The appointment of a famous figure from the world of rugby league has angered many at the JJB. Yuri Goffinet reports

On March 15, Wigan fans reacted with disbelief to the news that Maurice Lindsay, a famous figure in rugby league and the man who ran Wigan Warriors for many years, had managed to get himself elected on to the board of the town’s football club. To Wigan Athletic supporters, Lindsay is the propagandist supreme of rugby league, a man who took every opportunity to belittle the “soccer” club during the Eighties and Nineties. Even as recently as last season, when the Latics were in dispute with the Greater Manchester constabulary about what chairman Dave Whelan thought were extortionate policing fees, Lindsay immediately distanced himself from the controversy, pointing out that they had no such problems at the rugby. 

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Southampton fans live in hope, despite a poor season and the sale of Theo Walcott. Will they soon see the back of the chairman? Tim Springett looks at the potential bidders

As far as many Southampton supporters are concerned, dissatisfaction with chairman Rupert Lowe has never been far below the surface. It became a tidal wave on January 21 during a home defeat by Ipswich. Some fans occupying prominent seats opposite the directors’ box unfurled a giant banner with the simple message: “Lowe Out”. This was followed by thunderous applause all around St Mary’s Stadium together with an innovative variation on Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (the irony of which would not have been lost on Sir Clive Woodward) suggesting that the hapless chairman be swung from the nearby Itchen Bridge.

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The Riverside Stadium could soon have a shiny new neighbour. But, as Daniel Gray explains, not everyone is convinced that a casino is what Middlesbrough needs

With the exception of signing Michael Ricketts, Middlesbrough have seldom been accused of gambling in Steve McClaren’s four-and-a-half-year tenure. Indeed, the football often displayed by Boro has been so cautious that few would have been surprised had McClaren erected a set of triangular yellow signs forbidding his midfielders from crossing the halfway line next to the home dug-out.

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Steve Menary sees that teams on the continent could learn a great deal from the systems of fans' trusts we now have in the UK

The fans’ trust movement has so far been just a British phenomenon, but may not be so for long, if an investigation by the European Union into how football is run concludes that the continent can learn from the UK model. 

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Cameron Carter sees that diving and simulation has become the BBC's current topic for discussion

The big topic on the BBC last month was diving and, in particular, how terrible and somehow foreign it is. During the last FA Cup quarter-final, Garth Crooks gamely attempted to turn a half-time studio debate into a political bear pit when the subject was introduced by Ray Stubbs. Some days later, on Match of the Day II, Stubbs seemed to get a little peevish when Graeme Le Saux and Lee Sharpe didn’t appear to treat his debate on Didier Drogba heatedly enough. At one point he jokingly asked Sharpe why he was smirking, in the way that someone jokingly asks you why you can’t get your own cup of tea. Stubbs is obviously of the view that there are some subjects one simply doesn’t joke about.

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