After securing promotion from Division Three on the final day, Stag Colin Dobell can take a deep breath and look back at where it all went right

What has been the single biggest reason for the club’s successful season?
The promotion of Stuart Watkiss from youth team coach to assistant manager at the start of the season, and then to manager, brought a new sense of pur­pose and belief, especially for the young players Stuart had nurtured through the youth team. The success of players like Lee Williamson, who made the PFA Third Division team in his first full season, has made all the difference. 

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Dear WSC
You may not be aware that fans from Madrid and Leverkusen attending the Champions League final at Hampden Park were handed a Scottish goody bag by the Daily Record containing, among other things, a Tunnock’s caramel wafer and a can of Coke. Class.
Glenn McCall, Dundee

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Scotland's efforts at the World Cup Finals have been frustrating, but their best team never made it that far. Cris Freddi looks back on their narrow exit in 1961

Czechoslovakia were probably annoyed to be in this play-off. After beating the Scots 4-0 at home in their World Cup qualifying group, they led 2-1 at Hampden before Denis Law scored twice, including the winner with only seven minutes left. That left the two teams level on points – the only other team in the group, Ire­land, lost every game. To make matters worse, Czechoslovakia’s captain and left-back Ladislav Novak picked up an injury that was still keeping him out.

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The drug money has dried up, but Nacional of Medellín are back – to the despair of their popular but inept neighbours. Jake Lagnado reports

Hear the word Medellín and you might think of Pa­blo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel. Indeed, in Med­ellín, as in the rest of Colombia, there were many financial and personal ties between the drugs trade and professional football, as symbolised by the campaign to free the city’s favourite son, Rene Hig­uita, from jail in 1993. Since Escobar’s death the same year, the trade has been reorg­anised: much less drug money is in­vested in the local economy, meaning football clubs now have to market themselves to avoid total ruin.

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It looks like Sheffield, but the Eindhoven derby hasn't been on a level playing-field for 50 years. Ernst Bouwes goes in search of PSV's forgotten neighbours

When he saw Jan Louwers bending over to adjust the ball on the penalty spot, Lieuwe Steiger check­ed his position on the goalline once more by looking at one of the posts. Watched by a capacity crowd (and then some), the PSV keeper had been beaten by local rivals EVV once that afternoon. Now the score stood at 1-1. The losers of this local derby could be out of the cham­pionship play-offs for 1955, the first year of Dutch pro­fessional football. When Steiger looked up again to prepare for the penalty, he saw Louwers grin­ning sheep­ishly. There was a space on the penalty spot where the ball should have been. The Eindhoven striker had al­ready taken the kick, hoping he could surprise the keeper. So he did, almost hitting a photographer with his miscue.

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