Ian Farrell follows the tetchy career of a player highly rated by Johan Cruyff, but who proved to be an unsatisfactory replacement for Jason Wilcox

Depending on how sympathetic you are towards them as a species, Richard Witschge is either a ty­pical Dutch player or the sort that unfairly gives them a bad name. Arrogant, outspoken, not quite as talented as he thinks he is and ultimately destined to underachieve big time. Mix these characteristics with the flop­py hair, three-day stubble and permanent sulk of a long lost Gallagher brother, and the result is no British manager’s idea of a trouble-free pro.

Read more…

Steve Parish, an official at county league level, says many players still do not really know the laws of the game – or at least they pretend not to

When Peter Enckelman was adjudged to have got a touch (with his foot) on a throw-in from his team-mate Olof Melberg in the Birmingham derby, the chances are the referee David Elleray and his assistant really had no idea whether contact was made before the ball rolled over the line. Video evidence would have been of no help, unless Andy Gray looking at it “time and time again” before deciding there was no contact is considered to be helpful. If it was that obvious, he’d have only had to look at it once.

Read more…

Alan Wilkie, the man who sent off Eric Cantona at Selhurst Park, has just written the story of his career. He says referees are getting better, whatever the TV pundits may have you believe. Andy Lyons digs deeper

Do you believe that relations between referees and players have got worse in recent times?
I think the greater number of dismissals in the modern game is due to the emphasis on applying the laws cor­rectly, without recourse to, and I’ll use a media term, “common sense”. Per­sonally, I don’t think the relationship has deteriorated, or certainly not to a point where it can’t be reinvigorated, but there are so many ancillary problems sur­rounding referees and players at the moment. Some overseas players, for example, have a different approach to the officials. I’m not saying that it’s a worse approach, but it can be different.

Read more…

Peter Taylor's latest port of call is Peterborough, where many of the supporters are waiting impatiently for the end of the Barry Fry era. Darren Fletcher reports

Nobody knows what is happening at Peterborough. Not the fans, nor the media and nor, it seems, the manager or the chairman. Six seasons ago, Barry Fry took over the club. How­ever, having written himself a rolling three-year contract, he gave up the idea to let a wealthy local businessman, Peter Boizot, take the reins while Fry concentrated on the football. The season before Peterborough had finished 16th in the Second Division and the new manager promised he would take us out of that div­ision. Following numerous triple sub­- stitutions, he did – into the Third.

Read more…

Two years after being in charge of England, Peter Taylor is helping out at Peterborough. Barney Ronay investigates his peculiar career and eternal youth

For Peter Taylor, former England coach turned Pet­erborough United hired hand, life really is like a box of chocolates. You just don’t know what you’re go­ing to get next. Apparently cast as a kind of foot­balling Forrest Gump, Taylor’s story is remarkable for the speed of his climb to the heights, and even more so for the vertigo-inducing plummet in his fortunes over the last two years.

Read more…