John Bourn looks back at ITV's neglected trump card, its regional coverage
When ITV’s outgoing director of programmes, David Liddiment, criticised the BBC in a newspaper interview on August 19, their response was cutting: Liddiment was accused of “having presided over the most disastrous period in ITV’s history”.
Harry Pearson welcomes a new biography of the Charlton brothers that looks more sympathetically on Bobby's personality and flays his detractors
When it comes to the Charlton brothers, most people probably concur with the assessment Big Jack apparently delivered to Ron Atkinson: “Our kid was the better footballer, but I am the better bloke.”
Should there be a winter break for the Premiership? Two writers air their conflicting views
Yes ~
In the past few years, English football has acquired some continental habits. The ability to pass the ball to someone wearing the same coloured shirt is now quite highly valued. The replacement of beer by pasta in the diet continues apace. Mainland European coaching is taking hold at the highest level. And now the momentum is at last building towards the implementation of a winter break. The Premiership should follow its counterparts in Italy, Germany and France and give the players three weeks off.
David Harrison explains why Watford decided to sell their stadium again after they had just bought it. It wasn't because they didn't like the colour
The trouble with detailing recent boardroom activity at Watford is that the goalposts keep moving – only metaphorically to date, but confidence is dwindling that that is how it will stay. In February 2001, the club confirmed, to widespread local rejoicing, that relocation plans had finally and irrevocably proved fruitless. Three months later they announced they would pay a six-figure sum to buy the ground from the existing freeholders, Punch Taverns, thus “securing their future at Vicarage Road in perpetuity”. Hankies out.
Tranmere fans fear their newly redeveloped stadium may not be long for this world. Tony Morris reports on the chairman's post-ITV Digital manoeuvring
Dave Watson is not the first manager to be sacked after a heavy defeat and he won’t be the last. But events surrounding his dismissal by Tranmere Rovers – after a 7-0 pre-season friendly loss to Birmingham City – hint at something more than another knee-jerk reaction by a club chairman.