Friday 1 Tony Pulis, out of work since leaving Portsmouth two years ago, takes over at Stoke. Steve McLaren resigns as Sven’s assistant, saying: “It was never intended to be long-term and it has dragged on.”
Phil Kyte looks at the big issues affecting Rotherham
Has Ronnie Moore’s standing in the eyes of Rotherham fans been seriously affected by the saga of his non-move to Ipswich?
Not really. His eagerness to jump ship left a nasty taste, but most are realistic enough to know it’s more a case of when rather than if he leaves. But like a turbulent love affair, the love you share means you can forgive just about anything. Apart from joining Wednesday. We just hope that when he does go it’s to a big club. (And that rules out Wednesday.)
Dear WSC
Being a lifelong Leicester City fan (and having the facial lines to prove it), I too read the letter in the Observer (referred to in WSC 190) from the person who claims to not to have had the courage to visit either Filbert Street or Filbert Way for ten years. While no doubt true, does this represent an accurate picture? I sit yards away from dozens of non-white fans who don’t seem to face any problems. To suggest that no progress has been made in ten years is simply nonsense and an insult to those fans who have worked tirelessly around this issue for many years. I don’t know what progress has been made at other clubs (any more than this writer can have at Leicester) but nobody need feel unwelcome at our new stadium. Racism is not primarily a football issue. He or she will risk facing it whenever leaving home and it cannot be defeated without the potential victims having the courage to stand with the rest of us and declare it unacceptable. There is only one colour that matters at Leicester City and that is blue. Wear it and you might find that there was nothing to fear all along.
Chris Lymn, Oadby
Seven seasons with seven different champions has made for an exciting domestic scene but European impotence, reports Marcus Christenson
Djurgaarden fans could be forgiven for celebrating as if there were no tomorrow after their team won their first league title in 36 years, before beating Stockholm rivals AIK with an extra-time winner in the cup final to complete the double.
Roger Titford takes the pulse of our readers again and finds they have cut down on football slightly, but are unhappy at their increasingly sedentary lifestyle
In WSC 187 we asked for readers’ responses to a questionnaire we had first used way back in 1991, before the start of the Premier League and the all-seater era. How much had changed? Eighteen per cent of our respondents actually recall answering that questionnaire and another 37 per cent thought they might have done. So, although the two surveys were 11 years apart, we’re looking at a lot of the same people’s views on the same issues. Not that surprisingly, a lot of the answers were the same too.