Cliff Grantham explains why Portsmouth's penniless owners were only too happy to seek help from a man with financial problems of his own
There can be few better ways to diffuse an explosive situation than to announce that a former England manager is to take over the running of your club. Indeed, short of beating Sir John Hall to Alan Shearer’s signature, Martin Gregory could not have hoped to pull off a more impressive or audacious coup.
Harry Pearson looks at Sir John Hall's role in both the football club and city of Newcastle
A few years ago I met the former chairman of a First Division club. I tried vainly to engage him in conversation about the game. After a while he confessed that he wasn’t particularly interested in it. “Why did you go through all the bother of becoming a chairman then?” I asked. “Because it is the most exclusive club in England,” the chairman replied. I eyed him quizzically. “Look,” the chairman explained, “There are hundreds of lords, aren’t there? Hundreds of MPs and Bishops, but there are only 92 Football League chairmen.”
For those thinking of going to watch your team at away matches Mike Lambert has compiled this handy guide
I was a teenage Cardiff City fan. There, I’ve said it. Not as astounding as admitting I was involved in the JFK plot or that I voted Tory in ’79 (I didn’t, honest) but enough to earn condescending looks from the rugby fraternity surrounding me. It’s becoming harder, year by year, to remember why I spent so much cash on following the Bluebirds, especially now when City are in their 12th season outside the First (old Second) Division, and away support consists of a few dozen die-hards, outnumbered by police and stewards by a factor of five.
Boyd Hilton explains why the manner in which Bruce Rioch was removed from his job came as no surprise to Arsenal supporters
I’m almost starting to enjoy the daily stream of conjecture and rumour surrounding Arsenal. Only a few years ago life was this exciting for fans of Tottenham, these days a model of stability on and off the pitch. My guess is that all this talk of an ‘Arsenal crisis’ will soon be forgotten, though that doesn’t excuse the bizarre behaviour of the Arsenal board.
This Italian season is different from its predecessors in at least one significant resepct. Filippo Ricci reports
Castel di Sangro is a village in the centre of Italy. Not far from Rome, heading east, lost in the mountains. There are 5,635 inhabitants. There is a football stadium, obviously, named Teofilo Patini, that can hold 2,100 people. At the end of last season Castel di Sangro were promoted to the second division, Serie B. Never in the history of Italian football has a small village team got so high up the league. When they beat Ascoli away in the final of the promotion playoff, the entire population waited to greet the team on their return.