord’s colours, are stewarded by Palace fans and buy their merchandise in a shop where Wimbledon goods look like they have been put out by mistake. They even sup their pre-match beers in a bar called ‘Crystals’.

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Here's hoping that an Eastern European team can defy UEFA's unfair structuring by winning the Champions League or UEFA Cup

You may know a Stranraer fan in Devon. You might even be the secretary of the Croydon branch of the Arbroath supporters’ club. All over England there are small groups of mostly middle-aged men who once in a while pile into a minivan and drive several hundred miles to watch a Scottish Third Division match.

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