In spite of their record-breaking season, Arsenal's players and supporters still feel disappointed. Jon Spurling explains why some think that the team have fallen short

On the face of it, Arsenal’s season represents the perfect fusion of old and new. Amid the group hud­dles, badge-kissing goal celebrations and Old Trafford shenanigans, team spirit shone through. Securing the title at the home of mortal foes prompted Arsène Wenger to gush about “the togetherness which runs through the very veins of the club”. Throw in the irresis­tible blend of pyro­technic foot­­ball which saw the team equal Preston’s unbeaten league run of 1888-89 and it is little wonder that the expectations of all those connected with the club hit stratospheric heights.

Read more…

It's not the identity of the new Liverpool manager that concerns John Williams most at present – it's more the prospect of the club losing its own identity in a dash for cash

 To say that it has been an eventful recent few weeks as a supporter and observer of Liverpool is a little like saying Dennis Wise could have more friends in the game or that Porto’s José Mourinho could think a little better of himself. Let’s recap.  

Read more…

Which would you choose, Brighton or Moscow? As Julian Daniels reports, the former Manchester United winger opted for the latter and he will probably be regretting it now

When Andrei Kanchelskis signed a one-year-deal with Dinamo Moscow in January, he was in­stant­ly named club captain. It seemed like his nine-month exile from the game had ended in style. However, within weeks it had turned into a nightmare.

Read more…

A half-time team-talk is maybe all that was needed to save this play from what, on the evidence of it's first-half showing, looked to be a thrashing at the hands of the critics. Barney Ronay explains why

Some things have no place in football. These include racism, violence and the theatre. Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, Roy Williams’ new play at the National Theatre, is effectively two separate plays in two acts. The first is about football and is terrible. All the action takes place in a south London pub. It’s a convincing reproduction, down to the red-patterned carpet and Sunday roast for £3.75. The only false note is the cluster of young professionals sitting at the tables, although these turn out to be members of the audience roped in to the set.

Read more…

It's quite a coincidence – a film about hooliganism has come out just before Euro 2004. David Stubbs finds barely a redeeming feature in people who really should know better

As evidence of the mindset of fevered gormlessness in which this film was forged, director Nick Love says he wanted to make a film about the white working-class men “who make up 70 per cent of this country”. That demographic howler speaks more about a disproportionate fascination with hooliganism, its cama­raderie, its violence, its blood and honour, than about reality, about which The Football Factory proudly says next to nothing.

Read more…