After over 120 years East Stirlingshire FC could be no more if a proposed move goes through. Ken Gall reflects on a club with a rich history and their fight to survive

Even the kindest of souls would have to ack­nowledge that East Stirlingshire FC have not been one of the major players in Scottish foot­ball history. Winners of precisely no major honours and with a grand total of no cup final appearances, even their apparently geo­graph­ically specific name tends to leave fans scratching their heads as to the club’s location (“near Falkirk” is the best most can come up with).

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Mathias Kowoll examines Berti Vogts' managerial history and questions the wisdom of putting him in charge of the Scottish national team

“We’re going to take off his kilt,” Hesse’s reg­ional governor Roland Koch said on hearing that Berti Vogts’s Scotland would be in Ger­many’s Euro 2004 qualifying group. So while the Scottish FA picked “the terrier”, back in Germany a pop­ulist politician feels he can get a few cheap laughs from picturing the former national team coach mooning from the Hamp­den dug­out. Such a difference in opinion needs explaining.

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York City chairman Douglas Craig has put the club up for sale after announcing losses of £1.2million. Paul Fenton looks into the situation at Bootham Crescent and the task any prospective buyers will be taking on

Douglas Craig, chairman of York City, has had little cause to bother fans outside the city dur­ing a decade in charge, apart from deciding that York were the only club above signing the anti-racism Kick It Out charter. City fans, how­ever, had tired of being told by the ex-councillor (Tory, since you ask) to stay away if they disagreed with his methods, and being threatened with the closure of the club if there were any more protests against him.

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David Wangerin ponders John Gregory's departure from Villa Park – were Doug Ellis's tight purse strings to blame?

In February 1998 Aston Villa manager Brian Little was preparing to give a routine press con­ference about his plans and hopes for the rest of the season when he received an urgent phone call from chairman Doug Ellis. Little made his excuses to the reporters and disappeared, returning an hour or so later to say he had just resigned. Four years later, Aston Villa’s latest manager John Gregory is asked about relations with his notorious chairman. “Have I ever been tempted to walk away in frustration?” he is quoted as say­ing. “No, never. It’s a thing I’d never do.” Days later he walks away – apparently in frustration.

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Ed Parkinson recalls a striker who failed to break through at Chelsea, but scored the goals that took Hartlepool up and returned to save them from relegation

On a wet Wednesday in October 1988, desperate Hartlepool manager Bobby Moncur drove to Swansea to watch Newcastle reserves. At the final whistle, believing he had seen the answer to his goalscoring problems, Bobby invited Joe Allon into his car and persuaded him to sign for Hartlepool.

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