As Alex McLeish takes over at Rangers he joins an ever increasing list of departures from Easter Road to one of the Old Firm, Jill Birnie says

My first experience of seeing my team, Hibernian, being preyed upon by the Old Firm, came as a very young child when Colin Stein, the high-scoring centre-foward, was poached by Rangers. My own children are now about the same age as I was when Stein was cruelly rem­oved from my life. In the weeks since Alex McLeish departed to become Rangers man­ager they have gone through the complete spec­­trum of emotion that I went through back in the days of black and white television. Why us again? Why can’t they leave us alone? I made the reassuring noises to them, the very ones that my own father had made to me.

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Martin Gambarotta takes a look at the growing debt in Argentinian league football and the AFA's initiatives to deal with it

As a full-scale popular revolt was toppling the Argentinian president Fernando de la Rúa in December, a considerable number of people were kicking up a fuss about something else: tickets to see Racing Club’s bid to clinch its first league title in 35 years. The game was post­poned because of the turmoil that left at least 27 dead, but eventually – with a new head of state in office and much cajoling – the game was played a week later. Racing won the title.

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Strength in depth – quantity over quality?

Amid the general admiration for Bobby Robson’s achievement in taking Newcastle to the top of the Premiership table at Christmas, it was widely asserted that he did not have a strong enough squad to make a serious challenge for the championship. That may well be true. However, Newcastle currently have no few­er than 40 players under contract who are considered near enough to the first team to be given a shirt number.

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Thursday 1 Chelsea go out of the UEFA Cup after a 1-1 draw with Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Claudio Ranieri keeps his sunny side up: “The result went against us but it was a brilliant performance.” Leeds survive a scare in Troyes, where they lose 3-2 but go through 6-5 on aggregate. Ipswich save their best till last again, winning 3-1 in Helsingborg. Stung by rejection, Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan refuses to accept Steve Bruce’s attempt to resign as manager: “At no time will Steve be allowed to talk to Birmingham.” Bruce will not, however, be taking charge of Palace’s team at the weekend.

Friday 2 The Bishop of Oxford blesses the pitch at Oxford United’s supposedly unlucky new ground. “There was talk among some players of a sense of evil – they interpreted it as a curse,” says a church spokesman.

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We asked some of our regular contributors if they could remember anything about 2001. Surprisingly, quite a few of them could

Harry Pearson
Best • Seeing different faces in the home dugout at the Riverside. Finally getting a radio that allowed me to listen to Alistair Brownlee’s delirious, deranged commentaries on Century FM. His pronunciation of Marinelli alone is worth the price of the batteries. Oliver Kahn’s expression at the end of the game in Munich.

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