Friday 1 Manchester United are fined £1.6 million by the Office of Fair Trading for price-fixing replica shirts. One of the other ten businesses to be charged are… the FA who will have to pay £158,000 for selling overpriced England shirts on the internet in 2000-01. Tangled web-weaver John Fashanu says he has resigned as chairman of Barry Town, though there is some doubt whether he ever really held such a position. Jody Craddock leaves Sunderland for Wolves, who are also to sign Senegalese striker Henri Camara and Spurs’ Steffen Iversen.
David Wylie tells us about Glentoran
What was your best moment as a Glentoran fan?
Nothing can beat the euphoria of Sean Armstrong’s goal against Linfield in the 2000 Irish Cup semi. Sean, nephew of Northern Ireland legend Gerry, scored the 96th-minute winner in front of the Windsor Park Kop after Linfield had equalised a couple of minutes earlier. The Glens went on to win the cup, but memories of the victory over Portadown will always be overshadowed by those of thousands of bluemen rushing back to their seats just in time to see Armstrong head in Hamill’s cross.
Dear WSC
Given that Tranmere finished in seventh position last season, one point off the play-offs, I have to say that I am slightly relieved that Stephen Constantine was not given the chance to help us out of a relegation scrap (WSC 198.) Using football fan logic, does it now follow that our very own Ray Matthias could go one step further than Stephen if he were to take charge of the Nepalese national side, and not just reach the final of the South Asian Federation Cup, but win it too?
John Rooney, via email
A well written, well presented and witty US website on football is neither a contradiction in terms nor something dedicated to fat men in pads and helmets, Ian Plenderleith avers in this month’s review
There has rarely been an online fanzine as densely but superbly presented as The Global Game, the monthly brainchild of Georgia-based American journalist John Turnbull. Available in browser or Adobe Acrobat format, the four-page journal combines excellent writing and anecdotal wit to present new angles on the game, and thoroughly researched links to places you would never otherwise find.
Snubbed again. Months after FIFA granted Oceania an automatic place in the World Cup, they have reversed the decision. Matthew Hall writes from a very angry continent
After FIFA’s Oceania World Cup backflip, neither Sepp Blatter nor UEFA’s Lennart Johansson should consider taking holidays in the South Pacific for the next few years. The two Europeans would normally receive excellent hospitality from southern hemisphere hosts, but, as figurehead and architect of FIFA’s turnaround on Oceania’s direct entry to World Cup finals, those days are gone.