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A low country

It was an unhappy captaincy debut for Vinnie Jones as Wales are torn apart by a classy Holland. Chris Hall reports from Eindhoven

10:30: While their supporters shake off some well earned hangovers and prepare to catch up on sleep during the one and a half hour journey south from Amsterdam, the Welsh squad stroll purposefully into PSV Eindhoven’s Herdgang training complex. New captain Vinnie Jones is lost in his own thoughts, coming to terms with his surprise elevation from hod carrier to standard bearer. Had the group included some of its missing stars – Giggs, Hughes, Rush, and er, Horne – it’s unlikely they would have created much more than a ripple of mild curiosity apparent in the faces of the onlookers. One of PSV’s many youth teams were waiting to take the field, hoping to impress the ex-internationals who coach them, and the gallery of parents cooing encouragement from the safe confines of the cosy clubhouse. Bobby Gould looks tense and wary, perhaps still clinging to the belief that those absent talents would have made a difference to tonight’s daunting encounter.

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Leyton tendencies

Leyton Orient are in their secon season in the hands of Barry Hearn and the PR hype continues to flow. Tom Davies looks at the substance behind the talk

It was a bizarre experience: in conversation in a Doncaster pub last month before our game at Belle Vue, a Rovers fan announced his opinion that Leyton Orient were one of the “sleeping giants” of the lower divisions. The Os! Imagine! But 18 months on from Barry Hearn’s takeover of the club that is how some people seem to perceive us – a dynamic, well supported, lean, mean ’90s football club.

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Peter Storrie

Darron Kirkby profiles one of the Hammers' boardroom members

Distinguishing features: Looks like the Fat Controller on Thomas The Tank Engine. 

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A classic model

Cris Freddi pays tribute to former England international centre forward Tommy Lawton, who died in November

Five foot eleven has got to be a misprint. Reading about the famous ability in the air, you expect something like Niall Quinn but heavier (he looks that big in photos and film clips) and instead you have to adjust to the idea of a white Les Ferdinand, which isn’t exactly the stuff of folklore.

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Terry vision

Mike Ticher explains why Terry Venables' appointment as Australia's new manager caused as much consternation there as it did here

Australia fulfils an odd role in Britain’s unofficial list of foreign stereotypes these days. Because the vast majority of its inhabitants are white, it’s become one of the last places on earth which the so-called quality press, as well as the tabloids, feel free to patronize without fear of being called racist. What’s more, there’s a vast lexicon of symbols associated with Australia and Australians which are instantly recognizable to British people: marsupials; soap operas; conspicuous alcohol consumption; comical words and phrases; boomerangs; the bush; most of the words to Waltzing Matilda.

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