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Named and shamed

As Arsenal announce that they are calling their new home after a rival's current sponsors, Neville Hadsley looks at the still-bleaker future offered by 'naming rights'

Many people can recall where they were when they heard that John Lennon had been shot. I can’t. But I can remember exactly where I was when word came through that Bradford City’s ground had been renamed The Bradford And Bingley Building Society Stadium. I was in the offices of the Bradford Telegraph & Argus where, at the time, I was employed on the sports desk. The news did not impress the then-sports editor who, in a rare moment of decisiveness, said that we would con­tinue to call the ground Valley Parade. Un­surprisingly, the Bradford supporters opted to stick with Valley Parade as well. It’s tradition – you can’t change it just by handing over a wad of cash, can you?

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Home fixtures

Some people live football; other people live in what used to be football grounds. Steve Menary reports on the growing relationship between the game and builders

So, goodbye then, Tynecastle, as yet another football stadium falls underneath the bulldozer. Despite the objections of Hearts fans, their ground looks  like being sold to house-builder Cala for £22 mil­lion. Tynecastle will join a line of much loved stadiums, from The Dell to Oxford United’s Manor Ground, in becoming housing.

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Share madness

Malcolm Glazer may have been frustrated in his first attempt to take over at Old Trafford, but he and the United ownership saga are certainly not finished, as Adam Brown explains

When the board of Manchester United announced at the end of October that they were breaking off talks with Malcolm Glazer, the American businessman attempting to take over the club, many assumed that this was the end of the matter. However, far from this being the “final nail in the coffin”, as one put it, there are a number of options left open to the owner of Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At least one of these scenarios should be sounding alarm bells in the minds of all football fans, for the future ownership of Manchester United will have implications far beyond Old Trafford.

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Vogts of no confidence

After two-and-a-half-years' worth of poor performances, Berti Vogts leaves his post as Scotland manager blaming media and supporter pressure for his failure. Dianne Millen explains why reform is desperately needed in Scottish football

If you listened hard on that icy Moldovan night, you could almost hear the sound of Berti Vogts’ tartan bodywarmer falling off the proverbial shoogly peg as the travelling Tartan Army cordially invited him to go forth and multiply. From then on, the combative German’s one-way ticket from Glasgow Airport was as good as booked, although his emotional “personal statement” on resigning laid the blame not on the fans directly, but on “the unacceptable power of the tabloid press to influence its readership”.

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Dope pest

Adrian Mutu's failed drugs test is just the latest, albeit highest-profile, indication of the doping problem sweeping Romanian football, writes Ben Lyttleton

The biggest surprise about the reaction in Romania to Adrian Mutu’s positive drugs test was that anyone was surprised: a week earlier, three Farul Constanta players were banned for failing dope tests, while Robert Sandu, nephew of FA president Mircea Sandu, is awaiting trial for dealing large amounts of drugs to a client list allegedly packed with high-profile sports stars.

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