England may have won in Chicago last month, but in cinemas the United States are busy winning the 1950 World Cup game. Rich Zahradnik is not impressed

Someone once wrote that the only great sports films are those where the audience doesn’t know the end result. If you lived the excitement of the real event, says the theory, no film could possibly engender the same emotions. This explains why Chariots of Fire worked so well, at least here in the United States where no one had any idea how those British athletes did in the 1924 Olympics. For this reason, I always thought the United States’ 1-0 victory over England in the 1950 World Cup would make a good film. No one in America cared about the victory when it happened and very few know of it today. Football memories here stretch back no further than the World Cup of 1994.

Read more…

Nothing better reflects the drop in interest in the FA Cup final than the absence of Kenny Lynch, believes Cameron Carter, and Brian Dowling is no substitute

The Guardian’s Donald McRae concluded his preview of last month’s FA Cup final with the challenge – “Fireworks and fisticuffs, and a few sublime goals, are the very least we expect.” I expect Donald was as disappointed by the absence of all three as anybody, but, for others among us, the most unsatisfactory aspect was the continued shrinking of the pre-match build-up on terrestrial television.

Read more…

England may have failed to live up to the promise of September 1, 2001, but as Pete Green will tell you the slide from a rare high has been even worse for Grimsby

In 2001 Grimsby Town were a second-flight football team and binge drinking was called “going out”. Quite a few England fans probably indulged in that pastime after the 5-1 win in Germany on September 1. So imagine the double hangover that awaited Town supporters as their side chose the same day to move top of the Football League.

Read more…

Did you hear the one about the Slovenian and the Frenchman? This sounds like a joke, but Jonathan Barnes and fellow Ipswich fans struggle to see the funny side

Anyone in any doubt how Ipswich Town got into such financial strife after troubling the Premiership’s top five at the turn of the millennium should look no further than Amir Karic and Ulrich Le Pen.

Read more…

There’s heartache for the visitors as survival hopes are dashed – but have we just been brainwashed into thinking that being in the Premiership is all that matters? Taylor Parkes finds out

First – and this isn’t unusual – a team owned by a very rich man won the title. People who don’t know what the term “Russian oligarch” actually means, who have probably never heard, say, the exciting story of the race for the governorship of Chukotka, will think nothing of it, or applaud, because the money “must be good for football” and, after all, who cares where money comes from? There he is on television, look, sitting in the stand. Half-smiling. He looks a bit like Harry Enfield.

Read more…