Preston promoted, Torquay saved by ground rules, Bosman blew the game right open. Ed Upright looks back

The long-term significance
There were signs of things to come everywhere. The FA Cup third-round draw was turned into a 20-minute peak-time show and the Premier League signed a £743 million TV deal. Jean-Marc Bosman won his restraint of trade claim, changing the transfer market for ever. More than 100 full international players born outside the UK played in England, prompting Rothmans to include a list of foreign players. In the bottom division, Wigan became the first English club to field three Spanish players. This certainly worked in Wigan’s favour – Isidro Diaz and Roberto Martínez finished as the club’s leading scorers.

Read more…

Dear WSC
Jez Moxey, the Wolves chairman, has decided to ban Cardiff City fans from attending the match between the two clubs in January. This is a throwback to Margaret Thatcher’s attitude to football. Two seasons ago, I attended the match between Cardiff and Wolves at Molineux and it was one of the most scary experiences I have had at a football match, as the West Midlands Police decided to allow Wolves fans to wait to ambush Cardiff fans returning to their coaches. From what I can gather, embarrassed by their performance the previous year, the West Midlands Police decided to impose themselves in the repeat fixture last season. When a handful of City fans in the concourse at half-time started chanting “we want beer” after the bars changed their mind about staying open, the police decided to “calm things down” by charging into the concourse in full riot gear, beating anybody who failed to clear out of the way with their batons. They continued in this vein out of the concourse and up the gangways to the terraces, leading to people spilling on to the pitch to avoid being attacked. About 30 City fans attended hospital. Of the 17 that were arrested, all but one were offered apologies by the magistrates when they were discharged. An FA of Wales inquiry has yet to be completed, because West Midlands Police did not turn up to the hearing, twice. This is the same police force that refused to meet with fans’ representatives before both matches to plan away travel to avoid trouble. So who is to blame? Cardiff City fans, if you believe the West Midlands Police and Wolves. And the Football League, who agreed with the away fan ban, without bothering to seek the views of Cardiff City, the FA of Wales, any of the fans involved or the South Wales Police. This harks back to Luton Town’s away ban of the 1980s, which was snuffed out by the Football League. Why are they so happy for it to be reintroduced by Wolves? All teams, under League rules, are supposed to make a certain amount of tickets available to away fans. Perhaps a better solution would be to ban West Midlands Police from the fixture and invite South Wales Police to ensure there is no public disorder. But I guess that would not give Wolves the advantage of playing in front of no away fans.
Jeff Wagstaff, via email

Read more…

Ian Plenderleith goes in search of some serious football journalism and after reading a series of exposés of FIFA shenanigans finds some unintended laughs in the governing body’s code of ethics

For all the thousands of sites about football, very few are devoted to old-fashioned investigative journalism aimed at exposing the greedy and corrupt. One such rarity is Play The Game, a Denmark-based and funded site that calls itself “home for the homeless questions in sport” and covers in depth many stories neglected elsewhere.

Read more…

Soaring TV deals for Real Madrid and Barcelona have left the rest facing an ever greater struggle to compete. Phil Ball gets out his calculator and an impressive array of signal boosters and cable boxes

Just how much money does any one team need? Real Madrid’s projected deal with Telemadrid, timed to run from 2009 until 2013, would earn them across five years the equivalent of the gross national product of Mali. Who needs an Abramovich?

Read more…

It’s football, but not as we knew it. Andy Stevens assesses the rise of the five-a-side game as a serious – and profitable – business

Every month, more than 30,000 football enthusiasts descend on Derby’s Pride Park. But these aren’t fans going to watch a match at the stadium, they’re five-a-side footballers who are playing at the adjacent JJB Soccer Dome. The facility, which houses eight indoor and three outdoor pitches, is just one of many five-a-side venues that has opened during the past 20 years as the popularity of the sport increases.

Read more…