Premier League fixtures get unfixed. Football League matches get put off at short notice. Steve Parish wonders whether internationals are worth the chaos
Premier League clubs, with only 38 matches to play, get Saturdays off when there are international matches on, but down in the Nationwide First Division those weekends bring chaos.
After a spate of sackings in Scotland Gary Oliver provides a recap of the carnage
Only a quarter of the Scottish League season gone, but already a number of the managers listed in this year’s Rothmans are history. To follow the complex trail of resignations and sackings requires the aid of a flow chart ; that, however, would tell nothing of the machinations that have accompanied the cull.
Superstars, who needs them? Ian Plenderleith reports on Tomas Brolin's not so successful time in Switzerland
It’s a story as old as a Viking legend. Poor, struggling football club surviving on meagre gates suddenly signs big name international striker. Big name turns up amid huge fanfare, yards of extra newspaper print and hyped-up expectation among the fans. Big name runs out onto the pitch overweight and unfit, and after failing to score a goal in a handful of appearances disappears out the back door unnoticed and unmourned.
Neil Wills reports from Guatemala on the incident which led to massive loss of life among spectators gathered for a World Cup match
The headlines of the morning papers the next day said it all: National Tragedy; National Mourning. The reporters on the evening paper dug around and declared: Corruption Caused Tragedy. Close, but no cigar. The Mateo Flores stadium disaster, which claimed the lives of 82 Guatemalan football fans, was caused by corruption, but even more so by incompetence on such a grand scale as to leave one speechless.
Tuesday 1 Fabrizio Ravanelli claims that Man Utd want to buy him: "It's very exciting because they are a more prestigious club," he says in an interview with an Italian newspaper. "There is no foundation in these stories whatsoever," says Martin Edwards. Bryan Robson is unavailable for comment, probably because he's speechless. A doctor treating Diego Maradona claims that he has suffered irreversible brain damage due to his cocaine addiction and might die if he were to attempt to play again. Brighton's home defeat by Lincoln, which leaves them second bottom place in Division Three, is interrupted by a pitch invasion. The FA may now enforce the three point deduction threatened after the abandonment of the match with York in April.
Thursday 3 After Fabrizio, Faustino, who says in a radio interview in Colombia, "I left Italy for Newcastle with the idea of being a champion, but now I am just a substitute. I am not happy." Also thought to be on their way soon are Philippe Albert, subject of a bid from Middlesbrough, and David Ginola, who may be offered to Barcelona in part exchange for Miguel Nadal, whom Kev wants partly because Alex failed to get him (soap opera plot No 55).