Monday 1 Manchester United miss a chance to go nine points clear, drawing 2‑2 at injury-hit Newcastle. Liverpool’s 3‑0 win over Bolton takes them third. “They’ve shown me in the last couple of weeks why they are down there,” says Alan Curbishley as West Ham crash 6‑0 at Reading, their third successive defeat. Wigan drop to 17th after a fifth straight loss, 3‑0 at home to Blackburn. Antti Niemi is hospitalised with a serious neck injury in Fulham’s 0‑0 draw with Watford. Derby’s 2‑1 win at Preston takes them to within three points of Championship leaders Birmingham, beaten by a 90th‑minute goal at Ipswich. Torquay are six points adrift in League Two after losing 1‑0 at Bristol Rovers.
Is Sepp Blatter taking the Michel?
Here’s a straw to clutch on to. Anything that annoys or in-conveniences the Premiership’s big four clubs must be at some level a good thing. On the face of it, Michel Platini’s election as the new UEFA president – he defeated the incumbent Lennart Johansson by 27 votes to 23 – comes into that category. One of the main planks of Platini’s campaign was a proposal to cut the maximum number of Champions League qualifiers any country can have to three, beginning with the next TV deal in 2009-10. That Platini explicitly said that he would like to see greater representation for the champions from around eastern Europe probably helped to swing the final vote.
A groundbreaking season for a predecessor to the Conference, with a first sponsor and, even more radical, an extra point for an away win. Geoff Wallis looks back
The long-term significance
The season marked the first sponsorship of the topmost tier of the non-League pyramid, with the sportswear company Gola (which had previously backed Roy Race’s Melchester Rovers) providing financial backing (GM Vauxhall took over in 1986‑87 and the division became known as the Conference). It was also the second year of a three-season experiment in which teams were awarded one point for a draw, two for a home win and three for an away win.
Dear WSC
It was good to see your piece on York City Supporters’ Trust in WSC 239, which gave an excellent summary the position at York City. One minor point – it was never the intention of the trust to take a controlling interest in the club. That was dictated by circumstances whereby if the trust had not taken control the club would have folded. So returning to private ownership probably isn’t a setback for the cause of fan ownership. We still retain a 25 per cent share of the club and can now go back to our original objective which was to represent fans – we still have two seats on the club board. Taking the broader perspective, being the major shareholder brings the major responsibility of financial management and raising funds to fill the gap between gate and commercial income and costs. The fans of York City have been magnificent at raising money, but closing that gap proved impossible for the volunteers of the trust to do. Ultimately, “private ownership” was the only way forward. We do wonder if majority fans’ ownership can ever be a realistic option.
Steve Beck, Chairman, York City Supporters’ Trust
Remember when kids played football just for the fun of it? Ian Plenderleith looks at the website run by forward-thinking nostalgics who want to bring back those days, and at online homes for amateur players
As an original member of the “jumpers for goalposts” generation who learnt to play the game in the back garden, the concrete school yard and a bumpy field covered with cow shit, I’ve nothing but praise for a new UK site seeking to reclaim youth football from the hands of coaches and ambitious parents.