Tom Davies explores the boardroom politics causing trouble at Wrexham, Port Vale and Rushden & Diamonds
Few clubs can have attracted such a remarkable string of inappropriate suitors as Wrexham in recent months. To a backdrop of winding-up orders and threats of disqualification from the Conference play-offs, an extraordinary soap opera has been playing out in the battle for ownership of the club, which now has a fighting chance of a happy ending as supporters stand poised to take control.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Neil White describes the unique football relationship between FC Twente and Stranraer
In 1981, Frans Thijssen was just about as good a midfielder as there was in Europe. He won the UEFA Cup with Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town and was named Player of the Year in England. He remembers the European trophy that is now the totemic achievement of Robson’s team appearing as a mere consolation after late-season injuries exposed a lack of depth, costing Ipswich a First Division championship and a place in the FA Cup final.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Chris Sanderson assesses Birmingham City’s mixed season and how a return to the Championship has affected the club’s finances and tactics
In a Premier League awash with money and abetted by a hyperbolic media, journeyman teams like Birmingham City face an impossible dilemma. How can we join the celebrity foam party when we turn up wearing M&S slacks, looking for the carvery?
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Simon Tyers reveals the farcical pre-match build-up of the 2009 FA Cup final
Now that every ultimately meaningless mid-table game shown live on Sky gets at least three quarters of an hour of build-up, it’s odd to feel nostalgic about old FA Cup final broadcasting marathons. Yet if it hadn’t happened already, this was the year when the Cup final became self-referential.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Football journalists were made to eat their words when a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona produced a stunning performance to beat Manchester United in the Champions League final
Opinions can change quickly in football. Only a few months ago sections of the press were berating the BBC for having the temerity to expose corruption at the top of FIFA. The broadcasting of a Panorama episode that outlined why FIFA need to reform was deemed “disgraceful”, “ridiculously unpatriotic” and “laughable” in the Sun. This month Sepp Blatter was placed beside Colonel Gaddafi on the paper’s front cover above the headline Despot the difference.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - The Archive