Mansley Allen chronicles Brentford's darkest hours as personified by two players
With the exception of this season and a handful of others, following Brentford for thirty years has pretty much been a matter of perpetual struggle. Two seasons in particular stand out: 1983-84, when we just avoided returning to the basement division we’d left in 1978, and 1992-3, our only season out of the lower two divisions since the invention of skiffle.
Mark Winter announces his appreciation for a lavatory with a view
Canal Street is not a ground that receives many accolades. Prior to Runcorn’s relegation in 1996, it was widely regarded by many pundits as the worst in the Vauxhall Conference. Not being a ground snob myself, this is not a view I share, seldom being aware of my surroundings once the game starts. Yet while Canal Street is surrounded by industrial Cheshire and much carping negativity, nothing has ever been mentioned of Runcorn’s outstanding contribution to stadium architecture – the open plan breeze block toilet.
Simon Evans explains why the bad old days of English football have come to be re-enacted every weekend in stadiums throughout the former Soviet Bloc
Attending a game in Eastern Europe for an English fan is a strangely familiar experience: you could be at an English Third Division match circa 1981 – the crumbling, half-empty terraces, stinking toilets, the alcohol, the drunks and the ‘boys’ staring each other out through fences topped with barbed wire.
Phil Ball and Juanjo Moran explain the Spanish model of the feeder club system
The Spanish league system is something of an oddity in Europe. There are basically three divisions worthy of note – The First, the Second A‚ and the Second B‚ after which there lies a morass of regional feeder leagues containing a hotch-potch of small town clubs, some forgotten bigger clubs, clubs who represent barrios (neighbourhoods), of larger cities that were once independent of the current conurbation, and some reserve sides.
Ian Plenderleith reports on how the new model Champions League is likely to discriminate further against teams from the smaller football nations
It’s time for the Champions League highlights on German television with guest star, Franz Beckenbauer. It’s approaching midnight before we get to see the game between Steaua Bucharest and Widzew Lodz. “Well,” says Franz, relishing a rare opportunity to win some points from a public fed-up at his attempts to interfere with the game at every level and at every opportunity, “this is really the game we’ve all been waiting for!”