Is women's football is due to make a big breakthrough on to the UK sport scene? Two writers have conflicting opinions
Yes ~
“Football is all very well as a game for rough girls, but it is hardly suitable for delicate boys.” So said Oscar Wilde. If the women’s game continues to develop at the pace witnessed during the past decade, this observation could soon gain common currency.
In a brief spell at Middlesbrough, he won the hearts of the fans and the local TV celebrity, if you believe the gossip. Harry Pearson recalls a German cult hero
No doubt there are many players whose careers illustrate Rupert Pupkin’s maxim “Better a star for a night than a schmuck for a lifetime”, but on Teesside none illuminates the point quite so brightly as a former Germany Under-21 international who was brought in from Kaiserslautern by Bryan Robson.
Coventry are one of the moving spirits of the Phoenix League. Neville Hadsley believes their frenzied activity masks panic about their own financial position
It’s always struck me that the acting career of the Kemp brothers from Spandau Ballet was limited by the fact that there weren’t enough up-to-no-good twins around to portray. Once you’ve done the Krays, who else is there? Step forward Geoffrey Richmond and Bryan Richardson. True, they are not twins. Also true they are upstanding citizens, rather than criminal gang leaders. But they do have a certain physical resemblance – too many good meals in decent restaurants, one suspects – and they are also the joint architects of a rather rum scheme.
Contrary to the beliefs of the Phoenix League "reformers", Roger Titford argues that other European countries are moving towards the structure of our League
We dullards who are forever against wonderful innovations like the Phoenix League are often encouraged to look abroad and draw inspiration from the Continent. There, it is said, we will find more rational and streamlined ways to organise football leagues, which are not dragged back by the need to maintain an unwieldy four national divisions of professional clubs. The debate of late seems to be led by issues about dividing up TV money. The more fundamental question should be about league structures.
Dear WSC
I attended the York v Colchester FA Cup second round replay. Ah, the magic of the FA Cup: went for a traditional pre-match pie and when the kiosk opened I was third in the queue. The first man ordered two meat pies. The second man ordered one meat pie. The response came back: “Sorry love, we’ve sold out.” I laughed so hard I lost my place in the queue. You don’t get that kind of comedy at Old Trafford.
Alex Gage, via email