If you believe the leaks there is a new European Super League on the horizon. Ben Lyttleton searches for the clubs’ real motives

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas blamed his team’s Champions League elimination by Barcelona on fundamental flaws in the structure of French football; AC Milan managing director Adriano Galliani has asked UEFA to consider a salary cap as “a wind of crisis” blows across the European game; and Spain’s professional clubs have a combined debt of over €700 million. Reason enough, apparently, for all three to be accused of leaking plans of a new European Super League to sports papers across the continent. They all denied the claims, but the reasons behind the leak are as interesting as the plans themselves.

Read more…

Ivory Coast’s match with Malawi ended in horrific circumstances as 19 fans lost their lives. James Copnall investigates where things went wrong

The 19 dead and 132 injured in Africa’s latest stadium disaster, in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, suggest lessons haven’t been learned from past tragedies. On Sunday the problems started outside the stadium. Thousands of supporters, many without tickets, milled round the freshly painted bright orange walls of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium. Music was blasting from inside the stadium, and queues outside stretched hundreds of metres even four hours before the 5pm kick-off. The World Cup qualifier, against a limited Malawi side, was expected to be an easy and morale-boosting victory. Local football fans needed a lift after the fiasco of the inaugural international tournament for African-based players in February, which Ivory Coast hosted and flopped at; the national side had also performed badly at an African junior competition in Rwanda. Perhaps more importantly, in a country where he has reached a staggering level of stardom, Didier Drogba was playing on home soil, for the first time in over a year. What happened next will be a topic of debate for a long time.

Read more…

Ian Plenderleith examines a selection of websites that remember stadiums from football's past

There’s an online version of a book filled with aerial pictures of Lost Football Stadiums that shows a bird’s eye view on the sites of demolished grounds. Some are shockingly prosaic views of housing projects, industrial estates and supermarkets. To many of us, it seems like sacrilege not just to demolish a ground, but also to leave little or no evidence that it ever existed. Scunthorpe’s Old Showground is nothing but a memorial brick in a wall, while the flats of Leicester’s Filbert Village no more resemble a rural settlement then they do a former football stadium. The preservation of Highbury’s façade is an honourable exception.

Read more…

Tom Davies looks at three more clubs in crisis

One of the genuinely encouraging success stories of recent seasons has been Stockport County, rescued by a fans’ takeover three years ago, promoted via the League Two play-offs last year and well placed in League One until a recent slump. However, the realities of running a club to budget could yet overwhelm County, with lingering debts threatening to push the club into administration before the end of the season and a familiar search for investment becoming the priority.

Read more…

Bruce Wilkinson looks at government attempts to control how football tickets are sold

Football supporters are making a growing number of complaints about the ticketing industry and the huge expansion in secondary sales. In response the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has combined with another clumsily titled ministry, that of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, to produce a consultation paper on the issue. Modern technology has revolutionised ticket buying in many positive ways, such as giving a wider range of purchasing and payment options, but it has also democratised touting on an unprecedented scale. This ranges from supporters buying extras in order to make a bit of cash to organised gangs hoovering up blocks of seats and agencies offering big match entrance at extortionate rates. Internet-based auction sites have radically changed resales, giving the opportunity to make a quick buck to anyone with good broadband access and limited scruples. As a consequence, legislation is struggling to keep pace.

Read more…