Friday 1 Leeds’ administrators are to recount the votes taken at a creditors’ meeting, which appeared to narrowly favour Ken Bates’s proposed takeover. Nigel Worthington is to manage Northern Ireland until the end of their Euro 2008 qualifiers in November. England concede a last-minute equaliser in a 1‑1 draw with Brazil, John Terry having put them ahead in their return to Wembley. “The key thing was the amount of passion that the players showed,” says Steve McClaren, as desperate as ever.
The league that produced the European champions in its final season. By Jonathan Wilson
The long-term significance
Given the political situation, 1990-91 is remarkable for having passed off so smoothly. The previous season had been overshadowed by the riot at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb between Dinamo’s Bad Blue Boys and Red Star Belgrade’s Delije, hooligan firms that would end up serving at the front and who later saw that clash as the first battle of the Yugoslavian Civil War. However, although political violence flared across the region, crowd trouble remained relatively low-key.
It was, though, the last season of a truly pan-Yugoslav league. The Croatian clubs – Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Osijek and Rijeka, as well as NK Zagreb, who would have been promoted – withdrew to join the league of the newly independent Croatia, while Olimpija Ljubljana, Slovenia’s only top-flight representatives, also withdrew. No sides were relegated, with OFK Belgrade (third), Sutjeska Niksic (fourth) and Pelister Bitola (sixth) joining second-placed Vardar Skopje in being promoted from the second division. The season also saw the continuation of the experiment whereby drawn games went to a penalty shootout, with only the winners taking a point, something that was widely seen as having helped Crvena Zvezda – Red Star – in Europe.
Dear WSC,
There have been suggestions that some African footballers are actually several years older than they claim to be. But there may be a case closer to home. It may be the strain of shouldering Preston’s promotion bid almost single-handed or the fact that he’s endured over a decade of underachievement as an Everton fan, but David Nugent is the oldest-looking 22-year-old I’ve ever seen. With his sunken, haggard features, he looks like he’s been transported into 2007 from some time in the 1930s. But now he’s hanging around with the worldly sophisticates in the England squad, it can only be a matter of time before he gets a makeover. In fact, that might make a nice feature for Icon, Jamie Redknapp’s splendid magazine for millionaire footballers.
David Senior, via email
A club from western Stockholm, known for their commitment to youth football more than the quality of the first team, are making an impact in their debut season in the top flight. Marcus Christenson reports
It was never supposed to happen. Most Swedes have always been convinced that the team called Brommapojkarna – the boys from Bromma – would never take part in a top-flight game. After all, they had played football since 1942 and the team known as BP had never managed to take the step up to the Allsvenskan. Continually producing top players such as the former Arsenal and Sweden midfielder Anders Limpar? Yes, definitely. Getting promoted and defeating the 2005 champions, Djurgården, in their first game? No, not really.
Fancy buying a club for the price of a match ticket? As Ian Plenderleith reports, a website is halfway to giving its subscribers the chance to vote on team tactics. Plus, the Homeless World Cup is coming up
It is painting itself as “Football’s greatest ever adventure” – a democratic, egalitarian, online football club run by 50,000 people, all with a single vote each. My Football Club is a website now taking pledges from individuals who will put up the necessary cash to buy a single team. You will then sit back and at the touch of a few buttons help to run the club from the safety of your desk or your favourite coffee house. Who said you needed to be a megalomaniac
millionaire to own a football club?