Keith Davidson reports on bad behaviour by Aberdeen fans who were nonetheless demonised by the Glasgow-based papers

George Young died on 10 January. In the 1940s and 1950s, he was a major figure – Rangers and Scotland captain and one of the few Scottish internationalists from before the modern era to represent his country more than 50 times. The powers that be at Ibrox decided to hold a minute’s silence at the very next home game as a mark of respect – which happened to be a Premier Division fixture against Aberdeen.

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Steve Lilley explains how a lack of financial expertise brought about Millwall's collapse

The announcement on 21st January that Millwall Holdings plc had sought an administrative order came as a surprise to no one who had been following the club's ailing fortunes.

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Wednesday 1 Another stumble for Liverpool, beaten by a Roberto di Matteo goal at Chelsea, prompting the first Gullitism of 1997: "We are a rough diamond that needs to be polished every day but it's beginning to have a nice shine." Arsenal close the gap to two points with a 2-0 home win over Middlesbrough, who drop into the bottom three after Blackburn and Forest win away at Everton and fast-sliding West Ham respectively. Man Utd, held at home by Villa, stay third but Newcastle are only a point behind them after beating Leeds 3-0.

Friday 3 Rangers all but wrap up their ninth successive Scottish League title with a 3-1 home win over Celtic, clinched with two late goals from Erik Bo Andersen, which stretches their lead to fourteen points. A judicial report into the Olympique Marseille corruption investigations alleges the club spent around £12 million in bribes to opposing players and officials and referees in European and domestic matches over a number of years. The club's former owner Bernard Tapie and ex French national team manager Michel Hidalgo are among 20 people to be charged with match-rigging.

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Sunday 1 Leeds jump up to mid table after two early goals, including Ian Rush's first for the club, see off Chelsea at Elland Road. Civil war within the Premier League is being predicted after the announcement that Rick Parry is to leave his job as chief executive to take up a similar post at Liverpool, where one of his first tasks may be to negotiate the club's first pay-per-view TV deal. "I believe there is stability and vision at the top of our great game," he says in signing off. He may have been laughing. Tabloid coverage of Parry's departure includes reference to the "so-called Big Five" of which Newcastle now appear to a member, to the exclusion of Spurs. That should swell Alan Sugar's postbag.

Monday 2 Liverpool are second after a 2-0 win at Spurs, their second a tame McManaman shot that takes a freak bounce over Ian Walker, almost identical to a Collymore goal at Blackburn last season. "It was lucky we brought that portable divot with us," says Roy Evans. Arrigo Sacchi leaves his post with the Italian national team to return to AC Milan. It is thought likely that his successor (under-21 coach Cesare Maldini is favourite) will restore some of the players omitted by Sacchi, including Baggio, Vialli and Signori. But probably not Silenzi.

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Dear WSC
A couple of things about the Back, Crabbe and Solomos article on racism in WSC No 118 which I thought was good and said a few things which needed saying. Most of the academic stuff linking hooliganism and racism was actually about support for the national team in the 1980s and 90s. Multi-cultural hooligan groups have been around for a while as Back and co say, but isn’t it mysterious that only their white members turned up to watch England, especially away? They knew what the score was for these kind of events, and violent racism was indeed central to trouble involving England fans abroad for a long time. Secondly, implying that multi-racial hooligan groups are themselves non-racist raises difficult conceptual issues of course; but try telling the Asian community in Newham in the 1980s, for example, that they weren’t sometimes explicit targets of combined back and white hooliganism and racism at West Ham and you might get some puzzled looks. Thirdly, the article’s point about opposing banal racism is important, but it would help if people involved in the campaign sang from the same hymn sheet. What chance do we have of dealing with the old (white) men on the terrace who often equate racism with a critique of redheads, if Ian Wright at the AGARI launch himself describes racism as being like “picking on people with big ears” or “people who are bald”. Saying, well, Wright’s ‘just a footballer’ or ‘just a working class lad’ won’t due unless we’re willing to say the same about his white equivalents most of whom even now don’t take racism seriously enough for exactly these sorts of reasons. Had a prominent white player made the same comment who knows what kind of press he might have had.
John Williams, Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, Leicester

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