Closing a ground to England fans would just hurt the wrong people, believes Alan Bailey, who wants a more imaginative penalty imposed: a media blackout

By the time you read this, UEFA should have decided how to punish the attacks, constant racist chanting and pitch invasions which surrounded and intruded upon England’s 2-0 win over Turkey at the Stadium of Light in April. I can’t tell you what was decided on May 1 and what the FA’s response will be. But if the rumours are right it will be both too much and far, far too little.

Read more…

Charles Morris tells how Anthony Hughes left League football behind aged 22

In the summer of 1993 it looked as though 19-year-old Anthony Hughes had the footballing world at his feet. The Crewe Alexandra player had represented England at the Under-20 World Youth Championship in a team which included Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Nick Barmby, the latter hav­ing become a close friend of Hughes. Earlier in his blossoming career, the tall central defender had been selected as a student at the Football Association’s School of Excellence at Lilleshall. And his club, for whom he had made his debut on the opening day of the 1992-93 season, had a reputation for launching youngsters on glit­tering careers.

Read more…

Adam Powley charts Darren Caskey’s trip from Spurs to Notts County

Every season at Spurs, there is talk of a young player being touted as “the new Glenn Hoddle”. The names may change but the hopeful expectation remains the same – that there is a hidden talent in the White Hart Lane nursery who will burst into the first team and provide Tottenham with the ready-made superstar they sorely need.

Read more…

Damian Hall wonders why Stephen Hughes slipped away after a promising start to his career at Arsenal

People got pretty excited about young Stephen Hughes. For a youth system that manufactured almost an entire double-winning team in the late 1960s and the likes of Liam Brady, David O’Leary and Tony Adams in its wake, the 1990s were an embarrassing barren spell for Arsenal. While rivals were carefully hatching out the likes of David Beckham, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand, the Arsenal footballer factory was fine-tuning Ian Selley – a Toploader to your U2, if you like.

Read more…

Playing for England at youth level doesn’t always herald a glittering future. QPR’s Kevin Gallen tells Barney Ronay about life after Patrick Kluivert

I dropped down a league to come back to QPR because I love the club – it’s where I’m from. I would definitely still love to have another crack at the Premiership. But I started going to QPR around the time of the team that reached the FA Cup final in 1982 and got promoted under Terry Venables the season after. Then when I got older there were players like Ray Wil­kins, Roy Wegerle and Les Ferdinand, whom I ended up playing with.

Read more…