The FA took their time didn't they? And even then Howard WIlkinson and Frank Clark were on standby. What a caper
The next couple of months will be an interesting time for Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables, as they edge towards a handover date.
The media's double standards are plain to see in the build-up to Euro '96
So, let’s see if we’ve got this right. Geoff Hurst scored a hat trick in the 1966 World Cup Final (though some spoilsports still mutter darkly, in German, about his second goal). After the match the ball was spirited away to Germany by Helmut Haller, who had scored the opening goal. Geoff himself doesn’t seem to have been unduly bothered about getting his ball back until roughly a month ago when he endorsed rescue missions by the Sun and the Mirror, the latter able to make the Hallers the best offer (all money to charity, of course) after receiving help from Eurostar and the ubiquitous Richard Branson.
Tuesday 2 Sunderland go five points clear in Division One by drawing at Watford, while Derby lose at Ipswich and Palace are held by Port Vale, now within striking distance of the play-offs themselves. More trouble for Tomas Brolin who gave an April's Fool interview to Swedish TV claiming he was about to return home on loan, which in turn led to the Leeds' switchboard being jammed with press inquiries. "The chairman and managing director are finding it difficult to see the funny side of this," says Howard. Ulp.
Wednesday 3 Man Utd are the main beneficiaries of the Premiership's match of the season so far, Liverpool beating Newcastle 4-3. It goes: 1-0 (Fowler, 2nd minute); 1-2 by half-time (Ferdinand, Ginola); 2-2 (Fowler); 2-3 two minutes later (Asprilla), 3-3 (Collymore), 4-3 (Collymore, 92nd minute). "Nobody will win the championship defending like these teams did tonight," says Roy Evans. "We carry on playing like this or I go," says an unrepentant Kev. Sink The Tynetanic says the Mirror.
Friday 5 Man Utd win a momentous derby match 3-2 at City and maintain a three point lead over Newcastle who need late goals to defeat QPR 2-1. Liverpool look to be out of it after losing 1-0 at their bogey ground, Highfield Road. In Division One, Derby improve their chances of going straight up by winning at Oldham while third place Palace lose and Charlton, fourth with games in hand, draw. A 90th minute goal gives Hearts a 2-1 win over Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Semi Final.
Dear WSC
I think it was William Shakespeare who once said “Don’t believe everything you read in newspapers. Or fanzines.” At any rate, unless someone corrects a few of the fallacies in Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger’s article about German football (WSC No 110), WSC readers will be suffering from some pretty serious misconceptions. How on earth can Ulrich claim “Matthäus, Klinsmann, Völler – they all come from the Ruhr”? Oh yeah, and Kenny Dalglish is a Cockney, I suppose? According to my copy of the 1996 edition of ‘The Sad Person’s Guide to the Date and Place of Birth of Every Famous German Footballer’, Rudi Völler was born in Hanau near Frankfurt and began his career with local team Offenbach Kickers. Lothar Matthäus comes from Herzogenaurach, a little place near Nuremberg whose other claim to fame is that it is the home of the Adidas empire. Jürgen Klinsmann is proud to be a Swabian and played for both major Stuttgart clubs before experiencing such huge success with Inter Cardiff and Scarborough. His career was resurrected by David Dein of Arsenal, but he later returned to Germany to play for Borussia 1898 Dudeldorf. Surely everyone ought to check his facts carefully before submitting anything to you for publication?
Derek Megginson, Scarborough
(birthplace of Bobby Charlton, Savo Milosevic and Pelé)
Tim Springett looks at the implications of the Bosman case for clubs' youth football policies, and comes up with a novel idea
One of the more apocalyptic consequences of the Bosman judgment is the very real fear that clubs, particularly those outside of the Premiership, will cut back their youth development programmes as a consequence of no longer obtaining transfer fees for players they produce. ‘Sell to survive’ will no longer be possible. Clubs have, traditionally, relied upon transfer income to finance their youth policies; Lincoln City commented recently that the £500,000 they received from Newcastle United for Darren Huckerby will pay for heir youth scheme for four years. If the players these clubs train will simply be poached by richer rivals with no recompense available, what incentive will there be to recruit and train youngsters?