It’s been a funny season for the A-League with financial chaos tempered by a record-breaking climax. Robert Forsaith explains
“What a fantastic game, what a fantastic spectacle for the A-League. The game has been crying out for something positive this year.” That was the verdict on the final match of the season from Graham Arnold, the coach whose side Central Coast had just been beaten in a penalty shootout.
Read more…
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Ian Plenderleith gets the feeling all the best goals have already been scored and all the best songs have already been written
When you hit middle age, it’s almost impossible not to fall into the trap of yearning for the days when things were different. Not necessarily better, just different. When nearly every house had just one telephone and one TV. When you played football in the same field every day with the other kids in the village using cowpats for goalposts (really). When a new album by the Jam was not just a new album by the Jam, but a significant event in your life that you looked forward to for weeks in advance. When a live football match on television was something very special that happened no more than a handful of times per year.
Read more…
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Grasshoppers Zürich have been forced to share the home of their city rivals, which isn’t fit for purpose. Paul Knott fears the worst
One of the great names, literally, of European football is at risk of disappearing. The record 27 times champions of Switzerland, Grasshopper Club Zürich (GCZ), are in debt, struggling on the field and without a home of their own.
Read more…
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Champions League competition can be mixed blessing and James Baxter sympathises with a team thrashed by Marseille
When MŠK Žilina’s first ever Champions League group stage campaign finally drew to an end last December, debate in Slovakia as to its merits and otherwise was already long underway. The general consensus was that the failure to pick up points was disappointing and the 7-0 home defeat by Marseille humiliating but also that the team had played good football in spells and learned several lessons.
Read more…
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Matthew Barker reports on a desperate but imaginative protest movement that relied on solidarity from the local community
In late February, players, staff and supporters of Lombardy side Pro Patria staged a three-day sit-in protest at the club’s Stadio Carlo Speroni. In recent years the Lega Pro Division Two (fourth tier) team has endured a litany of miserable luck and disastrous financial mismanagement. Occupying the stadium was a last attempt to save a dying club and a famous name in the Italian game, even if i tigrotti (the little tigers) last played in Serie A in 1956.
Read more…
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 - Book reviews