Isobel Lee was on the Curva Sud at the Stadio Olimpico when the recent derby was abandoned. Here she describes the atmosphere that night as the rumours flew

I’m too young to remember the 1970s, but in the Cur­va Sud of Rome’s Stadio Olimpico I wonder if English football was like this 30 years ago. It is com­plete chaos. The curva holds about 10,000 fans but it seems like 20,000 have got in, climbing over from other sections, or persuading God-knows-who to let them into the ground. You had to get here two hours ago to have a hope of a seat. Now it’s standing room only on the steps and no one can move up or down because all the gang­ways are blocked. More are still trying to get in. 

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After the Cardiff DJ intruded on Middlesbrough's historic win with a series of pointless self-important interventions, Jon Driscoll is angry and he's not going to take it any more

“Ladies and Gentlemen: The Carling Cup!” Exactly what we were supposed to do at this point wasn’t entirely clear. Were we meant to cheer it or chant its name? Maybe they thought we had forgotten what it was. Or maybe this announcement at the Millennium Sta­dium after Boro had beaten Bolton was completely and utterly surplus to requirements.

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In the blue-and-white striped corner, Dave Allen; fresh out of the blue corner, Ken Bates. Graham Lightfoot reports on a ding-dong of a contest for ownership at Hillsborough

You can say what you like about Ken Bates, but he certainly draws the media in like wasps to a jam pot. His recent interest in buying into Sheffield Wednesday has meant that once again supporters can read about their club in the national press. For the past four years the club have slowly disappeared from main-stream media coverage. Languishing in mid-table in the Second Division there is no certainty that their matches will even get a few lines in the broadsheets’ divisional round-up column these days.

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After years of belt-tightening regimes, Cardiff City have been on one long spree lately and Andrew Turton wonders what Sam Hammam's numbers will add up to in the end

Tony Clemo struggled for years to keep it under control. Rick Wright wouldn’t even consider it. Samesh Kumar made sure it never got out of hand and Steve Borley used his own money, rather than risk its effect on the club. Yes, we’re talking about debt; more specifically, Cardiff City’s debt. In years gone by, we used to worry if the club’s borrowings reached a few hundred thousand. Now, after a decade of chair- men keeping a tight grip on the purse strings, Sam Ham­mam’s policy regarding debt is quite the opposite.

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While many Manchester United fans were greatly exercised by Alex Ferguson's battle over Rock of Gibraltar, Adam Brown argues that the stallion belonged in a sideshow and that the real contest is only just beginning

Doom-laden predictions of the end of a footballing epoch are treated with some disdain at Old Trafford, but recent events off the pitch have generated far greater concern. Two Irish racehorse tycoons and an American sports businessman have entered the stage left vacant by BSkyB’s failed bid in 1998-99. But what of the reaction of fans and shareholders?

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