Sean Barnes dreamed of becoming a Premier League manager and so signed up for an FA coaching course. But his new career path has reached a hurdle and it's not due to lack of time or inclination
Last summer I went through a personal crisis and bought an unnecessarily large television, a train ticket from the 1930s, searched everywhere for a white leather jacket and resolved to learn to play the harmonica.
Opened in 1871, one of the oldest football grounds still in use will shut at the end of the season. While grumbles about the football will always endure, some things will never be the same again, says Roger Titford
The first Taylor Report into ground safety appeared in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall was breached. Just like the Berlin Wall, there’s precious little left standing today of our traditional Football League stadiums. One of these terraced grounds really ought to have been preserved in its entirety for the nation by English Heritage but instead I pay homage to Saltergate, while a few fixtures remain.
Steve Menary looks at the changing faces and new ideas in football's hierachy
The shock departure of Ian Watmore after less than a year as FA chief executive rather overshadowed another change in the game’s executive merry-go-round. Shortly before Watmore’s sudden exit, Greg Clarke was confirmed as Football League chairman to replace Lord Mawhinney, who stepped down after seven years.
The Premier League's generosity in giving larger hand-outs to its relegated clubs may not quite be all it seems. Mike Holden explains
Three years ago, three American economists emulated the non-fiction phenomenon Freakonomics with a book documenting their mathematical studies into sports data. Among other things, The Wages of Wins looked at the “competitive balance” of leagues across a variety of sports using a formula known as the Noll-Scully measurement, leading them to conclude that basketball will always have a competitive balance problem due to the relative lack of tall people.
Labour's suggestion for the governance of football reflect changes in political momentum, a failed financial model and thoughts about the future of the game. Tom Davies explains
Time was when politicians would stand on what they would do to football supporters, not what they’d do for them. However, the Labour party proposals to give fans a stake in their clubs – first option to buy them when put up for sale as well as to compel supporter-friendly reforms to the game’s governance – indicate how far we’ve come since the days of ID cards and away fan bans.